TOP 5: Five Dangerous places in Lovecraft fiction

This article is for anyone who wants to spend holidays... in Hell.

The mythology of Cthulhu is rich in realy frightening places, where only the strong survive, and yet, if they are cunning, wise and lucky.

There are places so dark, scary and horrible that the mention of their names is enough to freeze the blood in the veins. Who would be able to explore those cursed places?

Here is a list of some of the most dangerous places in Lovecraftian Fiction. Prepare your bags and before you travel, make your will, because it is very likely to be a one-way trip.

Goatswood, Severn Valley

Founded in the early 14th century, near Brichester in the haunted Severn Valley, Goatswood at first glance, it is just a typical rural village in the hinterland of England. But just look closely and certain things jump in the eyes ..

To begin with, people living in neighboring towns avoid Goatswood, as visitors have the strange habit of disappearing without a trace. The inhabitants of Goatswood, individuals who have a disconcerting physical resemblance to caprines. They are part of an abominable religious cult dedicated to the Outer God Shub-Niggurath. Not just a few people in the city, but practically the entire population are members of this congregation, given to blasphemous orgies, profane rituals and sacrifices on holy days. Worse still, Goatswood is considered a very important place for the Goat with a Thousand Young, as it contains the artifact known as "The Moon Lens".

From time to time, the fanatic people of Goatswood gathers around the "Moon Lens" so the Black Mother blesses its orgiastic and bloody rites and the horrible Guardian emerges from between dimensions. Trust me, if you are traveling through merry England, you will not want to ruin your vacation by getting to know this wicked village.

Carcosa

Carcosa is an alien city located in the Hyades, on the banks of the placid Lake Hali. In the dark sky there are two suns, one green and one red, and the distant stars seem strange and threatening in the firmament.

The city is an expanding metropolis, with tall, dark buildings, palaces with towers and minarets, wide avenues and deserted squares. Everything has an aura of decay and abandon that becomes agonizing. According to some, the style of buildings in Carcosa bears a resemblance to Renaissance architecture, but it is possible to find other styles that seem to transform and reorganize at all times. In fact, the architecture and map of Carcosa are always changing.

The visitor's perceptions are also altered: peculiar sounds, voices, laughter or crying are carried by the wind, as well as the flapping of wings and the galloping of horses. Sometimes the air is saturated with exotic odors and musky perfumes. The colors and textures change according to the light focusing every hour of the day or night. The landscapes offer a contrast between the beautiful and the bizarre.

Carcosa is not a good place for those who have a lot of imagination, as the place seems to be shaped according to the visitor's expectations. For example, if a visitor finds a statue of a warrior in a square, a second time it may look noticeably different. The figure may be in another pose, may have aged or be broken. There may be no statue or other statue completely different. This is part of the perpetual quality of Carcosa, a city that exists simultaneously at different times.

Crossing the deep lake of Hali, inhabited by colossal pale monsters, stands the majestic Yhtill Palace on an island. There the arrival of the King in Yellow is staged once, again and forever. It is said that the tragic play described in the book "The King in Yellow" has been repeated for millennia, so no one will ever forget the fate of the kingdoms visited by the Tattered King.

The Vaults of Zin

The tunnels that make up the Vaults of Zin are caves that take the visitor to a vast underworld. It is believed that the Chambers occupy at the same time a place in the Real World and in the Land of Dreams. Certain portions of these caves are illuminated by spectral reddish lights and are so vast that they contain entire cities built by inhuman races for countless ages.

K'n-yan's men find the Yoth manuscripts inside these caves and learn from them the secrets of magic and science. This tribe lived for many centuries the limestone caves in western Oklahoma, and it is assumed that somewhere in these caves, there is an entrance to the Zin Chambers. Other passages would be located in the Leng Monastery and the dangerous ruins of the Gugs City. There are rumors that Irem, the City of Pillars, also has a secret access to these deep recesses.

The caves are home to a race of monstrous albino humanoids, called Ghasts. These creatures live in tribes and hunt humans that become their food. They are strong and relentless, though unintelligent, yet they have adapted well to the lightless environment of the tunnels. Ghasts are just one of the explorer's concerns in this underworld. Beyond them, the Gugs race, cannibal giants, also lurk through the tunnels in search of prey. Other abominable races like the hungry Ghouls and the Leng Spiders are also frequent inhabitants of these endless tunnels.

An explorer can wander for years or even decades and walk only a small part of these stone corridors. There are dangers and threats in every chamber, horrors and unspeakable wonders.

One of Hsan Cryptic Books contains a detailed description of some places. It reveals mysteries and secrets, as well as passwords and paths to be taken by the careful traveler. It also talks about dreamers who have gone further than anyone else. However, few men who entered this Deep Reign were able to return to tell of their misadventures.

