Francis Wayland Thurston is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft, who makes his only appearance in the 1928 short story "The Call of Cthulhu".
Overview[]
Thurston was a Bostonian anthropologist, the grandnephew of George Gammell Angell and the sole heir and executor of his estate. While going through the late Professor Angell's papers, he discovered the secret of the Cthulhu Cult, a revelation that likely sealed his doom.
Behind the Mythos[]
- Thurston's name appears only in the story's subtitle, which originally appeared in Weird Tales but was dropped from later reprints until the 1981 Arkham House edition.[1]
- "Thurston" is an old Providence family name, while Francis Wayland was the name of the fourth president of Brown University, who did much to build up the institution.
References[]
- ↑ Joshi, p. 173.