The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Encyclopedia
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella
by H. P. Lovecraft
. Written in November-December 1931
, the story was first published in April 1936
; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical.
The story describes a young man's discovery of a strange hybrid race, half-human and half an unknown creature that resembles a cross between a fish and a frog, that dwell in Innsmouth
- a coastal town that had seen better days, and the waters offshore. The townspeople worship Dagon
, a Philistine deity incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos
.
cites two works as literary sources for The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Robert W. Chambers
' "The Harbor-Master" and Irvin S. Cobb
's "Fishhead". Chambers' story concerns the discovery of "the remnants of the last race of amphibious human beings", living in a five-mile deep chasm just off the Atlantic coast. The creature of the title is described as "a man with round, fixed, fishy eyes, and soft, slaty skin. But the horror of the thing were the two gills that swelled and relaxed spasmodically."
Lovecraft was evidently impressed by this tale, writing in a letter to Frank Belknap Long
: "God! The Harbour-Master!!!"
"Fishhead" is the story of a "human monstrosity" with an uncanny resemblance to a fish:
Lovecraft, in "Supernatural Horror in Literature
", called Cobb's story "banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake".
Price notes that Fishhead, as the "son of a Negro father and a half-breed Indian mother", "embodies unambiguously the basic premise of 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'.... This, of course, is really what Lovecraft found revolting in the idea of interracial marriage...the subtextual hook of different ethnic races mating and 'polluting' the gene pool."
Price points out the resemblance in names between the Deep One city of Y'ha-nthlei and Yoharneth-Lahai, a fictional deity in Lord Dunsany's The Gods of Pegana
who "sendeth little dreams out of Pegana to please the people of Earth"--a precursor to Lovecraft's fictional deity Cthulhu
, who sends less pleasant dreams from R'lyeh
.
The description of the Deep Ones also has some similarities with the sea creature mentioned in H.G. Wells' short story In the Abyss (1896); "Two large and protruding eyes projected from sockets in chameleon fashion, and it had a broad reptilian mouth with horny lips beneath its little nostrils. In the position of the ears were two huge gill-covers, and out of these floated a branching tree of coralline filaments, almost like the tree-like gills that very young rays and sharks possess. But the humanity of the face was not the most extraordinary thing about the creature. It was a biped; its almost globular body was poised on a tripod of two frog-like legs and a long, thick tail, and its fore limbs, which grotesquely caricatured the human hand, much as a frog’s do, carried a long shaft of bone, tipped with copper. The colour of the creature was variegated; its head, hands, and legs were purple; but its skin, which hung loosely upon it, even as clothes might do, was a phosphorescent grey."
, Massachusetts, and that the story told to them by the narrator himself is the reason for this investigation. He proceeds to describe in detail the events surrounding his initial interest in the town (antiquarian and architectural) which lies on the route of his tour -taken when 21 - across New England. While he waits for the bus that will take him to Innsmouth, he busies himself in the neighboring town of Newburyport by gathering information from local townsfolk; all of it with superstitious overtones.
The second chapter details his ride into Innsmouth, described in great detail as a crumbling, mostly deserted town full of dilapidated structures and people who look just a bit odd and who tend to walk with a distinct shambling gait. All of this is offputting to the narrator, who describes the people as having the "Innsmouth look", "queer narrow heads with flat noses and bulgy, stary eyes". Only one person in town appears normal, a young clerk at the local First National grocery store who comes from neighbouring Arkham
. The narrator gathers much information from the clerk, including a map of the town and the name of a local who might be a good source of information: a an ancient man named Zadok Allen, known to open up about the town when plied with drink.
The majority of the third chapter is composed of the conversation between Zadok and the narrator. Zadok, who is very old, has seen much in the town and goes on at length, telling a tale of fish-frog men known as Deep One
s who live beneath the sea. It seems they bring prosperity in the form of fish as well as fantastically wrought gold jewelry to those who offer them human sacrifice. These fish-frog men are amphibious and willing to come to land to mate with humans, creating deformed offspring who can live forever. These fish-frog men were first discovered in the Indies by a native island tribe, which was itself found by an Innsmouth merchant named Obed Marsh. When hard times befell Innsmouth, Obed and some followers did what they could to call up the fish-frog men in their New England town. When the story is over, the narrator is unnerved but thinks it a product of a fertile imagination.
