“The Necronomicon appears to have had a vast influence on both men. The character of Kelly’s scrying changed, which struck horror into the Dee household.”
“Scrying?” David was puzzled.
“Forgive me,” Calvin said. “The systems of magick now known as Enochian magick derive from the work of Dee and his seer Edward Kelly. Dee had a passion for discovering lost knowledge and spiritual truths. The method employed for these works was fairly standard for the time. Dee would act as the orator, directing fervent prayers to God and the archangels for 15 minutes to an hour. Then a scrying stone would be placed on a prepared table, and the angels were called to manifest a visible appearance. Kelly would watch the stone and report everything he saw and heard; Dee would sit at another table nearby and record everything that occurred. Kelly’s scrying technique changed when the two gained possession of the Latin translation of the Necronomicon.”
“How so?” David asked.
Calvin shrugged. “Kelly’s technique became more…hideous…monstrous in its nature. Crowley interpreted this as an abortive first attempt of an extra-human entity communicating the Thelemic Book of the Law. Very shortly afterward Kelly left Dee, who translated the Necronomicon to English. Contrary to Lovecraft, this translation was never printed. The manuscript passed into the collection of the great collector Elias Ashmole, and later to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.”
David perked up. “Does it still exist?”
Calvin shook his head. “I’m afraid Dee’s translation disappeared following a break-in in the spring of 1934. The British Museum suffered several burglaries and the Wormius edition was deleted from the catalogue and removed to an undergound repository in a converted slate mine in Wales. Other libraries lost their copies, and today there is no library with a genuine catalogue entry for the Necronomicon. In the mid 1930’s the few known copies of the Necronomicon just simply disappeared. It is believed that someone in the German SS government took an interest in obscure occult literature and began to obtain copies by fair means and foul.” He smiled ghoulishly. “It is believed there is a large wartime cache of occult and magickal documents in the mountains of Osterhorn near Salzburg that contains a copy of the Necronomicon. This may be connected to the rumor of a copy bound in the skin of concentration camp victims.”
David let this sink in. “You mentioned that the Necronomicon is supposed to be a history. What history is it supposed to be of?”
“Alhazred appears to have had access to many sources now lost, and events which are only hinted at in Genesis, or the Book of Enoch. Many of the legends he had access to are disguised as mythology in other sources, but are explained in great detail in the Necronomicon. It is also believed that Alhazred used magical techniques to clarify the past. Essentially, he believed that many intelligent species besides the human race had inhabited the Earth, and that much knowledge was passed to mankind in encounters with beings from ‘beyond the spheres.’ He shared with some Neoplatonists the belief that the stars are similar to our sun and have their own unseen planets with their own life forms, but elaborated this belief with a good deal of metaphysical speculation in which these beings were part of a cosmic hierarchy of spiritual evolution. He was also convinced that he’d contacted beings he called the ‘Old Ones’ using magical invocations, and warned of terrible powers waiting to return to reclaim the earth. He interpreted this belief in the light of the Apocalypse of St. John, but reversed the ending so that the Beast triumphs after a great war in which the earth is laid to waste.”
“The Old Ones sound very Lovecraftian,” David said, nodding. “You’re sure Lovecraft never read the book himself?”
“Quite sure. I’m even pretty sure he wasn’t familiar with James Smith Long’s work at all. And you’re right, the similarities are uncanny. They parallel each other tremendously. It is clear that Alhazred elaborated upon existing traditions of the Old Ones. According to Alhazred, the Old Ones were beings from ‘beyond the spheres,’ presumably the spheres of the planets, and in the cosmography of that period this would imply the region of the fixed stars or beyond. They were superhuman and extra-human. They mated with humans and beget monstrous offspring. They passed forbidden knowledge to humankind, and they were continuously striving to seek a channel into our plane of existence. And do you know something else?”
“What?”