The Plateau of Leng

Scholars still discuss the true location of the mythical Plateau of Leng. For some, the place is in Central Asia, while others propose that it is located in the depths of Burma or even in the outskirts of Xinjiang Province in China.

No matter where it is located exactly, the Plateau is one of the most dangerous places in the world, since its inhabitants - the terrible Tcho-Tcho, do not tolerate the presence of trespassers. Many of these tribes are cannibals and they engage in savage cults devoted to the horrors of the Myths. For centuries, this race of strange and ferocious little men lived in the great citadel of Sarkomand at south of the Plateau and faced the threat of the immense spiders that inhabit the valleys around the mount. Over time, they became increasingly primitive, living in small villages and surrendering body and soul to bloody rituals of genocide and witchcraft.

Expeditions seeking the location of the plateau failed terribly in the enterprise. Entire groups of brave explorers simply vanished, overcome by the implacable climate, by the ambushes of the Tcho-Tcho, or by the action of even worse things lurking in this cursed place.

In addition to the nefarious presence of the Tcho-Tchos, Leng offers other dangers. Many books point the place as a crossroads between the worlds that allows physical entry into the Land of Dreams. But as a portal, Leng also allows creatures and entities access to the real world. Such creatures roam the plateau in great numbers, hunting prey and dragging their victims to their den.

In addition to the Leng Spiders, eight-legged nightmares of considerable size, weaving their webs in the labyrinthine recesses of the plateau, the gigantic Shantaks birds and the mysterious Nightgaunts fly freely over the misty mountains.

In this frontier territory, other dangerous entities like lunar beasts and ghouls can be found in search of slaves and prey. Being captured by any of these cruel species is certain to be a slow and painful death. Even more insidious is the danger represented by the devious Men of Leng, disgusting humanoids who wear heavy robes that try to disguise their feet ending in hooves and the horns on their heads.

Randolph Carter, one of the most experienced explorers in the Land of Dreams, toured this region on his epic journey. His chronicle is one of the only reliable accounts of the horrors lurking on the Leng Plateau, an incomparable narrative of many wonders and even more dangers.

The Sunken Island of R'Lyeh 

The submerged city of R'Lyeh is located precisely at coordinates 47 degrees 9'S, 126 degrees 43'W in the South Pacific. The cyclopean citadel of stone covered by the moss and slime of the ages and the hieroglyphs of the distant Xoth was erected by the Great Cthulhu and His followers millions of years before the emergence of man. For millennia, it was used as a bulwark in the war against the Elder Things, but when the stars condemned Cthulhu and his Star Spawns to the sleep of the ages, R'lyeh became their tomb.

Although R'lyeh has sunk deep in the Pacific Ocean, from time to time the city emerges for a short time. At such times, Cthulhu's dreams become stronger, causing epidemics of religious fanaticism, insanity, and riots throughout the world.

Explorers and witnesses who spotted the remains of the horrifying citadel, described it as a kind of ancestral sepulcher. Huge buildings erected with colossal blocks of greenish stone make up the lugubrious landscape. These buildings do not obey a geometric Euclidean logic, generating impossible angles that cause dementia and insanity in those who observe them too much. Exploring the citadel is an almost impossible task with this maddening architecture. Most likely, anyone wandering the citadel will eventually get lost in their crooked alleys. Survivors also cited the existence of monstrous entities with tentacles, wandering around the citadel dragging visitors to caves and dark moats, where they disappear forever.

In the center of the island, occupying the highest point, stands the gigantic Mausoleum of Cthulhu with the doors barred by the ancestral seals. The presence of the Great Cthulhu can be felt in this place stronger than in any other in the world, the psychic emanations of the entity are so powerful that many person have been driven to madness merely because they are near the gate. In history only the ignorant or stupid have been fools enough to open the doors of this tomb, and the results have always been appalling.

It is known that on special occasions the Great Cthulhu awakens for a short time before the stars force him to return to sleep. Being in R'lyeh and witnessing this event is perhaps the direst experience anyone can go through.

Bonus: The Court of Azathoth

In terms of Cosmic Horror, nothing can be compared to a glimpse of the dread Court of Azathoth. Occupying some place between Time and Space, the Court exists in what is conventionally called The Center of the Universe because it is believed that it was there that the creation of the cosmos took place and where the end of everything that exists will occur.

Azathoth, the blind and obtuse entity who, according to the Myths lore, started the creation of the Universe, occupies the center of this court composed of thousands of lesser deities that revolve and evolve around them as in a cosmic dance to the sound of flutes that recreate the Music of Spheres. These mindless creatures are served in all their desires by Nyarlathotep, called the Soul and Mind of the Outer Gods.

There is no record of human beings who have ventured into this region, but some tomes of occult knowledge attest to its existence. It is possible that such knowledge was obtained through the words of Nyarlathotep himself, in a kind of cosmic joke. After all, only a joke could justify a revelation of such a proportion to our fragile human minds.