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This subject contains information from the "Lovecraft Circle" Myth Cycles, and while guided by HPL are not based on his work alone. Aylesbury is a fictional town created by the late American author H. P. Lovecraft, first appearing in the 1928 short story "The Dunwich Horror." They are also mentioned in the sonnet sequence Fungi from Yuggoth.

In Lovecraft's Writing[]

Considered part of New England's "Lovecraft Country", Aylebury from its mentions in "The Dunwich Horror" appears to be located in the Miskatonic River valley somewhere between Arkham and Dunwich: One must traverse the "wrong fork" of the Aylesbury Pike junction to reach the latter from the former. Another small and obscure town, Dean's Corners, is located nearby.

Old Whateley of Dunwich declares that his daughter Lavinia's mate is "as good a husban’ as ye kin find this side of Aylesbury." When there are tremors in Dunwich in 1915, "even the Aylesbury people felt" them.

According to "The Dunwich Horror," Aylesbury has a court-house, an office of the Massachusetts state police, and a newspaper, the Aylesbury Transcript. When the Whateley family needs medical help, they call on Dr. Houghton of Aylesbury.

Fungi from Yuggoth suggests that Aylesbury is near Zaman's Hill, as sightseers from the town come out to gape when the village at the hill's foot disappears. The poem cycle also refers to the "Aylesbury town farm," which a character named John Whateley is supposed to be taken; town farms were New England institutions that "served as nursing homes, mental wards, and homeless shelters."[1]

The Derleth Mythos[]

August Derleth makes frequent references to Aylesbury in his "posthumous collaborations" with Lovecraft:

  • Wilbur Akeley in "The Gable Window" lives "in a pocket of the hills off the Aylesbury Pike."
  • "The Survivor"'s Jean-Francois Charriere has a file of clippings from the Aylesbury Transcript in his library.
  • Abner Whateley has to go to Aylesbury to hire workers willing to tear down his mill in "The Shuttered Room."
  • Uriah Garrison of "The Shadow in the Attic" lives in a "gambrel-roofed house on his gambrel-roofed house on Aylesbury Street, in that part of Arkham south of the Miskatonic River."
  • In "The Watchers Out of Time," when "the country around Dunwich" is discussed, it's noted that "in Aylesbury they call it ‘Whateley country.’"

In Popular Culture[]

  • The 2015 horror film We Are Still Here is set in a fictional Massachusetts town called Aylesbury. The film stars Barbara Crampton, who has starred in several films based on and inspired by Lovecraft’s work.

References[]

  1. Acton-Shapleigh Historical Society, "Shapleigh's Town Farm."
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