Shadows over Innsmouth

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Digital replica of Innsmouth at sunrise

Shadow over Innsmouth (original title "The Shadow over Innsmouth") is a story by the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft from the field of horror literature . It was completed in 1931 and published for the first time in 1936.

The story describes from the point of view of a young man how he comes across a strange hybrid race - half human, half fish-frog - in the decaying fictional harbor town of Innsmouth "overshadowed by horror ." These townspeople belong to the Esoteric Order of Dagon , which worships the Philistine deity of the same name, Dagān, from the Cthulhu myth . Chased by the residents, the narrator manages to flee the city, only to finally reveal an even more gruesome secret.

Today, Shadows Over Innsmouth is Lovecraft's greatest tale of degeneration and the decline of a community, portrayed by the interbreeding of residents with the Deep Beings . The theme of racism is omnipresent in this work.

action

The plot begins with a report of a secret US government investigation into the derelict port city of Innsmouth, Massachusetts . This investigation came about after the teller of the story came to Innsmouth by accident, fled the city, and turned to the authorities with his horrific discovery.

At the age of 21, the narrator embarks on a journey through New England to learn about the country and do family history studies. By the time his tale begins, he is in Newburyport and is looking for a cheap way to get to Arkham , where his family is from. When the ticket for the steam train is too expensive for him, he gets the tip from the ticket seller to take Joe Sargent's old bus, which, however, goes through the city of Innsmouth. On further inquiries he learns, among other things, that the neighboring cities avoid the area around Innsmouth, the residents look strange and rarely leave their run-down town. In addition, a pact is said to have been made with the devil, which brought ghosts from hell into the city and triggered a terrible epidemic that killed over half of the population. These clues and the fact that the city is not shown on any map arouses the protagonist's curiosity and he decides to take the said bus.

Since the bus doesn't leave until the next day, the narrator has enough time to learn more about the mysterious city from the residents of Newburyport. However, since they are very reserved, he goes to the city library to get more information. In addition to reports about the gold refinery there, he also discovers a reference to a strange piece of jewelry, a tiara with a strangely unearthly style, which is on display in Newburyport. While viewing the jewelry, he was fascinated, but also a strange disquiet that stems from the fish-frog creatures depicted on it. The curator of the museum tells him about a secret cult in Innsmouth, the Esoteric Order of Dagon .

The next morning the narrator gets on the little bus to Innsmouth. He immediately notices the wrinkled necks, narrow heads, bulging eyes and expressionless faces of the Innsmouth inmates and makes him feel dislike. He calls this look the Innsmouth look . When he arrived in Innsmouth, through a cellar door of the stone church, he saw a figure in peculiar robes and the same tiara as he had already seen in Newburyport. The protagonist begins his research in a grocery store where a young man from the neighboring town of Arkham works. From him he gets a map of the city drawn and a hint for further information in case he can track down the old drunkard Zadok Allen.

The narrator sets out to explore the largely abandoned city. He is surprised that there are neither dogs nor cats and that the shutters are not only closed in the poorly preserved buildings. He finds Zadok Allen at the dilapidated fire station. He gets a bottle of whiskey in a general store and lures everyone to a lonely neighborhood on the coast, where they settle on an old pier.

The whiskey makes the old town resident talkative and tells of the history of Innsmouth, which is closely linked to Captain Obed Marsh . Marsh owned some ships with which he traded. Among his trading partners were the natives of a small island, who had tons of strange gold jewelry and fish, because they had made a pact with the deep beings . These deep beings lived in the sea and were human-like fish-frog creatures. The trade dried up when the natives were destroyed by the inhabitants of the neighboring islands. However, Marsh would have previously obtained a piece of metal and spells to summon those deep beings from the native chief. Marsh and his men used this to conjure up these beings with human sacrifices off the coast of Innsmouth, on Devil's Reef. The deep beings had made a deal with the residents of Innsmouth: the people would get gold jewelry and fish, but they would have to take in the fish-frog creatures in their town and mate with them. The children from this intermingling should never die, they would take on the Innsmouth look and return to mother Hydra and father Dagon in the sea. The narrator also learns from old Allen that he himself has "the eyes of the Marshs".

The narrator is unsure what to think of this fantastic story and decides to leave town. Back at the bus he learns that it has broken down and that he has to spend the night in the only hotel in town, the Gilman House . Since there is no bolt on the door of the hotel room assigned to him, he attaches the lock of the wardrobe to the door. The story of Allen has so disturbed him that he cannot sleep. Late at night the floorboards creak and someone tries to break into their room without success. Shortly afterwards there is a loud knock on the door. The protagonist escapes through a connecting door into another room and climbs out of the window. He escapes through the city, always trying to remain unseen in the dark. Since the streets are monitored by the townspeople, the only escape route he can take is the disused railway line to the neighboring town of Rowley .

After being almost spotted several times, it reaches a swampy area where the railroad track runs on a low embankment, which is surrounded by bushes and scrub. When a search party approaches on a nearby road, the hunted looks for protection in the thick undergrowth. He observes the figures that have nothing human about them and give off a terrible fishy smell. Their skin is gray-green, but their bellies are white and their heads are those of fish, with gills and grotesquely staring eyes. Your locomotion is more like a hop, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on all fours. By looking at these figures, the narrator realizes the truth behind the story of old Zadok Allen and succumbs to a fainting fit. He does not wake up until the next day and continues to flee to Rowley and from there to Arkham, where he informs the authorities.

As the years go by and he searches his family tree, he comes to the disturbing assumption that he has former Innsmouth residents as ancestors. Since he is increasingly adopting the Innsmouth look himself, he first thinks about killing himself. However, his attitude gradually changes to an acceptance of the facts and he plans to free his cousin, who shares the same fate of the transformation into a fish-frog hybrid and is being held in a mental institution. With him he wants to go to his ancestors in the sea and live there in the underwater city of the deep beings, Y'ha-nthlei , as an immortal creature for all time.

inspiration

Fishhead

After ST Joshi , HP Lovecraft took up the idea of ​​the fish-frog hybrids in two books. One of these is Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb . Lovecraft read this story in the Cavalier in 1913 and also wrote an enthusiastic letter to the editor praising the work. It is the story of a murderer who takes the life of the deformed fish-like son of a half-Indian woman and a black man. Cobb described the fish-like son as follows:

