Lovecraft: The Haunter in the Dark

by H. P. Lovecraft

Free Online Text  

  “Of the Shining Trapezohedron he speaks often, calling it a window on all time and space, and tracing its history from the days it was fashioned on dark Yuggoth, before ever the Old Ones brought it to earth. It was treasured and placed in its curious box by the crinoid things of Antarctica, salvaged from their ruins by the serpent-men of Valusia, and peered at aeons later in Lemuria by the first human beings. It crossed strange lands and stranger seas, and sank with Atlantis before a Minoan fisher meshed it in his net and sold it to swarthy merchants from nighted Khem. The Pharaoh Nephren-Ka built around it a temple with a windowless crypt, and did that which caused his name to be stricken from all monuments and records. Then it slept in the ruins of that evil fane which the priests and the new Pharaoh destroyed, till the delver’s spade once more brought it forth to curse mankind.”

Originally published in the 1936 December issue of Weird Tales and is the last written piece of literature that Lovecraft wrote which added to his Cthulhu Mythos. He died of a cancer in his small intestine in March of the following year. Sad to say, he died a disappointed man. Unable to make a real living with his writing, he lived on a starvation diet in his Aunt’s house the last years of his life.

Issue where the story was first published.

Adding to his misery, he was deeply affected by the suicide of his friend, Robert E. Howard- creator of Conan, Solomon Kane, Bran Mac Morn (all of which inhabit the Cthulhu universe by the way. The two would often intermingle their stories). As such, when they died both Howard and Lovecraft were under the impression that they would be forgotten. And like Kafka before them and Phillip K. Dick afterwards, how wrong they both were. Their true fame and influence would not blossom until some time after they had passed on.

Thus it is with a sense of sadness that I discuss Lovecraft’s last work, The Haunter in the Dark. This is a sequel to a story called, The Shambler from the Stars by Robert Bloch. A third story, written by Bloch in 1950, was published in The Shadow from the Steeple. This story revolves around a writer who investigates an old church in Providence, Rhode Island called the Church of Starry Wisdom. As you can guess, the place is a front for the evil worship of the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep and the Outer Gods. One thing leads to another and an anceint evil is revealed. The dreaded Nyarlathotep himself emerges in a final performance for the writings of his creator, H. P. Lovecraft. This tale also adds a new element to the Mythos, the Shining Trapezohedron.

An object which was crafted by the Mi-Go on Yuggoth (or Pluto as we Humans call it) and is used to conjure up the unnamable horrors from beyond this world. It has appeared in numerous Bloch and Derelith stories as well as a King Kull tale by Robert E. Howard. In the real world, The Robert Bloch Award in the shape of the Shining Trapezohedron is presented at the annual Necronomicon convention.

Once again, very little has been done with this story in other media so I offer you the Horror Babble audiobook version along with a trailer for a film loosely based on the story. Enjoy and Caveat Emptor. 
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.