"The Church in High Street" is a short story by noted British author and Mythos contributor Ramsey Campbell. It was Campbell's first published story, appearing in the 1962 Arkham House anthology Dark Mind, Dark Heart, edited by August Derleth. Derleth convinced a teenaged Campbell to transfer the first draft of his story, "The Tomb Herd", from Lovecraft Country to an English landscape he was more familiar with, thus sparking the creation of Campbell's Severn Valley setting.
Synopsis[]
A man named Dodd travels to the dilapidated rural town of Temphill to take up employment with an old friend. After discovering his friend to be missing, Dodd comes across journal entries and the testimony of a presumably crazed neighbour which indicate that some dark presence dwelling beneath the church in High Street may be responsible. Investigating the tunnels which lead below the church, Dodd encounters a terrifying entity--one of the extradimensional predators known as the Tomb Herd--and escapes Temphill by the luckiest of flukes. Despite this, he subsequently feels a strange desire to return to the old church. The story is revealed to be a manuscript Dodd wrote before mysteriously disappearing.
Characters[]
- Richard Dodd, a down-on-his-luck man looking for gainful employment.
- John Clothier, an elderly resident of Temphill with knowledge of the supernatural.
- Albert Young, Dodd's missing friend, known only by his writings and the accounts of Clothier.
Behind the Mythos[]
After its initial appearance in Dark Mind, Dark Heart, "The Church in High Street" was later included in Campbell's own anthology Cold Print in 1985, and appeared in the 1994 collection Shadows over Innsmouth.
Mythos Connections[]
- "The Church in High Street" is set in Campbell's fictional Severn Valley, England, the setting for many of his later Mythos stories; it makes the first mentions of the major Severn Valley locations--Brichester, Goatswood, Severnford and Camside--as well as Temphill. The locations Yuggoth and Leng are also referenced.
- Several Mythos entities are referenced, including Yog-Sothoth (to whom the temple beneath the church is said to be dedicated), Cthulhu, the Old Ones, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep and Dholes.