It begins with an account of the death of a prominent professor at Miskatonic University and a study of his papers. These papers include the account of a raid on a supposed Satanic cult. A study of the cultists brings to light clues about the hideous creature that they worship, Cthulhu. The Cthulhu creature, said to have come with his alien followers from the stars millions of years before the dawn of Man, now rests in a death-like sleep in their sunken city of R'lyeh.

The second part of the story picks up here with the recounting of the log of a first mate on a ship that discovers the sunken city, now risen to the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The city has resurfaced because "the stars are right" and the time for the awakening of Cthulhu and his spawn is at hand. Cthulhu emerges from his tomb and almost all of the crewmen are slain. But the stars are not quite right, after all, and Cthulhu and R'lyeh return to the deep after the first mate makes a harrowing escape. The story concludes with the death of the first mate under mysterious circumstances, and the author's fear that he, too, will perish by the hands of the Cthulhu cultists.

Legacy

This story gave birth to the so-called Cthulhu Mythos, stories and novels based on the idea of the other-worldly creatures who wish to re-inhabit Earth. All of these stories are written by other authors—most of the early ones friends or acquaintances of Lovecraft's. However, "The Call of Cthulhu" is the only Cthulhu story written by Lovecraft himself.

There is a popular role-playing game based on the Cthulhu Mythos called Call of Cthulhu.''

There is also a Metallica song based off the Call of Cthulhu called The Call of Ktulu. It should be noted, though, that the song is an instrumental.

External link

• Online copy of the story