"The Bell in the Tower"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #69, Yuletide 1989

An old fellow lives in London, and screams whenever the church bells ring.  A fellow boarder at Gray's Inn, where he resides, named Williams, befriends the strange old coot.  Who just happens to be Lord Northam, scion of an ancient and once-wealthy Yorkshire family.  But he won't discuss that fact, or anything about the crumbling family castle and its underground vaults.  

One night, Williams finds a copy of the Necronomicon at a used book-store, and buys it dirt cheap.   Thinking the old guy will find it interesting(!), Williams shows it to him.  Lord Northam, it turns out, has a story....

It seems the family was always drawn to the outre, even back to Roman times.  By the time LN reached adulthood, he was drawn to the usual subjects, and the usual library list - and the Northam family castle had a library full of the usual.  There he found a copy of the Necronomicon, many years prior.  He also found a sealed-off tower, and therein an enormous silver bell, inscribed with "Nug-Soth" runes.  And a ritual in connection with said bell.

The ritual, involving hallucinogenic drugs and, of course, the tolling of the bell, summoned a procession of human figures on the fields below the tower, from all eras of mankind.  Northam soon became addicted to the ritual, and kept repeating it.  Less human figures began to join the processions.

Northam realizes the procession is making its way to the crypts underneath the castle.  He decides to visit there himself, and finds a misshapen, undead thing chained there.  One with an uncomfortable family resemblance...

This is definitely a change of pace for Carter.  Though overly florid and overdone, it genuinely recalls Lovecraft's earliest horror stories.  Not only that, it is entirely effective.   Almost certainly the best Carter Cthulhu story I've come across.  Not a home run, but definitely a good hit.