At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death. Mountain of Madness is the twelfth episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons. ... This article is about the author. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... “Horror story” redirects here. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... A novella is a narrative work of prose fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. ... “Horror story” redirects here. ... This article is about the author. ... See also: 1930 in literature, other events of 1931, 1932 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1935 in literature, other events of 1936, 1937 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. ...

The story is considered by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi to represent the decisive "demythology" of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sunanda Tryambak Joshi (b. ... Cthulhu and Rlyeh The Cthulhu Mythos encompasses the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. ...

Inspiration

Reaction

This story was rejected by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. The story eventually appeared four years later in Astounding Stories. This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... Farnsworth Wright was a British ] who published the book Britain in the Age of Economic Management. ... Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. ...

Plot summary

The story is written in first-person perspective by Professor William Dyer, a geologist from Miskatonic University. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to Antarctica. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a range of mountains taller than the Himalayas. The Geologist by Carl Spitzweg A geologist is a contributor to the science of geology, studying the physical structure and processes of the Earth and planets of the solar system (see planetary geology). ... Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. ... For the movie Himalaya, see Himalaya (film). ...

The group that discovered and crossed the mountains found the remains of fourteen ancient life forms, completely unknown to science and unidentifiable as neither plants or animals, after discovering an underground cave while boring for ice cores. Six of the specimens seem to be badly damaged, the others uncannily pristine. The extremely early date in the geological strata of these "fossils" is problematic because of their highly evolved features. Because of their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the Necronomicon, they are dubbed the "Elder Things". Interstate road cut through limestone and shale strata in eastern Tennessee In geology and related fields, a stratum (plural: strata) is a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes it from contiguous layers. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ... A prop designed to look like the Necronomicon. ... Elder Things are fictional characters in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ...

When the main expedition loses contact with this party, Dyer and the rest of his colleagues travel to their camp to investigate. The camp is devastated and both the men and the dogs slaughtered, with only one of each missing. Near the camp they find six star-shaped snow mounds, and a damaged Elder Thing buried under each. They discover that the better preserved life forms have vanished, and that some form of experiment has been done, though they are only able to speculate on the subject, and the possibility that it is the missing man and dog. Dyer elects, then, to close off the area from which they took their samples.

Dyer and a student named Danforth fly an airplane over the mountains, which they soon realize are the outer wall of a huge, abandoned stone city of cubes and cones, utterly alien to any human architecture. Exploring one of the cones, the men are able to learn the history of the Elder Things by interpreting their magnificent hieroglyphic murals: The Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the Moon was pulled loose from the planet and were the creators of life. They built their cities with the help of "shoggoths", things created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. Danforth and Dyer realize that the eight Elder Things were still alive when they find a sledge from the camp up in the city, which to their horror contains the bodies of the missing dog and man, evidently kept as scientific specimens. This article is about building architecture. ... Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have their origins as logograms. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... A shoggoth (or shaggoth[1]) is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. ...

They find evidence of dead Elder Things and are chased back to their plane by a ululating horror which they identify as a shoggoth. As they fly away, only Danforth looks back and sees something that causes him to lose most of his sanity, and which he refuses to describe. Professor Dyer concludes that the Elder Things and their civilization were destroyed by the shoggoths they created, and begs the planners of the proposed Antarctic expedition to stay away from things that should not be loosed on this Earth. Sanity considered as a legal term denotes that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ...

Characters

William Dyer

(ca. 1875–?)

The narrator of At the Mountains of Madness, he is a professor of geology at Miskatonic University and a leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica in 1930–31. He reappears in Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time", where he accompanies an expedition to Australia's Great Sandy Desert where he is said to be "appalled at the measureless age of the fragments" of a primordial civilization found there. This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Shadow Out of Time (1936) is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. ... Location of deserts in Australia This article is about the Australian desert. ...

In At the Mountains of Madness, he has no first name, only being called "William Dyer" in "The Shadow Out of Time".

