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A horror novel by H. P. Lovecraft about a man who resurrects his necromancer ancestor and faces his evil schemes. The novel explores themes of alchemy, Qabalah, and the Salem witch trials.
- H. P. Lovecraft
- 1941
A tale of horror and madness involving a young antiquarian who disappears after a mysterious encounter with his family physician. The story explores themes of reincarnation, necromancy, and the occult in a historical setting.
- Inspiration
- Plot Summary
- Characters
- Critical Reception
- Cthulhu Mythos
- Adaptations
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In August 1925, Lovecraft's Aunt Lillian sent him an anecdote about the house at 140 Prospect Street in Providence. Lovecraft wrote back, "So the Halsey house is haunted! Ugh! That's where Wild Tom Halsey kept live terrapins in the cellar--maybe it's their ghosts. Anyway, it's a magnificent old mansion, & a credit to a magnificent old town!" (HPL: ...
Charles Dexter Ward is a young man from a prominent Rhode Island family who has disappeared from a mental asylum. He had been incarcerated during a prolonged period of insanity, during which he exhibited minor and inexplicable physiological changes. His empty cell is found to be very dusty. The bulk of the story concerns the investigation conducted...
Charles Dexter Ward
1. Main article: Charles Dexter Ward Ward is born in 1902; he is 26 in 1928, at the time the story takes place. Though considered one of Lovecraft's autobiographical characters, some details of the character seem to be based on William Lippitt Mauran, who lived in the Halsey house and, like Ward, was "wheeled...in a carriage" in front of it. Like the Wards, the Maurans also owned a farmhouse in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island. (EXP: An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia)
Joseph Curwen
1. Main article: Joseph Curwen Ward's ancestor and dead ringer, a successful merchant, shipping magnate, slave trader, and highly accomplished sorcerer, born in present-day Danvers, Massachusetts, seven miles from Salem, on February 18, 1662.
Marinus Bicknell Willett
1. Main article: Marinus Bicknell Willett Charles Dexter Ward's family physician. An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia compares Willett's character to other "valiant counterweight[s]" in Lovecraft such as Thomas Malone in "The Horror at Red Hook" (1925) (EXP: An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia) and Henry Armitage in "The Dunwich Horror"; like Willett, Armitage "defeats the 'villains' by incantations, and he is susceptible to the same flaws--pomposity, arrogance, self-importance--that can be seen in...
Lovecraft himself was displeased with the novel, calling it a "cumbrous, creaking bit of self-conscious antiquarianism". (HPL: Selected Letters 4.692) He made little effort to publish the work, leaving it to be published posthumously in Weird Tales by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. Writing in the New York Times reviewer William Poster described...
Charles Dexter Ward contains the first mention of the Cthulhu Mythos entity Yog-Sothoth, who appears repeatedly as an element in an incantation. Joseph Curwen is the owner of a copy of the Necronomicon (disguised as a book labelled Qanoon-e-Islam) and there are hints of cult activities in a fishing village that refer obliquely to the events narrate...
In 1963, Roger Corman filmed a loose adaptation of the story titled The Haunted Palace starring Vincent Price and Lon Chaney, Jr. The film was advertised as "Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace,"...In 1992, Dan O'Bannon filmed a more faithful adaptation, The Resurrected, starring John Terry and Chris Sarandon.In 2001, DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. published a videogame adaptation for the PC (developed by Wanadoo Edition) under the name Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness. All the characters' names fro...In 2012 comics artist I. N. J. Culbardadapted the story for Akileos."Sources of Necromancy in Charles Dexter Ward", The Cthulhu Mythos: A GuideA horror novel by H.P. Lovecraft about a man who resurrects his evil ancestor, a necromancer and alchemist. The novel is based on historical and literary sources, and features the Cthulhu Mythos and the Lovecraft Circle.
A horror story about a man who uses black magic to travel back in time and possess his ancestor. Learn about the plot, the characters, the themes, and the historical context of this classic Lovecraftian tale.
A classic tale of necromancy, madness and cosmic horror by the master of the genre. Read reviews, ratings, book details and excerpts from the story of a man who revives his ancestor and unleashes evil spirits in Providence.
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A horror story about grave-robbers who revive the dead for their occult secrets. Read the introduction by S.T. Joshi, the illustrations by Pete Von Sholly, and the original text by H.P. Lovecraft.
May 5, 2024 · A horror tale by the American writer H. P. Lovecraft, published in 1941. It tells the story of a man who inherits a curse from his ancestor and becomes involved in occultism and madness.