Chapter four tells of the night that the narrator was forced to spend in town, after being told that the bus in which he came to town is experiencing engine trouble. The narrator has no choice but to spend the night in a musty hotel. While attempting to sleep, he hears noises at his door like someone trying to enter. Wasting no time, he attempts to escape out a window and through the streets, at times imitating the peculiar walk of the Innsmouth locals. Eventually he makes his way to some train tracks where he hears a great many creatures passing in the road before him. He hides and resolves to close his eyes, having at this point come to accept the idea that Zadok's story is true. He cannot keep them closed, however, and upon seeing the fish-frog creatures in full light for the first time, faints in his hiding spot.
In the final chapter, we hear of how the narrator wakes up unharmed and quickly walks to the next town (Rowley
). Over the years that pass, he begins doing research into his family tree, discovering some disturbing information along the way. Eventually it becomes clear that he is a descendant of Obed Marsh himself and nightmares accompany the narrator's realization that he is changing into one of the creatures. As the story ends, the narrator, by then a student at Oberlin College
, tells us that his horror at the idea is changing into acceptance, and that he will be quite happy living forever in the city Y'ha-nthlei, deep beneath the sea. He also has a cousin who is even further transformed than he is being held in a mental hospital
whom he plans to break free and take with him.
on a tour of New England seeking genealogical
information, and finds more than he bargains for. The character, unnamed in "A Shadow Over Innsmouth", is called "Robert Olmstead" in Lovecraft's notes for the story, published in Arkham House
's Something About Cats and Other Pieces (1949).
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
points out that Olmstead's travel habits parallel Lovecraft's own—Lovecraft too would "seek
the cheapest route", and Olmstead's dinner of "vegetable soup with crackers" is typical of Lovecraft's low-budget diet.
s to Innsmouth. In 1846, he was jailed after the towns bordering Innsmouth became suspicious of his crew. He died in 1878.
According to Lovecraft's story notes, Marsh's daughter Alice is Robert Olmstead's great-grandmother.
. Zadok Allen says of him: "Right naow Barnabas is abaout changed. Can't shet his eyes no more, an' is all aout o' shape. They say he still wears clothes, but he'll take to the water soon."
. An alcoholic, his drunken ramblings allow Lovecraft to convey much of the town's secret backstory to the story's protagonist. Born in 1831, Allen disappears and dies in 1927 after being taken and sacrificed by the Esoteric Order of Dagon
.
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia notes that Allen resembles—and shares his years of birth and death with—Jonathan E. Hoag, an amateur poet of Lovecraft's acquaintance. A possible literary inspiration is the character of Dr. Humphrey Lathrop in Herbert Gorman's The Place Called Dagon (1927), who, like Allen, is a drinker who knows the secret history of his town.
Indeed, the story was rejected by Weird Tales
editor Farnsworth Wright
when Derleth surreptitiously submitted it for publication in 1933. "I have read Lovecraft's story...and must confess that it fascinates me," he wrote to Derleth. "But I don't know just what I can do with it. It is hard to break a story of this kind into two parts, and it is too long to run complete in one part."
It was eventually published as a slim book published by William L. Crawford's Visionary Publishing Company with a run of 200 copies—the only book of Lovecraft's fiction distributed during his lifetime. After Lovecraft's death (and Wright's), it appeared in an unauthorized abridged version in the January 1942 issue of Weird Tales.
August Derleth
called The Shadow Over Innsmouth "a dark, brooding story, typical of Lovecraft at his best."
Shadow over Innsmouth was republished as an anthology with stories by other authors based on Innsmouth and the Old Ones in Shadows Over Innsmouth. The collection was edited by Stephen Jones (author)
and included contributions by Neil Gaiman
, Ramsey Campbell
, David Sutton
, Kim Newman
(both as himself and "Jack Yeovil") and other authors.
