H. P. Lovecraft
The Beast in the Cave
Published: 1918
Language: English
Estimated Reading Time: ~30 minutes hours
After his torch goes out in Mammoth Cave, a lost traveller hears unfamiliar footsteps. The Beast in the Cave is an early horror story by H. P. Lovecraft.
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About the Manuscript
The narrator strays from his tour in Mammoth Cave. Once the torch is spent, he has only the rhythm of approaching footsteps to guide him and a stone from the cave floor to defend himself.
In The Beast in the Cave, the suspense comes from what a frightened listener thinks he knows, not what he can see. Written in Lovecraft's youth, the story makes its last glimpse matter more than anything he imagined in the dark.