The Whisperer in Darkness
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"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, written in 1930. The story was first published in the August 1931 issue of Weird Tales. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" (1927), it is a blend of horror and science fiction. Although it makes numerous references to the Cthulhu Mythos, the supernatural does not figure in the plot. The story also introduces the mi-go, an alien race of fungoid creatures.
Synopsis
The story is told by Albert N. Wilmarth, an instructor of literature at Miskatonic University in Arkham. When local newspapers report strange things seen floating in rivers during a historic Vermont flood, Wilmarth becomes embroiled in a controversy about the reality and significance of the sightings, though he sides with the skeptics. Wilmarth uncovers old legends about monsters living in the uninhabited hills who abduct people who venture or settle too close to their territory.He receives a letter from one Henry Wentworth Akeley, a man who lives in an isolated farmhouse near Townshend, Vermont. He affirms that he has proof that will convince Wilmarth that he is wrong. From this point on, most of the story involves the exchange of letters between the two characters. Through their correspondence, we learn of the existence of an extraterrestrial race of monstrous beings that have an outpost in the Vermont hills where they mine a rare metal. They have no interest in the human race and usually hide from people. Nonetheless, they ruthlessly defend their outpost and their secrecy, often employing human agents with whom they have made secret pacts.
The aforementioned agents intercept Akeley's messages and proceed to harass his farmhouse on a nightly basis. The two eventually exchange gunfire, killing many of Akeley's guard dogs. Although Akeley expresses more worry in his letters, he abruptly has a change of heart. He writes that he has met with the extraterrestrial beings and has learned that they are a peaceful race. Furthermore, they have taught him of marvels beyond all imagination. He urges Wilmarth to pay him a visit and to bring along the letters and photographic evidence that he had sent him. Wilmarth reluctanty consents.
Wilmarth arrives to find Akeley in a pitiful physical condition, immobilized in a chair. Akeley tells Wilmarth about the extraterrestrial race and the wonders they have revealed to him. He also says that the beings can surgically extract a human brain and place it into a canister wherein it can live indefinitely and withstand the rigors of outer space travel. Akeley says that he has agreed to undertake such a journey and points to a cylinder bearing his name.
During the night, a sleepless Wilmarth overhears a disturbing conversation. When he investigates, he makes a horrifying discovery. He then runs from the farmhouse, steals Akeley's car, and flees to Townshend. When the authorities investigate the next day, all they find is a bullet-ridden house. Akeley has disappeared, along with all the physical evidence of the alien presence.
As the story ends, Wilmarth recounts the horror that drove him from the Akeley farmhouse. When he went to the chair where Akeley had sat, he found only his disembodied face and hands. He realized that it not Akeley who had sat in the chair and conversed with him but one of the aliens in disguise. And all the while, Akeley's brain had rested in the named cylinder.
Minor mythos names
A passage from "The Whisperer in Darkness" contains a series of mythos names, some of which are briefly mentioned but are never explained (italics added for emphasis):
I found myself faced by names and terms that I had heard elsewhere in the most hideous of connections — Yuggoth, Great Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, Yog-Sothoth, R'lyeh, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, Hastur, Yian, Leng, the Lake of Hali, Bethmoora, the Yellow Sign, L’mur-Kathulos, Bran, and the Magnum Innominandum . . .
While most of these places and things are well-known figures of the mythos, a few are harder to pin down, among them:
- Bethmoora
- Bethmoora was a fabled city in the eponymous story by Lord Dunsany, a favorite author of Lovecraft.Pearsall, "Bethmoora", pp. 82.
trivia
- the movie Men In Black, has a possible reference to the story. the Alien "Mikey" encountered in the beginning of the story has a disguise very similar to the one used by Mi-go
References
Primary sources
- Definitive version.
Secondary sources
Notes
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