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
. Written in November-December 1931
1931 in literature
The year 1931 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs' play Green Grow the Lilacs premiers. It would later be adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein as Oklahoma!....
, the story was first published in April 1936
1936 in literature
The year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Life magazine is first published.* The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.-New books:...
; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical.
The story describes a young man's discovery of a strange hybrid race, half-human and half an unknown creature that resembles a cross between a fish and a frog, that dwell in Innsmouth
Innsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
- a coastal town that had seen better days, and the waters offshore. The townspeople worship Dagon
Dagon
Dagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and fish and/or fishing...
, a Philistine deity incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
.
Inspiration
Robert M. PriceRobert M. Price
Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, including...
cites two works as literary sources for The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
' "The Harbor-Master" and Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.-Biography:...
's "Fishhead". Chambers' story concerns the discovery of "the remnants of the last race of amphibious human beings", living in a five-mile deep chasm just off the Atlantic coast. The creature of the title is described as "a man with round, fixed, fishy eyes, and soft, slaty skin. But the horror of the thing were the two gills that swelled and relaxed spasmodically."
Lovecraft was evidently impressed by this tale, writing in a letter to Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long was a prolific American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including early contributions to...
: "God! The Harbour-Master!!!"
"Fishhead" is the story of a "human monstrosity" with an uncanny resemblance to a fish:
- His skull sloped back so abruptly that he could hardly be said to have a forehead at all; his chin slanted off right into nothing. His eyes were small and round with shallow, glazed, pink-yellow pupils, and they were set wide apart on his head, and they were unwinking and staring, like a fish's eyes.
Lovecraft, in "Supernatural Horror in Literature
Supernatural Horror in Literature
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a long essay by the celebrated horror writer H. P. Lovecraft surveying the field of horror fiction. It was written between November 1925 and May 1927 and revised in 1933-1934. It was first published in 1927 in the one-shot magazine The Recluse...
", called Cobb's story "banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake".
Price notes that Fishhead, as the "son of a Negro father and a half-breed Indian mother", "embodies unambiguously the basic premise of 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'.... This, of course, is really what Lovecraft found revolting in the idea of interracial marriage...the subtextual hook of different ethnic races mating and 'polluting' the gene pool."
Price points out the resemblance in names between the Deep One city of Y'ha-nthlei and Yoharneth-Lahai, a fictional deity in Lord Dunsany's The Gods of Pegana
The Gods of Pegana
The Gods of Pegāna is the first book by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, published on a commission basis in 1905. It is considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin...
who "sendeth little dreams out of Pegana to please the people of Earth"--a precursor to Lovecraft's fictional deity Cthulhu
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...
, who sends less pleasant dreams from R'lyeh
R'lyeh
R'lyeh is a fictional lost city that first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in Weird Tales in 1928. According to Lovecraft's short story, R'lyeh is a sunken city in the South Pacific and the prison of the malevolent entity called Cthulhu.R'lyeh is...
.
The description of the Deep Ones also has some similarities with the sea creature mentioned in H.G. Wells' short story In the Abyss (1896); "Two large and protruding eyes projected from sockets in chameleon fashion, and it had a broad reptilian mouth with horny lips beneath its little nostrils. In the position of the ears were two huge gill-covers, and out of these floated a branching tree of coralline filaments, almost like the tree-like gills that very young rays and sharks possess. But the humanity of the face was not the most extraordinary thing about the creature. It was a biped; its almost globular body was poised on a tripod of two frog-like legs and a long, thick tail, and its fore limbs, which grotesquely caricatured the human hand, much as a frog’s do, carried a long shaft of bone, tipped with copper. The colour of the creature was variegated; its head, hands, and legs were purple; but its skin, which hung loosely upon it, even as clothes might do, was a phosphorescent grey."