“This is virtually identical to the Jewish tradition of the Nephilim, the giants mentioned in Genesis. The word Nephilim literally means ‘fallen ones.’ The story in Genesis is really only a fragment of a larger tradition, another piece that can be found in the Book of Enoch, which was never canonized in the Bible. According to this source, a group of angels sent to watch over the Earth saw the daughters of men and lusted after them. Unwilling to act individually, they swore an oath and bound themselves together, and two hundred of these ‘Watchers’ descended to earth and took themselves wives. The wives bore giant offspring, who then turned against nature and began to, and I quote, ‘sin against the birds and beasts and reptiles and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh and drink the blood’. That’s an exact quote from Enoch, by the way. The fallen angels taught man how to make weapons of war and sorceries and enchantments, and astrology and other secrets. These separate legends are elaborated in later Jewish sources such as the Talmud, which makes it clear that Enoch and Genesis refer to the same tradition. The great flood described in Genesis was a direct response to the evil caused by humankind’s commerce with fallen angels, who were cast out and bound.”
David said nothing. He was letting this sink in. It was so overwhelming. “In Lovecraft’s fiction, cults are formed in an attempt to summon the Old Ones. Is this…is this possible for what we’re talking about?”
Calvin nodded. “Of course. The Necronomicon strongly hints that there is a cult, or group of cults, that worships the Old Ones and seeks to aid them to gain control of this planet. One of the tactics attempted by this cult is to breed human and Old One offspring that will then multiply and ingress into terrestrial life until the Old Ones return to their pre-ordained position.”
David was silent, letting this sink in. Calvin continued: “It is now generally believed by occult scholars that the Enochian system of magic Dee and Kelly came up with was directly inspired by those sections of the Necronomicon that deal with Alhazred’s techniques for evoking the Old Ones. Remember, the Necronomicon was primarily intended as a history, and while it does provide some practical details and formulae, it is hardly a step-by-step beginner’s guide to summoning demons from beyond the gulfs of space and time. Dee and Kelly had to fill in many details themselves. It is believed that the scrying technique Kelly used was under the influence of the Old Ones. The very name of their system—Enochian—is a clue; it was inspired by the age-old traditions recorded in the Book of Enoch, and it was obviously Dee and Kelly’s intention to contact the Nephilim, or the Watchers. The manuscript of The Book of Enoch was lost until the late 17th century, so Dee would have had access to only a few fragments quoted in other manuscripts. Alhazred most likely had access to the Book of Enoch, as it was current throughout the Middle East in the eight century.”
“This Enochian stuff,” David said, “is it very common now?”
Calvin nodded. “Crowley translated the Enochian system in the early part of this century. He includes it in his Book of the Law. Others have attempted their own translations as well. Anton LaVey, the late founder of the Church of Satan, included a translation in his book The Satanic Bible, which can be found in any Borders bookstore.” Calvin smiled. “Hardly typical of what is supposed to be a system of forbidden magic, eh?”
“What is the difference between this James Smith Long’s work and that of Lovecraft?” David asked.
“Long utilizes the Necronomicon in its original meaning,” Calvin said, choosing his words carefully. “It isn’t mentioned very often, but in the one definitive book on the Necronomicon, Long’s work is quoted quite significantly. Obviously the author of the
piece had gotten a hold of a copy of From Beyond, because he was able to describe the stories from it quite vividly. From what I could tell, the work is vastly different. Lovecraft merely hypothesizes the Necronomicon, and comes quite close to its contents. His Cthulhu Mythos is pure invention, whereas Long’s work is based on truth. As is The Watcher from the Grave.”
David posed the next question, which had been on his mind since the interview commenced. “It’s a wild theory. And I can see why it’s been…suppressed for so long. It certainly goes against much modern Christian and Jewish myth. The question is why have they been suppressed?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. It’s been hypothesized that our present civilization is not the first time that man has risen through the ranks to become the most dominant animal species,” Calvin said, speaking slowly and carefully. “In fact, there is now ample proof that the earth is far older than scientists had originally thought. Modern science pegs the earth at 6 billion years old. But new theories estimate earth at being twice that age, with a prior civilization of man occupying much of the world seventy thousand years ago, a full fifty thousand years before most anthropologists believed the first Homo Sapiens appeared. This civilization had a completely different language and custom, their own mathematical system, their own government, their own science. And they all spoke of beings that came from beyond the spheres, beings who gave them wisdom, beings who ruled over them and were later banished to the outlying cosmos.” He grew quiet. “And they’re waiting for the right moment, when the stars are right, for the appropriate vessel—a man—to throw open the gates and allow them entry back into this world. Where they will once again rule the earth.”
David eyed Calvin curiously. “You’ve researched this?”
