TSOU - Out of the Aeons
james ambuehl
that I did a brief humorous piece entitled "Lovecraftian Last Words"
where I took stabs at various Lovecraft stories -- and for this story I
had for the last words:
T'yog: Oh shi . . .
That bit cracked up my Cthulhupunk extraordinaire buddy Allen Mackey up
to no end!
Anyway, that piece can be found reprinted on Randolph Carter's THE HALL
OF THE SAUSAGE KING site, if anyone wants to see it (very funny, if I do
say so myself)!
-- Jim
Sigs.? Sigs.? We don't need no stinkin' sigs.!
vonj...@hotmail.com
"Out of the Aeons"
Sources: _The Horror in the Museum_, Arkham; _The Loved Dead_,
Carroll and Graf.
Synopsis: An odd mummy is found on an isle on the Pacific, and is
brought to the Cabot Museum in Boston. It attracts little attention
there until a sleazy reporter calls attention to it. Afterward,
it brings in crowds speculating on its origin.
A curator links this mummy up with the myth of T'yog told in Von
Junzt's Nameless Cults. According to the myth, T'yog was a high
priest of Shub-Niggurath who opposed Ghatanothoa, a god who lived
at the top of a mountain in Mu. T'yog was to climb the mountain
bearing a scroll which would protect him from the sight of the god,
which petrified men. The priests of Ghatanothoa secretly switched
the scroll, and T'yog never came down.
In the present, there are a number of attempts to break in on the
mummy. One night two intruders are found, one dead and clutching a
scroll and the other petrified. The curators agree that the mummy
is deteriorating and, upon opening the skull, find a living brain
inside.
Comments: Fair to middling. Nothing here really caught my eye; the
plot is largely derivative of "The Call of Cthulhu", and I'm uncertain
as to the motivation of the thieves (Cultist Rule #45: Take the apostate
to the Holy Relic, not the other way around). Still, it was a fun read.
This is yet another in a long series of Hazel Heald "revisions"
which HPL himself wrote. It was published in Weird Tales for April 1935.
Evidently, Lovecraft had very little to say about it.
In this story, we encounter von Junzt's NAMELESS CULTS, and the
gods Shub-Niggurath, Nug, Yeb, and Yig (who are somhow opposed to
Ghatanothoa on the side of humanity). Randolph Carter in his guise as
Swami Chandraputra also makes a cameo. This story later served as
inspiration for Wilson's "The Return of the Lloigor" and Carter's
Xothic legend-cycle.
I'd write more, but I'm sick and shouldn't. Chat this Sunday,
5 pm EDT, DALnet channel #cthulhu. Back to bed.
Yrs.,
Daniel Harms
http://members.tripod.com/~danharms/
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D.E. Kesler
>
> The Shadow over Usenet
> "Out of the Aeons"
>
> Sources: _The Horror in the Museum_, Arkham; _The Loved Dead_,
> Carroll and Graf.
>
> Synopsis: An odd mummy is found on an isle on the Pacific, and is
> brought to the Cabot Museum in Boston.
> plot is largely derivative of "The Call of Cthulhu"
> 5 pm EDT, DALnet channel #cthulhu. Back to bed.
>
> Yrs.,
>
> Daniel Harms
Hello Mr. Harms,
Regarding your recent illiness, you have my sympathies. I hope you get
feeling better soon.
Regarding "Out of the Aeons," I have often suspected that Ghatanothoa is
simply another name for Cthulhu. One will note that unlike a great many
of Lovecraft's other tales, Cthulhu is not mentioned at all in "Out of
the Aeons." Considering how often he crops up in other revisionist
tales, Cthulhu absence is significant.
Also, Ghatanothoa is not mentioned in any other work by Lovecraft. This
too is significant. Keep in mind, Lovecraft was still in the habit of
presenting a list of various gods.
