After several sightings of odd corpses floating in the river after a flood, Albert Wilmarth, an instructor of literature at the Miskatonic University of Arkham, becomes a minor celebrity after his dismissive writings of the subject matter. Through his writings, he takes a stance, that people are reading too much of the ancient superstitions and Indian folklore. As far he is concerned, there are no strange beasts or monsters living in the hills and forests.
Henry Akeley, an elderly man living on a lonely farm in Townsend, takes an interest in Wilmarth's writings and addresses him with a letter. He states, that publically if anyone was to ask him, he'd side with Wilmarth's sceptical views, but privately it is an entirely different matter. He claims to possess evidence, which could shake the world. The two end up having a long correspondence, during which Wilmarth gets photos of strange footprints taken by Akeley as well as a phonographic recording of strange, buzzing voices, which speak with people Akeley has identified as agents of beings who are not of this world.
Through his own investigations, Akeley has concluded, that the strange beings come from the 9th, yet undiscovered planet called Yuggoth located at the edge of our solar system. These fungi based aliens have built their bases there and often visit Earth and other planets to mine resources. They've also made many allies with the less desirable part of humans.
In his correspondence, Akeley encourages Wilmarth to stop talking of the beings publically, as they might soon take an interest in him. In his own words, Akeley's own findings have already targetted him, causing nightly intrusions to his farm, stopped only by his dogs. Things take a more sinister turn when unknown people begin to fire towards his house as well as steal the letters sent to Wilmarth.
Then a sudden change happens with the messages. Akeley informs Wilmarth, that he has understood the visitor wrong, they aren't evil at all, just very different. He begs the young man for a visit as well as him to bring back all the evidence he has sent in the mail. Wilmarth agrees, but when he arrives at Akeley's farm he finds the old man bound to his chair because of a serious asthma attack. Immobilized, the old man speaks to Wilmarth with a whispery voice, telling him how he intends to take a trip with the aliens. He then reveals many secrets to him, asking Wilmarth to consider coming along.
After a lengthy discussion, which included a display of alien technology encapsulating human brains in a metal cylinder for interplanetary travel, Wilmarth retires to his room. Strange noises wake him in the night and all his bad feelings rush to the surface. He escapes the house and returns later with the police, only to find the house empty, Akeley nowhere to be seen. Wilmarth concludes, that the aliens have taken Akeley and they intended to take him as well. He suspects evil things are in the future, as scientists have also announced the finding of the 9th planet, Pluto. Akeley had told him, that the planet would be found when the beings wanted to make themselves known.
In comparison to many of the previous Lovecraft horror stories, The Whisperer in Darkness does stand out. Firstly, it is more deliberately tied to pulp sci-fi, even more so than the Colour out of Space. He hasn't been a stranger to pulp sci-fi prior to this, but this story is very firmly rooted in science fiction. Secondly, Lovecraft actually spends quite a bit of time building up the aliens as well as describing them as well as what they do and how they behave. When the story ends, we have a solid grasp on what they look like and even on what they might want. The build-up towards the climax is detailed and filled to a brim with intrigue while the end itself feels almost rushed in comparison. You could say it's not a surprise ending, but then again, the way it reads out, the predictable nature of it is fully intentional from Lovecraft's side, as he isn't shy of hinting that things are off at the Akeley farm. Or more like, he's constantly hammering down on how strange things are. Any real surprise would have been, that all was right all along.
Another notable thing about the story is its structure. Most of the story is more or less a summary of the letters sent between the two men. At times Wilmarth, the narrator of the story, is summarizing several letters but there are complete letters in the mix as well. He also dwells in folklore and superstitions in his attempts of making things clearer. The change happens on the last stretches of the story when Wilmarth decides to visit Akeley, then the story turns into a witness report, with Wilmarth describing what he saw, heard and felt during his short stay at his pen pals house. While Lovecraft had done something similar in structure, this might be the furthest he went with the style.
Predictability aside, The Whisperer in Darkness is a solid take on pulp horror, albeit it doesn't always necessarily read as a horror story. At times, it feels like a thriller, but there's more of an adventurous tint over the narrative, which does seem a tad odd. Only after Wilmarth's trip to the farm, are the horror elements fully brought in, as here's where the narrative structure fully shifts from the 1st person 3rd person view into a full 1st person narrative.
The ending really might be the biggest blemish on the story, however intentional it may have been. All done, it manages to feel gimmicky perhaps just because it goes where you think it is going. Then again, it doesn't really matter in this case either, as the way it ends might have been the only sensible way of ending a story like this. Otherwise, it could have turned out even more anticlimactic with the amount of foreboding it offers.
So, a bit of an odd duckling, but still a surprisingly well-rounded story, which uses even the blemishes to its favour. The Whisperer in Darkness might not win awards in terms of originality, but it does spin all the elements to its benefit. It is an enjoyable read.
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