The researcher of mysteries visits a haunted house in the state of New York. It is inhabited by infernal forces, brought forth by a once-dwelling Dutch family.
S.T. Joshi calls the prototype of the story "hopeless and illiterate" (H.P. Lovecraft: A Biography), additionally full of unintended comedy (it can be read in H.P. Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition. Revisions and Collaborations). Lovecraft practically rewrote the story, attempting – perhaps unnecessarily – to preserve as many original ideas and sentences as possible.
To make matters worse, HPL had to personally deal with typing the work on a machine (which he hated), as only he could decipher the mercilessly smeared manuscript. Lumley (having no relation to the well-known author Brian Lumley) managed to sell the text to "Weird Tales" for $70. Lovecraft refused to accept part of the payment.
