The Dunwich Horror

By the following year, Wilbur Whateley is close to eight feet tall. He travels to Miskatonic University in Arkham to visit the institution’s library, where he hopes to find a specific book: “the hideous Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred” (686). It is his first visit to a city, and when he locates the library, he passes a large, angry guard dog that barks at him. In the library, he hopes to cross reference his English-language copy of The Necronomicon against the library’s original Latin text to locate a specific passage that appears, in his copy, on page 751. He explains this to the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage. The passage in question concerns “the frightful name Yog-Sothoth” (687).

While Wilbur studies the text, Armitage reads over his shoulder and translates at the same time. The Necronomicon describes Yog-Sothoth as an extra-dimensional being that acts as the keeper of the gate for a group of ancient beings known as the Old Ones. Through Yog-Sothoth, the Old Ones can be brought into humanity’s dimension, which they will eventually rule again. Armitage feels terror. When Wilbur asks to take the book home, Armitage refuses. He decides to research Wilbur Whateley and eventually determines that something must be done about him.