“His skull sloped back so abruptly that he could hardly be said to have a have a forehead at all; his chin slanted off right into nothing. His eyes were small and round with shallow, glazed, pale-yellow pupils, and they were set wide apart in his head, and they were unwinking and staring, like a fish's eyes. [...] Also when Fishhead became a man grown his liking to a fish increased, for the hair upon his face grew out into two tightly kinked slender pendants that drooped down either side of the mouth like the beards of a fish! "

“His skull tilted back so abruptly that it couldn't be said to have a forehead; his beveled chin went nowhere. His eyes were small and round, with flat, shiny, pale yellow pupils, and they were set far apart on the head, they stared like a fish's eyes and didn't blink. [...] When the fish head grew up, its resemblance to that of a fish increased, because the hair on its face grew in two dense tufts over the corners of the mouth, similar to the beards of a fish! "

The Harbor Master

In The Harbor Master , written by Robert W. Chambers and read by Lovecraft in 1926, ST Joshi sees another book that inspired the author to his narrative. It is a short story that later becomes the first of five chapters in In Search of the Unknown (1904). The work is about a zoologist who discovers the last surviving amphibious people who live in a sea crevice about eight kilometers deep in the Atlantic.

John Silence - Physician Extraordinary

However, the two works mentioned above deal only with a single case of mixed education. HP Lovecraft, on the other hand, creates an entire society or a civilization of hybrid beings, causing the reader to feel a worldwide threat. Mainly because of the immortality of the deep beings, the view arises that people are tolerated by them on earth and not vice versa. The transformation of an entire society was already described before Lovecraft by the writer Algernon Blackwood in his story John Silence - Physician Extraordinary , which appeared in 1908. In the work, a traveler comes to a small French town and discovers that all residents turn into cats at night. Because of this commonality, this post-ST Joshi novel had a greater impact on Lovecraft than the works of Cobb and Chambers.

New England

The real city of Newburyport in New England, which Lovecraft visited in April 1923, served as a source of inspiration for the city of Innsmouth. His friend, the amateur writer Edgar J. Davis, who was only 15 years old at the time, accompanied him on the tour. Lovecraft was immediately fascinated by Newburyport, because there he found the very atmosphere of urban decay that he wanted to bring to the reader in Shadows over Innsmouth .

In a letter to Samuel Loveman, Lovecraft details her arrival in Newburyport. They drove by bus through one of the most beautiful landscapes in New England, with graceful and rolling hills. The city's surroundings had changed little over the centuries. The ancient houses, the picturesque chimney tops on old abandoned huts as well as on newer mansions with domed roofs and the ancient Georgian streets indicated little change in the last hundred years. Newburyport was then known as the city ​​of the living dead , factories and commerce could not dispel the quiet simplicity of the inhabitants. Above all, the excellently preserved business district from the 18th century contributed to the fact that the two visitors felt like they were in the past. Regarding Clark Ashton Smith , he remarked that the sight of Newburyport's devastation and the old age of the city gave rise to the idea for its story.

However, Lovecraft placed Innsmouth between Newburyport and Arkham, so there is suspicion that there must have been another source of inspiration. The small town of Gloucester (Massachusetts) lies between Arkham and Newburyport, and it may also have provided some inspiration for the author. According to Joshi and Schulz, the hall of the Esoteric Order of Dagon resembles the American Legion Hall in Gloucester, which is also called the Legion Memorial Building . Gloucester is mentioned in a discarded sketch of the narrative, but this reference is no longer included in the final version.

Lovecraft made a complete map of the Innsmouth area before completing the narration.

Emergence

History of origin

Shadows over Innsmouth came about in what HP Lovecraft himself called a low literary period. He started the narrative in his mind as a “laboratory-like experiment”, as he himself put it, and had to fight hard; Today it is difficult to understand what he could have meant by that statement. Only after several attempts did he succeed in completing his work at the end of 1931. The story was rewritten several times by Lovecraft, and he experimented with different atmospheric moods and tempo variations. After three failed attempts, the author was still dissatisfied and did not think much of his work:

“I don't think experimenting was getting too much. The result has all of the flaws that I disapprove of, especially with regard to the style, which, despite all the precautionary measures, has crept hackneyed phrases into it. No, I have no intention of offering Shadows over Innsmouth for publication because it would have no chance of being accepted. "

The literary scholar Will Murray hypothesized that Lovecraft had built in the chase scene in the book for Harry Bates , the editor of Strange Tales , because he was known to place more emphasis on action than on atmosphere; however, there is no evidence of this. Lovecraft did not submit the story to Strange Tales or Weird Tales - both related Pulp magazines - for publication, so Murray concludes that the author was actually as dissatisfied with his story as he claimed to be and wanted to open it not publish to the professional market at all.

This attitude is reflected in a letter to Farnsworth Wright , editor of Weird Tales , in which Lovecraft wrote about his narrative, among other things:

“[...] and by conventional magazine standards it is undoubtedly unbearably cumbersome, difficult to subdivide or something like that. At the moment I don't think I'll be submitting new material anywhere. "

publication

A friend of Lovecraft's, August Derleth , tried to persuade the writer to submit Shadows over Innsmouth to Weird Tales after all, but Lovecraft firmly refused. Subsequently, in 1933, Derleth single-handedly sent Shadows over Innsmouth to Farnsworth Wright. He was fascinated by the story, but didn't know what to do with it, as it was too long to be printed all at once. A letter from Derleth to Robert E. Howard shows that the latter went to great lengths to conceal his efforts to publish Shadows over Innsmouth , as Lovecraft feared a refusal. His efforts were in vain because the writer eventually found out.

Inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's own publications of rejected stories, Lovecraft came up with the idea of ​​publishing his works Shadows over Innsmouth and Mountains of Madness as a book. William L. Crawford , editor of Marvel Tales magazine , picked up on this idea in 1935 and developed plans to publish both works. Ultimately, Shade Over Innsmouth was published as a small, crudely printed book, which was also full of typographical errors. Of the 400 printed works, however, only 200 were bound for cost reasons, and the rest were simply thrown away.

After Lovecraft's death in 1937, Derleth continued trying to get the story up for publication. He received rejections from Farnsworth Wright of Weird Tales and Famous Fantastic Mysteries magazine . It was only Wright's successor, Dorothy McIlwraith, who printed the story with considerable cuts in the January 1941 edition.

translation

The translation into German was done by Rudolf Hermstein and was first published in 1965 by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag as part of the 12 horror stories series by HP Lovecraft . The 120-page paperback is currently in its 8th edition, which was published by Suhrkamp Verlag.

