Excerpts from H. P. Lovecraftâs commonplace book.
This book consists of ideas, images, & quotations hastily jotted down for possible future use in weird fiction. Very few are actually developed plotsâfor the most part they are merely suggestions or random impressions designed to set the memory or imagination working. Their sources are variousâdreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, & so on.
âH. P. Lovecraft
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4 Horror Story
Man dreams of fallingâfound on floor mangled as thoâ from falling from a vast height.
5 Narrator walks along unfamiliar country road,âcomes to strange region of the unreal.
âHere we have fetterâd and manacled Time, who wouâd otherwise slay the Gods.â
7 Horror Story
The sculptured handâor other artificial handâwhich strangles its creator.
8 Hor. Sto.
Man makes appt. with old enemy. Diesâbody keeps appt.
11 Odd nocturnal ritual. Beasts dance and march to musick.Â
12 Happenings in interval between preliminary sound and striking of clockâendingâ
âit was the tones of the clock striking threeâ.
13 House and gardenâoldâassociations. Scene takes on strange aspect.
14 Hideous sound in the dark.
15 Bridge and slimy black waters. [FungiâThe Canal]
17 Doors found mysteriously open and shut etc.âexcite terror.
20 Man journeys into the pastâor imaginative realmâleaving bodily shell behind.
21 A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face goneâno man hath seen it.
23 The man who would not sleepâdares not sleepâtakes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleepâand something happens. Motto from Baudelaire p. 214. Â [Hypnos]
24 DunsanyâGo-By Street
Man stumbles on dream worldâreturns to earthâseeks to go backâsucceeds, but finds dream world ancient and decayed as though by thousands of years.
1919
25 Man visits museum of antiquitiesâasks that it accept a bas-relief he has just madeâold and learned curator laughs and says he cannot accept anything so modern. Man says that
âdreams are older than brooding Egypt or the contemplative Sphinx or garden-girdled Babyloniaâ
and that he had fashioned the sculpture in his dreams. Curator bids him shew his product, and when he does so curator shews horror. Asks who the man may be. He tells modern name. âNoâbefore thatâ says curator. Man does not remember except in dreams. Then curator offers high price, but man fears he means to destroy sculpture. Asks fabulous priceâcurator will consult directors.
Add good development and describe nature of bas-relief.
27 Life and Death
Deathâits desolation and horrorâbleak spacesâsea-bottomâdead cities. But Lifeâthe greater horror! Vast unheard-of reptiles and leviathansâhideous beasts of prehistoric jungleârank slimy vegetationâevil instincts of primal manâLife is more horrible than death.
28 The Cats of Ulthar
The cat is the soul of antique Ăgyptus and bearer of tales from forgotten cities of MeroĂ« and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungleâs lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.
29 Dream of Seekonkâebbing tideâbolt from skyâexodus from Providenceâfall of Congregational dome.
30 Strange visit to a place at nightâmoonlightâcastle of great magnificence etc. Daylight shews either abandonment or unrecognisable ruinsâperhaps of vast antiquity.
31 Prehistoric man preserved in Siberian ice. (See WinchellâWalks and Talks in the Geological fieldâp. 156 et seq.)
32 As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or birdâfall of man before the new race.
33 Determinism and prophecy.
34 Moving away from earth more swiftly than lightâpast gradually unfoldedâhorrible revelation.
37 Peculiar odour of a book of childhood induces repetition of childhood fancy.
38 Drowning sensationsâunderseaâcitiesâshipsâsouls of the dead. Drowning is a horrible death.
39 Soundsâpossibly musicalâheard in the night from other worlds or realms of being.
40 Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or city must not be built upon itâor must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe.
41 The Italians call Fear La figlia della Morteâthe daughter of Death.
42 Fear of mirrorsâmemory of dream in which scene is altered and climax is hideous surprise at seeing oneself in the water or a mirror. (Identity?)
44 Castle by pool or riverâreflection fixed throâ centuriesâcastle destroyed, reflection lives to avenge destroyers weirdly.
