The Picture in the House

While a man is out cycling in rural New England, a storm is brewing. He finds that the only option for shelter is a house nearby.

It is, of course, not a normal house. It is a creepy house - occupied by an even creepier, old man.

When the narrator and the old man study an inscription in a rare book, the man says it makes him hunger for "victuals I couldn't raise nor buy".

As it dawns on the cyclist that the man is a cannibal who lures travellers to their death, blood drips from the ceiling onto the book that he holds...

'The Picture in the House' is a must-read for fans of horror classics including Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho', and the Netflix series and novel 'The Haunting of Hill House'.

Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American author famed for his horror and fantasy fiction.

Born in Rhode Island, he became a pioneer of ‘cosmic horror’, conjuring up the lore of supernatural creatures who exist beyond our understanding. His best-known stories include "The Call of Cthulhu", "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Colour Out of Space".

While he was a mainstay of pulp magazines, Lovecraft never achieved wider literary recognition in his lifetime. But his posthumous influence has been profound. It can be found in everything from the fiction of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman to the HBO series "Lovecraft Country".