Interpretative approaches

According to Monika Schmitz-Emans, the world in Lovecraft's tale is ruled by alien powers, against which humans, as helpless victims, are powerless; it seems hopeless to rule and see through the world. This points to the “reactionary” dimension of fantastic literature localized by Lars Gustafsson . In the case of shadows over Innsmouth , the horror is caused by the physically and sensually “incomprehensible”, which can be found in blurring shapes, briefly suggested images or an indefinite sound. The central statement always comes down to one thing: The deep beings have established themselves in the human world and are omnipresent. The water world is the epitome of the foreign. The drive to Innsmouth and the gloomy abandoned city create a kind of anxiety in the narrator, but the outward appearance of the residents arouses disgust and horror.

The story of Zadok Allen is integrated into the main plot as an internal story and is considered the key to the mystery of Innsmouth. It is a kind of prehistory, which is filled with typical Lovecraft absurdities and nevertheless follows a conventional pattern.

According to Monika Schmitz-Emans, the deep beings are “the born of Lovecraft's imagination”. Great rhetorical effort is made to convey the otherness and horror of these creatures to the reader. Lovecraft makes a point of describing a species that does not exist in nature, but he creates his species from the characteristics of known animal species. This also shows his method with given material foundations - it is a combination of known materials or a mixture of familiar things. He tries to hide this approach with rhetorical means in order to suggest to the reader that he has created something completely different.

Lovecraft uses an unusual technique of linguistic empty forms. He tries out a rhetorical instrument, which consists of empty word shells of meaningless adjectives, of negative formulas and of indirect representations of the cause (of the “unspeakable” horror) over the effect (the horror). The horrors lose their influence because they are also subjected to positive regulations.

The monsters in the book create horror, but not that of the extra-human-gruesome, since they become portraits of historical humanity, the invaders act colonialist . Their intention is to subjugate and then exterminate people. They also forcibly establish their own cult and religion. Schmitz-Emans draws comparisons here with the colonization of America and the extermination of the Indians. She also sees parallels between Lovecraft's racism and forms of “white” racism, especially that of the German National Socialists . One of Lovecraft's strengths - whether wanted or not - is to hold up a distorted reflection in front of Europe and "white" America, because the monstrosity of the invaders in the book is our kind.

The world in shadows over Innsmouth seems less strange than with other authors since the Romantic era, as the beings in his stories are outwardly different from humans, but their structure is strongly reminiscent of human societies. They are organized hierarchically and their cultures are caricatures of human cults. The beings use a foreign language and symbols, which makes them similar to humans.

To begin with, there is an aura of mystery around the deep beings. Because of this, the reader is made to feel ignorant and tension is generated. As the story progresses, the reader becomes more and more familiar with the secrets of Innsmouth and finds their way around better, the strange no longer seems so strange. The contrast between the strange and language is not demonstrated quite voluntarily. The confusion of the reader by the world of the deep beings is reduced, as their symbols move the alien world into the realm of the potentially translatable.

writing style

Characteristics of Lovecraft's writing style are the avoidance of simple statements and explanations when they are not necessary, and the use of fictional language that produces sentences like "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." This language bears no resemblance to anything human and is only used to confuse the reader and to point out the difference between cosmic and earthly life. Lovecraft tries in his works to ascribe certain characteristics to the main characters, to project themselves into the characters , especially with regard to their manners and behavior. Often they come from a good family, are intelligent, dreamy, fragile, or need to keep a cool head in certain situations. Lovecraft's writing style includes archaic, ancient formulations, his choice of words is based on British English , despite his American origins . His stories tend to have the same structure: a problem arises, it is investigated, a rational explanation is sought, a confrontation with the truth.

atavism

A style element that Lovecraft likes to use is atavism , a mental, moral change towards a different being that is inevitable and part of family history. Shadows Over Innsmouth is a prime example of how the main character's life is predetermined by inheritance. The Charles Dexter Ward case is another example of the use of atavism in Lovecraft's work.

Racism and xenophobia

Shadows over Innsmouth reveal racist tendencies. Xenophobia, based on the peculiarity and otherness of the inhabitants as well as the mixing of races, hangs over the story. But Lovecraft's socio-political ideals are not easy to squeeze into a scheme: On the one hand, he was an admirer of Hitler and Mussolini; He was unmistakably influenced by Gobineau's essay "sur l'inégalité des races humaines" from 1854, but he gave these theories their own note. For him, the best form of human being was that of the Anglo-Saxon, in his opinion it was crowned superman with the civilization of England and the American colonies in the 18th century. Second, he was married to a Russian-born Jew, and some of his best friends were also Jews.

As Lovecraft got older, his racial hatred noticeably decreased. However, numerous letters from 1933 showed that Lovecraft's racism culminated in a renewed outbreak. The "alien and emotionally repulsive cultural stream" of the Jews and their "ruthless entrepreneurship" were a particular thorn in Lovecraft's side. He also referred to immigrants as "crawling peasants", "stinking half-breeds", "ghetto bastards" and "scum and sediment in their homeland". Lovecraft saw himself as "a kind of cross between a fascist and a non-Bolshevik socialist of the old kind". L. Sprague de Camp also writes in his biography that the turning away from anti-Semitism was the most noticeable change in Lovecraft's last three years.

Position in the complete works

Shadows over Innsmouth is based on the Cthulhu myth created by Lovecraft, references to the deities Dagon and Cthulhu are omnipresent. Lovecraft has chosen Massachusetts, New England, as the setting for the story. His fondness for New England can also be seen in many of his other stories. The entry into the story begins with its end, only to be led slowly towards it. At first the horror can only be guessed at, but the further the narrative progresses, the more explicit its representation becomes. In general, the term time is a very important one for Lovecraft, as he himself once put on the record. Time plays a major role in almost every one of his stories. He defines time as the "most profoundly dramatic and grimly terrible thing in the universe", that is, as "the most dramatic and terrible thing in the universe". Shadow over Innsmouth was created at the end of the so-called Lovecraft dream cycle (1918–1932), but is not part of it. The work is the only book publication during the author's lifetime, even if only a small edition of 200 copies was printed from it.

