Short Fiction · Chapter
A Passer in the Storm explained
The narrator, recovering from his traumatic experience in the Martense mansion, teams up with reporter Arthur Munroe to investigate the lurking fear.
What happens
The narrator, recovering from his traumatic experience in the Martense mansion, teams up with reporter Arthur Munroe to investigate the lurking fear. They gather historical data, interview squatters, and search the area for clues. During a violent thunderstorm, they take shelter in a cabin, but when the storm passes, the narrator discovers Munroe has been killed and mutilated by the unseen horror.
Themes in this chapter
Horror of the Unknown
The narrator's dread of the silent, unseen entity and the inability to classify it heightens the terror.
Madness and Psychological Decay
The narrator's nervous exhaustion and brooding over the shadow suggest psychological strain from the encounter.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator, still shaken from the mansion encounter, leads the investigation and survives Munroe's attack.
- Arthur Munroe
A dark, lean reporter of about thirty-five who listens to the narrator's story and assists in the investigation; he is killed and facelessly mutilated during a storm.
- Jan Martense
The deceased occupant of the room the narrator invaded; buried in the graveyard near the mansion.
Key passages
“For days after that hideous experience in the forest-swathed mansion I lay nervously exhausted in my hotel room at Lefferts Corners.”
After the terrifying event at the mansion, the narrator spent several days recovering in his hotel.
Establishes the narrator's physical and mental state after the initial horror.
“Arthur Munroe was dead. And on what remained of his chewed and gouged head there was no longer a face.”
Munroe had been killed, his face completely destroyed by the creature.
Climactic revelation of the monster's brutal attack.