The Shunned House by H. P. Lovecraft - Free eBook (Read & Download)
| Title | The Shunned House |
| Author | H. P. Lovecraft |
Dear reader,
Written in the autumn of 1924, this eerie tale was set into type in 1928 by the Recluse Press before eventually reaching a wider audience through the pages of *Weird Tales* magazine.
If you enjoy supernatural horror grounded in regional history, you will find rich atmosphere in The Shunned House. H. P. Lovecraft drew inspiration directly from an actual eighteenth-century home on Benefit Street in his beloved hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.
Mold, Sickness, and Family Ledgers
The narrative follows an antiquarian investigator and his uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, as they examine a derelict dwelling that locals have avoided for generations. Those who dwelt inside its damp, drafty rooms suffered a persistent pattern of wasting sickness, strange anemia, and sudden decline.
Rather than relying on classic haunted-castle tropes, the mystery unfolds through local archives, geneaologies, and medical notebooks. What the investigators discover suggests something far more unsettling than a standard ghost: sickly yellowish vegetation in the yard, strange fungal growths shaped like human outlines, and foul vapors clinging to the earthen cellar floor.
Watching the Cellar Floor
Eventually, the two men decide that historical records are not enough. They resolve to spend the night inside the house, equipped with breathing apparatus, military weapons, and jars of carbolic acid.
Lovecraft excels here at building quiet, scientific dread. If you appreciate stories where antiquarian research gives way to tangible physical horror, this short narrative provides a satisfying, atmospheric journey into the shadowed corners of New England lore.
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