Further information

Characters

Robert Olmstead

The main character, a college student from Toledo, is the narrator in the story. His name is never mentioned in the tale Shadows over Innsmouth , but it emerges from Lovecraft's surviving notes. Olmstead is traveling through New England to do family and antiquity research and comes to Innsmouth by chance. There he meets the old resident Zadok Allen and through his stories he unravels the dark secret of the small, dilapidated town. After numerous terrible incidents and a successful escape from Innsmouth, the government, at Olmstead's insistence, begins investigating the events surrounding the cursed port city. As Robert Olmstead got older, he began to adopt the Innsmouth look. In 1930 he helped his cousin to escape from a psychiatric institution and went with him into the sea to live with the deep beings in the underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei. He is unconsciously driven and guided by his own genetic makeup.

What is believable about the character of Olmstead is the many common details, some of which coincide with Lovecraft's own habits, such as: B. the quality of the frugal traveler. Like Lovecraft, Olmstead is always looking for the cheapest route, which is usually the bus. Researching Innsmouth in the library, exploring the city on the map, and interviewing residents is also Lovecraft's real-life approach. The modest meal that Olmstead takes in Innsmouth also reflects the writer's meager diet.

Olmstead's metamorphosis at the end of the book is the controversial climax of the horrific story, telling the reader that not only has his body been subject to change, but his mind has also been irreversibly corrupted. The change in character is represented by subtle descriptions. This is made clear in the title of the work, which is used in different variations: first, we hear from the shadowy Innsmouth , then the shadowed Innsmouth of rumors , to the shadowed Innsmouth from evil . This increase testifies to Olmstead's growing disgust for the city's residents. After his conversion, however, the main character speaks of Innsmouth overshadowed by miracles and the even greater wonders of Y'ha-nthlei , where he will live forever. This is intended to express a sense of victory on the part of the character and to evoke a feeling of utter horror in the readers.

Zadok Allen

Zadok Allen was born in 1831 and is one of the last remaining fully human residents of Innsmouth. In 1927 he disappears under mysterious circumstances and becomes a victim of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.

Through the use of alcohol, Robert Olmstead succeeds in learning more about the true history of the small town from old drunkard Allen. When he was 15 years old, he says, the Deep Beings came into town and there was an uproar in which his father died. He then joined the Esoteric Order of Dagon , but he would never have been accepted into the innermost circle, as he had only sworn two of three oaths on Dagon. He left the village to fight in the civil war, but returned afterwards.

Without Zadok Allen, Olmstead would never have been able to find out the truth about the mysterious goings-on in the port city. Allen points out to Olmstead during his story that he has the eyes of the Marshs. This is the first time that the reader gets a clue about the true ancestors of the main character. The story of Allen provides the necessary historical background to the city, so that a feeling of hidden horror arises in the reader.

The character Zadok Allen is very similar to the amateur poet Jonathan E. Hoag, whom Lovecraft met in 1918. Hoag's year of birth and death are the same as for everyone. Humphrey Lathrop, an older Doctor from Herbert Groman's book The Place Called Dagon , may also have influenced Zadok Allen's design. Just like Zadok, he knows the history of the city very well and is not averse to alcohol.

Obed Marsh

Obed Marsh was sea captain and owner of the ships Columby ( Brigantine ) Hettyun ( Brigg ) and Sumatry Queen ( Bark ).

He first encountered the bizarre fish-frog hybrids in the mid-19th century on a South Sea island with ancient ruins in the Pacific . The inhabitants of the island had plenty of fish and gold jewelry with fish and frog beings depicted on them. Marsh succeeds in building a profitable gold trade with the natives. So that people wouldn't be amazed at the bizarre jewelry, he converted the old factory in Innsmouth into a gold refinery. In time he learns the whole truth from Chief Walakea. The tribe sacrificed young people to a deity twice a year - on the evening before May Day and on the evening before All Saints Day. In return, they received plenty of fish and gold jewelry. The sacrifices included a mating with the sea creatures, which resulted in the Innsmouth look .

The chief showed Marsh some spells and incantations. The sea captain also received a piece of metal that he could use to summon the deep beings. At some point the island's inhabitants disappeared; it was assumed that the natives of the neighboring islands had put an end to the terrible hustle and bustle. The buildings were also destroyed as much as possible.

Captain Marsh and some people from town used the magic formulas and the metal piece to conjure up the deep beings on Devil's Reef. These promised them great fortunes if they were allowed to mate with the residents of Innsmouth. The mixing of the races led to terrible deformities of a physical and psychological nature.

In 1846, Obed had taken a second wife whom no one in town saw. It is believed that the deep beings forced him to. He had three children with her, two of whom disappeared in childhood. However, one girl looked quite normal and was raised in Europe. According to Lovecraft's notes, Marsh's daughter, Alice, is Robert Olmstead's great-grandmother.

Marsh founded the Esoteric Order of Dagon and was given the Book of Dagons of the Deep Beings. This book presents the scriptures for the cult of the deep beings, contains the history of the immortal species and describes their religious rites. The book consists of several conical stones with inscriptions. With the help of his non-human allies, Obed Marsh was able to translate the R'lyehian glyphs. The book was never published and few handwritten copies exist. When the government came to Innsmouth the stones were taken away. In 1955 they were destroyed in an accident.

Obed Marsh died in 1878.

Barnabas Marsh

Barnabas is the grandson of Obed Marsh and his first wife. He is the son of Onesiphorus, Obed's eldest son. His mother was one of the deep beings.

Barnabas Marsh, known as Old Man Marsh , lives in Innsmouth and owns the local Marsh Refining Company , a gold refinery. Olmstead learns from Zadok that Barnabas has changed significantly recently. He can no longer close his eyes and has a completely different body shape. People in the village say he is still wearing clothes but will soon go into the water forever.

Joe Sargent

Joe Sargent is an Innsmouth resident who runs a bus company. The only route is from Newburyport via Innsmouth to Arkham . The few passengers on this bus route always come from Innsmouth, as the people from neighboring cities have an aversion to the residents of the dilapidated port city. The small bus that is used on this route is old and shabby. Robert Olmstead used this line to get from Newburyport to Innsmouth. The bus company closed with government intervention in Innsmouth in 1928.

Joe Sargent is estimated to be no older than 35 years and has the well-known "Innsmouth look". He is thin, with sagging shoulders and deep folds of skin on the right and left sides of the neck. His face is expressionless, the shape of his head narrow. The ears are underdeveloped, the eyes protruding and watery blue, and they never seem to blink. Sargent has a thick upper lip, the gray skin is large-pored and uneven. He has big hands with short fingers and a huge palm. His feet are larger than average, so his gait looks like he's waddling.