45 Race of immortal Pharaohs dwelling beneath pyramids in vast subterranean halls down black staircases.
Visitor from tombâstranger at some publick concourse followed at midnight to graveyard where he descends into the earth.
47 From Arabia Encyc. Britan. IIâ255
Prehistoric fabulous tribes of Ad in the south, Thamood in the north, and Tasm and Jadis in the centre of the peninsula. âVery gorgeous are the descriptions given of Irem, the City of Pillars (as the Koran styles it) supposed to have been erected by Shedad, the latest despot of Ad, in the regions of Hadramaut, and which yet, after the annihilation of its tenants, remains entire, so Arabs say, invisible to ordinary eyes, but occasionally and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller.â // Rock excavations in N.W. Hejaz ascribed to Thamood tribe.
48 Cities wiped out by supernatural wrath.
49 AZATHOTHâhideous name.
50 PhlegâČ-e-thonâ
a river of liquid fire in Hades.
51 Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye.
52 Calling on the deadâvoice or familiar sound in adjacent room.
53 Hand of dead man writes.
54 Transposition of identity.
55 Man followed by invisible thing.
56 Book or MS. too horrible to readâwarned against reading itâsomeone reads and is found dead. Haverhill incident.
57 Sailing or rowing on lake in moonlightâsailing into invisibility.
58 A queer villageâin a valley, reached by a long road and visible from the crest of the hill from which that road descendsâor close to a dense and antique forest.
59 Man in strange subterranean chamberâseeks to force door of bronzeâoverwhelmed by influx of waters.
60 Fisherman casts his net into the sea by moonlightâwhat he finds.
62 Live man buried in bridge masonry according to superstitionâor black cat.
64 Identityâreconstruction of personalityâman makes duplicate of himself.
65 Rileyâs fear of undertakersâdoor locked on inside after death.
66 Catacombs discovered beneath a city (in America?).
67 An impressionâcity in perilâdead cityâequestrian statueâmen in closed roomâclattering of hooves heard from outsideâmarvel disclosed on looking outâdoubtful ending.
68 Murder discoveredâbody locatedâby psychological detective who pretends he has made walls of room transparent. Works on fear of murderer.
69 Man with unnatural faceâoddity of speakingâfound to be a maskâRevelation.
70 Tone of extreme phantasy
Man transformed to island or mountain.
71 Man has sold his soul to devilâreturns to family from tripâlife afterwardâfearâculminating horrorânovel length.
75 Black Mass under antique church.
76 Ancient cathedralâhideous gargoyleâman seeks to robâfound deadâgargoyleâs jaw bloody.
77 Unspeakable dance of the gargoylesâin morning several gargoyles on old cathedral found transposed.
78 Wandering throâ labyrinth of narrow slum streetsâcome on distant lightâunheard-of rites of swarming beggarsâlike Court of Miracles in Notre Dame de Paris.
79 Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castleâdiscovered by dweller.
80 Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building.
81 Marbleheadâdreamâburying hillâeveningâunreality.
82 Power of wizard to influence dreams of others.
1920
83 Quotation
â. . . a defunct nightmare, which had perished in the midst of its wickedness, and left its flabby corpse on the breast of the tormented one, to be gotten rid of as it might.ââHawthorne
84 Hideous cracked discords of bass musick from (ruinâd) organ in (abandonâd) abbey or cathedral.
85 âFor has not Nature, too, her grotesquesâthe rent rock, the distorting lights of evening on lonely roads, the unveiled structure of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?â
PaterâRenaissance (da Vinci).
86 To find something horrible in a (perhaps familiar) book, and not to be able to find it again.
87 Borellus says, âthat the Essential Salts of animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious man may have the whole ark of Noah in his own Study, and raise the fine shape of an animal out of its ashes at his pleasure; and that by the like method from the Essential Salts of humane dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal necromancy, call up the shape of any dead ancestor from the dust whereinto his body has been incinerated.â [Charles Dexter Ward]
88 Lonely philosopher fond of cat. Hypnotises itâas it wereâby repeatedly talking to it and looking at it. After his death the cat evinces signs of possessing his personality. N.B. He has trained cat, and leaves it to a friend, with instructions as to fitting a pen to its right fore paw by means of a harness. Later writes with deceasedâs own handwriting.