Plot summary
The story is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, the narrator begins by recounting to the reader of a secret investigation that was undertaken by the government at the ruined town of InnsmouthInnsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
, Massachusetts, and that the story told to them by the narrator himself is the reason for this investigation. He proceeds to describe in detail the events surrounding his initial interest in the town (antiquarian and architectural) which lies on the route of his tour -taken when 21 - across New England. While he waits for the bus that will take him to Innsmouth, he busies himself in the neighboring town of Newburyport by gathering information from local townsfolk; all of it with superstitious overtones.
The second chapter details his ride into Innsmouth, described in great detail as a crumbling, mostly deserted town full of dilapidated structures and people who look just a bit odd and who tend to walk with a distinct shambling gait. All of this is offputting to the narrator, who describes the people as having the "Innsmouth look", "queer narrow heads with flat noses and bulgy, stary eyes". Only one person in town appears normal, a young clerk at the local First National grocery store who comes from neighbouring Arkham
Arkham
Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts, part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft and is featured in many of his stories, as well as those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers....
. The narrator gathers much information from the clerk, including a map of the town and the name of a local who might be a good source of information: a an ancient man named Zadok Allen, known to open up about the town when plied with drink.
The majority of the third chapter is composed of the conversation between Zadok and the narrator. Zadok, who is very old, has seen much in the town and goes on at length, telling a tale of fish-frog men known as Deep One
Deep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
s who live beneath the sea. It seems they bring prosperity in the form of fish as well as fantastically wrought gold jewelry to those who offer them human sacrifice. These fish-frog men are amphibious and willing to come to land to mate with humans, creating deformed offspring who can live forever. These fish-frog men were first discovered in the Indies by a native island tribe, which was itself found by an Innsmouth merchant named Obed Marsh. When hard times befell Innsmouth, Obed and some followers did what they could to call up the fish-frog men in their New England town. When the story is over, the narrator is unnerved but thinks it a product of a fertile imagination.
Chapter four tells of the night that the narrator was forced to spend in town, after being told that the bus in which he came to town is experiencing engine trouble. The narrator has no choice but to spend the night in a musty hotel. While attempting to sleep, he hears noises at his door like someone trying to enter. Wasting no time, he attempts to escape out a window and through the streets, at times imitating the peculiar walk of the Innsmouth locals. Eventually he makes his way to some train tracks where he hears a great many creatures passing in the road before him. He hides and resolves to close his eyes, having at this point come to accept the idea that Zadok's story is true. He cannot keep them closed, however, and upon seeing the fish-frog creatures in full light for the first time, faints in his hiding spot.
In the final chapter, we hear of how the narrator wakes up unharmed and quickly walks to the next town (Rowley
Rowley, Massachusetts
Rowley is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,500 at the 2000 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Rowley.-History:...
). Over the years that pass, he begins doing research into his family tree, discovering some disturbing information along the way. Eventually it becomes clear that he is a descendant of Obed Marsh himself and nightmares accompany the narrator's realization that he is changing into one of the creatures. As the story ends, the narrator, by then a student at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, tells us that his horror at the idea is changing into acceptance, and that he will be quite happy living forever in the city Y'ha-nthlei, deep beneath the sea. He also has a cousin who is even further transformed than he is being held in a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
whom he plans to break free and take with him.
Robert Olmstead
The narrator of the story, he discovers InnsmouthInnsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
on a tour of New England seeking genealogical
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
information, and finds more than he bargains for. The character, unnamed in "A Shadow Over Innsmouth", is called "Robert Olmstead" in Lovecraft's notes for the story, published in Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
's Something About Cats and Other Pieces (1949).
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is a reference work written by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. It covers the life and work of American horror fiction writer H. P...
points out that Olmstead's travel habits parallel Lovecraft's own—Lovecraft too would "seek
the cheapest route", and Olmstead's dinner of "vegetable soup with crackers" is typical of Lovecraft's low-budget diet.
Obed Marsh
A sea captain and the founder of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. He was referred to by Zadok Allen as being the man who first summoned the Deep OneDeep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
s to Innsmouth. In 1846, he was jailed after the towns bordering Innsmouth became suspicious of his crew. He died in 1878.
