A young, Bostonian surveyor arrives in the rural area around Arkham, where he stumbles upon a desolate, lifeless area, where all seems to have turned into grey ashes. He begins to look into the mystery of the place known by locals as a "blasted heap" and finally finds an old man, Ammi Pierce, who relates to him what caused the desolation several decades back.
Before the "blasted heap" became what it's now, it was a homestead of the Gardner family. One night, a meteor crashed near their well, causing much interest among the people as well as the professors from Arkham university. The meteor seemed to have peculiar properties: while it was soft as plastic, it seemed to be metal as it was magnetic, but it also seemed to diminish over time, finally disappearing completely. It was also hot and didn't seem to cool down significantly. It also glowed in the dark and when to put upon a test, it emitted a strange colour not ever seen before.
The following year, when new crops were due, Gardner's noticed, that their fruits and vegetables had grown bigger than ever before. At first, they rejoiced, but that soon turned to a disappointment, as all the crops tasted terrible. Nahum Gardner decided, that the meteor had poisoned the soil. This was even more propped by the fact, that the vegetation around the house had begun to emit an eerie colour. The animals were affected as well, mutating into some strange forms.
Shortly after this, the family began to lose their minds. The first one to go was Mrs Gardner, their sons followed. After a while, worried if his neighbours who have isolated themselves from other people, Pierce decides to visit them. to his shock, he finds Nahum mad and from the closed attic, he finds Msr Gardner or whatever is left of her after the vile colours of the meteorite have turned her into quivering mass. Horrified, Pierce destroyed the woman, but for even a bigger shock, he witnesses how the entity destroys Nahum as well. the man runs away, only to return with the police.
The police search the place with a medical examiner, who is dumbfounded by what he sees. The day turns into a night and this is when they all witness the eerie glow of the farm and see, how the trees begin to move without wind. They escape and as they look back, they witness how the colour, trapped in the well, now shoots upwards to the night sky, leaving behind only the grey desolation.
The Colour of Space is generally thought of as one of Lovecraft's best works. Even the thought of it as one of his personal favourites of his own writings. And it is easy to agree with those sentiments, as this definitely is a great story. It is a terrifying tale of a family, who without their own fault, end up slowly dying because of forces beyond their understanding. The meteor, whatever cosmic entity it was, just crashes down to their farm and begins to infuse itself on everything and anyone living there. There's nothing the Gardners, the professors or Pierce can do about it when the malignant meteor plays out its whims.
In the end, Lovecraft tells very little of the mysterious meteorite and the sickly colours it emanates around it. There's nothing connecting it to his Cthulhu or Dreamcycle settings, so whatever the force that came down to the Gardner farm is left as a mystery in a good way. It was a force with no interest in life, it took what it needed and then continued its travels, where ever the end of its trail or purpose might be.
As the story has, along with many of Lovecraft's works, fallen under the public domain, it's not surprising to learn, that it has been adapted many times. Before the most recent Nicolas Cage movie, there was a Boris Karloff vehicle Die, Monster, Die! made in 1965, and a later 1987 adaptation called the Curse. The Cage movie and the Curse are closer adaptations of the original story. Some authors have tinkered with the story as well, Brian Aldiss's The Saliva Tree is said to be a reworking and Michael Shea's The Colour of Time is a sequel. Stephen King has stated his book The Tommyknockers to have been heavily influenced by Lovecraft's story.
The Colour Out of Space is definitely among Lovecraft's best works. And as it is in the public domain, it should be pretty easy to find at least a digital copy of it. I'd imagine it has been included in many printed horror anthologies as well.
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