Illustro Obscurum
Obsessed with monsters in literature, folklore and mythology from all over the world. Wobbly, taphophile. No gods, no masters.
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- “He had learned much of the Other Gods in distant parts of space, especially in that region where form does not exist, and coloured gases study the innermost secrets.” H.P. Lovecraft, Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath
- “And then we saw those stone steps leading down Through a choked gate of graven dolomite To some black haven of eternal night Where elder signs and primal secrets frown. We cleared a path—but raced in mad retreat When from below we heard those clumping feet." H.P. Lovecraft, The Fungi From Yuggoth
- “55-Man followed by invisible thing.” H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book
- "169-What hatches from primordial egg." H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book
- “Valusia’s serpent-men laid the foundation-stones of evil magic." H.P. Lovecraft & William Lumley, The Diary Of Alonzo Typer "Then, like a fading mask of fog, the face suddenly vanished and in its stead gaped and leered a monstrous serpent's head!" Robert E. Howard, The Shadow Kingdom
- “Frightful clandestine tales hinted of his vengeance upon mortals who flouted him or wreaked harm upon his wriggling progeny; his chosen method being to turn his victim, after suitable tortures, to a spotted snake.” H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Curse Of Yig
- “I leaped up at once & raced across endless leagues of plateau – doing this not because the conductor had dropped on all fours, but because the face of the motorman was a mere white cone tapering to one blood-red tentacle. . .” H.P. Lovecraft & J. Chapman Miske, The Thing In the Moonlight
- "It had long hair & the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old Keziah & the devil, & was nursed on the witch's blood, which it sucked like a vampire." H.P. Lovecraft, Dreams In the Witch-House
- “The living objects were jellyish monstrosities which flabbily quivered in harmony with the vibrations from the machine. They were semi-fluid & capable of passing through one another and through what we know as solids.” H.P. Lovecraft, From Beyond
- “The object was nauseous; a filthy whitish gorilla thing with sharp yellow fangs and matted fur. Its eyes had the same odd quality that marked those other eyes which had stared at me underground and excited cloudy recollections. One eye was blue, the other brown.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Lurking Fear
- “Coward—you could never face the dimensional shambler whose hide I put on to scare you—the mere sight of it alive, or even the full-fledged thought of it, would kill you instantly with fright! Iä! Iä!” H.P. Lovecraft & Hazel Heald, The Horror In the Museum
- “There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things ... not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings, but something I cannot and must not recall.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Festival
- "They were pinkish things about 5’ long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of membranous wings & several sets of articulated limbs & with a sort of ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be." H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer In Darkness
- “For they were great slippery things which could expand & contract at will & whose principal shape was that of a sort of toad without any eyes, but with a curious vibrating mass of short pink tentacles on the end of its blunt, vague snout.” H.P. Lovecraft, Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath
- "They were normally shapeless entities composed of a viscous jelly. They had, however, a constantly shifting shape - throwing out temporary developments or forming apparent organs of sight, hearing, and speech.” H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains Of Madness
- "I was aware that the room was filled with the pink dancers of the picture. They were man-size & gross, like huge erect toads. ‘They have no faces,’ she whispered.They presented the featurelessness of so many huge gingerbread boys, covered with pink icing." Manly Wade Wellman, The Golgotha Dancers
- “Like many Martians, he was braced upright on his lower tentacles by hoops & buckles around his bladdery body, so that he had roughly a human form. In the breathing hole of his petal-tufted skull was lodged an artificial voice-box that achieved words.” Manly Wade Wellman, The Devil’s Asteroid
- “Years afterwards, I saw through a microscope, the plodding of an amoeba. The thing up under the roof sounded as an amoeba look. Only it must have been many, many thousands of times larger than an amoeba.” Manly Wade Wellman, Up Under the Roof
- "This species of demon appears like a skeleton in form-fitting black leather. Its extremities (feet, hands & head) are larger than normal. It has taloned fingers & a horn-like growth projects from the back of the skull, curving forward & downward." Gary Gygax, Monster Manual II
- “The strange and evil mistiness was curling and entwining itself all about and around the cow. Thicker and thicker grew the folds of Shadow-substance." "The colors of the thing were more pronounced, now. Flaming, angry reds, flashing blues, sickly greens and yellows." E. Everett Evans, The Shed
- You can read Scott Nicolay’s essay about The Shed here: www.theouterdark.org/sftb-archive...
