Thursday, January 4, 2018

"Dagon's Bell"

by Brian Lumley
Originally published Weirdbook 23/24, 1988

David Parker marries June Anderson and moves to a remote farm in Yorkshire.  The farm is the subject of strange rumors and history.  Odd American expatriate inhabitants - from Innsmouth!  And haunted by a phenomenon called "Dagon's Bell" - an eerie tolling heard in the night, seeming to come from under the sea.

David begins to find evidence of a temple on the farm grounds.  His wife becomes ill due to "miasma", a sinister, nasty fog that fills the region.  The bell is heard.

David and his friend William Trafford find underground tunnels leading to an ancient temple to Dagon.  They are attacked by Deep Ones.  David is killed sealing off the temple.

A disappointment, mainly because the first half is highly effective in a classic ghost story fashion.  Lumley had matured enormously as a writer by the time this one came about.  If the story hadn't petered out so in the last third, this would be a real winner.


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