Miskatonic Valley

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Lore & Background

Lovecraft first utilized this New England setting in his 1920 short story "The Terrible Old Man," set in Kingsport. Later that year, "The Picture in the House" became the first work to mention both Arkham and the Miskatonic Valley, opening with a manifesto on why the region fits his horror: "the true epicure of the terrible... esteem most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England." In 1930, Lovecraft explained this fascination in a letter to Robert E. Howard, citing "the night-black Massachusetts legendary" as packing "the really macabre 'kick'" and reflecting a "profoundly morbid streak in the Puritan imagination."

The geography is fluid; Lovecraft moved locations based on literary needs. For instance, he decided Arkham would have been destroyed by the Quabbin Reservoir, an event alluded to in "The Colour Out of Space" where a "blasted heath" is submerged. Miskatonic University was first mentioned in "Herbert West–Reanimator" (1921-22). Dunwich was added in 1928's "The Dunwich Horror," described as being found by taking the wrong fork at the Aylesbury Pike, while Innsmouth appeared in 1931's The Shadow over Innsmouth. Other stories utilizing this setting include "The Festival," "The Strange High House in the Mist," "The Dreams in the Witch House," and "The Thing on the Doorstep."

In Their Own Story

Travelers seeking Dunwich must take the wrong fork at the junction of the Aylesbury Pike just beyond Dean's Corners, a location found only in Lovecraft's fiction. Upon arrival, they find a village surrounded by "great rings of rough-hewn stone columns on the hilltops," presumed built by the Pocumtucks. The inhabitants are depicted as inbred and superstitious, living among decrepit buildings in economically poor conditions. Further east lies Arkham, a town Lovecraft pictured as resembling Salem but more hilly with a college, placed "somewhere north of Salem—perhaps near Manchester." In 1905, Arkham was devastated by a typhoid outbreak as noted in "Herbert West–Reanimator," and the town houses both Miskatonic University and Arkham Sanitarium. To the south lies Innsmouth on the Essex County coast, situated between Plum Island and Cape Ann, described by Lovecraft as a "considerably twisted version of Newburyport." Here, residents shop in neighboring Ipswich or travel northwest to Rowley.

Reader's Guide

For those exploring the geography of this setting, note that while the core stretches along the Miskatonic River valley, the broader "Lovecraft Country" sometimes includes southern Vermont (setting of The Whisperer in Darkness) and Providence, Rhode Island. Specific locations have precise fictional coordinates: Dunwich is in "north central Massachusetts," Innsmouth sits south of Plum Island, and Arkham is north of Salem. August Derleth later expanded these blanks with his own stories, placing "Wentworth's Day" and "The Horror from the Middle Span" north of Dunwich, and "The Fisherman of Falcon Point" on a promontory south of Innsmouth. Alternative names for this setting exist beyond "Lovecraft Country." Scholar S. T. Joshi calls it the "Miskatonic region," biographer Lin Carter uses "Miskatonic County," and the film Color Out of Space refers to it as "Arkham County." Matt Ruff, in his 2016 novel Lovecraft Country, places events in the equally fictitious Devon County. The phrase is also used in popular discourse, such as a 2005 Harvard Law Record article identifying the fictional North Shore towns of Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and Dunwich.

Did You Know?

• The term 'Lovecraft Country' was coined by Keith Herber for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, not by H.P. Lovecraft himself.
• Lovecraft placed the fictional town of Dunwich in north central Massachusetts, reachable only by taking the wrong fork at the Aylesbury Pike beyond Dean's Corners.
• In 1905, the town of Arkham was devastated by a typhoid outbreak as described in 'Herbert West–Reanimator'.
• Lovecraft intended for Arkham to be located north of Salem, perhaps near Manchester, rather than its actual historical counterpart.
• The fictional Miskatonic River flows from Dunwich's headwaters to the Atlantic Ocean between Arkham, Kingsport, and Martin's Beach.