89 Lone lagoons and swamps of Louisianaâdeath daemonâancient house and gardensâmoss-grown treesâfestoons of Spanish moss.
1922?
92 Manâs body diesâbut corpse retains life. Stalks aboutâtries to conceal odour of decayâdetained somewhereâhideous climax.
93 A place one has beenâa beautiful view of a village or farm-dotted valley in the sunsetâwhich one cannot find again or locate in memory.
94 Change comes over the sunâshews objects in strange form, perhaps restoring landscape of the past.
95 Horrible Colonial farmhouse and overgrown garden on city hillsideâovertaken by growth. Verse âThe Houseâ as basis of story.
96 Unknown fires seen across the hills at night.
97 Blind fear of a certain woodland hollow where streams writhe among crooked roots, and where on a buried altar terrible sacrifices have occurâdâPhosphorescence of dead trees. Ground bubbles.
98 Hideous old house on steep city hillsideâBowen St.âbeckons in the nightâblack windowsâhorror unnamâdâcold touch and voiceâthe welcome of the dead.
1923
99 Salem storyâthe cottage of an aged witchâwherein after her death are found sundry terrible things.
100 Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness.
101 Hideous secret societyâwidespreadâhorrible rites in caverns under familiar scenesâoneâs own neighbour may belong.
102 Corpse in room performs some actâprompted by discussion in its presence. Tears up or hides will, etc.
104 Old sea tavern now far inland from made land. Strange occurrencesâsound of lapping of wavesâ
105 Vampire visits man in ancestral abodeâis his own father.
106 A thing that sat on a sleeperâs chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind.
1923
107 Wall paper cracks off in sinister shapeâman dies of fright.
110 AntediluvianâCyclopean ruins on lonely Pacific island. Centre of earthwide subterranean witch cult.
112 Man lives near graveyardâhow does he live? Eats no food.
113 Biological-hereditary memories of other worlds and universes. ButlerâGod Known and Unk. p. 59.
114 Death lights dancing over a salt marsh.
115 Ancient castle within sound of weird waterfallâsound ceases for a time under strange conditions.
116 Prowling at night around an unlighted castle amidst strange scenery.
117 A secret living thing kept and fed in an old house.
1924
118 Something seen at oriel window of forbidden room in ancient manor house.
120 Talking bird of great longevityâtells secret long afterward.
123 Dried-up man living for centuries in cataleptic state in ancient tomb.
124 Hideous secret assemblage at night in antique alleyâdisperse furtively one by oneâone seen to drop somethingâa human handâ
125 Man abandonâd by shipâswimming in seaâpickt up hours later with strange story of undersea region he has visitedâmad??
126 Castaways on island eat unknown vegetation and become strangely transformed.
127 Ancient and unknown ruinsâstrange and immortal bird who speaks in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers.
128 Individual, by some strange process, retraces the path of evolution and becomes amphibious.
Dr. insists that the particular amphibian from which man descends is not like any known to palaeontology. To prove it, indulges in (or relates) strange experiment.
1925
129 Marble Faun p. 346âstrange and prehistorick Italian city of stone.
131 Phosphorescence of decaying woodâcalled in New England âfox-fireâ.
132 Mad artist in ancient sinister house draws things. What were his models? Glimpse.
133 Man has miniature shapeless Siamese twinâexhib. in circusâtwin surgically detachedâdisappearsâdoes hideous things with malign life of his own.
134 Witchesâ Hollow novel? Man hired as teacher in private school misses road on first tripâencounters dark hollow with unnaturally swollen trees and small cottage (light in window?). Reaches school and hears that boys are forbidden to visit hollow. One boy is strangeâteacher sees him visit hollowâodd doingsâmysterious disappearance or hideous fate.
