"The Stone on the Island" is a short story by Ramsey Campbell in the Cthulhu Mythos genre, set in his Severn Valley milieu in 1962. It first appeared in 1964 in the Arkham House anthology Over the Edge.
Synopsis[]
Michael Nash, a young man from Brichester, finds his father dead from suicide, leaving behind a mysterious warning about the Island Beyond Severnford, an island near Severnford in the Severn River. The warnings centers on a mysterious stone on the island, associated for more than a hundred years with mysterious deaths and mutilations (and spooky floating white ovals). Naturally, Michael goes to investigate, on October 28, 1962, and finds the stone:
| “ | It was carved of some white rock, in the shape of a globe supported by a small pillar." Nash noticed at once its vaguely luminous quality; it seemed to flicker dimly, almost as if continually appearing and vanishing. And it looked very harmless and purposeless. | „ | |
| ~ The Stone on the Island |
He touches it, despite explicit warnings about "going too near the stone": "Immediately he knew that he had done the wrong thing."
Michael finds himself haunted by floating faces: First one, then two and more. They watch him at home and at work; thinking he sees one in the storeroom at the office, he kicks at it viciously and find he has accidentally killed a new co-worker. He jumps on a bus to avoid arrest and finds himself back in Severnford. There he is set upon by the faces; when he is found by police from Brichester and Severnford, they discover that someone has "remove[d], cleanly in one piece, the skin of [his] face."
Characters[]
- Michael Nash: A young civil servant who works in a modern office building in central Brichester. He knows just enough about eldritch matters to get himself into trouble: He is aware of the supposed protective qualities of "five-pointed stones", and knows to use the "Saaamaaa Ritual" as a last resort.
- Dr. Stanley Nash: Michael's father, a Brichester physician. He commits suicide, leaving his son a warning about the Island Beyond Severnford. He also leaves behind a "secret library of rare books".
- Mr. Miller: Michael's boss.
- Gloria: Michael's co-worker.
- G.F.E Dickman: A disgruntled client.
- Jack Purvis: A friend of Michael's in Camside who owes him money.
- Inspector Daniels: A Brichester police officer.
- Inspector Blackford: A Severnford police officer.
- Historical
- Joseph Norton: A witchcult believer who worships at the island in 1803, and is later found in Severnford mutilated and raving about "going too near the stone".
- Nevill Rayner: A Severnford clergyman who goes to the island in 1826 to "rid my flock of this evil", and is later found mutilated in his church.
- Alan Thorpe: Removes the stone from the island in 1890 while "investigating local customs", and is then found "horribly wounded"--with the stone showing up back on the island.
Connections[]
Michael Nash is aware of "the hidden forces which clustered about a house in Victoria Road, a demolished wall at the bottom of Mercy Hill, and such towns as Clotton, Temphill and Goatswood." The Victoria Road house and Mercy Hill wall are references to Campbell's story "The Return of the Witch", while horrors in the towns are explored in his "The Horror From the Bridge", "The Church in High Street", and "The Moon-Lens", respectively.
The "five-pointed stones" that seem not to have helped Michael very much are August Derleth's starstones.
The Saamaa Ritual comes from William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki stories, where it is discussed in a fictional grimoire, the Sigsand Manuscript. The tome warns, however, that the ritual gives protection for “maybe five beats of the harte.”[1]
Reference[]
- ↑ When Churchyards Yawn, "Canarcki the Ghost-Finder--William Hope Hodgson", John Lineham, January 31, 2017.