Danforth

Graduate student at Miskatonic University. As part of the Pabodie Expedition, he accompanies Dyer on a survey flight over the "Plateau of Leng" and goes mad after seeing something. He is described as "a great reader of bizarre material", and makes allusions to Edgar Allan Poe and the Necronomicon. Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. ... The cold desert plateau of Leng is a place mentioned several times in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... A prop designed to look like the Necronomicon. ...

According to Fritz Leiber's "To Arkham and the Stars", he later recovered after being treated with experimental drugs developed by Professor Morgan, though he never recalled the horror he saw on the plateau. Afterwards, he became a professor of psychology at the university. Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ... The Dunwich Horror is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. ... Psychological science redirects here. ...

Frank H. Pabodie

A member of Miskatonic's engineering department, Professor Pabodie invented a drill for the expedition that was "unique and radical in its lightness, portability, and capacity...to cope quickly with strata of varying hardness." He also added "fuel-warming and quick-starting devices" to the expedition's four aircraft.^[1] Engineering is the applied science of acquiring and applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ...

Lovecraft wrote of the name "Pabodie", "I chose it as a name typical of good old New England stock, yet not sufficiently common to sound conventional or hackneyed." It's an alternative spelling of "Peabody", a name Lovecraft was familiar with through the Peabody Museum in Salem.^[2] George Peabody (February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Institute. ... Nickname: Location in Essex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 A City 1836 Government  - Type Mayor-council city  - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area  - City  18. ...

Professor Lake

Lake is a professor of biology at Miskatonic University. It is he who first discovers the Mountains of Madness as a result of his "strange and dogged insistence on a westward--or rather, northwestward--prospecting trip" based on his discovery of strange fossils. He also discovers the ancient extraterrestrial specimens that he dubs Elder Things based on their resemblance to "certain monsters of primal myth" found in the Necronomicon. He reports that his findings in Antarctica confirm his belief "that earth has seen whole cycles of organic life before known one that begins with Archaeozoic cells," and predicts that this "[w]ill mean to biology what Einstein has meant to mathematics and physics." When the Elder Things turn out to be living creatures rather than fossils, they butcher Lake and the rest of his sub-expedition. For the rest of the story, he is referred to as "poor Lake". Elder Things are fictional characters in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... Archaean redirects here. ...

Professor Atwood

A member of the Miskatonic University physics department, and also a meteorologist. He is part of the Lake sub-expedition and is also butchered by the Elder Things. A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ...

Significance

According to S. T. Joshi, who included this novella as the central story in the first volume of his Annotated Lovecraft series, Mountains reveals Lovecraft's true feelings on the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that subsequent writers attributed to him, and "demythologizes" much of his earlier work.

Many of Lovecraft's stories involve features that appear to be supernatural, such as monsters and the occult. However, Mountains appears to explain the origins of such elements—from occult symbols to "gods" such as Cthulhu—in rational terms. Mountains explains many elements of the "Cthulhu Mythos" in terms of early alien civilizations that took root on Earth long before humans appeared. Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about monsters as a kind of legendary creature. ... For other uses, see Occult (disambiguation). ... Cthulhu in the lost city of Rlyeh For other uses, see Cthulhu (disambiguation). ...

The story has also inadvertently popularized the concept of ancient astronauts, as well as Antarctica's place in the "ancient astronaut mythology".^[3] ...

Connections to other Lovecraft stories

At the Mountains of Madness has numerous connections to other Lovecraft stories. A few include:

• The formless shoggoths later appear in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (1931), "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1933), and "The Haunter of the Dark" (1935)
• The star-headed Elder Things also appear in "The Dreams in the Witch House" (1933), when the main character, Walter Gilman, visits a city of theirs in one of his dreams, and "The Shadow Out of Time", in which they are the vaguely-alluded-to antagonists of the Great Race of Yith.
• The expedition is sponsored by the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Foundation, combining two major names in Lovecraft's fiction: Derby and Pickman.^[4] Richard Upton Pickman is the main character in Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model", while Edward Pickman Derby is the protagonist of his "The Thing on the Doorstep", and also one of his literary alter-egos.^[5]
• The Elder Things record the coming of Cthulhu to Earth and the sinking of R'lyeh, events referred to in "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928).
• The Elder Things' city is identified with the Plateau of Leng, first mentioned in Lovecraft's "Celephais" (1920).
• Some members of the expedition have read Miskatonic University's copy of the Necronomicon.
• Dyer mentions "Kadath in the Cold Waste" while referring to a massive mountain range which even the Old Ones "shunned as vaguely and namelessly evil."

