First published in 1928, "The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by cult-favourite horror author Howard Phillips Lovecraft. The story is is considered one of the core stories of the “Cthulhu Mythos.”
While the work was originally published in the magazine, “Weird Tales,” it has since been printed in many other forms.
"The Dunwich Horror" takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts, amongst the wild domed hills of the upper Miskatonic Valley, far northwest of Arkham.
“The Dunwich Horror” is the story of the Whateleys and its relation to the Dunwich Horror, , which happened in Dunwich in 1928.
In the isolated, desolate, decrepit village of Dunwich, Wilbur Whateley is the hideous son of Lavinia Whateley, a deformed and unstable albino mother, and an unknown father (alluded to in passing by mad Old Whateley, as "Yog-Sothoth"). Strange events surround his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. Locals shun him and his family, and animals fear and despise him (due to his odour). All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft. Various locals grow suspicious after Old Whateley buys more and more cattle, yet the number of his herd never increases, and the cattle in his field become mysteriously afflicted with severe open wounds...
"The Dunwich Horror" is one of Lovecraft’s most tightly constructed stories, largely as a result of his use of linking elements that give subtle clues and anticipate developments.
