# That German Text That HP Lovecraft Quotes: Fake or Real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014 "2012-01-19T15:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/1 "2012-01-19T15:03:42Z")
In one of Lovecraft’s better stories, he quotes from a (supposed) text by a german author-it’s called something like “unspeakable things” (my translation). Like the “Necronomicon” (by “Abdul Alhazrad”), I suspect that this book is a figment of Lovecraft’s imagination. Was there any such book? ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/2 "2012-01-19T15:24:05Z")
The Unaussprechlichen Kulten was fake, but other books, like “The Witch Cult of Western (?) Europe” and “The Great God Pan”, were real. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/3 "2012-01-19T15:51:33Z")
There was a sort of game where authors contributing to the Cthulhu Mythos" each made up a title of a non-existent book. The _Unauspresslichen Kulten_ (“Unspeakable Cults”) was Robert E. Howard’s contribution, appearing in his own stories before Lovecraft used it in his. > **[Cthulhu Mythos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos)** > > The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name "Cthulhu" derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928... ---
**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:** [January 19, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/4 "2012-01-19T16:14:46Z")
Actually, It was August Derleth who (mis)translated the title of Howard’s _Nameless Cults_ into German ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/5 "2012-01-19T17:36:57Z")
See [Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_arcane_literature) a Wiki page that reveals all the history of these tomes that is fit for the feeble eyes and tender minds of the uninitiated. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/6 "2012-01-19T21:27:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Actually, It was August Derleth who (mis)translated the title of Howard’s _Nameless Cults_ into German Thanks..CalMeacham..you are a Lovecraft expert! As for Derleth-I’m sure that Lovecraft would be unknown today-if not for him. Do you know who Lovecraft left his easte to? I believe he died childless. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/7 "2012-01-22T06:40:23Z")
Do you mean his physical estate (property, money, etc.) or his literary estate? His [will](http://www.aetherial.net/lovecraft/scans/lovecraft-will.pdf) names his mother, who dies before him, and then two aunts, one of whom survived to inherit. He did not name an executor for his literary estate, but his aunt knew Lovecraft wanted the job assigned to H.R. Barlow, and saw to it. The copyrights belonged to his aunt, and then to her heirs, but have now passed into the public domain. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/8 "2012-01-23T01:20:09Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks..CalMeacham..you are a Lovecraft expert! > . I most emphatically am not. I just wish I was! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/9 "2012-01-23T06:18:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I most emphatically am not. I just wish I was! And if you were, you’d most emphatically wish you weren’t. Only briefly, though - stark, raving madness makes it kind of hard to maintain a train of thought. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/10 "2012-01-23T11:58:03Z")
I always thought “Die Wermis Mysteriis” sounded kinda German. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-german-text-that-hp-lovecraft-quotes-fake-or-real/610014/11 "2012-01-23T12:42:47Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I always thought “Die Wermis Mysteriis” sounded kinda German. Spelled that way, it does. But it’s _De Vermis Mysteriis_, which sounds kinda Latin. (See BG’s link, [List of Cthulhu Mythos books - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_arcane_literature) ) – CalMeacham, not an expert.