Lovecraft Country

    I wanted to assemble resources for those looking to learn about the inspirations behind H. P. Lovecraft's stories.  The vast majority are set partially or entirely in Essex County, Mass., with fictional towns like Kingsport and Innsmouth based on real ones familiar to Lovecraft.  He also took inspiration from other pulp and horror writers, particularly Edgar Allen Poe, as well as the history of the witchcraft trials in and around Salem.  Hopefully, this will provide a little assistance to LARPers, Call of Cthulhu players, and weird fiction writers!

Edit 5/10/24: Added links for public domain works.

At the Mountains of Madness
    Burroughs, Edgar Rice. "At the Earth's Core." All-Story Weekly, vol. 30, no. 1–4 (April 1914).
    Lovecraft, H. P. "At the Mountains of Madness." Astounding Stories, vol. 16, no. 6–8 (1936).
    Merritt, A. "The People of the Pit." All-Story Weekly, vol. 79, no. 3 (January 1918).
    Poe, Edgar Allan. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1838.
    Russell, William Clark. The Frozen Pirate. Toronto: W. Bryce, 1887.
    —. "Bear, 1885." United States Coast Guard. Posted February 13, 2020. Accessed April 19, 2022.
    —. "Edsel Ford, Richard E. Byrd and Henry Ford with 1926 Ford Tri-Motor 4-AT-1." The Henry Ford. Accessed April 24, 2022.
    —. "Fairchild FC-2W2 Stars and Stripes, STARS AND STRIPES." National Air and Space Museum. Posted 2019. Accessed April 19, 2022.
    —. "Photo Details - LAIV MAP.JPG." USAP Photo Library. Accessed April 24, 2022.
    —. "Vamar History." Florida's "Museums in the Sea". Posted 2007. Accessed April 24, 2022.

"Pickman's Model"
    Bromley, George Washington, and Walter Scott Bromley. "4. Ward 6." Atlas of the city of Boston, Boston proper and Roxbury. Philadelphia: G. W. Bromley and Co., 1895.
    Jarzombek, Nancy Allyn. "A Taste for High Art: Boston and the Boston Art Club, 1855-1950." Antiques & Fine Art Magazine. Posted May 14, 2014.  Accessed March 15, 2022.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "Pickman's Model." Weird Tales, vol.10, no. 4 (1927), pp. 505–513.
    McCollom, J. H. "Observations on Cholera." Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 127 (1892), pp. 284–286.
    Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. See esp. pp. 114–115.
    Sweeney, Emily. "Boston officials remember the Great Molasses Flood, 100 years later." The Boston Globe. Posted January 15, 2019. Accessed April 24, 2022.
    —."Copp's Hill Burying Ground." City of Boston. Posted July 14, 2016. Accessed March 15, 2022.
    —. "Mount Auburn Cemetery." National Park Service. Posted August 28, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2022.
    —."Our History." The Home for Little Wanderers. Posted September 20, 2023. Accessed May 10, 2024.
    —. Twentieth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission, for the year ending June 30, 1914. Boston: City Printing Department, 1914. See esp. pp. 1–5 and 33–35.

"The Colour Out of Space"
    Cole, Sean. "Haunting the Quabbin: Inside Out." Podcast. On 90.9 WBUR: Boston's NPR Station. Accessed March 11, 2022.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Colour out of Space." Amazing Stories, vol. 2, no. 6 (1927), pp. 556–567.
    —. "Map of the Proposed Quabbin Reservoir." Image. On Flickr. Posted September 5, 2012. Accessed March 11, 2022.
    —. "Quabbin Chronology." Friends of Quabbin. Posted December, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2022.

