Episode 101 – The Evil Clergyman & The Horror in the Burying-Ground

[gbsteve]

As always an enjoyable listen, even when the stories are of dubious quality. I wondered if the special light mentioned in the first story might be some kind of violet ray device?

[Bob Lovecraft]

You never know.

And as much as I loved the actual podcast for these stories, I loathed "The Horror in the Burying-Ground". But I'm pretty sure I have covered that before.

Bob

[Genus Unknown]

I like "Burying-Ground," for pretty much the reasons given by Fifer. It's a fun, pulpy little story. He's bringing his B-game, for sure, but Lovecraft's B-game is still usually an entertaining read. I'd say it's at least on par with "The Horror in the Museum."

I like the conceit of the crazy guy who talks to the graves. I like the comical way the "local yokels" allow the two men to be buried alive on the same day. I like the calculated way Sophie allows it to happen even though she knows the truth. I like the horrific idea of a double-live burial in and of itself. I like the idea of the haunted woman in the shuttered house, visited at night by vengeful spirits. I like the way the story is told in turns by the old guys at the general store.

Only thing I don't like is this Garrett fellow's attempts to become Alabama's H.P. Lovecraft. That's my dream, damn it.  

[Cacodaemoniacal]

I like the Evil Clergyman both because of the similarity with his other works (like the purple light from From Beyond) and its differences. Probably because when I read it I didn't know the story behind it and just assumed that Lovecraft was trying out a different type of narration. Either it was a dream or the story of a man who'd lost bits of his memory. I liked the immediacy of it.

It also reminded me of a story--can anyone help me identify it? It was about a man who fell asleep on a tomb and then woke up looking like the dead man. He eventually reverses the effect but wonders if his wife didn't prefer the other face. I thought it was by Machen, but I can't find it. Anyway, I wondered if there was a subconscious connection.

Edited to add: I thought the end of The Horror in the Burying-Ground was funny, the person hearing the tale high tailing it out of there.

 I wonder if the joke was the townsfolk didn't know what was going on even though it was totally obvious, or if it's implied that some might have, and took the opportunity to be rid of both of them .

[Genus Unknown]

Edited to add: I thought the end of The Horror in the Burying-Ground was funny, the person hearing the tale high tailing it out of there.

Smarter than the average Lovecraftian protagonist, that one. I wonder how many lives and minds could have been saved if they'd all had the good sense to leave once they heard what was going on.

[Vulpine]

After listening to this episode, I think we should dub Chad 'Giggles'.

[mcglothlin.13]

The idea that one's outer appearance could suddenly change I find to be quite frightening--even if it were an improvement!  Can you imagine looking into the mirror and suddenly seeing a different face looking back at you?  I find the thought really unsettling.  

I think this idea in "The Evil Clergyman" is just another version of a theme that Lovecraft has dealt with before: finding out that your identity is not what you thought it was.  Usually Lovecraft does this by having a character discover something about their past (i.e. the Arthur Jermyn story, "Shadow Over Innsmouth", etc.).  If one really identifies with their family history, then it would be unsettling to find that this history was not what you thought it was.

I haven't gone back and checked this, but it seems to me that Chad and Chris tend to downplay this theme whenever Lovecraft deals with it.  My guess is that this is usually due to the fact that Lovecraft tends to make the notion relevant to his xenophobia.  But that's not the case here in "The Evil Clergyman".  So I'm not sure why they don't think the end result is very scary.  It may not work as a shocker ending, but again, I think the idea--when you really stop to ponder it--is incredibly disquieting.

[Beccaroo]

I think I can solve the mystery of the strange light emitting device. It's quite clear to me that this is a rejected script for Jamie and his Magic Torch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMNG2LtF41o&feature=youtube_gdata_player  Watch the opening credits and you will observe the action of the magic torch is exactly as described in this otherwise distinctly meh story.

You're welcome.

[Cacodaemoniacal]

The idea that one's outer appearance could suddenly change I find to be quite frightening--even if it were an improvement!....It may not work as a shocker ending, but again, I think the idea--when you really stop to ponder it--is incredibly disquieting.

You realize he'd set up his death in order to take over someone else's body; ala The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

His hidden malice is what makes it work for me. He's still wearing his Anglican robes so he looks like a trusted authority figure. Then, he burns his books and sets about committing suicide which seems like an act contrition. Then, he spots the author and his fangs come out. Do you think he was being forced to commit suicide to avoid punishment by the other priests?

Of course--massive foreheads aside--as long as you interrupt the process soon enough, you'd never stay sick and you'd never die...

[dadavoodoo]

The Evil Clergyman is a dream and when you look at it like that you can see into the mind of Lovecraft. The Horror in the Burying-Ground is bad and he knows it, because he knows the reader would just walk off it they were there!

[Bulbatron]

I think I can solve the mystery of the strange light emitting device. It's quite clear to me that this is a rejected script for Jamie and his Magic Torch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMNG2LtF41o&feature=youtube_gdata_player  Watch the opening credits and you will observe the action of the magic torch is exactly as described in this otherwise distinctly meh story.

You're welcome.

Blimey, I used to watch that when I was a lad!

Great episode of the podcast, as usual.  The episodes are always a great listen, even when the material being discussed isn't the best.

[Genus Unknown]

This episode was kind of nostalgic. The double feature, the "crappy" stories (though I stand by "Burying-Ground," dammit), the music, the banter... it all felt like something from the first season, maybe between "Dagon" and "Polaris."

[YunusWesley]

I love Michael Ford's voice! I could listen to him read Lovecraft all day. Get him for the next reading!

[Genus Unknown]

Something about his particular accent makes me think of the first Fable game.

[old book]

The violet ray thing is very interesting and sort of takes central place in the dream as the bridge between times or something of that nature. Since it is a dream I wouldn't say it is exactly this or that from waking life. The Evil Clergyman almost seems portentous of Lovecraft's coming death, with a promise of posthumous survival.

The bit about the lower (or was it upper?) face being standard clergy/clerical reminded me of the woodcut-style caricature I think Washington Post ran of Bishop James Pike back when he was up on heresy charges. I couldn't find easily an internet copy of that drawing, but I think it's in the book The Bishop Pike Affair. I was going to crop it and just show the jowls as a template for the Anglican bishop-look. Anyway, here he is with some hippy:



(I think the hippy had an experience with some sort of pink light beam that had intimations of a machine origin. Pike died in the desert near Qurman Wadi looking for more Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls mention an Evil High Priest who opposes a Teacher of Righteousness. Pike's body was found at a place that had been searched earlier with no body found then. Not sure how it all relates to the Lovecraft story, but I do remember reading somewhere about a mystic in the late Middle Ages or early Modern period who spoke of a strange colored ray of light emanating directly from the sky to literally illuminate someone who had achieved sufficient merit to warrant the granting of direct knowledge. Lovecraft's ray seems more like the EDOM device used in the film Men in Black. I suppose there were strange colored flashes at Roswell during or after the autopsy too, perhaps an eerie green light, according to a nurse witness who disappeared soon afterwards.)

I didn't think Burying-Ground was all that funny either, it was exaggeratedly understated as if it could have meandered in all these weird and wild directions, but didn't. Sort of as if it had a train to catch and couldn't be bothered.

The stories Chard and Sich mentioned as the subject of the next podcraft are unknown to me. Where do I find and read them? (I mean on the internet)

(oops, never mind, it's on the front page in the announcement of the upcoming treatment:

http://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hwb.asp
http://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/sm.asp
 )