Shoggoths are an enormous fictional species in the Cthulhu Mythos, first mentioned in the novel At The Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft. ... The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H.P. Lovecraft. ... See also: 1930 in literature, other events of 1931, 1932 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Thing on the Doorstep is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ... See also: 1932 in literature, other events of 1933, 1934 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Haunter of the Dark is a horror story in the Cthulhu Mythos genre. ... See also: 1934 in literature, other events of 1935, 1936 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Elder Things are fictional characters in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... The Dreams in the Witch House is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ... See also: 1932 in literature, other events of 1933, 1934 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Shadow Out of Time (1936) is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. ... The Great Race of Yith are fictional aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... Pickmans Model is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of Weird Tales. ... Cthulhu in the lost city of Rlyeh For other uses, see Cthulhu (disambiguation). ... Rlyeh is in the middle of one of the biggest patches of empty ocean on Earth. ... Cthulhu with the insane city Rlyeh in the background. ... See also: 1927 in literature, other events of 1928, 1929 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Leng (or Plateau of Leng) is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. ... A short story in H. P. Lovecrafts Dream-Cycle, and also a fictional city introduced in this story. ... See also: 1919 in literature, other events of 1920, 1921 in literature, List of years in literature. ... Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, set in the real-world Essex County, Massachusetts. ... A prop designed to look like the Necronomicon. ... Kadath or Unknown Kadath is a fictional place found in the works of H.P. Lovecraft. ... // Warhammer 40,000 In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Old Ones traveled through space and manipulated minor species on several planets to grow into tools for their battle against the Ctan. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Director John Carpenter's Lovecraftian tribute movie In the Mouth of Madness (1995) bases its title on this story, although the plot is unrelated. John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness) is a 1995 horror film (originally intended for a 1994 release) directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael de Luca, who was at the time in charge of New Line Cinema. ... The year 1995 in film involved some significant events. ...

Director Guillermo Del Toro has written a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 has had trouble getting Warner Brothers to finance the project. Wrote Del Toro, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe."^[6] Guillermo del Toro Gómez (born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco) is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican film director. ... Warner Bros. ...

Chaosium developed a game book for their Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, called Beyond the Mountains of Madness, essentially a follow-up to the original story. Chaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role_playing games still in existence. ... Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on the story of the same name written by H.P. Lovecraft and the so-called Cthulhu Mythos the story inspired. ...

A radio adaption of At the Mountains of Madness is available from the Atlanta Radio Theater Company

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society^[7] produced a 1930s-style radio drama of the story, featuring professional actors, original music and sound effects. It's packaged with photos from the expedition, newspaper clippings and other fun props.

Mountains of Madness is a musical adaptation of Lovecraft's stories by Alexander Hacke, Danielle de Picciotto and The Tiger Lillies Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born October 11, 1965 in Berlin/Neukölln) is a guitarist, bass-guitar player, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany. ... Danielle de Picciotto *1965,Washington,USA. American artist living in Berlin, Germany. ... The band after a concert The Tiger Lillies are a three-piece band, based in London. ...

Trivia

• The book Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica (2001), by John Long, is an account of a real-life expedition to Antarctica that searched for fossils near the location in the story, but fortunately without the disasters that befell Lovecraft's scientists.

• Late in the story, one of the characters recites a series of subway stops to calm himself; all of the stops still exist today on the Red Line subway in Boston (though some have changed names).

• Some believe that Lovecraft references the "cursed" Gedney family with the character of the same name.

• The giant penguins that feature in the ruins of the Elder Thing's city were inspired by the prehistoric species Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi.

• An episode of the popular American animated television series The Simpsons is titled "Mountain of Madness" and features polar conditions, claustrophobia, and the mental breakdown of Homer Simpson and C. Montgomery Burns as themes, though to humorous effect.

