# Identify these horror short stories, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772 "2005-06-10T18:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/1 "2005-06-10T18:32:04Z")
I got such quick answers the last time I asked, and right on the money, I might add, that I thought I’d try it again. The following are all short horror stories, to the best of my recollection, and the first two were contained in the same book, IIRC (all different authors). I’m fairly certain I read all these stories in the 70s, too. 1. A group of people are out in the wilderness for some reason, and they in some manner encounter moving trees. At least one of the party is found dead, with possibly some conical depressions in his body. I vaguely remember the depressions were from a moving tree burrowing its roots into him. 2. An older gentlemen, possibly a story set in the Victorian era. He has a secret companion with him whose existence comes out with his death. It’s a (blue? green?) woman, height maybe 12 inches, or something that looks like a woman. I think at one point he begins having second thoughts about continuing his secret relationship with this thing, or he becomes involved with another (real) woman, and the thing bites him, like a snake. It then disappears into some tall grass, and eludes capture. 3. I might have read this one in a book called _Horror by Gaslight_, dunno. A man tells a friend about his discovery of an entrance, hidden in a certain grave, that leads to Hell or some secret underground place. The two open the entrance, the man descends, leaving his friend at the surface, and the two will continue communication by radio. The man’s description of his trek becomes weirder, until finally he shouts at his friend to seal the entrance and beat it, BEAT IT! Thanks in advance for any and all help rendered. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/2 "2005-06-10T18:35:33Z")
I don’t know about the first two, but the last story is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s lesser stories. I can’t recall the title, though, or what collection it’s in. And the message over the phone at the end isn’t from his friend – it’s an unknown voice telling him that his friend is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/3 "2005-06-10T18:39:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know about the first two, but the last story is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s lesser stories. I can’t recall the title, though, or what collection it’s in. > > And the message over the phone at the end isn’t from his friend – it’s an unknown voice telling him that his friend is dead. Yup–it’s called “The Statement of Randolph Carter.” You can read it here: [The Statement of Randolph Carter by H. P. Lovecraft](http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thestatementofrandolph.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/4 "2005-06-10T18:43:24Z")
It’s [The Statement of Randolph Carter](http://www.geocities.com/area51/shire/7473/statement.html). ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/5 "2005-06-10T18:45:05Z")
Damnit, **winterhawk11**! I just spent the last twenty minutes googling to try to find it, and I finally got there with ‘lovecraft friend descend voice’ and rushed back here, only to see that you beat me to it. However, **Cal** , the narrator’s friend does tell him to beat it, before the unknown voice mentions that Warren is dead: > [@](#): > > A pause, more clicking, then the faint voice of Warren: > > “Nearly over now - don’t make it harder - cover up those damned steps and run for your life - you’re losing time - so long, Carter - won’t see you again.” > > Here Warren’s whisper swelled into a cry; a cry that gradually rose to a shriek fraught with all the horror of the ages - > > “Curse these hellish things - legions - My God! Beat it! Beat it! BEAT IT!” There are some extra [explanatory notes](http://www.lovecraft.ru/texts/eng/statement_carter_e.html) on that piece, which are mildly interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/6 "2005-06-10T18:45:21Z")
Darnit. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/7 "2005-06-10T19:16:53Z")
> [@lno](#): > > Damnit, **winterhawk11**! I just spent the last twenty minutes googling to try to find it, and I finally got there with ‘lovecraft friend descend voice’ and rushed back here, only to see that you beat me to it. Well, that’s your problem there. You should have [cthuugled](http://www.cthuugle.com/) it. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/8 "2005-06-10T19:26:26Z")
_laugh_ I was going to say that I thought my third entry was Lovecraftian in tone, but I decided not to, so as not to narrow down people’s recollection directions. That’ll teach me. And thanks for all the answers so far. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/9 "2005-06-10T19:33:46Z")
> [@LateComer](#): > > Well, that’s your problem there. You should have [cthuugled](http://www.cthuugle.com/) it. Tried. The result of a search: > [@](#): > > Not Found > > The requested URL /scripts/index.html was not found on this server. > Apache/2.0.46 (Red Hat) Server at [www.cthuugle.com](http://www.cthuugle.com) Port 80 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/10 "2005-06-10T20:22:39Z")
Your first one sounds like Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows” to me … ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/11 "2005-06-10T23:22:17Z")
**Steve Wright** has correctly identified the first entry in my query. **winterhawk11** took the prize for correctly identifying my third entry, although **CalMeachum** rang in first, but with incomplete info. If it helps, I’m of the opinion that _The Willows_ and my second entry were contained in the same paperback book, which I likely read in the mid-to-late 70s. I’ve found online traces of such a book of Blackwood’s work, published in 1973 or 1974, but I can’t get a synopsis of the stories, so don’t know if one of them might be right. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/12 "2005-06-11T12:03:09Z")
\*The Willows[/], online: [http://www.litrix.com/willows/willo001.htm](http://www.litrix.com/willows/willo001.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/13 "2005-06-11T20:23:18Z")
I know I’ve read #2, but I can’t be of any more help. I just checked my “Complete Book of Terror”, and it’s not there. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/14 "2005-06-12T00:33:36Z")
Story #2 – someone on the Shocklines board suggested that it might be “Back There in the Grass” by Gouverneur Morris. Here’s its publishing history, courtesy of the Locus Index: Back There in the Grass, (ss) Colliers Dec 16 1911 - World of Wonder, ed. Fletcher Pratt, New York: Twayne 1951 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night, ed. Alfred Hitchcock, Random House 1961 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories for Late at Night, ed. Alfred Hitchcock, Dell 1962 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/15 "2005-06-12T02:00:50Z")
Story #1 is “The Willows” ? Damn. I thought of that right off, because of the moving trees, but I didn’t remember the “conical depressions” stuff. And it wasn’t a group. It was two guys, the narrator and a Swede. ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-these-horror-short-stories-please/307772/16 "2005-06-12T02:42:49Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Story #1 is “The Willows” ? Damn. I thought of that right off, because of the moving trees, but I didn’t remember the “conical depressions” stuff. > > And it wasn’t a group. It was two guys, the narrator and a Swede. ok, wait. I’m confused. So the narrator stabbed the two guys with the swede? I guess a root vegetable would make conical depressions, but the whole story doesn’t make mush sense. Guess I’ll go read it…