Episode 58 - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 5

[bar1scorpio]

You wanna know who sealed up the laboratory?

Benjamin Franklin.

[Bulbatron]

Bravo!  Great episode guys!  Of course Curwen can come back!  Have you never seen any of Hammer's Dracula films?  As soon as Christopher Lee has turned to dust, some shifty-looking character is there with a little, glass vial, gathering it up again.  Just add fresh blood to the dust and he's back again!

There's bound to be a dumb but curious teenager there, with a dust-pan and brush, ready to gather up Curwen's essentual salts.

Anyway, once again, great conclusion to a great set of episodes.

[adriftthoughts]

You wanna know who sealed up the laboratory?

Benjamin Franklin.

I love this theory.  I think BF's autobiography is out of copy right something could be done with it Pride and Prejudice and Zombie style (haven't read it)

[hsparks]

Wikipedia says that the story hints that the raised entity could be Merlin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_of_Charles_Dexter_Ward

Makes sense to me given that the note is in bastardized Latin and that he goes after Curwen's associates first since they could be older than Curwen himself. I believe legend has it that Merlin is opposite of necromancer or something like that.

[SourFleshSauce]

Just found this. Thought it was fun

http://americanart.si.edu/luce/object.cfm?key=338&artistmedia=0&subkey=1160

[hsparks]

That portrait is great. Curwen must of been a Federalist.

[MattRichardson]

Wikipedia says that the story hints that the raised entity could be Merlin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_of_Charles_Dexter_Ward

Makes sense to me given that the note is in bastardized Latin and that he goes after Curwen's associates first since they could be older than Curwen himself. I believe legend has it that Merlin is opposite of necromancer or something like that.

I've wondered about the identity of the raised entity as well. Lovecraft may have intended it to be Merlin, but he's not clear about it. The fact that the entity writes in Anglo-Saxon characters from the eight or ninth centuries doesn't really fit Merlin, who (had he really existed) would have been a Welshman from the fifth century. On the other hand, the wizards of Curwen's time live for hundreds of years, so maybe Merlin did too.

Does anyone know if any Mythos writers have written follow-up stories about this character?

[Yojimbo]

That whole scene in the dark catacombs with Willet and the things in the pits... oh, man. Creepiest thing I've ever read in Lovecraft's works. Makes me feel all gitchy just thinking about it.

[bar1scorpio]

That whole scene in the dark catacombs with Willet and the things in the pits... oh, man. Creepiest thing I've ever read in Lovecraft's works. Makes me feel all gitchy just thinking about it.

And let6s face it, that'd make a great part of the Lovecraft Land Haunted Attraction.

[old book]

Good wrap-up, guys.

BF bios auto or otherwise, many are PD. See:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Benjamin%20Franklin%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

http://www.archive.org/details/theautobiography00148gut

http://www.archive.org/details/benjaminfrankli05morsgoog

It never ocurrwinned to me that the superwizard guy at the end might be Merlin. I think that's possible, and I believe there is a bit of a gap in Arthur scolarship between our time and Lovecraft's... They might not have seen Arthur and Merlin as two separate Welsh myths from the 6th century when Lovecraft was looking into it.

[Bassik]

Great job you two! Keep up the good work.

And I allways thought that the mysterious stranger let the doctor kill Curwen because he was after much, much more dangerous men... *cue scary music*

[donatelli]

Not sure if I mentioned this, but I've been meaning to. Listening to you guys over and over again every week and the growth of the podcast, and all the elements is quite apparent.  Seriously, Episode 58 has got to be the pinnacle so far.  The music, Matt Foyer's just insanely-good readings, the content of the story.  Bravo guys, really can't wait for the meat of Lovecraft's portfolio now. 

I seriously want more full readings with Foyer, and Chad's amazing sound design.

[hsparks]

It never ocurrwinned to me that the superwizard guy at the end might be Merlin. I think that's possible, and I believe there is a bit of a gap in Arthur scolarship between our time and Lovecraft's... They might not have seen Arthur and Merlin as two separate Welsh myths from the 6th century when Lovecraft was looking into it.

I totally agree. I was going to follow up with a similar answer. It's pretty vague who the entity is, but the Arthur/Merlin legend has changed so much over time that one variation has to be Romano-British. That would explain the Latin, the eyes, the beard. It's just pretty cool if that's what Lovecraft was thinking.

Chad and Chris just have to raise up Lovecraft and tie him to that chair to the answer. Great show guys.

[Genus Unknown]

See, I don't like the idea of bringing Merlin into it. That's one cameo even too out-of-left-field for HPL.

Ben Franklin, on the other hand, I'm fine with. I'm adopting that as my theory of choice.

[Al Bruno III]

Yeah I am going to go with the Ben Franklin idea myself.

In a perfect world Mr. Franklin would go on to gather together all of Lovecraft's surviving protagonists to form the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARILY FAINT-HEARTED GENTLEMEN.

But seriously guys, you did a fantastic job of covering one of my favorite Lovecraft tales.

Kudos.