In the Dunwich Horror" and "Whisperer in Darkness" he mentions
Shub-Niggurath, a god he developes only in his revisionist work, along
with alot of other dieties by other authors. I personally suspect he
did this as a tip of the hat to one of his revisionist clients. Notice
how he never uses Ghatanothoa in this manner.
Also consider the following. In "The Call of Cthulhu" we learn that the
_Vigilant_ was headed for Australia from Valparaiso, Chilie. It was
"driven considerably south of her course by exceptionally strong winds
and monster waves." (DH, 145)
This is almost the opposite of the route taken by the "Eridanus" which
was "bound from Wellington, New Zealand, to Valpariso, Chilie." (HM,
264)
Now I am not the worlds greatest cartographer; however, as near as I can
tell, both ships crossed the same location. This spot is not too far
from 47 degrees 9 minutes South, 126 degrees 43 minutes West coordinates
given by Lovecraft for R'leyh. (DH, 151)
Another point to ponder is the presence of sunken land masses in both
tales. Both of these submerged islands feature cyclopean blocks of
stone from a prehuman society.
All of this points to the conclusion that Ghatanothoa, like Dagon, is
simply another name and aspect for Cthulhu. At least, that's my
opinion.
Regards and Best Wishes,
Donald Eric Kesler
Bertil Jonell
>The Shadow over Usenet
>"Out of the Aeons"
The thing that totally ruined it for me was that I know of the
(old and now disproven) theory that the thing someone sees when they die
is preserved as a (visible) imprint in the retina: I remember thinking
when I read it "Oh shit, why did HPL have to do that? It was an ok
story up to that point:(".
The feeling was very similar to the one I get when I read old SF
that has aged very badly: Some central element is based on some
physics that was a mystery back when it was written, but quite
well understood today, and the way the story solves the mystery
isn't the way it worked out in RL.
See for example the moon capture and 'nucleonic bombs' in
Hogans 'Giants' books...
>Daniel Harms
-bertil-
--
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
exercise for your kill-file."
Jason Thompson
: The thing that totally ruined it for me was that I know of the
: (old and now disproven) theory that the thing someone sees when they die
: is preserved as a (visible) imprint in the retina: I remember thinking
: when I read it "Oh shit, why did HPL have to do that? It was an ok
: story up to that point:(".
True, but it's no more ludicrously unlikely than the Fungi From Yuggoth
"flapping their wings against the aether." Since the laws of the universe
regarding giant alien entities, extraterrestrial Gods and other dimensions
have already been broken, I've never had my 'suspension of disbelief'
shattered too abruptly by the pseudo-scientific details in any of
Lovecraft's stories. Now, his depictions of human behavior, on the other
hand... ;)
Jason Thompson
Knygathin Zhaum
Alex Beckers
: True, but it's no more ludicrously unlikely than the Fungi From Yuggoth
: "flapping their wings against the aether." Since the laws of the universe
I really liked the explanation of this in the latest DG supplement
regarding the Mi-Go. They exist in higher dimensions than we do, and the
aether is present in these dimensions. This is what they use to "fly".
--
"Fides veritatem creat."
Bertil Jonell
>Bertil Jonell (d9be...@dtek.chalmers.se) wrote:
>: The thing that totally ruined it for me was that I know of the
>: (old and now disproven) theory that the thing someone sees when they die
>: is preserved as a (visible) imprint in the retina: I remember thinking
>: when I read it "Oh shit, why did HPL have to do that? It was an ok
>: story up to that point:(".
>
>"flapping their wings against the aether." Since the laws of the universe
>have already been broken, I've never had my 'suspension of disbelief'
>shattered too abruptly by the pseudo-scientific details in any of
>Lovecraft's stories.
I on the other hand accept breaking of the laws of nature when
when it comes to alien entities, extraterrestrial Gods and their ilk
because that comes from the genre conventions. Breaking the known
laws of nature when it comes to *humans* on the other hand tend
to irritate me.