According to Lovecraft's story notes, Marsh's daughter Alice is Robert Olmstead's great-grandmother.
Barnabas Marsh
Barnabas Marsh, known as Old Man Marsh, is the grandson of Obed Marsh and the owner of the Marsh refinery at the time of The Shadow Over Innsmouth. His father, Onesiphorus Marsh, was Obed's son by his first, fully human wife, while his mother, never seen in public, was apparently a deep oneDeep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
. Zadok Allen says of him: "Right naow Barnabas is abaout changed. Can't shet his eyes no more, an' is all aout o' shape. They say he still wears clothes, but he'll take to the water soon."
Zadok Allen
One of the few completely human residents of InnsmouthInnsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
. An alcoholic, his drunken ramblings allow Lovecraft to convey much of the town's secret backstory to the story's protagonist. Born in 1831, Allen disappears and dies in 1927 after being taken and sacrificed by the Esoteric Order of Dagon
Esoteric Order of Dagon
The Esoteric Order of Dagon is a fictional cult in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.-Esoteric Order of Dagon in the mythos:Esoteric Order of Dagon was the primary religion in Innsmouth after Captain Obed Marsh returned from the South Seas with the dark religion circa 1838...
.
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia notes that Allen resembles—and shares his years of birth and death with—Jonathan E. Hoag, an amateur poet of Lovecraft's acquaintance. A possible literary inspiration is the character of Dr. Humphrey Lathrop in Herbert Gorman's The Place Called Dagon (1927), who, like Allen, is a drinker who knows the secret history of his town.
Cthulhu Mythos
- The creature known as DagonDagonDagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and fish and/or fishing...
is first introduced in Lovecraft's 19171917 in literatureThe year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
tale of the same nameDagon (short story)"Dagon" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in July 1917, one of the first stories he wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of The Vagrant .-Inspiration:...
. - As related in "The Thing on the DoorstepThe Thing on the Doorstep"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the so-called Cthulhu Mythos universe of horror fiction. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.-Inspiration:...
" (19371937 in literatureThe year 1937 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 9 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.*Thomas Quinn Curtiss meets Klaus Mann.-New books:*Eric Ambler - Uncommon Danger...
), Asenath Waite, the possessed victim of her father Ephraim Waite, is by implication one of the human/deep one hybrids, and was a resident of Innsmouth before attending Miskatonic UniversityMiskatonic UniversityMiskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...
. The servants she brings into her marriage to Edward Derby are likewise Innsmouth natives. This occurs after The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Asenath's father and she escaped the government raid mentioned in the original story. - The Waites, Gilmans, Eliots and Marshes are the "gently bred" families of Innsmouth. Despite his name, the protagonist of "The Dreams in the Witch HouseThe Dreams in the Witch House"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. Written in January/February 1932, it was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.-Inspiration:...
", Walter Gilman, is not established as having any links to Innsmouth or the deep ones. - August Derleth also used the deep ones in the short story "Innsmouth Clay", which he completed from Lovecraft's notes. "The Shuttered Room" is another short story started by Lovecraft and finished by Derleth that involves the deep ones. It mentions a connection between the Marsh family of Innsmouth and the Whateley family of Dunwich from "The Dunwich HorrorThe Dunwich Horror"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...
".
Reaction
Lovecraft was quite critical of The Shadow Over Innsmouth, writing to August Derleth that the story "has all the defects I deplore--especially in point of style, where hackneyed phrases & rhythms have crept in despite all precautions.... No--I don't intend to offer 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' for publication, for it would stand no chance of acceptance."Indeed, the story was rejected by Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
editor Farnsworth Wright
Farnsworth Wright
Farnsworth Wright was the editor of the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the magazine's heyday.He was born in California, and educated in the University of Nevada and the University of Washington....
when Derleth surreptitiously submitted it for publication in 1933. "I have read Lovecraft's story...and must confess that it fascinates me," he wrote to Derleth. "But I don't know just what I can do with it. It is hard to break a story of this kind into two parts, and it is too long to run complete in one part."