135 Hideous world superimposed on visible worldâgate throughâpower guides narrator to ancient and forbidden book with directions for access.
136 A secret language spoken by a very few old men in a wild country leads to hidden marvels and terrors still surviving.
137 Strange man seen in lonely mountain place talking with great winged thing which flies away as others approach.
138 Someone or something cries in fright at sight of the rising moon, as if it were something strange.
140 Explorer enters strange land where some atmospheric quality darkens the sky to virtual blacknessâmarvels therein.
1926
141 Footnote by Haggard or Lang in âThe Worldâs Desireâ
âProbably the mysterious and indecipherable ancient books, which were occasionally excavated in old Egypt, were written in this dead language of a more ancient and now forgotten people. Such was the book discovered at Coptos, in the ancient sanctuary there, by a priest of the Goddess. âThe whole earth was dark, but the moon shone all about the Book.â A scribe of the period of the Ramessids mentions another in indecipherable ancient writing. âThou tellest me thou understandest no word of it, good or bad. There is, as it were, a wall about it that none may climb. Thou art instructed, yet thou knowest it not; this makes me afraid.â
âBirch Zeitschrift 1871 pp. 61â64 Papyrus Anastasi I pl. X, l.8, pl. X l.4. Maspero, Hist. Anc. pp. 66â67.â
142 Members of witch-cult were buried face downward. Man investigates ancestor in family tomb and finds disquieting condition.
143 Strange well in Arkham countryâwater gives out (or was never struck âhole kept tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)âno bottomâshunned and fearedâwhat lay beneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).
144 Hideous book glimpsed in ancient shopânever seen again.
145 Horrible boarding houseâclosed door never opened.
146 Ancient lamp found in tombâwhen filled and used, its light reveals strange world.
147 Any very ancient, unknown, or prehistoric objectâits power of suggestionâforbidden memories.
148 Vampire dog.
149 Evil alley or enclosed court in ancient cityâUnion or Milligan St.
150 Visit to someone in wild and remote houseâride from station through the nightâinto the haunted hillsâhouse by forest or waterâterrible things live there.
151 Man forced to take shelter in strange house. Host has thick beard and dark glasses. Retires. In night guest rises and sees hostâs clothes aboutâalso mask which was the apparent face of whatever the host was. Flight.
1928
153 Black cat on hill near dark gulf of ancient inn yard. Mew hoarselyâinvites artist to nighted mysteries beyond. Finally dies at advanced age. Haunts dreams of artistâlures him to followâstrange outcome (never wakes up? or makes bizarre discovery of an elder world outside 3-dimensioned space?)
155 Steepled town seen from afar at sunsetâdoes not light up at night. Sail has been seen putting out to sea.
156 Adventures of a disembodied spiritâthroâ dim, half-familiar cities and over strange moorsâthroâ space and timeâother planets and universes in the end.
157 Vague lights, geometrical figures, etc., seen on retina when eyes are closed. Causâd by rays from other dimensions acting on optick nerve? From other planets? Connected with a life or phase of being in which person could live if he only knew how to get there? Man afraid to shut eyesâhe has been somewhere on a terrible pilgrimage and this fearsome seeing faculty remains.
158 Man has terrible wizard friend who gains influence over him. Kills him in defence of his soulâwalls body up in ancient cellarâBUTâthe dead wizard (who has said strange things about soul lingering in body) changes bodies with him . . . leaving him a conscious corpse in cellar.
159 Certain kind of deep-toned stately music of the style of the 1870âs or 1880âs recalls certain visions of that periodâgas-litten parlours of the dead, moonlight on old floors, decaying business streets with gas lamps, etc.âunder terrible circumstances.
160 Book which induces sleep on readingâcannot be readâdetermined man reads itâgoes madâprecautions taken by aged initiate who knowsâprotection (as of author and translator) by incantation.
161 Time and spaceâpast eventâ150 yrs agoâunexplained. Modern periodâperson intensely homesick for past says or does something which is psychically transmitted back and actually causes the past event.
