Howard Phillips Lovecraft

The Shunned House Howard Phillips Lovecraft

For many years, the protagonist and his uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, have nurtured a fascination with an old abandoned house on Benefit Street. Dr. Whipple has made extensive records tracking the mysterious, yet apparently, coincidental sickness and death of many who have lived in the house for over one hundred years. They are also puzzled by the strange weeds growing in the yard, as well as the unexplained foul smell, and whitish phosphorescent fungi growing in the cellar. Drawing of a man leaving an open door in a house, inset into a drawing of a naked man cowering among plants, apparently recoiling from the inset picture. Original illustration by Virgil Finlay accompanying the publication in Weird Tales (October 1937, volume 30, issue 4). After the protagonist discovers a strange, yellowish vapour in the basement, which seems to be coupled with a moldy outline of a huddled human form on the floor, he and his uncle decide to spend the night in the house, investigating the possibility of some supernatural force. They set up both cots and chairs in the cellar, arm themselves with military flamethrowers, and outfit a modified Crookes tube in the hopes of destroying any supernatural presence they might find. When Dr. Whipple naps, while his nephew keeps watch, he begins tossing and turning, and finally starts babbling in French, until he suddenly awakes. He tells the protagonist he had strange visions of lying in an open pit, inside a house with constantly shifting features, while faces stared down at him. Many of the faces were those of the Harris family, whose members died in the house.