>Jason Thompson
Donovan K. Loucks
Nothing here really caught my eye; the plot is largely derivative of
"The Call of Cthulhu"... Still, it was a fun read.
I'll agree with both of these. In spite of the shortcomings of this
story, it was made entertaining by Lovecraft's ever-present details and
style. But the fact that it was very derivative of "The Call of Cthulhu"
and "The Man of Stone" made it a touch dull.
Donald Eric Kesler <er...@fantasm.org> wrote,
Regarding "Out of the Aeons," I have often suspected that Ghatanothoa
is simply another name for Cthulhu.... [SNIP!] All of this points to
the conclusion that Ghatanothoa, like Dagon, is simply another name and
aspect for Cthulhu. At least, that's my opinion.
It could be argued that Cthulhu was a re-working of Dagon (and "The Call
of Cthulhu" of "Dagon"), but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're
the same. Nor would I say that Ghatanothoa is Cthulhu, despite the
similarities in their locations and aspects. I doubt that Lovecraft
imagined them as one entity instead of three distinctly separate ones.
Daniel Harms continued,
In this story, we encounter von Junzt's NAMELESS CULTS, and the gods
Shub-Niggurath, Nug, Yeb, and Yig (who are somhow opposed to
Ghatanothoa on the side of humanity).
I also found this pretty odd. Here's the quote from the story:
In the end he felt sure that the gods friendly to man could be arrayed
against the hostile gods, and believed that Shub-Niggurath, Nug, and
Yeb, as well as Yig the Serpent-god, were ready to take sides with man
against the tyranny and presumption of Ghatanothoa. (p. 273)
Note that this doesn't explicitly say that Shub-Niggurath and so on are
friendly to man, but that they might join with man against Ghatanothoa.
It's possible that "the gods friendly to man" are a separate group not
mentioned by name here.
Bertil Jonell <d9be...@dtek.chalmers.se> wrote,
The thing that totally ruined it for me was that I know of the (old and
now disproven) theory that the thing someone sees when they die is
preserved as a (visible) imprint in the retina: I remember thinking
when I read it "Oh shit, why did HPL have to do that? It was an ok
story up to that point :(".
To be honest, that aspect didn't bother me very much. In fact, I think
it's one of the few eerie elements of this tale. I can imagine Johnson
staring intently and deeply into the eyes of the mummy -- a creepy image
in itself -- and seeing the image of some monstrosity imprinted into its
retinae. If an image of Ghatanothoa can petrify those who look at it, why
couldn't that image be burned into the retinae of the victim? What I
didn't like is how the mummy's gaze caused mild petrification and the mere
handling of the scroll caused its lessening. That was just plain silly.
Jason Thompson <ja...@sonic.net> wrote,
True, but it's no more ludicrously unlikely than the Fungi From Yuggoth
"flapping their wings against the aether." Since the laws of the
universe regarding giant alien entities, extraterrestrial Gods and
other dimensions have already been broken, I've never had my
'suspension of disbelief' shattered too abruptly by the
pseudo-scientific details in any of Lovecraft's stories.
I always assumed that our original notion of the aether was correct (and
our subsequent science wasn't) or that the wings of the Outer Ones flapped
against an aether that was different from the aether that we're familiar
with. Perhaps they don't belong to the exact same dimensions that we do
and in one of their dimensions an aether exists against which they can
propel themselves. Check Deja News for our thread back in May/June 1997
on "The Luminiferous Ether".
Alex Beckers <ori...@conan.ids.net> wrote,
I really liked the explanation of this in the latest DG supplement
regarding the Mi-Go. They exist in higher dimensions than we do, and
the aether is present in these dimensions. This is what they use to
"fly".
Wow -- that's pretty much what I had in mind! I'll wrap this up by
commenting briefly on some of the various details in the story:
The Chateau des Faussesflammes was an invention of Clark Ashton Smith's
that appears in Smith's "The End of the Story", "A Rendezvous in
Averoigne", and "The Beast of Averoigne".
