What are Lovecraft's creepiest scenes?

[DustyTome]

Lovecraft was a master of creating creepy, atmospheric horror. Which of his scenes is the creepiest for you? Here, in no particular order, are my top four.

• Robert Blake's frantic attempts to reassure himself of his identy as the lines between himself and The Haunter blur in The Haunter of the Dark.
• Robert Olmstead's escape from the Gilman House hotel in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
• Dr. Willet's discovery of the things imprisoned by Joseph Curwen - and the condition of their imprisonment - in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
• Ammi trapped on the stairs in the Gardener house after dealing with Nahum's wife and before he faced what the Colour had done to Nahum in The Colour Out of Space.

[Ruth - CthulhuChick]

Several of the bits involving Edward/Asenath in Doorstep...such as the curtain scene.

[DustyTome]

Several of the bits involving Edward/Asenath in Doorstep...such as the curtain scene.

Oh yeah, the closing scene definitely is just bloody creepy.

[Genus Unknown]

One moment that always stuck with me is when Henry Akeley hears the Mi-Go walking around on his roof. I don't know why, but that really got under my skin.

[Eric Lofgren]

Many scenes in The Temple. Particularly the point at which the captain start's hearing and seeing things when he's all alone in the sub. But the moment when the British seaman opens his eyes at the beginning as well. It would make such a good movie.     

[JulieH]

The implication that Ammi killed Nabby Gardner. 

"I gathered that no moving thing was left in that attic room, and that to leave anything capable of motion there would have been a deed so monstrous as to damn any accountable being to eternal torment. ...  A feeble scratching on the floor downstairs now sounded distinctly, and Ammi’s grip tightened on a heavy stick he had picked up in the attic for some purpose..."

[Ruth - CthulhuChick]

The implication that Ammi killed Nabby Gardner. 

"I gathered that no moving thing was left in that attic room, and that to leave anything capable of motion there would have been a deed so monstrous as to damn any accountable being to eternal torment. ...  A feeble scratching on the floor downstairs now sounded distinctly, and Ammi’s grip tightened on a heavy stick he had picked up in the attic for some purpose..."

That makes me think of Machen's "The White Powder."

[DustyTome]

The implication that Ammi killed Nabby Gardner. 

"I gathered that no moving thing was left in that attic room, and that to leave anything capable of motion there would have been a deed so monstrous as to damn any accountable being to eternal torment. ...  A feeble scratching on the floor downstairs now sounded distinctly, and Ammi’s grip tightened on a heavy stick he had picked up in the attic for some purpose..."

I love that Ammi isn't even aware that he's picked up the stick. That's such a nice touch.

[T. Kelly Lee]

That makes me think of Machen's "The White Powder."

Oh, yes Colour was very much HPL's homage to White Powder.  I have to admit that Colour is a far superior story. 

For me, the creepy moment has always been the line in Picture in the House when the old cannibal says: "I had to keep looking at it." 

That's all my fears regarding creepers rolled into one sentence.  And the story isn't even all that fantastical. 

[Bob Lovecraft]

For me, it has to be two particular scenes:

The single drop of blood hitting the page in "The Picture in the House".

The description of Edward Derby in Asaneth's body digging his way out of the basement grave and realizing that he was in a body taht was not only rotted, but already so far gone as to be semi-liquescent.

And I suppose an honorable mention has to go out to Brown Jenkin's ripping his way out of Walter Gilman's chest.

Those scenes sent chills up my spine, and I think it was because they were just description. Lovecraft's dialogue has always left a lot to be desired in my opinion.

Bob

[T. Kelly Lee]

And I suppose an honorable mention has to go out to Brown Jenkin's ripping his way out of Walter Gilman's chest.

This probably speaks to my character - or lack thereof - but every time I read that story I end up rooting for Brown Jenkin.  When he kills Gilman, I'm usually yelling in my head: "Take that you lousy bastard!" 

I don't know why, but I kinda like old Brown.  He seems like he'd be alright to have around. 

[Ming]

And I suppose an honorable mention has to go out to Brown Jenkin's ripping his way out of Walter Gilman's chest.

I agree.  After I read that line, I was thoroughly disturbed and couldn't stop thinking about it for a while.

I'd say my other creepiest moment was in "Colour Out of Space" when they notice that the trees are moving despite the lack of wind.  I know it's really subtle and sort of cheesy, but that image just burned itself in my brain and I felt a chill when I read it.

[JulieH]

That makes me think of Machen's "The White Powder."

Oh, yes Colour was very much HPL's homage to White Powder.  I have to admit that Colour is a far superior story. 

For me, the creepy moment has always been the line in Picture in the House when the old cannibal says: "I had to keep looking at it." 

That's all my fears regarding creepers rolled into one sentence.  And the story isn't even all that fantastical. 

Gives me a kinda tickle every time I looked at it....

[Bob Lovecraft]

That makes me think of Machen's "The White Powder."

Oh, yes Colour was very much HPL's homage to White Powder.  I have to admit that Colour is a far superior story. 

For me, the creepy moment has always been the line in Picture in the House when the old cannibal says: "I had to keep looking at it." 

That's all my fears regarding creepers rolled into one sentence.  And the story isn't even all that fantastical. 

Gives me a kinda tickle every time I looked at it....

OOOOOooooo, You quote that story, JulieH! Quote like the wind!

Bob

[Graf von Altenberg Ehrenstein]

Oh, yes Colour was very much HPL's homage to White Powder.  I have to admit that Colour is a far superior story. 
 

Help me. Except for that mercy killing I can `t see any real connection.
But that scene on the stairs at the Gardeners is in my top creepers, too. I was listening to that story in my car while driving home in the middle of the night. It was in an absolutely godforsaken landscape amidst the former death zone around the ex- German/German frontier when that part came up and the effect in that particular surroundings was quite profound. One of my few "I really should not have read/watched/listened to that" moments.
The bit when that salesman discovers this strange glowing in the night is genuinely spooky, too.

Those and the ending line in The Lurking Fear. Still unfamiliar with Lovecraft and his obsessions at that time I just did not see that coming. So all once I had that flash of generations of incest, cannibalism, decline in that small. isolated community. That really got to me.