Dagon (short story)

Dagon (short story)
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Vital statistics
Title	Dagon
Author	H.P. Lovecraft
Country	USA
Genre	Horror
Published in	The Vagrant #11; Weird Tales 10/23
Publication date	October, 1923
Characters	Dagon

"Dagon" is an American short story of the horror genre. It was written by author H.P. Lovecraft in July of 1917 when Lovecraft was 27-years-old. It was first published in The Vagrant #11 in November, 1919. It was re-published in the October, 1923 issue of Weird Tales. Dagon deals with the concept of cosmic or eldritch horror and is considered the first story in what would later be described as the greater Cthulhu Mythos family of tales.

Synopsis[]

An unnamed morphine addicted mariner writes down his account of a harrowing incident that he experienced while serving as an officer during the Great War. He was stationed aboard a cargo ship that had been captured by a German sea raider in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He managed to escape on a lifeboat, but drifted aimlessly until finally finding himself marooned on a "slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about in monotonous undulations as far as he could see..." The entire area was littered with the rotting carcasses of fish and other animals protruding from the black mud of an unending plain. He theorized that this area was formerly a portion of the ocean floor thrown to the surface by volcanic activity, exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths.

After waiting three days for the seafloor to dry out sufficiently to walk on, he ventured out on foot to find the sea and possible rescue. After two days of walking, he reached his goal, a hill which turned out to be a mound on the edge of an immeasurable canyon". Descending the slope, he observed a large white monolith situated next to a channel of water. It was covered in glyphs depicting various forms of sea life such as cephalopods, mollusks, crustaceans, and other types of fish. He also took note of various sculptures about the white monolith, which appeared to be of quasi-humanoid men, but with aquatic features.

As the man continued to gaze at the monolith, he noted a giant horrific creature, rising from the dark waters, stretching its scaly arms about the monolith and issuing forth a bellowing howl. The man managed to flee back to his boat whereupon he seemingly passed out.

The mariner was rescued by an American ship and taken to a hospital in San Francisco. He kept silent about the affair, fearing no one would believe him, but sought to gain information after being released. He learned about a Philistine fish-god known as Dagon.

Haunted by the spectacle he had witnessed, his dreams and waking hours were a flood of horrific images of nameless unimaginable things crawling from the sea; fearful that they might one day drag the remainder of humanity down below the depths with them.

With the last of his morphine running out, the mariner concludes writing his tale. It is not only a memoir, but also a suicide note, as he does not intend to continue living knowing of such nightmares that exist in the world. He then hears a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it before shouting "God, that hand! The window! The window!"

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Dagon
The Mariner

Locations[]

California

San Francisco

Pacific Ocean

Groups[]

Deep Ones
Old Ones

Items & Vehicles[]

Boat
Raft

Miscellaneous[]

Notes & Trivia[]

A feature film of Dagon was released in 2001, which combines elements of the "Dagon" short story along with The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It was directed by Stuart Gordon with a screenplay written by Dennis Paoli.
The sculptures that the Mariner spies on the muddy land mass is likely that of the Deep Ones. The Deep Ones play a larger part in the 1936 novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The residents of the fictional seaport town of Innsmouth are said to be hybrids of the Deep Ones and humans.
The suicide of the mariner is indirectly referenced in a newspaper clipping in "The Call of Cthulhu".