The Cardiff Giant was a hoax perpetrated back in 1869 near Cardiff, New
York. One of the more easily-found websites for the giant can be found at
<http://www.cardiffgiant.com/cardiff.shtml> but a much more succinct page
with photos can be found on the Roadside America web site at:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NYCOOgiant.html
A word of caution: visiting the Roadside America site is likely to result
in hours of lost time. At least, it did in my case...
Finally -- I know this is what you were all waiting for -- the Cabot
Museum of Archaeology is described as being "in Mt. Vernon Street, near
Joy" in a mansion "designed by Bulfinch and erected in 1819" (p. 266).
Mount Vernon and Joy Streets are real streets on Beacon Hill in Boston,
just south of the no-longer-extant Chambers Street address of Randolph
Carter. Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) was Boston's premier architect and
was responsible for the design of the "New" Massachusetts State House and
for finishing the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Bulfinch was busy
with the Capitol project from 1817 to 1830, so it's odd that Lovecraft
would have chosen a date of 1819 for the Cabot Museum. Perhaps the house
was designed by Bulfinch prior to 1817 (or based on an existing design)
and not built until 1819.
I don't have a specific building in mind for the Cabot Museum, but there
are many Bulfinch-designed possibilities along Mt. Vernon Street. At the
southwest intersection of Mt. Vernon and Joy Streets was the home of
Thomas Perkins, built between 1803 and 1805, which was torn down and
replaced with row houses in 1853. Further west is the Nichols House
(pre-1807) at 55 Mt. Vernon Street, open to the public as a museum. Just
past Walnut Street is 65 Mt. Vernon Street, a building occupied from 1886
to 1892 by Henry Cabot Lodge the elder. Perhaps this was Lovecraft's
inspiration for the Cabot Museum and its trustee, Lawrence Cabot. Even
further west -- but before Louisburg Square -- at 85 Mt. Vernon Street is
the Second Harrison Gray Otis House (18001). Photographs of examples of
Bulfinch's work can be seen at:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/bulfinch.html
In addition to all this, my copy of _The Smithsonian Guide to Historic
America: Southern New England_ has a photograph on page 55 labeled only
as "Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill" that shows a frieze labeled
"CABO...". The right portion of the frieze disappears off the right edge
of the photo and I can only assume that it reads "CABOT". Honestly, I
don't know if any of these buildings served as Lovecraft's inspiration for
the Cabot Museum of Archaeology. But, the Beacon Hill area is well worth
a look for the Boston traveler, primarily for its unusual and attractive
architectural elements.
-------------------
Donovan K. Loucks <webm...@hplovecraft.com>
The H.P. Lovecraft Archive: http://www.hplovecraft.com
The alt.horror.cthulhu FAQ: ftp://ftp.primenet.com/users/d/dloucks/ahc
Jason Thompson
: I on the other hand accept breaking of the laws of nature when
: when it comes to alien entities, extraterrestrial Gods and their ilk
: because that comes from the genre conventions. Breaking the known
: laws of nature when it comes to *humans* on the other hand tend
: to irritate me.
I guess the idea of the eyes recording the last thing you see is more of a
superstition than a pseudo-science. It'd seem a little more appropriate to a
fantasy story than a story set in the modern world, but not knowing much
about optometry, it didn't shake me upside the head with "this is silly".
Sort of like a story where a corpse's nails and hair really _did_ grow after
death. ;) It's true that it's an outdated and quaint-sounding idea. You
could always say that the eyes only record the last thing they see in the
case of the victim being petrified by Ghathanothoa -- that was sort of my
interpretation when I first read it.
I think Lovecraft breaks more known laws of human behavior by having his
protagonists faint constantly and go insane from reading books,
personally... ;)
Jason Thompson
Knygathin Zhaum