The city of Innsmouth

Location of Innsmouth in Massachusetts

The fictional city of Innsmouth is located at the mouth of the fictional Manuxet River in the US state of Massachusetts. According to Lovecraft's accounts, the port city was once prosperous and vibrant, but today it is deserted and decaying.

Lovecraft dates the founding of Innsmouth to the year 1643. He described the city as an economic miracle, it quickly developed into an important trading center on the Atlantic , not least because of the well-developed port. Innsmouth ships sailed all over the world and came back with goods from all over the world. Lovecraft writes of the decline of prosperity, during the war of 1812 the entire fleet was privatized and sent into battle against the British ships. This turned out to be a big mistake. Half of the fleet and its crew were lost, which in turn meant the end of the city's wealth.

It also describes how the city tried to raise funds after the war. This was achieved through income from the mills on the riverbank and the successful trade agreement between Captain Obed Marsh and some islands in the Malay Archipelago . Around 1840 the captain lost important trading partners and the economic boom in Innsmouth came to an end. It was at this time that Lovecraft dates the establishment of the Esoteric Order of Dagon by Captain Marsh, a cult based on the writings and beliefs of Polynesian islanders with whom he traded. Lovecraft writes that there are rumors that the Order worshiped dark gods and organized night trips to Devil's Reef.

In 1846, Lovecraft caused a terrible epidemic in Innsmouth. He does not describe its exact origin in more detail, but it could be an epidemic brought in by the remaining traders. How the weeks passed during the epidemic cannot be exactly understood, as Lovecraft does not go into it in more detail, but he writes that riots and looting were the order of the day at that time. When residents from the surrounding towns of Innsmouth came to the rescue, they found half of the residents dead and Obed Marsh and his order controlled the town. Innsmouth was strangely regaining prosperity at this time due to rich fishing grounds and a fully utilized gold refinery. But the fate of the city continued its tragic course through an idea of ​​Lovecraft. The newborn children suddenly had deformities, probably the aftermath of the plague.

During the civil war , the city was unable to meet the conscription quota, according to Lovecraft's texts and Daniel Harms' additions. Too many people had deformities. Innsmouth was ruled by the Marsh family for years, with people from other cities increasingly avoiding coming here.

Lovecraft finally writes that this state of affairs lasted until 1927, when the federal government first began investigating Innsmouth into illicit trafficking. These investigations culminated in a raid in early 1928 , during which many abandoned buildings were blown up, the Esoteric Order of Dagon was dissolved and several residents were arrested and transferred to military prisons. He also writes of rumors that a government submarine torpedoed an unknown target behind Devil's Reef. The arrested residents remained in the prisons until the 1940s. Allegedly, many of them are still in detention today. Innsmouth itself has now become a neglected ghost town.

The Gilman House

Lovecraft describes in his book Shadows over Innsmouth Gilman House, the only inn in all of Innsmouth. He writes of fictional stories, according to which unnaturally strange, dreadful voices can be heard from the empty rooms of the hotel.

The property itself is in poor shape, according to Lovecraft. Furthermore, the yellow exterior paint of the old walls has peeled off, the sign with the hotel name at the entrance is half blurred, the corridors are deserted and dusty, the rotten floors and stairs creak with every step. The hotel has at least three floors and the rooms are connected by doors. A large dome crowns the roof of Gilman House.

Lovecraft describes the night porter at Gilman House as grumpy and strange in appearance, but not inclined to the "Innsmouth look". The author also mentions that the porter does not seem particularly enthusiastic when guests from outside the city stay in the hostel. However, rooms are often available from a dollar a night.

Lovecraft describes the rooms at Gilman House as poorly furnished with the bare-bones of worm-eaten furniture; most of the beds are hard and saggy. A look out of the window shows the observer the adjoining empty brick buildings, massive farm buildings with steep roofs, other dilapidated houses up to the outskirts, as well as the beginning of the marshland on the horizon that surrounds Innsmouth, so Lovecraft. The rooms are described as very old, with some it is no longer possible to additionally lock the door to the corridor with a hinge because this is either rusted or has been removed. Lovecraft continues that fire escapes are few and far between, despite state safety regulations. He does not consider it necessary that every room has access to such a ladder in an emergency. He describes windows with curtains made of heavy velor, which are attached to the curtain rods with brass rings. The shutters on the outside of the hotel are attached with massive iron hooks.

The bathrooms at Gilman House, designed by Lovecraft, have old marble bowls as sinks and pewter bathtubs , and the lighting is electric, but very weak. The installation pipes are clad with wood, which due to its age and constant moisture is already beginning to be too modern. Not every room has running water.

The devil reef

Devil's Reef, invented in the tale Shadows over Innsmouth , is a low, black reef about two and a half kilometers off the coast of Innsmouth, behind which the deep water begins. Depending on the tide , part of it rises above the water or lies just below it. When Innsmouth was still trading with other cities, Lovecraft said, the incoming ships tried to avoid the reef every time.

Lovecraft goes on to write about Innsmouth residents' swimming competitions towards the reef. He also describes creatures of hideous sight that either lie on the reef or disappear into one of the numerous existing caves.

In Shadows over Innsmouth there is further talk of fictional reports, according to which Captain Obed Marsh and his crew often landed on Devil's Reef during the night and held rituals. On one of these nights, a loud singing was heard from the reef and the captain had sunk heavy objects on the side of the reef that led into the deep water. Lovecraft writes of a demonic pact between the inhabitants and the deep beings, which would bring gold in return for the human sacrifices of the captain.

Right at the beginning of the story, Lovecraft writes about an investigation by the federal government in Innsmouth in the winter of 1927/28, during which it was torpedoed by a submarine from the deep sea trench behind Devil's Reef. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei is located under the Devil's Reef, which was probably the target of these torpedoes.

