Short Fiction · Chapter
The Horror of the Grave-Robbers explained
The narrator describes his and St.
What happens
The narrator describes his and St. John's descent into grave-robbing as a desperate aesthetic pursuit to escape ennui. They assemble a blasphemous museum of tomb-loot and eventually dig up a centuries-old ghoul's grave in a Holland churchyard, stealing a jade amulet depicting a winged hound. This act unleashes a haunting baying and a sense of doom.
Themes in this chapter
Forbidden Knowledge and Occultism
The narrator and St. John seek thrills through grave-robbing and occult artifacts, including the amulet from the Necronomicon.
Madness and Psychological Decay
The narrator's descent into obsession and fear of a supernatural hound leads to thoughts of suicide, illustrating psychological decay.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator, driven by ennui and aesthetic obsession, participates in grave-robbing and describes the horrific consequences.
- St. John
The narrator's companion and leader in their grave-robbing expeditions; his corpse is later found mangled.
Key passages
“In my tortured ears there sounds unceasingly a nightmare whirring and flapping, and a faint, distant baying as of some gigantic hound.”
I constantly hear a terrifying flapping noise and the far-off howl of a huge hound.
The narrator's auditory hallucinations or supernatural perception of the hound.
“It was this frightful emotional need which led us eventually to that detestable course which even in my present fear I mention with shame and timidity—that hideous extremity of human outrage, the abhorred practice of grave-robbing.”
Our desperate need for excitement drove us to the shameful act of robbing graves.
The motivation for their descent into grave-robbing.
“Seizing the green jade object, we gave a last glance at the bleached and cavern-eyed face of its owner and closed up the grave as we found it.”
We took the green jade amulet, looked one last time at the skull of the corpse, and then reburied the grave.
The act of stealing the amulet from the grave.