“The Dwellers Under the Tomb”

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard

Del Rey

Paper $20.00

Ebook $7.99

This is another story that wasn’t published during Howard’s lifetime, but it’s a stronger work than “Dermod’s Bane“. “The Dwellers Under the Tomb” was first published in 1976 in Lost Fantasies. It follows a similar pattern to stories such as “The Noseless Thing”, “Dig Me No Grave“, “The Children of the Night”, and “The Haunter of the Ring”.

The narrator is a man named O’Donnell who is staying with his friend Gordon, who may be the same Gordon as appears in the stories listed above. They are awakened by a pounding on the door. It’s Job Kiles, who is in a state of panic, because he saw the face of his dead brother at his window. The brother had died a few days earlier, but not before swearing he would return from the grave to take vengeance on Job. The brother had spent his portion of the family fortune, and Job wouldn’t let the brother spend his. Job has come to Gordon for help.

Mild spoilers below the fold.

They accompany Job to the family crypt near the top of a cliff not far from the ocean. On the way they hear someone screaming in fright in the distance that Job insists is his brother. Job shows them the lock he had placed on the door to the crypt after his brother’s body had been interred. Cobwebs were starting to form on the lock. No one had open the door since Job had placed it there.

He insists on going in alone. O’Donnell and Gordon hear a scream. Before they can enter, Job stumbles out, collapses, and dies of fright. Gordon and O’Donnell enter to find the coffin empty. They discover a hidden door at the back of the crypt that leads into the hillside. Following it they discover a maze of tunnels that go deeper and deeper into the hill. The tunnels aren’t deserted.

You’ll have to read the rest. Some of Howard’s favorite themes are here, such as racial degeneration. The inhabitants of the tunnels are descended from a group banished there centuries ago. (This idea doesn’t hold up to close examination, but who cares?)

Overall, from what I can recall of the stories mentioned at the top of this post, “The Dwellers Under the Tomb” isn’t as strong as they are, which might explain why the story didn’t see print until long after Howard’s death. For instance, Job Kiles is pretty histrionic every time he opens his mouth. Granted, he’s got reason to be, but Howard lays it on a bit thick. Once Job has been killed off, though, the story gets better. O’Donnell and Gordon are made of sterner stuff, and they act more like we would expect a Howardian hero to behave.

So overall, not one of Howard’s best, but not bad. Definitely worth reading.

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