Lovecraft Quotes | Striking at Shadows

There are black zones of shadow close to our daily paths, and now and then some evil soul breaks a passage through. When that happens, the man who knows must strike before reckoning the consequences – H.P. Lovecraft The Thing on the Doorstep

I love this quote from one of the creepier stories that Lovecraft wrote, and I find it so pertinent to my ideas on the psychology of horror. The interesting thing about horror is that it surrounds us on a daily basis, those black zones of shadow are quite tangible for those who know where to look. But what does it mean for those “who know” to strike them down?  In the context of the quote it meant dealing with the monster regardless of later repercussions. In the context of horror psychology I think this deals with what we do  internally when we come across a horror. The scariest part of any horror is not necessarily the monster, it is living on after the monster is struck down, knowing that you have been irrevocably changed by it. I think of the likes of soldiers, police, first-responders, etc. who must act quickly in situations that can be quite horrific, and having to later make meaning and sense out of world that just had the sense pulled out from under them after it is all over. I am still trying to determine if the ability to deal with that, sort of re-calibrate the world, in light of the thing that just crawled out of the shadow, be that what it may, is learned or innate. From what I have gathered I think it can be taught. What do you think?

Lovecraft Quotes | Those who search for horror

“Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places”

– H.P. Lovecraft  The Picture in the House

I love this opening line from The Picture in the House, which by far is one of the creepiest stories that I have ever read, and in my opinion is probably the source for the cannibal/mutant yokel trope that you find in horror movies like The Hills have Eyes, Wrong Turn, Texas Chainsaw massacre,etc. But back to the quote, I have often found myself in many a strange and far place, sometime on purpose and sometime on accident, and encountered horror. From graveyards across the US, abandoned farmsteads and ghost towns in parts of the Old West, to haunted swamps in Brazil, I have found many a weird and eerie phenomenon. Sometime I left in wonder and other times I left horror struck.

What experience have you had? Were you searching for horror or did horror find you?

Lovecraft Quotes | Nemesis

There are many who know H. P. Lovecraft for his fiction, but many do not know that he was a poet as well. In line with my theme of altered reality I wanted to share this. It comes from his poem Nemesis and is the excerpt which starts Lovecraft’s last work The Haunter of the Dark. This line always chilled me as I think of the vast cosmic scope of the universe and what could possible be out there in the void.

I have seen the dark universe yawning,
Where the black planets roll without aim;
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.

Thoughts?

 

 

Lovecraft Quotes | Butt of the Joke

“The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.” – H. P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft espoused a very grim outlook on the world early in life, and viewed that all things men do were essentially meaningless. This shines through in his writings, especially the Mythos. I feel that it is when Meaning itself is challenged or destroyed is when we feel horror. More to come on that thought. What do you think?