It was eventually published as a slim book published by William L. Crawford's Visionary Publishing Company with a run of 200 copies—the only book of Lovecraft's fiction distributed during his lifetime. After Lovecraft's death (and Wright's), it appeared in an unauthorized abridged version in the January 1942 issue of Weird Tales.
August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
called The Shadow Over Innsmouth "a dark, brooding story, typical of Lovecraft at his best."
Shadow over Innsmouth was republished as an anthology with stories by other authors based on Innsmouth and the Old Ones in Shadows Over Innsmouth. The collection was edited by Stephen Jones (author)
Stephen Jones (author)
Stephen Jones is an editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of Lovecraft's early British publications....
and included contributions by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
, David Sutton
David Sutton
David Sutton is the current editor of the Fortean Times magazine. Sutton was educated at the University of East Anglia, University College London, Birkbeck College and the British Film Institute...
, Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
(both as himself and "Jack Yeovil") and other authors.
Adaptations
- The 1973 film LemoraLemoraLemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural is a 1975 American horror film written and directed by Richard Blackburn...
was partially inspired by The Shadow Over Innsmouth, with vampireVampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s taking the place of the Deep Ones. - The Shadow Over Innsmouth is the principal storyline in Stuart GordonStuart GordonAfter the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
's 20012001 in filmThe year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
film Dagon. Full Moon Entertainment was going to release Gordon's original adaptation (using the original short story's title) the original story in 1991, using Bernie WrightsonBernie WrightsonBernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...
's character designs, but the project was unrealized, though Dagon uses some of Wrightson's designs. - The town of Innsmouth is the backdrop for the 20052005 in gamesThis page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2005. For video and console games, see 2005 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 2005:...
XboxXboxThe Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
/PC gamePersonal computer gameA PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the EarthCall of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the EarthCall of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a Lovecraftian horror first-person action-adventure game developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks in 2005, in conjunction with 2K Games. The game was released for the PC and Xbox systems; the Xbox version is officially...
, the opening plot of which follows the second, third and fourth chapters of The Shadow Over Innsmouth with a great degree of accuracy (though the game takes place several years prior to the book and with a different protagonist, and could be considered a prequel). - The 20072007 in filmThis is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
film CthulhuCthulhu (2007 film)Cthulhu is a 2007 American horror movie, directed by Dan Gildark and co-written by Grant Cogswell and Daniel Gildark. The film is loosely based on the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H. P. Lovecraft....
is loosely based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth. - The H. P. Lovecraft Historical SocietyH. P. Lovecraft Historical SocietyThe H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society or HPLHS is the organization that hosts Cthulhu Lives!, a group of live-action roleplayers for the Cthulhu Live version of Call of Cthulhu. Founded in Colorado in 1984, it is now based in Glendale, California...
produced Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Over InnsmouthDark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Over InnsmouthDark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Over Innsmouth is an radio drama performed by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and based on the novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in December 2008.-Production:...
, a Dark Adventure Radio TheatreDark Adventure Radio TheatreDark Adventure Radio Theatre is a series of radio dramas produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. They are produced in the style of the 1930s, with "Dark Adventure Radio Theatre" being a Mercury Theatre-type production hosted by Chester Langfield and sponsored by Fleur-de-Lis Cigarettes...
adaptation of the story. - The story was used as the basic background and plotline for the German role-playing gamebookGamebookA gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
"Stadt der Dämonen" ("City of Demons") by Uwe Anton.
Other appearances
- The lyrics of MetallicaMetallicaMetallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
's song "The Thing That Should Not Be" from their 1986 album Master of PuppetsMaster of Puppets-Personnel:Metallica* James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar on track 1, first solo on tracks 2 and 7* Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals* Lars Ulrich – drums* Kirk Hammett – lead guitarProduction...
are based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth. - The Shadow of the CometShadow of the CometShadow of the Comet is a computer game in the adventure game genre. The game is based around H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos...