Y'ha-nthlei

Lovecraft describes the Y'ha-nthlei he invented as a cyclopean, columnar underwater city. It is one of four known cities of the deep beings (the other cities are Ahu-Y'hloa near Cornwall, G'll-Hoo near the volcanic island of Surtsey on the coast of Iceland, and the fabled R'lyeh in the South Pacific in which the great Cthulhu sleeps), which Daniel Harms breaks down in his book Encyclopedia Cthulhiana . The city is located on the coast of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, under the mysterious Devil's Reef. When the federal government torpedoed the deep sea trench behind the Devil's Reef with a submarine in February 1928, parts of the city were destroyed. Daniel Harms writes of 2 more bombings of the city after reports of continued activities of the deep beings in their underwater city made the rounds. Delta Green in 1953 and the Wilmarth Foundation in 1974 were responsible for these further bombings. However, it is possible that the Deep Beings have returned to rebuild their great metropolis. Harms writes that it is not known how long the city existed before the torpedoes. Some residents are said to have lived there for at least 80,000 years. One of these thousand-year-old residents is Pth'thya-l'yt, the daughter of mother Hydra.

Robert Olmstead, who experienced fantastic things in Lovecraft's story Shadows over Innsmouth and who, after his fictional adventures, is in the process of transformation to the deep being, planned to visit the underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei with his cousin after the first torpedoes by the federal government he helped escape the madhouse in Canton .

The esoteric Order of Dagon

The fictional esoteric Order of Dagon is a secret cult with a pagan character, which was founded by Obed Marsh and his men around 1840 at a time when the fishing industry in Innsmouth was doomed. Lovecraft writes that the Order quickly smashed the local Freemasonry and took over their temple as a new meeting place. The cult of Dagon is not recognized by other religious communities. Furthermore, Lovecraft describes some peculiarities of the order such as the ineffable ceremonies and the strange clothing of its members.

Lovecraft has the esoteric Order of Dagon pray to the gods of the deep beings, father Dagon, mother Hydra and the great Cthulhu, but writes that Cthulhu plays a rather minor role in the prayers. Together they form the triad of gods. In his story, Lovecraft lets the deep beings make human sacrifices through the secret cult. These sacrifices were made at certain times, in return the cultists received a limited amount of gold and schools of fish.

According to Lovecraft, the members of the esoteric order had to take three oaths, which were recorded in detail by the author Daniel Harms: secrecy, loyalty and marriage to a deep being in order to father children with them or to bear them, had to be sworn.

Lovecraft writes at the beginning of his story that the order was smashed in the winter of 1927/1928 when government troops began investigating in Innsmouth at the request of Robert Olmstead. However, the dismantling only affected the order in Innsmouth, other branches, however, still exist in secret locations.

The deities

HP Lovecraft mentions the gods Dagon, Hydra and Cthulhu by name in his book Shadows over Innsmouth , but he does not give the reader any significant background information about them. Daniel Harms has compiled a lot of information in his Encyclopedia Cthulhiana , which is briefly reproduced here, among other things, in order to obtain a more detailed insight into the world of Lovecraft.

Dagon
Artist's impression of the sea deity Dagon

According to Daniel Harms, Dagon belongs to the Deep Beings, he is one of the oldest of them. Dagon has grown excessively after rule over his younger brothers and sisters for thousands of years. Deep beings never stop growing in the course of their life, hence its size. Dagon is one step below the god Cthulhu, to whom he must obey. Much of his time, Dagon sleeps in a crevice on the ocean floor under layers of mud. Only when he is called by rituals of the deep beings or the followers of the Esoteric Order of Dagon does he come to the surface of the sea. Legend has it that Dagon can only come ashore as the water level allows at low tide. But Daniel Harms writes of a tradition in which he was seen further inland.

Hydra

Hydra belongs to the race of the deep beings and, like her consort Dagon, is much larger than their conspecifics, according to Daniel Harms in his Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. He describes Hydra as one of the deities worshiped by the deep beings and some cults such as the Esoteric Order of Dagon . Hydra's daughter, Pth'thya-l'yt, has lived in the underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei for 80,000 years.

Cthulhu
Sketch of the great Cthulhu, personally made by HP Lovecraft

Lovecraft writes in Shadows over Innsmouth that Cthulhu is one of the three gods worshiped by the Deep Beings and members of the fictional esoteric Order of Dagon. It is described as being of enormous size, with bat-like wings on its back, claws on its fingers and its head resembling that of an octopus. Its origin is controversial, according to the records of Daniel Harms it comes from the world of Vhoorl in the 23rd fog.

In addition to Daniel Harms, August Derleth , himself an author and friend of Lovecraft, writes , Cthulhu sleeps in a death-like trance under the Pacific Ocean in the city of R'lyeh. At a certain star constellation he will rise again with the city and bring death and damnation over the world.

The "Innsmouth Look"

The inhabitants of the fictional harbor town of Innsmouth are, according to Lovecraft in his book Shadows over Innsmouth , forced to mate with the deep beings due to a pact with the deep beings. Their descendants are hybrid beings with a human appearance, which over time come closer to the image of their ancestors, the deep beings. Lovecraft calls this fish-like look the Innsmouth look .

What is noticeable about the Innsmouth look is the reduced head shape, the hair falls out. The eyes grow larger until they protrude from the shrunken head and blinking becomes impossible. The ears shrink until they are barely visible or no longer present. Dandruff begins to grow on all kinds of parts of the body, the skin becomes rough and takes on a grayish hue. Skin folds form on the neck, which can subsequently grow into gills. The fingers and feet grow excessively as a result of the transformation process. The upright gait turns into a stooped waddling and hopping on two legs, sometimes on all fours.

The human part of the hybrid beings diminishes over time and the appearance of their ancestors becomes more apparent. Therefore, they withdraw from the public eye and begin to live in seclusion. If the transformation to the deep being is completely completed (this process can take several years and differs from person to person, but in human terms it lasts at least up to the middle age of the hybrid), these are relatively immortal. Driven by a constant desire to leave the human world, they eventually go to Y'ha-nthlei, the city of their ancestors underwater.

Issues and receptions

The short story Shadows over Innsmouth has appeared in the following literary works in addition to the paperback edition:

  • 1965 - 12 horror stories by HP Lovecraft, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag
  • 1971 - The case of Charles Dexter Ward, Two horror stories, Insel Verlag, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1977.
  • 1990 - Shadows over Innsmouth, HP Lovecraft, Suhrkamp Verlag.
  • 1996 - The Best of HP Lovecraft, Suhrkamp Verlag.
  • 2001 - Collected Works: Work Group I, Volume 5; limited edition , Edition Phantasia.
  • 2008 - Lovecraft Horror Stories , Suhrkamp Verlag.
  • 2011 - Collected Works Volume 1: The Cosmic Terror; New translation . Festa publishing house.
  • 2011 - Chronicle of the Cthulhu Myth II. Festa Verlag.

