Short Fiction · Chapter
VII explained
Malone's dream is supplemented by the realities of the case.
What happens
Malone's dream is supplemented by the realities of the case. The three old houses in Parker Place collapse, killing many. Malone is found unconscious near a black pool with Suydam's body. The investigation reveals a network of underground canals and tunnels used for smuggling and kidnapping. A crypt beneath a dance-hall church contains a chapel, cells with prisoners, and disturbing discoveries. The canals yield bones, and the kidnapping epidemic is traced home. The carved golden pedestal is never found. The police break up a gang of maniacs and man-smugglers, and the Kurds are deported as Yezidee devil-worshipers. Malone rests in Chepachet, hoping for oblivion. Suydam is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, and Red Hook remains unchanged.
Themes in this chapter
Horror of the Unknown
The chapter emphasizes the incomprehensible and ancient evil lurking in Red Hook, with cults rooted in blasphemies deeper than human understanding, and the sense that the horror is omnipresent and eternal.
Decay and Fallen Grandeur
The old brick houses, decaying crypts, and the collapsed Parker Place buildings symbolize physical and moral decay, while the hidden underground canals and cells reveal a fallen, corrupted world beneath the surface.
Characters to notice
- Malone
Survives the collapse of the Parker Place houses, found unconscious by the pool, and later retreats to Chepachet to recover from the horror.
- Robert Suydam
Killed in the collapse; his body identified by dental work. He was a leader in man-smuggling operations, and his connection to the horrors is covered up by his family.
Key passages
“Age-old horror is a hydra with a thousand heads, and the cults of darkness are rooted in blasphemies deeper than the well of Democritus.”
Ancient horror is like a many-headed monster, and dark cults are based on evils older than human thought.
This metaphor underscores the persistence and depth of evil in Red Hook.
“The soul of the beast is omnipresent and triumphant, and Red Hook’s legions of blear-eyed, pockmarked youths still chant and curse and howl as they file from abyss to abyss, none knows whence or whither, pushed on by blind laws of biology which they may never understand.”
The evil spirit is everywhere and victorious, and the degraded young people of Red Hook continue their mindless rituals, driven by biological forces they cannot comprehend.
Highlights the inescapable, almost biological nature of the horror.
“O friend and companion of night, thou who rejoicest in the baying of dogs and spilt blood, who wanderest in the midst of shades among the tombs, who longest for blood and bringest terror to mortals, Gorgo, Mormo, thousand-faced moon, look favorably on our sacrifices!”
O night-dwelling companion who delights in dogs howling and bloodshed, who roams among ghosts and graves, who craves blood and terrifies humans, Gorgo, Mormo, thousand-faced moon, accept our offerings!
A direct invocation to a dark entity, showing the cult's ritualistic worship.