162 Ultimate horrorâgrandfather returns from strange tripâmystery in houseâwind and darknessâgrandf. and mother engulfedâquestions forbiddenâsomnolenceâinvestigationâcataclysmâscreams overheardâ
163 Man whose money was obscurely made loses it. Tells his family he must go again to THE PLACE (horrible and sinister and extra-dimensional) where he got his gold. Hints of possible pursuersâor of his possible non-return. He goesârecord of what happens to himâor what happens at his home when he returns. Perhaps connect with preceding topic. Give fantastic, quasi-Dunsanian treatment.
164 Man observed in a publick place with features (or ring or jewel) identified with those of man long (perhaps generations) buried.
165 Terrible trip to an ancient and forgotten tomb.
166 Hideous family living in shadow in ancient castle by edge of wood near black cliffs and monstrous waterfall.
167 Boy rearâd in atmosphere of considerable mystery. Believes father dead. Suddenly is told that father is about to return. Strange preparationsâconsequences.
168 Lonely bleak islands off N.E. coast. Horrors they harbourâoutpost of cosmic influences.
169 What hatches from primordial egg.
170 Strange man in shadowy quarter of ancient city possesses something of immemorial archaic horror.
1930
172 Pre-human idol found in desert.
173 Idol in museum moves in a certain way.
175 Little green Celtic figures dug up in an ancient Irish bog.
176 Man blindfolded and taken in closed cab or car to some very ancient and secret place.
177 The dreams of one man actually create a strange half-mad world of quasi-material substance in another dimension. Another man, also a dreamer, blunders into this world in a dream. What he finds. Intelligence of denizens. Their dependence on the first dreamer. What happens at his death.
178 A very ancient tomb in the deep woods near where a 17th century Virginia manor-house used to be. The undecayed, bloated thing found within.
179 Appearance of an ancient god in a lonely and archaic placeâprob. temple ruin. Atmosphere of beauty rather than horror. Subtle handlingâpresence revealed by faint sound or shadow. Landscape changes? Seen by child? Impossible to reach or identify locale again?
182 In ancient buried city a man finds a mouldering prehistoric document in English and in his own handwriting, telling an incredible tale. Voyage from present into past implied. Possible actualisation of this.
183 Reference in Egyptian papyrus to a secret of secrets under tomb of high-priest Ka-Nefer. Tomb finally found and identifiedâtrap door in stone floorâstaircase, and the illimitable black abyss.
184 Expedition lost in Antarctic or other weird place. Skeletons and effects found years later. Camera films used but undeveloped. Finders developâand find strange horror.
185 Scene of an urban horrorâSous le Cap or Champlain Sts.âQuebecârugged cliff-faceâmoss, mildew, dampnessâhouses half-burrowing into cliff.
186 Thing from seaâin dark house, man finds doorknobs etc. wet as from touch of something. He has been a sea-captain, and once found a strange temple on a volcanically risen island.
1931
187 Dream of awaking in vast hall of strange architecture, with sheet-covered forms on slabsâin positions similar to oneâs own. Suggestions of disturbingly non-human outlines under sheets. One of the objects moves and throws off sheetânon-terrestrial being revealed. Sugg. that oneself is also such a beingâmind has become transferred to body on other planet.
188 Desert of rockâprehistoric door in cliff, in the valley around which lie the bones of uncounted billions of animals both modern and prehistoricâsome of them puzzlingly gnawed.
189 Ancient necropolisâbronze door in hillside which opens as the moonlight strikes itâfocussed by ancient lens in pylon opposite?
1932
190 Primal mummy in museumâawakes and changes place with visitor.
191 An odd wound appears on a manâs hand suddenly and without apparent cause. Spreads. Consequences.
1933
192 Thibetan ROLANGâSorcerer (or NGAGSPA) reanimates a corpse by holding it in a dark roomâlying on it mouth to mouth and repeating a magic formula with all else banished from his mind. Corpse slowly comes to life and stands up. Tries to escapeâleaps, bounds, and strugglesâbut sorcerer holds it. Continues with magic formula. Corpse sticks out tongue and sorcerer bites it off. Corpse then collapses. Tongue become a valuable magic talisman. If corpse escapesâhideous results and death to sorcerer.
