h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hmmm, no mention of this here. Interesting.

HP Lovecraft is also the guy to whom we can attribute the "existence" of the Necronomicon. He used to refer to it in his writings and over time, people have come to believe the book actually existed. He refuted it many times in his corrospondence, but that hasn't stopped folk from believing it exists.

It is such a standard that it appears as a cornerstone in other works of horror (both literary and cinematic).

This book was supposedly written by the mad arab Abdul Al-hazred. Lovecraft used this book as a reference to help give his stories legitimacy and realism, the same way he used to insert real documented events into his story. So that if you looked into some of the stuff, you would find that some stuff occured, which helps validate the stuff that was made up.

Haven't a lot of writers done that, to varying degrees? They write about an object so much, and refer to it so casually, that by the time you're done, you can rember what was made up and what was the truth? Instilling belief is one of the greatest characteristics in writing. Then the characters become real, and insead of making up a story, the author provides a window into another sort of existance.

Indeed, the hallmark of a master storyteller; observe how stephen king tends to sprinkle brand-names throughout his fiction.

Avon books published a work called 'necronomicon' which is scaled to appeal to flakey cultists who are convinced that the book was in fact 'real'. It contains rituals and information related to the ancient sumerian pantheon, which has made other appearances in film and literature (for example the demon in Blatty's Exorcist is pazuzu, a sumerian rot lord). The God Cthulhu appears to be based on the sumerian god Kutulu, who later became the model for Satan in zoroastrianism.

It might also be worth noting that Lovecraft and his contemporary Robert Howard (author of the Conan and Kull stories) are often mentioned in connection with the Bavarian Illuminati (another flakey cult interest, but nevertheless sort of a fascinating collection of esoteric odds and ends of historic/occult factoids). It seems likely that lovecraft had at least some passing interest in this genre of information.

H P Lovecraft admitted in private correspondance that he concocted the Necronomicon and the Cthulhu mythos system. Of course, this does not necessarily mean he was telling the truth.

The Modern Bavarian Illuminait was founded on May 1st 1776 by Adam Weishaupt (which translates as "wise head" so it is possibly a symbolic name like "Jesus Christ") There are also suggestions that Washington is linked to the bavarian illuminati, which was formed in the year of the US declaration of independance.

i've read h.p. lovecraft many times...everytime i read him anew, there is more. as a side note, he is the very best writer, at least to me, that has truly captured what the darker side of living in new england is. his descriptions of the woods and surrounding countryside...the houses...did anyone ever read the house on the strand? i can't recall if h.p. wrote that, and as it is late, and i've had a scotch or two, i'm not going to look it up...well, i'm sure i will. but, that's a good'n.

ok, i'm back...the house on the strand was written by daphne du maurier...check it out.

Ok for the person who suggested he wasn't telling the truth I would recommend reading "The Necronomicon Files." It proves quite adequetely that there was never a Necronomicon until Lovecraft dreamed it up. Further to suggest Lovecraft was drawing from real occult ignores one is extreme ignorance of the subject and two the fact he was blatently dismissive of any thing supernatural. He was an atheist and found religion and magic both to be nonsense. He thought the universe ultamitely was uncaring and that if some higher being existed it would be completely uninterested in humanity. This is obvious from both his stories and his correspondence. Any other interpritation is just wild unprovable speculatiion.

Lovecraft was one of the first writers to have characters refer to books in libraries to add an element of realism to his stories.

Robert E. Howard of Conan fame also wrote numerous Cthulhu stories based on Lovecraft's mythos.

Lovecraft does pop up in conspiracy theories from time to time, none of them valid. There is one story that during World War Two Lovecraft was approached by nazi agents to write a popular text that would help sway the US away from entering the war. This story has been turned into a fictional book.

I think it demonstrates how special Lovecraft was as a writer.

I have been unable to track down anything by Lovecraft, but I have read about him. The impression I get is that he knew a lot about the occult, but regarded it all as a load of crap.

Actually he knew very little about the occult. Very late in his career he read a number of books that were recomended by Clark Ashton Smith but he had no serious interest in the occult beyond debunking it and using touches in his tales(many serious occultists have commented on a few of the more glaring errors in his usage).