• In an episode of The 4400, Kevin Burkhoff, played by Jeffrey Combs, who has appeared in Lovecraft-based films, is seen giving this book to a psychiatric patient.

• A sequel to the story, Hive by Tim Curran, details a modern expedition to the Antarctica in which the team discover a subterranean flooded city still populated by Old Ones, who reach out with their minds and gradually drive most of the crew insane. The book references the original story directly, with quotes and characters, and also bears a strong resemblance to the Lovecraft-themed John Carpenter film The Thing.

• Another sequel is the Charles Stross novella A Colder War, which takes place in a world where the proposed follow-up expedition to Antarctica takes place and rediscovers the Elder Thing city as well as locating several more across Earth.

• The novel The Spiraling Worm by David Conyers and John Sunseri feastures shoggoths, a modern day exploration of the Elder Thing's city, and an alien world shoggoth production factory.

See also: 2000 in literature, other events of 2001, 2002 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Red Line train of #1 Red Line stock crossing the Charles River on the Longfellow Bridge, towards Boston View of Boston from the Red Line The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the MBTA running roughly north-south through Boston, Massachusetts into neighboring communities. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... The Gedneys were among the original settlers of Salem, Massachusetts. ... Binomial name Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi Wiman, 1905 Nordenskjoelds Giant Penguin, Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, was a penguin species that lived 45-37 million years ago, during the Eocene and the very early part of the Oligocene. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Mountain of Madness is the twelfth episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons. ... Homer Simpson is also a character in the book and film The Day of the Locust. ... Mr. ... Wake Up Call is an episode of the science fiction television series The 4400. ... The 4400 is a science fiction television program produced by the USA Network and Sky One. ... Kevin Burkhoff is a fictional character on the USA Network science fiction tv show, The 4400. ... Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954 in Oxnard, California) is an American character actor best known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise. ... Tim Curran is one of the best surfers in the WCT, and is consistently in contention for the world championship. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film, directed by John Carpenter. ... Charles David George Charlie Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... A Colder War is an alternate history novelette by Charles Stross. ... The Spiraling Worm (hardcover 1-56882-217-0; softcover 1-56882-212-X) is a science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and spy thriller novel by authors David Conyers and John Sunseri, published in 2007. ... David Conyers (born Sydney, Australia, May 30, 1971) is a writer based in Adelaide, South Australia. ... John Sunseri (born Portland, Oregon, March 11, 1969) is a horror writer from Portland, Oregon in the United States. ...

See also

• Ancient astronauts
• Elder Things
• The Mound
• The Shadow Out of Time

... Elder Things are fictional characters in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... The Mound is a short story H.P. Lovecraft wrote as a ghostwriter from December 1929 through early 1930 after he was hired by Zealia Bishop to create a story based on following plot synopsis: There is an Indian mound near here, which is haunted by a headless ghost. ... The Shadow Out of Time (1936) is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. ...

References

Books

• Lovecraft, Howard P. [1936] (2005). "At the Mountains of Madness", At the Mountains of Madness: The Definitive Edition. New York, NY: The Modern Library. ISBN 0-8129-7441-7 (paperback). 

• Pearsall, Anthony B. (2005). The Lovecraft Lexicon, 1st ed., Tempe, AZ: New Falcon. ISBN 1-56184-129-3. 

Web sites

• Colavito, Jason. The Cthulhu Comparison. Retrieved on April 8, 2006.

• Long, John. Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica. Retrieved on April 8, 2006.

Footnotes

1. ^ Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness, p. 4.
2. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters Vol. V, p. 228; Joshi, p. 181.
3. ^ Jason Colavito, The Cthulhu Comparison
4. ^ Anthony Pearsall, The Lovecraft Lexicon, p. 326.
5. ^ Ibid, p. 146.
6. ^ Guillermo Del Toro Films, At the Mountains of Madness
7. ^ "HPLHS"

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

At the Mountains of Madness

• The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Edgar Allan Poe; complete text
• At the Earth's Core, Edgar Rice Burroughs; complete text from litrix.com
• "The People of the Pit", A. Merritt; complete text from Horrormasters (pdf)