Here we meet another of those recurring supernatural investigators as mentioned earlier in the review of “The Whistling Room.” Though Wellman was better known for his John the Balladeer stories, there is still a devoted following for John Thunstone, whom we meet in “Shonokin Town.” Like Carnacki, he investigates supernatural mysteries with the intent of resolving their danger. However, Carnacki uses knowledge as his sole weapon. Thunstone will use any means necessary. Carnacki is intrigued by the supernatural. Thunstone hates it and wants it destroyed.
Case in point: a doctor friend desperately needs his help. Dr. Smollett shows up at Thunstone’s place and tells him a story about vacationing in the Zoar Valley. (Thunstone already suspects something will be crazy about this, as he knows that people there tend to be born with hooves and crab hands.) In particular, at a town called Araby. He gets off the train there and meets with an old man who is actually in very good shape for his obvious age. However, there is something off about him. His ring fingers are shockingly long, longer than his middle fingers, and the pupils of his eyes are slits, not circles. He then notices the other people in this town are the same way.
They’re not unfriendly, but they definitely don’t want him around. He asks if there’s a place he can stay. They say they have no accommodations for strangers. He asks if there’s a doctor in town, thinking that a fellow physician would take him in, and they tell him they have no doctor (and no need of one, when he suggests maybe setting up a practice here). When it becomes clear that they’re not going to get rid of him, they attack, and in the melee, he accidentally kills one of them. This freaks them out, and after another struggle, Dr. Smollett barely gets out of town alive.
Thunstone knows these people to be Shonokins, as he has encountered them before. He also knows that they are not human, even though they look pretty close. There are no females among them, and they tend to be immortal, unless someone violently kills them. He also knows that they view themselves as the rightful owners of this planet, and they are bent on destroying human beings in order to reclaim their rightful place in the world. So naturally, he feels the need to go to Araby to kill them all.
After making sure Dr. Smollett will be safe, Thunstone makes arrangements to arrive in Araby undetected. However, he has been trailed by the all-too-human Crash Collins, an eager associate of Dr. Smollett’s. The kid just wants to help, but Thunstone knows he’d only get in the way. He dismisses Crash and continues on his own. Predictably, Crash doesn’t leave, and he winds up getting captured by the Shonokins. They take him to their temple, where they have every intention of sacrificing him to their horned gods.
The story is pretty cool, but the main attraction really is Thunstone. He’s just such a curious fellow, perhaps even the direct inspiration for Warren Ellis’s Gravel. When he jumps off the train near Araby, he sorts through his pockets to make sure he still has his invisibility talismans on him. And every time something esoteric comes upon him, he has a vast library of knowledge in his own head in regards to it. Clearly, he’s very aware of his surroundings, and he’s sharper than the proverbial tack. Yet when he kills a Shonokin, he gets this weird smile on his face. He hates killing men, and Wellman suggests that he’s done so many times, but when it comes to killing things pretending to be men, he gets a real kick out of that.
SPOILER ALERT: The Shonokin’s sacrifice ritual is kind of funny. Even Thunstone admits that, and he was kind of looking forward to seeing how non-humans worship things. The humor was kind of a letdown for him, but he soldiers on by taking advantage of the one fear Shonokins have: of their own dead. You see, since they’re sort of immortal, and they have no females, they can’t make more of themselves. As a result, there will always be a limited number of them on earth. Killing one of them freaks them out so much because that means there’s one less soldier in the fight against humanity. Dwindling numbers do not win wars.
He breaks the back of one of the Shonokins (in a very Batman/Bane-type way) and flings its body at the others. They flip out and flee, and oddly, so do the horned gods, known as Those. It turns out that they’re only worshipped by Shonokins, and one more dead Shonokin means one fewer worshipper. As he rescues Crash, he sees that Those have lost it so much that they’ve unleashed a destructive force in Araby. When they return a few weeks later to check up on things, Araby is completely gone. There is no evidence of there ever being a town here. This makes Thunstone very happy. END OF SPOILERS.
Like with Carnacki, no horror fan should go through their lives without knowing Thunstone. If you haven’t followed his adventures, now is a good time to start. While you’re at it, look into John the Balladeer, too. Wellman is starting to fade into obscurity. Don’t let that happen.
[This story first appeared in WEIRD TALES and sadly cannot be read online at this time.]
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