‘Strange ancient memories’

Harrisville, N.H. in 1905

“Transferring in haste, I felt a curious breathlessness as the cars rumbled on through the early afternoon sunlight into territories I had always read of but had never before visited. I knew I was entering an altogether older-fashioned and more primitive New England than the mechanised, urbanised coastal and southern areas where all my life had been spent; an unspoiled, ancestral New England without the foreigners and factory-smoke, billboards and concrete roads, of the sections which modernity has touched. There would be odd survivals of that continuous native life whose deep roots make it the one authentic outgrowth of the landscape--the continuous native life which keeps alive strange ancient memories, and fertilises the soil for shadowy, marvellous, and seldom-mentioned beliefs.”

— From H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), writer and a Providence native who’s known for his horror and science-fiction stories.

The worst fear

H.P. Lovecraft’s grave in Providence’s famous Swan Point Cemetery

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’’

— H.P. Lovecraft, Providence-based writer of science fiction and horror stories.

A 'more primitive New England'

“Transferring in haste, I felt a curious breathlessness as the cars rumbled on through the early afternoon sunlight into territories I had always read of but had never before visited. I knew I was entering an altogether older-fashioned and more primitive New England than the mechanized, urbanized coastal and southern areas where all my life had been spent; an unspoiled, ancestral New England without the foreigners and factory-smoke, billboards and concrete roads, of the sections which modernity has touched. There would be odd survivals of that continuous native life whose deep roots make it the one authentic outgrowth of the landscape—-the continuous native life which keeps alive strange ancient memories, and fertilizes the soil for shadowy, marvelous, and seldom-mentioned beliefs.''

-- H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness:Collected Stories, Volume 1

― H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness: Collected Stories Volume 1