Lovecraft Complete Works

Part Two

Author's name: Lovecraft

What evil was it that drew us to this dreadful Dutch church? I suppose it was the legends and dark rumors, the tales of someone buried for five centuries, who was a hobgoblin in his time and stole something powerful from a great tomb. I can remember the scene in these last moments, the pale autumn moon over the graves, casting long, terrible shadows; the strange, distorted trees leaning sadly to meet the neglected grass and crumbling boards; the vast hordes of strange bats flying before the moon; the old church, stripped of all vegetation, staring with a huge, ghostly finger at the gray sky; the phosphorescent insects dancing like deathlights under the mist-trees in a distant corner; the odors of rot and vegetation and indistinct things mingling faintly with the night wind from across the distant marshes and seas; and worst of all, the faint barking of a deep, indistinct voice of a huge dog we could neither see nor clearly identify, and when we heard this suggestion we shuddered, remembering the peasant tales; For the one we were seeking had been found in this very spot centuries before, torn and hacked by the fangs and claws of some indescribable, speechless beast. I remembered how we had dug into this ghoul's grave with our spades, and how we were thrilled by the picture we had painted of ourselves, the grave, the pale moon watching over us, the terrifying shadows, the strange, distorted trees, the giant bats, the old church, the dancing lights of death, the strange smell of death, the gently blowing night wind, and the mysterious barking that wailed in all directions and whose purpose we could never clearly determine. Then, coming upon a solid substance more solid than damp earth, we saw a rotten, oblong box covered with mineral deposits from earth that had not been disturbed for a long time. It was very solid and thick, but so ancient that we were finally able to open it after some effort and were delighted with what we found inside.