lurking fears (part 3)

Part 3 - 'What the Red Glare Meant'

Having spent the first two instalments in doomed group attempts to locate the 'lurking fear' in the environs of the Martense Mansion, our hero has been understandably affected by events, and is now embarking on his attempt solo, but with an increasing hysteria:

I stood digging alone and idiotically in the grave of Jan Martense [...] I believe my mind was partly unhinged.

We believe him. Just as much as HPL's stories involve some breaking through between the line that separates our universe from those of sundry weird terrors (including the Elder Gods and so on) so too do they frequently involve a sane and rational character breaking through nearly (or fully) into full-blown madness. As our narrator (still un-named even at this point) digs further and further physically, he also seems to be digging further and further into insanity. Certainly any entirely rational person would stop digging after reaching the coffin itself... but he keeps digging and digging. His quest to locate the 'lurking fear' is now clearly an obsession.

As he digs, we are given a potted history of the Martense family, whose mansion and graveyard seem to be somehow at the root of all these local legends of terror. Once a noble family, they degenerated over the decades until eventually they seemed to disappear. The figure of Jan Martense seemed to escape the rest of his family's degeneration, 'escaping' to become a soldier in the Civil War, but on his return was apparently murdered. The narrator feels this is linked to the lurking fear in an important way (he's right). And, as with the mention of the fireplace in Part One, there is mention of the odd eye colours of the Martense family. Is this an important detail that will be important later...? (yes)

This is HPL again cementing the sense of reality of his tales. Just as in Part One we saw him develop a context of police reports and media activity, here we have the 'family tree' - a coherent and well-thought out chronology of prior events, places and people that come together to give a solid background to the story. Modern occurrences are thus on top of legendry and 'actual' history, the story accruing a series of layers. As over the top as his use of language may be, the story thus feels 'believable' (or, as said in part One, believable 'enough' as we are reading the story).

As he digs, he discovers a series of tunnels! These are also something of an HPL favourite. There is certainly something claustrophobic about underground tunnels which, like the wild weather in part One, immediately adds tension. (They accompany a narrator's heightened hysteria in other stories, such as 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward' and 'The Horror at Red Hook')

Interestingly, he draws attention to his language here as he the narrator rhetorically asks us -

What language can describe the spectacle of a man lost in infinitely abysmal earth; pawing, twisting, wheezing; scrambling madly...

'Verb-itis' would describe it very well!

At the very end of the instalment there is a sudden double-whammy of horror and action. In his torchlight he sees two red eyes glowing back at him and a claw...! It is only later he discovers that at the same time as he sees this creature, something had attacked one of the squatters' shacks, accompanied by a 'red glare'. Indeed, the new thunderstorm that occurs simultaneously saves his life, creating the movement of the earth which allows him to escape (though how this doesn't simply bury him under an avalanche is a mystery).

Sinister connections are being made... thunderstorms; Martense family; the creature(s) and a red glare. It will take the final instalment for him to piece these elements together.