"The Dreams in the Witch House"
    Goodell, Jr., Abner Cheney. Further Notes on the History of Witchcraft in Massachusetts: Containing Additional Evidence for the Passage of the Act of 1711, for Reversing the Attainders of the Witches; Also, Affirming the Legality of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer of 1692: with … an Appendix of Documents, Etc. Cambridge, Mass.: John Wilson & Son, 1884.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "Map of the Principal parts of Arkham, Massachusetts." Brown Digital Repository. 1934. Accessed March 11, 2022.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Dreams in the Witch House." Weird Tales, vol. 22, no. 1 (1933), pp. 86–110.
    Mather, Cotton. The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England. London: John Dounton, 1693.
    Newman, Caroline. "With UVA's Help, Salem Finally Discovers Where Its 'Witches' Were Executed." UVA Today. Posted January 19, 2016. Accessed April 24, 2022.
    Upham, William P. House of John Procter, Witchcraft Martyr, 1692. Peabody, Mass.: C. H. Shepard, 1904.
    Webber, C. H. and Nevins, W. S. Old Naumkeag: An Historical Sketch of the City of Salem, and the Towns of Marblehead, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers, Wenham, Manchester, Topsfield, and Middleton. Salem, Mass.: A. A. Middleton & Co., 1877.

The Dunwich Horror
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Dunwich Horror." Weird Tales, vol. 13, no. 4 (1929), pp. 481–508.

"The Festival"
    Aldrich, William Truman. "Marblehead: Its Contribution to Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century American Architecture." The White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs, vol. 4, no. 1 (1918).
    Hill, Benjamin D and Nevins, Winfield S. The North Shore of Massachusetts Bay: An Illustrated Guide to Marblehead, Salem, Peabody, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Magnolia, Gloucester, Rockport, and Ipswich. Salem, Mass.: 1881.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Festival." Weird Tales, vol. 5, no. 1 (1925), pp. 169–174.
    Roads, Jr., Samuel. A Guide to Marblehead. Marblehead, Mass.: N. A. Lindsey & Co., 1890.
    Roads, Jr., Samuel. The History and Traditions of Marblehead. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1881.
    Roads, Jr., Samuel. The Marblehead Manual. Marblehead, Mass.: Statesman Publishing Company, 1883.

"The Haunter of the Dark"
    Bloch, Robert. "The Shambler from the Stars." Weird Tales, vol. 26, no. 3 (1935), pp. 368–375.
    Ewers, Hanns Heinz. "The Spider." In Creeps by Night; Chills and Thrills, edited by Samuel Dashiell Hammet. New York: John Day, 1931.
    Hopkins, Griffith Morgan. "v.3 pl.E Wards 4, 7." Part of wards 4 & 7, (city of Providence). Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins, 1875.
    Howard, Robert E. "The Shadow Kingdom." Weird Tales, vol. 14, no. 2 (1929), pp. 166–182.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Haunter of the Dark." Weird Tales, vol. 28, no. 5 (1936), pp. 538–553.
    —. "Federal Hill, from the Italians to the Irish." RI PBS. Aired January 16, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2022.

The Shadow over Innsmouth
    Coffin, Joshua. A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, from 1635 to 1845. Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1845.
    Currier, John J. History of Newbury, Massachusetts, 1635–1902. Newbury, Mass.: Damrell & Upham, 1902.
    Lovecraft, H. P. The Shadow over Innsmouth. Everett, Penn.: Visionary Publishing Company, 1936.
    Williams, Frederic J. The Turnpikes of New England and Evolution of the Same Through England, Virginia and Maryland. Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1919.
    —. "About the Museum." Custom House Maritime Museum. Posted April 29, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024.
    —. "Newburyport Rum Withstands the Test of Time—Almost." New England Historical Society. Posted 2021. Accessed April 24, 2022.

"The Thing on the Doorstep"
    Bain, Robert Nisbet. "Louis II. of Hungary." Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 17 (1911), pp. 49–50.
    Howard, Robert E. "The Black Stone." Weird Tales, vol. 18, no. 4 (1931), pp. 500–510.
    Lovecraft, H. P. "The Thing on the Door-Step." Weird Tales, vol. 29, no. 1 (1937), pp. 52–69.
    Smith, Clark Ashton. The Star-Treader and Other Poems. San Francisco, A. M. Robertson, 1912.
    Trask, Richard B. "Danvers State Hospital." Danvers Archival Center. Posted 2013.  Accessed March 15, 2022.