The Shadow over Innsmouth  

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The Shadow over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft in the horror fiction genre. The themes of the story are degeneration, tainted ancestry, forbidden mysteries, and a reality which human understanding finds both incomprehensible and intolerable.

The narrator is a student on a sightseeing tour of New England who learns of Innsmouth, a coastal town that, following an epidemic and rioting in the last century, fell into such decline that it is no longer shown on maps. Although he is cautioned that Innsmouth is avoided because of "race prejudice" against the townspeople, and that visitors sometimes disappear or go insane, he decides to stop there. He finds the inhabitants have a repulsive appearance and the whole town reeks of corruption, most houses are boarded up and apparently derelict.

Interested in folklore, the narrator locates an elderly local drunk known for his tales. He hears that seafaring inhabitants of Innsmouth generations before had voyaged to the South Seas, finding a cult that practiced human sacrifice to placate immortal undersea creatures. The creatures made a pact with the sailors, who brought them back to Innsmouth to dwell on an offshore reef and be worshipped; in exchange the undersea creatures provided gold. The townsfolk revolted against making human sacrifices, but were defeated by the creatures following a nocturnal invasion. Surviving residents agreed to join the cult and keep its secrets. They were forced to intermarry with the creatures; the resulting children appeared human, but became undersea creatures in later life.

Staying overnight despite warnings, the young man flees from the hotel during an attempt on his life. He is pursued by inhuman-looking shapes, and he sees reinforcements swarming him. Confronted with the reality that they are a hybrid race, half-human and half an unknown marine creature, the narrator blacks out. Upon revival, he escapes and calls in the authorities. They secretly destroy the town and torpedo the reef. Learning later that his own ancestry goes back to people in Innsmouth, the young man believes he is fated to become one of the undersea creatures.





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