Plot:Ī strange old man, 'so old that no one can remember when he was young, and so taciturn that few know his real name,' lives alone in an ancient house on Water Street in the town of Kingsport. It is notable as the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport. Lovecraft, written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the Tryout, an amateur press publication, in July 1921. Lovecraft's work for free at this website.įor a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.'The Terrible Old Man' is a very short short story (less than 1200 words) by H. Lovecraft from Red Skull Publishing (that's their book cover too). Source: I read this version of a the complete works of H. It seems to be one of Lovecraft's earlier tales so I guess that is no surprise, but it seems a far distance from some of his other great works like The Call of Cthulhu.

It feels more like a campfire tale than a well developed horror story. It's a bland as far as the horror goes and doesn't really excite the reader. Reflection If looking for some great Lovecraft tales, this is not the story to sink your teeth into. However, no one made any connection to the old terrible man. The story jumps from there to tell the reader that the spring and summer were filled with town gossip about the three dead bodies found in the town, sliced up with cutlasses and the abandoned car. Finally, the back entrance opens but it is the terrible old man. An hour passes by and he assumes that they have killed the man without him revealing where his treasure is so they must search the house. He hears screams and assumes it is the old man and continues to wait. The man waits in the car while his accomplices head in. They set up a plan so that two men will go in and the third will wait in a car in the backstreet to the house. However, when three strangers arrive in town, they decide he is the perfect target to steal from, assuming he must have a vast sum of money. They have their suspicions about his background given that he pays in gold and silver from centuries past and has been old and recluse for more years than anyone can remember. Within the town of Kingsport, there lives a 'terrible old man' of which so much lore has developed by the people in the town.

The Terrible Old Man by H.P. Lovecraft