AdventureAdventureAn adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
PC game references many facts of the novel. - The Shadow Over Innsmouth is the inspiration of the dark electronic band God ModuleGod ModuleGod Module is a United States-based Dark Electronic band founded in Orlando, Florida in 1999, relocating to western Washington in 2006. The band is currently signed to Metropolis Records in the U.S. and Out of Line Music in Germany. God Module's founding members were Jasyn Bangert and Andrew Ramirez...
's song "Foreseen" from the 2005 CD titled "Viscera." - Lovecraft-inspired Canadian punk band Darkest of the Hillside Thickets humorously references this story in the song "The Innsmouth Look".
- The story inspired the song "Endsmouth" by Agents of OblivionAgents of OblivionAgents of Oblivion was an American alternative rock band from Louisiana that evolved from the ashes of Acid Bath. Fronted by Dax Riggs, their sound encapsulated psychedelic rock and blues-rock elements creating swamp rock.-History:...
. There is also a DominicanDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
black metalBlack metalBlack metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band named Innsmouth. - In the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, the raid on Innsmouth by government agents eventually leads to the creation of Delta GreenDelta GreenDelta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes, aka the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing...
and its mission to combat the Old Ones whenever possible. - In The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a single-player action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games...
, the quest "A Shadow over Hackdirt" entails rescuing a girl captive from the cultist village of Hackdirt, in tribute to The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The MMORPG RuneScapeRuneScapeRuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
also has a quest inspired by this story, featuring a character named Lovecraft. - The two short story collections Shadows Over InnsmouthShadows Over InnsmouthShadows Over Innsmouth is an anthology of stories edited by Stephen Jones. It was published by Fedogan & Bremer in 1994 in an edition of 2,100 copies of which 100 were signed by the contributors. The anthology contains the H. P. Lovecraft novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and several stories by...
followed by Weird Shadows Over InnsmouthWeird Shadows Over InnsmouthWeird Shadows Over Innsmouth is an anthology of Cthulhu Mythos stories edited by Stephen Jones. It was published by Fedogan & Bremer in 2005 in an edition of 2,100 copies of which 100 were signed. The anthology contains a discarded draft of the H. P. Lovecraft novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
edited by Stephen JonesStephen Jones (author)Stephen Jones is an editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of Lovecraft's early British publications....
are collections of sequels to the story by other hands, including Ramsey CampbellRamsey CampbellJohn Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
and Neil GaimanNeil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
. - Colombian writer Andres CaicedoAndrés CaicedoLuis Andrés Caicedo Estela was a Colombian writer born in Cali, the city where he would spend most of his life. Despite his premature death, his work is considered one of the most original in Colombian literature...
adapted The Shadow Over Innsmouth into a screenplay in 1973. He travelled to Hollywood in 1975 to sell it to Roger CormanRoger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, alongside his adaptation of Clark Ashton Smith's The Nameless Offspring, but failed in his purpose. Both of the screenplays were never shot and remain as part of the Andres Caicedo Collection in the Luis Angel Arango LibraryLuís Ángel Arango LibraryLuis Ángel Arango Library, is a public library located in Bogotá, Colombia. It was founded in 1923 as a small library with a few books on economics. It is currently under the administration of the Bank of the Republic...
in BogotaBogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
. - TimeSplittersTimeSplittersTimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
pays homage to The Shadow Over Innsmouth by featuring a level set in a fishing village inhabitated by mutants and hybrids. - The Syrian Funeral Doom Metal band "Innzmouth" has taken it's name from this story and the band is heavily inspired by the works of Lovecraft .
External links
- "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
's original novella about Innsmouth - "Map of Innsmouth and Environs" and a "Tourist's Guide to Innsmouth", from The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide
- "The Harbor-Master" in In Search of the Unknown, Robert Chambers; complete text from manybooks.net
- "Fishhead", by Irwin S. Cobb; complete text from Gaslight
- "Of Yoharneth-Lahai" from The Gods of Pegana, Lord Dunsany
- Shadow over innsmouth 1994 hardcover edition (cover below)
- "Fishmen", a Musical version on YouTube