15 Facts About Lovecraft Country

1.

Instead the phrase Lovecraft Country was coined by Keith Herber for the Lovecraftian role-playing game Call of Cthulhu.

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2.

Lovecraft Country first used a New England setting in his 1920 short story "The Terrible Old Man", set in Kingsport.

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3.

Specifically, Lovecraft Country was inspired by the cities and towns in Massachusetts.

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4.

However, the specific location of Lovecraft Country is variable, as it was moved according to Lovecraft's literary needs.

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5.

The location of Arkham was moved, as Lovecraft Country decided that it would have been destroyed by the Quabbin Reservoir, which was created to supply Boston with fresh water.

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6.

Lovecraft Country added Dunwich to his imaginary landscape in 1928's "The Dunwich Horror", and expanded it to include Innsmouth in 1931's The Shadow over Innsmouth.

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7.

Lovecraft Country first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephais", where it refers to a fictional village in England.

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8.

Lovecraft Country called Innsmouth "a considerably twisted version of Newburyport", Massachusetts.

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9.

Lovecraft Country placed Innsmouth on the coast of Essex County, Massachusetts, south of Plum Island and north of Cape Ann.

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10.

Lovecraft Country writes that Innsmouth is in a horrendous state of decay, with many of the buildings rotting and on the point of collapse.

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11.

When Lovecraft Country visited Marblehead in 1922, he became enamored of the town.

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12.

Lovecraft Country used Kingsport as a setting for his short stories "The Terrible Old Man", "The Festival" (written 1923, published 1925), and "The Strange High House in the Mist" (1926, published 1931).

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13.

Murray thinks Lovecraft Country actually based Innsmouth's location on Gloucester, Massachusetts on Cape Ann.

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14.

Secondly, Lovecraft Country is known to have created the name of the Miskatonic River from Algonquian root words.

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15.

Murray believes Lovecraft Country used a similar method to come up with Manuxet: man means "island" and uxet translates to "at the large part of the river"; thus, when combined Manuxet means "Island at the large part of the river".

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