Lovecraft: The Rats in the Walls & Other Stories

by H. P. Lovecraft 

More and more and more stories from that master of scientific horror. With it the element of the Cthulhu mythos begin to coalesce. Randolph Carter makes a re-appearance, as does the name Nyarlathotep. In my re-reading and research each of these stories I keep stumbling upon a number of shorts and films based on his work. Most of which i had never heard of. Not all are great, but they are interesting.

This was the era where Lovecraft was debating between being the gentlemen amateur writer and a seasoned professional. He never did quite make that leap completely, which is for the best. He needed to be free to write as his twisted imagination lead him, where the depths of his soul ground out the horror. A good comparison, which compounds my point, is reading The Rats in the Walls and compare that to a work-for-hire Under the Pyramid. You will see the difference.

The Rats in the Walls (originally written in 1923, first published in Weird Tales in 1924).  Continuing with his theme of the degeneration of a family line, Lovecraft perfects the story with this tale. A man, reeling from the death of his son in W.W.I., decides to return to his roots in England and restores his family home. After completion the structure is seemingly overrun by a horde of rats which come from nowhere. Some fruitful digging in his past and his basement uncovers a family history riddled with atrocities. There is one screw up here, or perhaps it’s an error of knowledge by the narrator, as it references Nyarlathotep as a being trapped in the center of the Earth quelled by two idiot piping gods. As Lovecraft fans know, this is a descriptor of Azathoth. C’est la Vie.

The Unnamable (originally written in 1923, first published in Weird Tales in 1925). Here we have the second tale of Lovecraft’s literary alter ego, Randolph Carter (just referred to as Carter here). Some have argued with me about this being the same character, but there is a direct reference to this story in The Silver Key, which is narrated by Randolph Carter, so that ends it in my mind. Set in the town of Arkham, Carter meets an old friend and, while sitting on a crumbling tomb, his friend talks about an indescribable entity is said to haunt surrounding area. His friend contends that because the creature cannot be perceived by the five senses, it becomes impossible to quantify and accurately describe, thus earning itself the term unnamable. Guess what happens next? Two films loosely based on the story have been made. One of which is provided below. I make no statement about its quality. Caveat Emptor.

The Festival (originally written in 1923, first published in Weird Tales in 1925). One of my favorite of Lovecraft shorts. Here we have Lovecraft utilizing another of his fictional towns, “witch haunted” Kingsport. The town will be mentioned over and over again in The Whisperer in Darkness, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, to name the big ones. One of Lovecraft’s typically unnamed narrators travels at Yuletide to the town to partake in some family festival held once every century. In his family’s house he reads a latin transcription of the Necronomicon handed to him by his mute waxen-faced relative who can only communicate through a stylus on a wax pad. Well the festival begins in an underground cavern, hilarity ensues, and he is brought to the brink of insanity. The author’s development and transition from amateur to professional is evident in this tale. Each detail, each action, sings with confidence and thought. This story out of all of his early ones (With perhaps the exception of The Rats in the Walls). A claymation short of the story was created by Toei animation in 2007. It is included below.

Under the Pyramid (originally written in 1923, first published in Weird Tales in 1924). This was a commissioned ghostwritten work by Lovecraft on behalf of renowned escape artist Harry Houdini. The editor of Weird Tales paid Lovecraft in advance, which is the only reason the writer took the job. After conferring with Houdini, Lovecraft surmised the story was hogwash and took some liberties with the story. It was printed under Houdini’s name until 1936. Meant to be a true tale, it describes Houdini's travel through Egypt where a group of Bedouin kidnap him during a boxing match atop The Great Pyramid of Giza. He is tied up and dropped down a deep pit. After escaping his bonds (of course) he travels long in darkness and speculates that he is under the Sphinx. Then he witness some weird stuff which was definitely made up before escaping to the real world. Definitely not Lovecraft’s best work. If you were gonna skip one of his stories, this would be the one.   

Harry Houdini- lest we forget

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.