The Fog Horn
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Fog Horn
The Fog Horn is a short story by Ray Bradbury and the first in his collection The Golden Apples of the Sun.
The plot follows Johnny, the protagonist and narrator, and his boss, McDunn, who are putting in a night's work at a remote lighthouse. The lighthouse's resonating fog horn attracts a sea monster who destroys the place. This was actually the second time the monster had visited the lighthouse. He had been attracted by the same fog horn one year earlier. McDunn attributes the monster's actions to feelings of unrequited love for the lighthouse, whose fog horn sounds exactly like the wailings of the sea monster himself. The fog horn tricks the monster into thinking he has found another of his kind, one who acts as though the monster did not even exist. Both workers survive the incident, and within a year the lighthouse is rebuilt, this time with concrete reinforcements. The protagonist mentions that he has since been married with a home and a new job, while McDunn is now the building's new master.
The film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms was based on this story, taking from Bradbury only the notion of a sea monster coming ashore.
A more faithful adaptation was seen in an episode of Pokémon, titled "Mystery at the Lighthouse". In this story, a mysterious being resembling a Dragon is called by a foghorn to the site of a research centre. Dismayed by the discovery that there is no analogue of its race to be found, it turns around and wanders into the mist, deaf to the scientist's desperate calls.
The idea of a sea monster seeking a mate after millions of years of loneliness recurred in the film series Street Sharks. In the course of events, the Sharks and their friend El Swordo discover a mate for a Hydra-analogue Leviathan, who has threatened to destroy their city unless they do so.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.