The narrative follows the Gardner family, simple farmers living in the hills west of Arkham, Massachusetts. When a meteorite crashes onto their property, it emits a spectrum of light unknown to human science. As the stone shrinks and vanishes, it poisons the environment, causing crops to bloat with a bitter taste and local fauna to mutate into grotesque, brittle shapes. Nahum Gardner watches his wife and children succumb to madness and physical dissolution as the alien presence drains the vitality from every living cell, leaving behind a blighted landscape of fine grey ash.
Readers of weird fiction and cosmic horror choose this story for its depiction of an entity that defies biological classification and human logic. It appeals to those interested in the limits of scientific understanding and the indifference of the universe. The reader finishes the text with a clear visualization of a terrestrial setting being consumed by an extra-dimensional parasite. It provides a specific framework for fear based on environmental rot and the total loss of individual identity in the face of an incomprehensible external force.
Deep; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1927
- Language
- EN
