'The Haunter of the Dark' / Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (11 of 14)

"The Haunter of the Dark" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November 1935 and published in the December 1936 edition of Weird Tales. It was the last-written of the author's known works, and is part of the Cthulhu Mythos. The epigraph to the story is the second stanza of Lovecraft's 1917 poem "Nemesis".

Chapters:
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:00:47 - The Haunter of the Dark
1:04:42 - Credits

Narrated by Ian Gordon for HorrorBabble
Music and production by Ian Gordon

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[HorrorBabble]

How about some Lovecraftian artifacts?
Pocket Watches, Playing Cards, Enamel Pins ... even an Umbrella!
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[Ringlefynch]

One of the best narrators I’ve ever listened to.
Put this on before bed. Woke up at 3am having a nightmare

[kyddkreature]

When I think of Lovecraft, I hear Ian Gordon. The perfect narrator for Lovecraft's works

[donaldmccleary]

"Charlatanry"....I love that word 2:00

This is an amazing story, and the narration is fantastic.

These old stories are so darn good. Maybe I am old school, but I think these old tales far surpass newer tales. I think this is one of his best works. It is a very well-written story that is filled with immense detail (like all his stories).

The Haunter is a terrifying being indeed.

[Nanosuit]

Excellent! Very good! Thank you Mr Gordon and Horror Babble. A pleasure, as always. Until next time.

[jctrevi]

Mr. Ian Gordon,
This is quickly turning into a digital new era Reading Rainbow (with a slightly darker shaded rainbow heehee) and it brings much glee to my dark heart to see new uploads almost daily. Thank you again for putting your talents to be of service to others.

[yondertfetc]

This takes "fear of the dark" to an entirely new level lol.

[louismatthews]

The single greatest lovecraft story. Possibly one of the greatest most captivating stories by any author. Beautifully read. Thank you so much for this!!!

[jonjw]

I fell asleep listening to this and started dreaming as you we narrating..great job..bad dreams lol

[gamingchinchilla]

This is actually one of m favorite Lovecraft stories. The description of the abandoned run down church excites my desire to go exploring such places if only to observe the decaying beauty of the architect and to casually film through the pages of the dusty old books, with such curiosity of the forbidden knowledge within.

My only real nitpick of these stories is how in the end the main character, despite in a situation of utmost horror and panic still has the strength and will to record his last despairing thoughts before whatever terror finally takes him.

If I were caught up in such stricken fear, I would not think to record the occurrences in my journal, but rather I would be scrambling to find ways to protect myself. Lighting a few lanterns and candles to keep the light going, grabbing the nearest crucifix while reading passages from the Bible or saying a prayer of protection.

Whatever a man of that time period would do if he were confronting an evil demonic entity who was about to take his life.

And upon surviving the experience, I would at some point return to my journal to write a lengthy entry about what happened.

I suppose it really boils down to the person in question. Some people might flee the city at night time, hitching a coach to some far away lodge in the country. Or some may actually do as the character did in this story and record everything that was going on for whatever reason they thought it important... it just doesn't seem like a natural response to the situation in my opinion.

[Olddog-Wiserdog]

The narrator's voice is perfect for these, thank you for another good listen.

[timothius]

Lovecraft had the remarkable talent of language. Often, he was told to keep it 700 words or less (by magazines). That he did masterfully, often squeezing whole books into a sentence.
He was so great at anticipation. Assuring us of the horrors to be told...

[dickvansteijn]

Your voice intonation and english tongue makes this fantastic story a pleasure to listen to. You sir know how to enthrall an audience.

[LadyNachtlich]

This is the perfect voice for my favourite Lovecraft tale!

[merrick]

The wonderfully inspiring terror that gets evoked by darkness. A thing we have feared (wisely) since our earliest days in the caves. Wonderful reading, only found your channel a few weeks ago but it has become a nightly ritual to listen to at least one story before bed. Thank you for the hard work and the only thing that seems to help with my insomnia sir, Brava.

[meth_squirrel]

This is such a great channel it's really help me learn about alot of classic horror

[Paul_Spence]

A Fabulous narration of this great story. Well done Ian.

[jamiecameron]

Omg, thank you so much this is my favourite H.P story at the moment. I was actually going to request it. The way he describes Federal Hill is hauntingly beautiful. Thank you again.

[DrivenBeers]

Dunno if this has been mentioned here before, but the Milwaukee address that Blake gives was Robert Bloch's actual home address at the time that the story was written.

[DennisMoore]

1:02:08 - this reading is why I love the the HorrorBabble readings from Mr Gordon. It's _very_ well acted. I keep finding myself back at this one.