1 h 21 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 33 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 33 pagesAbout this book
What if every clue you uncover makes the world less safe to understand?
After his great-uncle George Gammell Angell dies, Francis Wayland Thurston finds a locked box of notes and a strange carved figure. The papers lead him toward Henry Anthony Wilcox, a young sculptor whose dreams of a drowned city seem to reach beyond anything the waking mind can explain.
In H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu, a police raid in Louisiana and a sailor’s private account become pieces of the same disturbing puzzle. Across three linked parts, documents draw Thurston toward an ancient cult and beings indifferent to human life. What frightens him is not just a monster, but humanity’s small place in a vast universe.
What you’ll discover
- A locked box of clues Follow Thurston through inherited papers that turn a scholar’s quiet research into a deeply unsettling mystery.
- Dreams of a drowned city Meet Wilcox, whose vivid dreams take shape in a carving that draws the investigator onward.
- A trail through the swamp Trace a police inspector’s search for answers about a strange statuette and a secretive cult.
- A mystery built from scraps Piece together notes, testimony, and a sailor’s manuscript as separate accounts reveal disturbing connections.
- Fear beyond human scale Encounter cosmic horror rooted in the thought that ancient powers scarcely notice human lives.
Is it for you?
This story suits readers who like slow dread, old documents and ideas more than action, and anyone curious about where modern horror and its monsters began. If you want fast plots or rounded characters, you may find it thin and rather stiff.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dead scholar leaves a locked box
- A young sculptor dreams of a drowned city
- A police raid in the Louisiana swamp
- The cult believes in gods who only sleep
- Thurston follows the trail across the sea
- Fear of a universe that does not care
Who’s who
- Francis Wayland ThurstonThe Boston narrator who inherits his great-uncle's papers and, piece by piece, follows them into a truth he wishes he had never learned.
- George Gammell AngellThurston's great-uncle, a retired professor of Semitic languages at Brown University, who spent years quietly gathering evidence of a strange cult.
- Henry Anthony WilcoxA young Providence sculptor whose vivid dreams of a strange city lead him to carve the bas-relief that starts the mystery.
- John R. LegrasseA New Orleans police inspector who raids a swamp gathering and brings a strange statuette to scholars for answers.
- Gustaf JohansenA Norwegian sailor whose private manuscript holds the fullest account of what happened at sea in 1925.
- William Channing WebbA Princeton professor who recognises the statuette from his earlier travels in Greenland among a secretive tribe.
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The Call of Cthulhu
by H. P. Lovecraft· 1928
An inherited box of papers reveals an ancient cult.
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Language: English
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A dead scholar leaves a locked box
The story opens with a famous warning from the narrator. He says that the human mind is not made to join up everything it knows, and that we live safely only because we cannot see the whole. Then he tells how he came to see too much. His great-uncle, George Gammell Angell, was a retired professor of Semitic languages at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He died suddenly after a fall in the street, and Thurston became his heir and executor.
Among the papers Thurston finds a locked box. Inside are a bundle of notes and a small clay bas-relief, which is a carving that stands out from a flat surface. The carving shows a creature unlike anything in nature. It has an octopus-like head, a scaly body with claws, and narrow wings. Beneath it are marks that look like writing, but in no language Thurston can name.
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The author
H. P. Lovecraft
1890–1937 · American horror writer
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an American writer and editor born in Providence, Rhode Island. He lived mainly in Providence, but also lived in New York City from 1924 to 1926. He wrote horror stories, including “The Call of Cthulhu,” published in 1928, and “The Dunwich Horror,” published in 1929.
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”
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What is The Call of Cthulhu about?
A man named Thurston inherits his great-uncle's papers and finds evidence of a secret cult that worships an ancient being from the stars. He pieces together dreams, a police raid and a sailor's manuscript, and fears what he learns.
Who or what is Cthulhu?
Cthulhu is a vast being worshipped by a secret cult. In the story he is said to lie dead yet dreaming in a sunken city called R'lyeh, with a head like an octopus and a scaly body.
When was The Call of Cthulhu written?
H. P. Lovecraft wrote it in 1926, and it first appeared in the magazine Weird Tales in 1928. It is a work of fiction, though it uses real places such as Providence and New Orleans.
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