193 Strange book of horror discovered in ancient library. Paragraphs of terrible significance copies. Later unable to find and verify text. Perhaps discover body or image or charm under floor, in secret cupboard, or elsewhere. Idea that book was merely hypnotic delusion induced by dead brain or ancient magic.
194 Man enters (supposedly) own house in pitch dark. Feels way to room and shuts door behind him. Strange horrorsâor turns on lights and finds alien place or presence. Or finds past restored or future indicated.
195 Pane of peculiar-looking glass from a ruined monastery reputed to have harboured devil-worship set up in modern house at edge of wild country. Landscape looks vaguely and unplaceably wrong through it. It has some unknown time-distorting quality, and comes from a primal, lost civilisation. Finally, hideous things in other world seen through it.
196 Daemons, when desiring an human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of hanged men.
197 Loss of memory and entry into a cloudy world of strange sights and experiences after shock, accident, reading of strange book, participation in strange rite, draught of strange brew, etc. Things seen have vague and disquieting familiarity. Emergence. Inability to retrace course.
1934
198 Distant tower visible from hillside window. Bats cluster thickly around it at night. Observer fascinated. One night wakes to find self on unknown black circular staircase. In tower? Hideous goal.
199 Black winged thing flies into oneâs house at night. Cannot be found or identifiedâbut subtle developments ensue.
200 Invisible Thing feltâor seen to make printsâon mountain top or other height, inaccessible place.
201 Planets formâd of invisible matter.
202 A monstrous derelictâfound and boarded by a castaway or shipwreck survivor.
203 A return to a place under dreamlike, horrible, and only dimly comprehended circumstances. Death and decay reigningâtown fails to light up at nightâRevelation.
204 Disturbing conviction that all life is only a deceptive dream with some dismal or sinister horror lurking behind.
205 Person gazes out window and finds city and world dark and dead (or oddly changed) outside.
206 Trying to identify and visit the distant scenes dimly seen from oneâs windowâbizarre consequences.
207 Something snatched away from one in the darkâin a lonely, ancient, and generally shunned place.
208 (Dream of) some vehicleârailway train, coach, etc.âwhich is boarded in a stupor or fever, and which is a fragment of some past or ultra-dimensional worldâtaking the passenger out of realityâinto vague, age-crumbled regions or unbelievable gulfs of marvel.
1935
209 Special Correspondence of NY TimesâMarch 3, 1935
âHalifax, N.S.âEtched deeply into the face of an island which rises from the Atlantic surges off the S. coast of Nova Scotia 20 m. from Halifax is the strangest rock phenomenon which Canada boasts. Storm, sea, and frost have graven into the solid cliff of what has come to be known as Virginâs Island an almost perfect outline of the Madonna with the Christ Child in her arms.
The island has sheer and wave-bound sides, is a danger to ships, and is absolutely uninhabited. So far as is known, no human being has ever set foot on its shores.â
210 An ancient house with blackened pictures on the wallsâso obscured that their subjects cannot be deciphered. Cleaningâand revelation.
213 Ancient winter woodsâmossâgreat bolesâtwisted branchesâdarkâribbed rootsâalways dripping. . . .
214 Talking rock of Africaâimmemorially ancient oracle in desolate jungle ruins that speaks with a voice out of the aeons.
215 Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment. Fears to regain memoryâa glimpse. . . .
216 Man idly shapes a queer imageâsome power impels him to make it queerer than he understands. Throws it away in disgustâbut something is abroad in the night.
217 Ancient (Roman? prehistoric?) stone bridge washed away by a (sudden and curious?) storm. Something liberated which had been sealed up in the masonry of years ago. Things happen.
218 Mirage in timeâimage of long-vanishâd pre-human city.
219 Fog or smokeâassumes shaped under incantations.
220 Bell of some ancient church or castle rung by some unknown handâa thing . . . or an invisible Presence.
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