An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

Without the necessity of stating it, HPL makes clear the true state of affairs: the last, reassuring letter by “Akeley” was in fact a forgery by the alien entities, written as a means of getting Wilmarth to come up to Vermont with all the evidence of his relations with Akeley; the speaker in the chair was not Akeley—whose brain had been removed from his body and placed in one of the machines— but one of the aliens, perhaps Nyarlathotep himself, whom they worship. The attempted “rapport” that the aliens claim to desire with human beings is a sham, and they in fact wish to enslave the human race; hence Wilmarth must write his account to warn the world of this lurking menace. There are numerous autobiographical details in the story. HPL knew of the Vermont floods of 1927, as they were extensively reported in newspapers across the East Coast. More generally, the Vermont background of the tale is clearly derived from HPL’s visits to the state in 1927 and 1928; whole passages of the essay “Vermont—A First Impression” (1927) appear in the text but subtly altered so as to emphasize both the terror and the fascination of the rustic landscape. Wilmarth’s ride into Vermont in a Ford car duplicates the ride HPL took to Vrest Orton’s farm in 1928: “We were met [in Brattleboro] with a Ford, owned by a neighbour, & hurried out of all earthly reality amongst the vivid hills & mystic winding roads of a land unchanged for a century” (HPL to Lillian D.Clark, [June 12, 1928]; ms., JHL). Henry Wentworth Akeley is based in part on the rustic Bert G.Akley whom HPL met on this trip. Akeley’s secluded farmhouse seems to be based on both the Orton residence in Brattleboro and Arthur Goodenough’s home farther north. There is a mention of “The Pendrifter” (the columnist for the Brattleboro Reformer) early in the story, and the later mention of “Lee’s Swamp” is a nod to the Lee boys who were Orton’s neighbors.

Steven J.Mariconda has discussed in detail the particularly difficult genesis of the tale. As the manuscript states, it was “provisionally finished” in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 7, 1930, but underwent significant revision thereafter. HPL first took it to New York, where he read it to Frank Belknap Long. In his 1944 memoir, Long speaks of the matter; although parts of his account clearly are erroneous, there is perhaps a kernel of truth in his recollection of one point: “Howard’s voice becoming suddenly sepulchral: ‘And from the box a tortured voice spoke: “Go while there is still time —”’” (“Some Random Memories of H.P.L.,” Marginalia,p. 336). HPL then went to Kingston to visit Bernard Austin Dwyer and read him the story as well. In a letter HPL states: “My ‘Whisperer in Darkness’ has retrogressed to the constructional stage as a result of some extremely sound & penetrating criticism on Dwyer’s part. I shall not try to tinker with it during the residue of this trip, but shall make it the first item of work on my programme after I get home—which will no doubt be in less than a week now. There will be considerable condensation throughout, & a great deal of subtilisation at the end” (HPL to August Derleth, June 7, 1930; ms., SHSW). It appears that at least one point on which Dwyer suggested revision is this warning to Wilmarth (presumably by Akeley’s brain from one of the canisters), which is so obvious that it would dilute the purported “surprise” ending of the story (if indeed the story in this version ended as it did). It also appears that Dwyer recommended that Wilmarth be made to seem less gullible, but HPL did

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not much succeed in this area. Although he apparently inserted random details to heighten Wilmarth’s skepticism, especially in regard to the obviously forged final letter by “Akeley,” Wilmarth still seems very naive in proceeding blithely to Vermont despite all the documentary evidence he has received from Akeley.