Influenced works

The book contains the original story of HP Lovecraft plus 16 other stories inspired by it by various authors.
This collection of diverse works contains 13 stories (including the original story by HP Lovecraft) and three poems .
The book contains eleven stories, some of which relate to Lovecraft's Innsmouth.
An admirer of Lovecrafts researches that eventually lead him to the port prefecture of Innswich Point. Weren't Lovecraft's stories just fictional?
An epidemiologist travels to the port city of Innsmouth to investigate the mutations there.

Movies

The film is about zombies , vampires and old witches . The reference to Lovecraft and his story Shadows over Innsmouth is unmistakable .
Screamers , an Italian production (original title: La Isola degli uomini pesci ) borrows heavily from the story, especially when it comes to the subject of fish and frog beings.
The plot, a young student must find out his fate when he discovers that he belongs to a race of monsters, is clearly based on Lovecraft's horror novel.
The horror film Dagon is based in large part on the short story Dagon and the tale Shadows over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft.
The ten-minute short is about a generation after the terrifying events in the book. It is the story of a woman who tries to escape the family curse.
The 5th episode of the anime series Kishin Houkou Demonbane , in which elements of the Cthulhu myth were processed, is about the city of Innsmouth.
The American film has adapted many elements from Shadows Over Innsmouth . A Seattle history professor returns to his hometown and comes across his father's apocalyptic cult.
The Greek short film is based on Lovecraft's Shadows over Innsmouth and The Shadow from Time . A young professor suddenly falls into a coma. When he wakes up in the hospital, he's not the same anymore.

Music adaptations

  • 1986 - Metal band Metallica , founded in 1981, found a source of inspiration in Shadows over Innsmouth for their song The Thing That Should Not Be , which can be heard on the album Master of Puppets .
  • 2000 - The alternative metal band Agents of Oblivion , formed in 1999, refer to the work of HP Lovecraft in their song Endsmouth on the album Agents of Oblivion .
  • 2005 - The album Carpathia by the German Gothic Metal band The Vision Bleak , founded in 2000, is largely inspired by Shadows over Innsmouth .
  • 2008 - The album Into the Arms of Chaos by the Gothic rock band Whispers in the Shadow , founded in 1996, refers to HP Lovecraft several times. The song Down by the Sea was particularly inspired by Shadows Over Innsmouth .

Audio book / radio play

On the commercial market, there are two German audio adaptations of the story, on the one hand, the audio book -version of LPL Records and secondly the later published by Luebbe Verlag some years audio adaptation . In 1995 Hermann Motschach edited a forty-minute radio play based on Lovecraft's story for SWR.

LPL records Lübbe Audio
publication 2003 2012
Playing time 278 min (audio book) 126 min (radio play)
Number of CDs 4th 2
Part of the series HP Lovecraft's Library of Secrets (Part 2) Cabinet of Horrors (episode 66 & 67)
speaker

Lutz Riedel - Reader
Joachim Kerzel
Nana Spier
David Nathan

Louis Friedemann Thiele (Robert Olmstead)
Peter Weis - Zadok Allen
Peter Reinhardt - radio operator
Jessy Rameik - passerby
Hans-Jürgen Wolf - ticket seller
Reinhilt Schneider - Anna Tilton
Ronald Nitschke - Joe Sargent
Dirk Petrick
Wilfried Herbst - E. Lapham Peabody
Hasso Zorn - Announcement
Sonja Deutsch - Robert's grandmother
Wilfried Herbst - E. Lapham Peabody
Hans-Jürgen Dittberner - hotel receptionist
Benjamin Kiesewetter - government official

ISB no. ISBN 978-3-7857-1384-6 ISBN 978-3-7857-4716-2

Board and book games

  • 1988 - The story Shadows over Innsmouth is processed in Uwe Anton's playbook City of Demons . In it, the reader tries, in the role of museum curator William Hendergast, to prevent Dagon from being reawakened.
  • 2008 - In the board game Innsmouth Escape from the publisher Twilight Creations Inc., a player takes on the role of a student who has to free his friends and flee Innsmouth. He's the only human player. All other players take on a group of deep beings who must try to prevent the human player from escaping. The board game Innsmouth Escape is suitable for 2 - 5 players and the duration is between 30 and 60 minutes. The game is only available in English, German instructions can be found on the publisher's website.
  • 2009 - Expansion Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror adventure board game Arkham Horror appears. In Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror , investigators explore the rotting town of Innsmouth, whose communities are not exactly friendly to players. The main game and all expansions are distributed by the US game publisher Fantasy Flight Games . The main game has been available in German since 2006, the Innsmouth expansion since 2010 through Heidelberger Spieleverlag . Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror adds new investigators, monsters, action cards, location maps, a city map and new encounters in the other worlds to the main game. The main game is expanded with over 300 additional cards.
  • 2012 - Expansion Arkham Horror: Miskatonic Horror for board game Arkham Horror , distributed by the Flight Games, appears. In addition to all the expansions available so far, Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror will also be expanded to include Innsmouth encounter and Innsmouth-Look cards.

Computer games

  • 1993 - The game Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames is released for Windows PC. The game covers, among other things, events from Shadows over Innsmouth and takes place in the fictional town of Illsmouth.
  • 1995 - The follow-up game Prisoner of Ice , published again by Infogrames, also makes reference to Lovecraft and the fictional port town of Illsmouth known from its predecessor.
  • 2000 - The Level 1950 - Village of the game TimeSplitters is a tribute to Lovecraft's horror story. Here the player has to escape from a fishing village where the inhabitants have mutated .
  • 2001 - The Slug Manace quest in the role-playing game RuneScape is heavily based on the book. Among other things, a dealer in the game bears the name Lovecraft.
  • 2008 - The 3D online community Second Life opens a region (Sim) called Innsmouth. This is a virtual replica of the small port city from the book.

Plays

  • The shadow over Innsmouth by George Isherwood, German by Raphael Protiwensky, Hartmann & Stauffacher, Cologne.

