Other editions of book At the Mountains of Madness

On an expedition to Antarctica, Professor William Dyer and his colleagues discover the remains of ancient half-vegetable, half-animal lifeforms. The extremely early date in the geological strata is surprising because of the highly-evolved features found in these previously unknown life-forms.Through a series of dark revelations, violent episodes, and misunderstandings, the group learns of Earth's secret history and legacy.

On an expedition to Antarctica, Professor William Dyer and his colleagues discover the remains of ancient half-vegetable, half-animal lifeforms. The extremely early date in the geological strata is surprising because of the highly-evolved features found in these previously unknown life-forms.Through a series of dark revelations, violent episodes, and misunderstandings, the group learns of Earth's secret history and legacy.

On an expedition to Antarctica, Professor William Dyer and his colleagues discover the remains of ancient half-vegetable, half-animal lifeforms. The extremely early date in the geological strata is surprising because of the highly-evolved features found in these previously unknown life-forms.Through a series of dark revelations, violent episodes, and misunderstandings, the group learns of Earth's secret history and legacy.

At the Mountains of Madness is a gripping science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March, and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections. The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September 1930, and what was found there by a group of explorers led by the narrator, Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University. Throughout the story, Dyer details a series of previously untold events in the hope of deterring another group of explorers who wish to return to the continent. The story is told in a first-person perspective by the geologist William Dyer, a professor at Arkham's Miskatonic University, in the hope to prevent an important and much publicized scientific expedition to Antarctica. Throughout the course of his explanation, Dyer relates how he led a group of scholars from Miskatonic University on a previous expedition to Antarctica, during which they discovered ancient ruins and a dangerous secret, beyond a range of mountains higher than the Himalayas. In William Dyer's story, a smaller advance group, led by Professor Lake, discovers the remains of fourteen prehistoric life-forms, previously unknown to science, and also unidentifiable as either plants or animals. Six of the specimens have been badly damaged, while another eight have been preserved in pristine condition. The specimens' stratum places them far too early on the geologic time scale for the features of the specimens to have evolved. Some fossils of Cambrian age show signs of the use of tools to carve a specimen for food. When the main expedition loses contact with Lake's party, Dyer and his colleagues investigate. Lake's camp is devastated, with the majority of men and dogs slaughtered, while a man named Gedney and one of the dogs are absent. Near the expedition's campsite, they find six star-shaped snow mounds with one specimen under each. They also discover that the better preserved life-forms have vanished, and that some form of dissection experiment has been done on both an unnamed man and a dog. The missing man is suspected of having gone utterly insane and having killed and mutilated all the others. Dyer and a graduate student, named Danforth, fly an aeroplane across the mountains, which they identify as the outer walls of a vast abandoned stone-city, alien to any human architecture. For their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the Necronomicon, the builders of this lost civilization are dubbed the "Elder Things". By exploring these fantastic structures, the men learn through hieroglyphic murals that the Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the Moon took form and built their cities with the help of "shoggoths" — biological entities created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. There is a hint that all earthly life evolved from cellular material left over from the creation of the shoggoths. As more buildings are explored, the explorers witness the Elder Things' conflict with both the Star-spawn of Cthulhu and the Mi-go, who arrived on Earth shortly afterwards. The images also reflect a degradation of their civilization, once the shoggoths gain independence. As more resources are applied in maintaining order, the etchings become haphazard and primitive. The murals also allude to an unnamed evil lurking within an even larger mountain range located beyond the city. This mountain range rose in one night and certain phenomena and incidents deterred the Elder Things from exploring it. When Antarctica became uninhabitable, even for the Elder Things, they soon migrated into a large, subterranean ocean.

Few writers can evoke such nightmarish visions as H. P. Lovecraft—and few of his stories are as chilling as these canonical tales of terror. “H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”—Stephen KingAt the Mountains of Madness: Lovecraft’s indisputable masterpiece. In the barren, windswept Antarctic, an expedition uncovers strange fossils . . . and mind-blasting terror.The Shunned House: Two men investigate the mystery of a sinister old house: the scene of unexplained deaths and weird apparitions.The Dreams in the Witch-House: In the crooked bedroom of an ancient abode, a mathematician’s feverish studies lead him to a dark discovery.The Statement of Randolph Carter: The lone survivor of an unspeakable incident, Randolph Carter relates his brush with the underworld.These milestones of the macabre will compel you to read on, even as you attempt to flee the waking nightmares they inspire. At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror is a master class in supernatural terror.

Professor William Dyer of the the Miskatonic University knew that the antarctic was a forlorn, dangerous place, but nothing could have prepared him and his expediting for what they would find in the Mountains of Madness. They discover an abandoned city from ancient times. But is it really abandoned? And will any of them be able to get out alive? A sublime horror novel by one of the greatest horror writers of all time.

On an expedition to Antarctica, Professor William Dyer and his colleagues discover the remains of ancient half-vegetable, half-animal lifeforms. The extremely early date in the geological strata is surprising because of the highly-evolved features found in these previously unknown life-forms.Through a series of dark revelations, violent episodes, and misunderstandings, the group learns of Earth's secret history and legacy.

Complete and unabridged paperback edition. At the Mountains of Madness is a science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was originally serialized in the February, March, and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections.The story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the Antarctic continent in September 1930, and what was found there by a group of explorers led by the narrator, Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University. Throughout the story, Dyer details a series of previously untold events in the hope of deterring another group of explorers who wish to return to the continent. From Wikipedia.

Initially rejected by Lovecraft's publisher, At The Mountains of Madness is now considered a classic of the horror genre. The disturbing, nightmarish story of a journey through Antarctica and a discovery of secrets hidden in a frozen mountain range has influenced writers and film-makers since it was first serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories.

Chapter 1I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic—with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. And I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.Doubt of the real facts, as I must reveal them, is inevitable; yet, if I suppressed what will seem extravagant and incredible, there would be nothing left. The hitherto withheld photographs, both ordinary and aerial, will count in my favor, for they are damnably vivid and graphic. Still, they will be doubted because of the great lengths to which clever fakery can be carried. The ink drawings, of course, will be jeered at as obvious impostures, notwithstanding a strangeness of technique which art experts ought to remark and puzzle over.In the end I must rely on the judgment and standing of the few scientific leaders who have, on the one hand, sufficient independence of thought to weigh my data on its own hideously convincing merits or in the light of certain primordial and highly baffling myth cycles; and on the other hand, sufficient influence to deter the exploring world in general from any rash and over-ambitious program in the region of those mountains of madness. It is an unfortunate fact that relatively obscure men like myself and my associates, connected only with a small university, have little chance of making an impression where matters of a wildly bizarre or highly controversial nature are concerned.