The Festival
H.P. Lovecraft
Genre(s): Gothic Horror, Cosmic Horror
Originally published in Weird Tales, January 1925
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Drawn by ancestral summons, a man returns to the ancient coastal town of Kingsport to participate in a mysterious Yuletide ritual kept secret for centuries. As he navigates its crooked, snow-covered streets and enters a house where time itself seems preserved, he realizes the festival of his forefathers is no ordinary celebration. What begins as a grim reunion with eerie, silent townsfolk soon descends into a nightmarish journey beneath the earth, where primordial forces stir and the veil between life and death dissolves. The Festival is a chilling descent into Lovecraft’s universe of ancient rites, decaying lineage, and the lurking horrors that predate mankind itself.