Web links

Wikisource: Shadow Over Innsmouth  - Sources and full texts (English)
Wikisource: Dagon  - Sources and full texts (English)
Wikisource: Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb  - sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 6, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g H. P. Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag.
  3. ↑ a b c d e S. T. Joshi - A Dreamer & A Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time, p. 306.
  4. ↑ a b c radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 7, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  5. ^ Irvin S. Cobb - Fishhead, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform .
  6. ↑ In Search of the Unknown by Robert W. Chambers . Gutenberg project. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  7. ^ ST Joshi - A Dreamer & A Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time, p. 164.
  8. ↑ a b c radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 5, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  9. ^ Guide to Lovecraftian Sites in Massachusetts . The HP Lovecraft Archive. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  10. ↑ a b c radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 3, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  11. ^ A b S. T. Joshi - A Dreamer & A Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time, p. 305.
  12. ↑ a b radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 4, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  13. ↑ a b H. P. LOVECRAFT CTHULHUS RUF - German publications . Highdive Records. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  14. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Heyne publishing house.
  15. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag.
  16. ↑ Monika Schmitz-Emans: Seetiefen und Seelentiefen, Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, p. 169.
  17. ↑ a b Monika Schmitz-Emans: Seetiefen und Seelentiefen, Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, p. 170.
  18. ↑ Monika Schmitz-Emans: Seetiefen und Seelentiefen, Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, p. 171.
  19. ↑ a b Csóka Bálint: HP Lovecraft, the Horroristic Literary Mythology  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / insula.sjehok.org   , Section 2.1. Characteristics of Lovecraft's writing. Retrieved March 21, 2012
  20. ^ Wellesley College Digital Scholarship and Archive - The Wounded Ego of Howard Phillips Lovecraft . Article by René Galand, p. 5, p. 11. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  21. ↑ L. Sprague de Camp: HP Lovecraft - A biography. Festa, Chapter 17, pp. 265-267.
  22. ^ Notes on Writing Weird Fiction - By HP Lovecraft . The HP Lovecraft Archive. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  23. ↑ Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of HP Lovecraft. Del Rey, 1985
  24. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 214.
  25. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 112ff.
  26. ↑ Radio play by LPL Records , Bonus CD - Track 9, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  27. ↑ a b c d radio play by LPL Records , bonus CD - Track 8, background information by ST Joshi & David E. Schulz, edited by Frank Festa
  28. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 7.
  29. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth. Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 55.
  30. ^ ST Joshi and David E. Schultz, "Allen, Zadok", An HP Lovecraft Encyclopedia, pp. 3, 239.
  31. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 53.
  32. ^ ST Joshi - A Dreamer & A Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time, p. 305.
  33. ↑ a b H. P. Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 70.
  34. ^ A b S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, "Obed Marsh", An HP Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 194.
  35. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 27.
  36. ^ ST Joshi and David E. Schultz, "Allen, Zadok", An HP Lovecraft Encyclopedia, pp. 3, 163.
  37. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 10.
  38. ↑ a b H. P. Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 25.
  39. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 14f.
  40. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 2.
  41. ↑ a b H. P. Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 26.
  42. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, pp. 139-140.
  43. ↑ a b H. P. Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 121.
  44. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 232, p. 239, p. 323.
  45. ↑ a b Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 95.
  46. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 23.
  47. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 38.
  48. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 64f.
  49. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, p. 212.
  50. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 7.
  51. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, pp. 66, p. 73.
  52. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, pp. 134, p. 232.
  53. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 120.
  54. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana ; Chaosium Inc, pp. 58, p. 239.
  55. ↑ August Derleth, HP Lovecraft: Innsmouth tone. In: Kalju Kirde (ed.): Azathoth • Mixed writings. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1989 (translated by Franz Rottensteiner), p. 182ff
  56. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 109.
  57. ↑ Daniel Harms: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana; Chaosium Inc, p. 141.
  58. ↑ HP Lovecraft: Shadows Over Innsmouth ; Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 39.
  59. ↑ Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database . Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  60. ↑ Dead, lesbians and a blond golden angel - gangsters and vampires . Article by Hans Schmid. In: Telepolis, December 27, 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  61. ↑ Screamers - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  62. ↑ Return to Innsmouth - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  63. ^ Dagon - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  64. ↑ Innsmouth Legacy - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  65. ^ The Shadow over Innsmouth - German and English movie information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  66. ^ Cthulhu - German and English movie information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  67. ↑ Shadow Beyond Time - German and English film information from the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  68. ↑ Shadow Beyond Time Trailer . Vimeo LLC. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  69. ↑ That Thing That Should Not Be . Encyclopedia Metallica. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  70. ^ Agents of Oblivion . Metal Music Archives. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  71. ↑ Agents of Oblivion - Endsmouth - Lyrics . SongMeanings. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  72. ^ The Vision Bleak . ENCYCLOPAEDIA METALLUM - The Metal Archives. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  73. ↑ Interview Schwadorf from The Vision Bleak . Sounds2move.de - Independent Metal Magazine since 2003. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  74. ^ Interview with Whispers in the Shadow . Duran Duran to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  75. ↑ Shadows over Innsmouth - radio play .LPL Records - Goosebumps for the ears. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  76. ↑ The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Cabinet of Horrors, episodes 66 & 67 . Website of the Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  77. ↑ The Shadow Over Innsmouth - (Part 1) , The Shadow Over Innsmouth - (Part 2) . Dipl. Ped., Dipl. Rel. ped. Michael M. Kleinschmidt. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  78. ↑ http://www.txtbank.de/spielbuch/bibliothek/anton/stadt_der_daemonen/
  79. ↑ Twilight Creations Inc. - Where fun comes to live - Innsmouth Escape ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Twilight Creations Inc. website. Retrieved January 15, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.twilightcreationsinc.com
  80. ↑ Heidelberger Spieleverlag - Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the Heidelberg game publisher. Retrieved January 15, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidelbaer.de
  81. ↑ Heidelberger Spieleverlag - Arkham Horror: Miskatonic Horror ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the Heidelberg game publisher. Retrieved January 15, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidelbaer.de
  82. ^ Shadow of the Comet . Wicked-Vision - The online magazine for fantastic films. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  83. ^ Prisoner of Ice . Adventure Corner. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  84. ↑ Timesplitters, EIDOS, 2000
  85. ^ RuneScape, Jagex Games Studio, 2001
  86. ↑ Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Headfirst Productions, 2005
  87. ↑ Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda Softworks, 2006
  88. ↑ Forgotten Horrors: Innsmouth  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Roleplay Guide MAGAZINE. Retrieved January 15, 2013.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / magazine.roleplayguide.com  
  89. ↑ The Shadow Over Innsmouth. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. A horror comedy for one actor and cans of sardines - based on the short story by HP Lovecraft. Hartmann & Stauffacher Verlag, Cologne. Retrieved December 16, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hsverlag.com