The Whisperer in Darkness - A Hidden Race of Monstrous Beings

Oct 6, 2026

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The story centers on a literature instructor at Miskatonic University who investigates strange reports arising after the historic Vermont floods of November 3, 1927. Newspaper accounts describe pinkish, finned, many-limbed objects seen in swollen rivers near multiple locations, prompting the narrator to doubt simple superstition while failing to obtain decisive proof. His research connects the rumors to older New England folklore and elusive signs—footprints, claw-marks, unnatural stone circles, and cave remnants—suggesting a concealed race of monstrous beings in remote high woods and valleys.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages60

Reading Time1 h 32 min

AccessFree to download

After the 1927 Vermont floods

Reports from river locations

Folklore sources and interpretations

Clues: footprints, stone circles, caves

The Whisperer in Darkness H. P. Lovecraft I Bear in mind closely that I did not see any actual visual horror at the end. To say that a mental shock was the cause ofwhat I inferred-that last straw which sent me racing out of the lonely Akeley farmhouse and through the wild domed hills of Vermont in a commandeered motor at night-is to ignore the plainest facts of my final experience. Notwithstanding the deep things I saw and heard, and the admitted vividness the impression produced on me by these things, I cannot prove even now whether I was right or wrong in my hideous inference. For after all Akeley's disappearance establishes nothing. People found nothing amiss in his house despite the bullet-marks on the outside and inside. It was just as though he had walked out casually for a ramble in the hills and failed to return. There was not even a sign that a guest had been there, or that those horrible cylinders and machines had been stored in the study. That he had mortally feared the crowded green hills and endless trickle of brooks among which he had been born and reared, means nothing at all, either; for thousands are subject to just such morbid fears. Eccentricity, moreover, could easily account for his strange acts and apprehensions toward the last. The whole matter began, so far as I am concerned, with the historic and unprecedented Vermont floods of November 3, 1927. I was then, as now, an instructor of literature at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, and an enthusiastic amateur student of New England folklore. Shortly after the flood, amidst the varied reports of hardship, suffering, and organized relief which filled the press, there appeared certain odd stories of things found floating in some of the swollen rivers; so that many of my friends embarked on curious discussions and appealed to me to shed what light I could on the subject. I felt flattered at having my folklore study taken so seriously, and did what I could to belittle the wild, vague tales which seemed so clearly anoutgrowth of old rustic superstitions. It amused me to find several persons of education who insisted that some stratum of obscure, distorted fact might underlie the rumors. The tales thus brought to my notice came mostly through newspaper cuttings; though one yarn had an oral source and was repeated to a friend of mine in a letter from his mother in Hardwick, Vermont. The type of thing described was essentially the same in all cases, though there seemed to be three separate instances involved-one connected with the Winooski River near Montpelier, another attached to the West River in Windham County beyond Newfane, anda third centering in the Passumpsic in Caledonia County above Lyndonville. Of course many of the stray items mentioned other instances, but on analysis they all seemed to boil down to these three. In each case country folk reported seeing one or more very bizarre and disturbing objects in the surging waters that poured down from the unfrequented hills, and there was a widespread tendency to connect these sights with a primitive, half-forgotten cycle of whispered legend which old people resurrected for the occasion. What people thought they saw were organic shapes not quite like any they had ever seen before. Naturally, there were many human bodies washed along by the streams in that tragic period; but those who described these strange shapes felt quite sure that they were not human, despite some superficial resemblancesin size and general outline. Nor, said the witnesses, could they have been any kind of animal known to Vermont. They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membranous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be. It was really remarkable how closely the reports from different sources tended to coincide; thoug

FAQs

What event triggers the narrator’s investigation in the opening section?

The narrator begins with the historic and unprecedented Vermont floods of November 3, 1927, after which unusual stories circulate in the press.

What kinds of objects do witnesses claim to see in the swollen rivers?

Witnesses report bizarre, pinkish organic shapes with dorsal fins or membranous wings, articulated limbs, and antennae-covered ellipsoid bodies that do not resemble known animals.

How does the narrator connect modern reports to older material?

He traces the accounts to New England folklore and rare monograph material attributed to Eli Davenport, noting parallels with tales heard from elderly rustics in neighboring regions.

What concrete signs suggest something unnatural beyond rumor?

The narrator describes footprints or claw-prints, curious stone circles with worn grass, and caves with problematical depth and blocked mouths, supported by prints leading toward and away from them.

Oct 6, 2026

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