The Horror in the Museum, by H.P. Lovecraft and others

Lovecraft

Rating: [I do not rate collections]

Objectionable material:

Reviewed date: 2007 Nov 13

Pages: 453

Awards:

Spoilers?: Minor

Better than Moby Dick?: Yes

These are not Lovecraft's best stories. The early ones particularly show a lot of racist sentiment. Medusa's Coil relies on a racist premise as a key plot point: Marceline is revealed to be black (which is supposed to be the ultimate horror.) I found The Last Test to be interesting enough to hold my attention, though not unpredictable. The Mound is better; the exploration of the subterranean world makes the story worthwhile. My favorite story, by far, is 'Till 'A the Seas'. Also good are The Horror at Martin's Beach and The Loved Dead. The rest are second-rate fare.

• A Note on the Texts, by S. T. Joshi
• Lovecraft's "Revisions", by August Derleth

• The Green Meadow, by Elizabeth Berkeley and Lewis Theobald, Jun. - A meteorite contains a notebook with a message from a man who has passed over to The Green Meadow, "where young men are infinitely old."
• The Crawling Chaos, by by Elizabeth Berkeley and Lewis Theobald, Jun. - A drug-induced vision of the end of the earth. "And when the smoke cleared away, and I sought to look upon the earth, I beheld against the background of cold, humorous stars only the dying sun and the pale mournful planets searching for their sister."
• The Last Test, by Adolphe de Castro - Dr. Alfred Clarendon experiments with a deadly black plague, which is revealed to be not of this world.
• The Electric Executioner, by Adolphe de Castro - A train ride with a madman and an electric chair.
• The Curse of Yig, by Zealia Bishop - The snake-god Yig wreaks his vengeance on an Oklahoma family.
• The Mound, by Zealia Bishop - A mound patrolled by a phantasmic Indian guard is a gateway into a vast subterranean world of Tsathoggua worshippers.
• Medusa's Coil, by Zelia Bishop - Marceline, the wife of a young American man, is actually a fantastically ancient evil being.
• The Man of Stone, by Hazel Heald - To get revenge on his cheating wife, a degenerate hillbilly perfects a potion that turns people to stone.
• The Horror in the Museum, by Hazel Heald - Spending the night in a wax museum filled with living horrors.
• Winged Death, by Hazel Heald - Mad scientist murders fellow scientist with a strange African disease spread by fly bites--but those bitten by the flies lose their souls.
• Out of the Aeons, by Hazel Heald - An old statue found in the Pacific Ocean is actually a living man, frozen forever because he looked upon the god Ghatanothoa without carrying the proper protective charms.
• The Horror in the Burying-Ground, by Hazel Heald - Burying people alive.
• The Diary of Alonzo Typer, by William Lumley - Diary of a man whose old family home draws him in and kills him.

• The Horror at Martin's Beach, by Sonia H. Greene - A lurking sea creature engages the villagers in a macabre tug of war.
• Ashes, by C.M. Eddy, Jr. - Mad scientists turns assistant's girlfriend to ashes.
• The Ghost-Eater, by C.M. Eddy, Jr. - A traveller through the forest at night stays with a strange old man/werewolf who tries to eat his soul.
• The Loved Dead, by C.M. Eddy, Jr. - A twisted serial killer gets his only satisfaction from surrounding himself with death.
• Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, by C.M. Eddy, Jr. - A blind deaf-mute records his final moments on a typewriter as some horrible presence draws near.
• Two Black Bottles, by Wilfred Blanch Talman - The undead.
• The Trap, by Henry S. Whitehead - A sorcerer traps a young boy in a mirror.
• The Tree on the Hill, by Duane W. Rimel - A tree on a hill is a glimpse into another world.
• The Disinterment, by Duane W. Rimel - Man scientist transplants the narrator's head onto a non-human body.
• ÔTill AÕ the SeasÕ, by R. H. Barlow - The extinction of mankind comes at the hands of a merciless, scorching sun.
• The Night Ocean, by R. H. Barlow - A vacationer spies something unhuman in the ancient sea.