Dream Home

Lovecraft's Marblehead

September 23, 2021

While H.P. Lovecraft never considered any place other than Providence his home, apparently there lay a special place in his dark heart for Marblehead, Massachusetts. It is impossible these days to see into another person's mind, but I can't help trying especially when it comes to such an inspired writer as Lovecraft. "The Terrible Old Man" was written in 1920 and in it Lovecraft envisions a damp, sagging, creaking, ancient costal town shrouded in darkness and mystery with streets full of dilapidated dwellings piled up on each other like a series of shipwrecks. When he visited Marblehead in 1922, I can't help but imagine Lovecraft's pleasant astonishment that his dreams had somehow wormed their way into reality. According to scholars like Donovan Loucks, Marblehead began to influence Lovecraft's stories from then on, beginning with The Festival . Lovecraft visited Marblehead often after that. It must have provided fresh ground for new stories. Lovecraft c...