- "The galeb duhr is a curious boulder-like creature with appendages that act as hands and feet. These intelligent beings are very large & slow moving. They live in rocky or mountainous areas where they can feel the 'earth power' & control the rocks around them." Gary Gygax, Monster Manual II
- "The otyugh has a sensory organ stalk & 2 tentacle arms which protrude from its hideous body. The eyes are always thrust above the offal the creature lairs under, and this prevents surprise. Its tentacles have sharp ridges & are used to deliver smashing blows to prey." Gary Gygax, Monster Manual I
- “The giant vampire frog’s bile-green body is covered with mucous & 2 transluscent membranes of slimy tissue connect its fore & rear limbs, enabling it to glide. Its forelims are fingered with small claws & it possesses two large front teeth - sharp as needles.” Alan Fomorin, Dragon Magazine #50
- “Tomb Tappers are tall and humanoid, with very hard, blue-gray skin & great claws which can dig through solid rock. They are sometimes called ‘the Faceless’ due to their featureless heads. They have gigantic mouths in their abdomens which can crush rock.” Ed Greenwood, Dragon Magazine #41
- "Troll hide is a nauseating moss green, mottled green and gray, or pulrid gray. The writhing hair-like growth upon a troll's head is greenish black or iron gray, The eyes of a troll are dull black." Gary Gygax, Monster Manual
- "Nitrodjinn appear to have a vaguely humanoid torso with 4 arms & a featureless head. The lower half of the body is a long serpentine form stretching along the ground all the way back to the power source." Roger Moore, Dragon Magazine #75
- “The Wingless Wonder is a comical beast that resembles a walking egg. It stands on 2 weak legs that have sticky bases & it has 2 small arms which it flaps constantly (hence its name). Its mouth is atop its head, surrounded by a fringe of tentacles.” Ed Greenwood, Dragon Magazine #40
- "The eye of the deep dwells only at great depths of the ocean. It has 2 huge crab-like pincers to seize its victims & a mouth full of small sharp teeth. The creature has a large central eye & two smaller eyes on long stalks." Gary Gygax, Monster Manual
- The eye of the deep first appeared in the 1e Monster Manual with art by Jean Wells
- “80-Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building.” H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book
- “The stagnant waters now teemed with a horde of slimy enormous frogs which piped shrilly & incessantly in tones strangely out of keeping with their size. I followed the gaze of one very fat & ugly frog, and saw the second of the things which drove my senses away.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog
- "100-Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness." H.P. Lovecraft, Commonplace Book
- “He dreamed of great birds that fought and tore, birds with horribly distorted human aspects; he dreamed of monstrous beasts; and he dreamed of himself in strange roles.” H.P. Lovecraft & August Derleth, The Lurker At the Threshold
- “The creature I had killed, the strange beast of the unfathomed cave was, or had at one time been, a MAN!!!” H.P. Lovecraft, The Beast In the Cave
- "But I had to shut my eyes again when I realised how many of the things were assembling—and when I glimpsed a certain object walking solemnly and steadily without any body above the waist.” H.P. Lovecraft & Harry Houdini, Under the Pyramids
- “It crawled up and it flowed up on its hoofs and mouths and snaky arms. And the men bowed and stood back and then it got to the alter where they was something squirmin on top, squirming and screaming.” Robert Bloch, Notebook Found In a Deserted House
- “Odours of incense and corruption joined in sickening concert, and the black air was alive with the cloudy, semi-visible bulk of shapeless elemental things with eyes.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook
- "It was neither Beast nor Man but like to a monstrous Bat with human face. It made no sound but look'd at all with baleful eyes. There were those who swore that it bore a resemblance to the Face of one long dead, Richard Bellingham." H.P. Lovecraft & August Derleth, The Lurker At the Threshold
- "Every moving entity was electrified; & forming into a ceremonial procession, the horde slithered away in quest of the sound—goat, satyr & aegipan, incubus, succuba & lemur, twisted toad & shapeless elemental, dog-faced howler & >silent strutter< in darkness.” H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook
- "Things are hunting me now—the things that devour and dissolve—but I know how to elude them." H.P. Lovecraft, From Beyond
- "Then out of one of the caves came a Sand-Dweller—rough-skinned, large-eyed, large-eared, with a horrible, distorted resemblance to the koala bear facially, though his body had an appearance of emaciation. He shambled toward me, manifestly eager." H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth, The Gable Window
- “Two of the less irrelevantly moving things - a rather large congeries of iridescent, prolately spheroidal bubbles & a very much smaller polyhedron seemed to take notice of him." H.P. Lovecraft, Dreams In the Witch-House
