
The story opens on a storm‑laden night, when a sudden knock at the door rouses the narrator from a restless sleep. His old friend Conrad arrives, pale and trembling, to deliver the grim news that the notorious hermit John Grimlan has just died after a terrifying seizure that seemed more demonic than medical. Through Conrad’s uneasy recollections, the reader learns that Grimlan was a learned but malevolent figure, steeped in forbidden occult practices and feared by everyone who knew him.
Compelled by a mixture of dread and curiosity, the narrator agrees to meet the dying man’s final request: to be present for the strange funeral rites that will follow. The mood is thick with foreboding as the two men contemplate the unnatural terror that haunted Grimlan’s last moments, hinting at forces that lurk beyond ordinary fear. The stage is set for a chilling exploration of dark sorcery and the unsettling mysteries that arise when the veil between life and the unknown is torn.
Language
en
Duration
~29 minutes (28K characters)
Series
Cthulhu Mythos Tales
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1937.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2023-06-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1906–1936
Best known for creating Conan the Barbarian, this Texas-born pulp writer packed his stories with action, strange worlds, and a fierce sense of adventure. In just a short life, he helped shape the modern sword-and-sorcery tradition.
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