Here we have a prime example of what comes to mind when one thinks about early horror fiction. It’s all in the atmosphere. The creepy graveyard. Morbid musings. A narrator set apart from the rest of society. And of course, gruesome murder.
This is most definitely not a polite horror story. This is dark and ugly, and it will cut your throat when you aren’t looking. There is a frame, but oddly enough, it’s told in present tense, which is very unusual for the time.
When we meet the narrator, he’s writing this narrative in the hollow of a grave, leaning his back against the stone, scribbling away by light from the stars and the moon. He awaits the authorities, because he has been a very naughty boy.
He goes back to his past, when he saw his first corpse. His grandfather had died, and he had to go to the funeral, where he caught sight of the body. Strangely, he is elated by the sight in what seems at first to be reasonable. He sees peace and comfort on the old man’s face, so maybe he takes it to mean that death isn’t nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
And then his mother dies, and he gets the feeling again. This time, he comes to a ghastly conclusion: he feeds on the sight of dead people. He puts this theory to the test when he gets hired on as an apprentice to a mortician, and surely enough, he feels more and more energized when he finds himself surrounded by the dead. He thirsts for the feeling so much that when his father dies, he insists on embalming the body himself.
Predictably, people don’t die quickly enough to suit his needs, so he eventually goes out into the world to make people die. He becomes a serial killer, hunted by one and all, growing more and more powerful with each new killing.
Holy fuck, talk about a delusional protagonist! Poe himself couldn’t have conjured this lunatic out of his own booze-addled mind. Eddy portrays a ghoulish man, but more so, he gives us a peek into his head, showing how he works. At the time, this was very far from the way things were done. Robert Bloch would come along later and adopt this method as part of his style.
Eddy, many years ahead of his time, shows off what the horror genre can do, and luckily, he wasn’t the only one. This is another watershed moment for the horror tale. He doesn’t even let up in the end. SPOILER ALERT: the narrator doesn’t want to be caught by those pursuing him, so he decides to cut his wrists and make his final escape. The very last paragraph, as his life dwindles away (remember, this is told in present tense, so it’s all the more immediate), is very poetic and beautiful as his imagery reaches all new heights. END OF SPOILERS.
If you are a true fan of horror, do not miss this tale. It’s an important one in the big picture. Maybe, just maybe, without this story, we wouldn’t have PSYCHO.
[This story first appeared in WEIRD TALES, and as of now can't be found online at all. It is interesting to note a few things about this story. First of all, it is said that Lovecraft had a hand in helping Eddy out, as he was wont to do with other writers. People would send him manuscripts, and he'd send them back covered with red ink suggestions. (Well, I don't know if they had red ink back then, but you get the idea.) The story also has an intriguing history. When it came out, it caused such an outrage that people tried to get WT banned. However, at the same time, this controversy caused more people to go out and buy the magazine. People say that as a result, "The Loved Dead" saved WT from bankruptcy. Think of all the stories we wouldn't have! Thank you, C.M. Eddy, Jr.!]
This is an important story in the history of horror. I met Eddy's grandson at a library book talk and he had a copy of the original manuscript of "The Loved Dead" and there were but a few notations by Lovecraft on the papers. Eddy had written the story and I think through the years Lovecraft "scholars" have written the wrong info without any fact checking.
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