Calvin nodded. “A little. Besides the Nazca and Mayan civilizations, which show ample proof to have been erected well before the Aztecs even showed up, there were the lost civilizations of Mesopotamia, Easter Island, and Atlantis. One thing I forgot to mention is that the original Arab translation of the Necronomicon comprised seven volumes and that the Latin translation ran to nine hundred pages. Much of the history contained in its pages was of this older world. It discussed the legend of the Old Ones, as well as the history and times of the people who existed before the great flood, which some archeologists have now attributed to a cataclysmic event that happened due to an alignment of the planets. It was this havoc that destroyed those older civilizations. According to the Necronomicon, the world was destroyed by the force of the Old Ones being banished to the outer cosmos. It suggests that upon their return, the world will once again be laid to waste as they swoop in for their rule. Of course Genesis and other books in the Bible paint the picture of an angry God destroying the world due to his anger at man or the Nephilim.”
“So why should I believe this?” David asked, still struggling with his thoughts. He was under the impression that Calvin believed every word of it, but he’d never known Justin Grave to believe anything as wacky as this. The man had always come across as being a very normal elderly man. A voice whispered in the back of his mind: but normalcy is a great front for concealing secrets. “There’s no hard, solid proof of any of this. Everything you’ve presented to me is all speculation. You say yourself that by all accounts the real Necronomicon is lost. But even if it is truly lost, and has been lost since the 1930’s, surely there are survivors who have seen it, or been involved with a cult that may have used it. Are there any diaries or statements from former cult members? The only thing anybody who investigates this angle has to go on is pure speculation based on the writings of two or three men who are now not only dead, but who wrote horror fiction for a living.”
Calvin nodded. “You’re quite right. But then, people believed Whitley Strieber’s account of his alien abduction. And he was known as a writer of the fantastic before that supposedly happened to him.”
Calvin continued after draining the rest of his coffee. “If it’s bizarre and out of the ordinary and steeped in some kind of historical fact, people will believe it. Pure speculation presented with facts or evidence to support that speculation often results in bona fide belief. Take the common myths and superstitions of the world: the Loch Ness Monster, witchcraft rituals, hauntings. People will want to believe that Jack the Ripper was Queen Victoria’s grandson. Or that Amelia Earhart is still alive somewhere on the Fiji Islands.”
“Or that Elvis is still alive.” What a joke.
“Exactly! Elvis Presley was already larger than life before he passed on. Keeping him alive by reputed sightings only adds to the intrigue to the point where we want to believe he’s still alive.”
David’s eyes narrowed at the older man sitting across from him. “Okay, granted weird things happen, and I don’t doubt that they do. But even if a cult like the one you’re talking about did exist, and James Smith Long dug up some facts and fictionalized it, only to influence Lovecraft and a slew of others, why…” He grasped at the question. “Why would any of it matter now?”
“Suppose the work of James Smith Long wasn’t entirely fiction?” Calvin posed. “Suppose he was trying to…warn us of what was to come?”
“Which would be what?”
“Long’s fiction describes portions of the Necronomicon that Justin’s work barely scratches the surface of. Primarily the pre-history of earth, but also history of the outlying cosmos. Like Lovecraft’s fiction, it suggests that when the stars are right, when everything is in balance in the universe, that the lone Watcher and its followers will be able to summon up the occult power to throw open the gates. And that in order for this to happen, there must be a sacrifice from a willing victim, a victim who goes to the cult of their own free will. In Justin’s novel the protagonist does exactly that. When he begins uncovering the truth he is led into his own basement by his lover who, unbeknown to him, is a cult member. He is taken in sacrifice by the cult members and the Watcher at the appropriate date and time. And what follows is wide-spread chaos as the Nephilim return.”
“And if Justin’s novel resembles Long’s fiction, there are cult members somewhere in this world devoted to the emergence of what you call the Watchers?”
Calvin shrugged. “Something like that.”
David was silent for a moment, taking it all in. He finally put forth the second question that had been nagging at him, the one that, if the answer to his first question was true, was even scarier. “Do you think Justin Grave may have discovered something like this?”
Calvin sighed. He set his empty coffee cup down. “I’ve asked myself that question for the past fifty years or more. Justin never wanted me to see the inside of that house he lived in. And when I did visit him he was very skittish. Squeamish, almost. He steered me away from certain rooms and he just seemed jumpy. Watcher had already been published and I thought that its writing had terrified him in some way. After the chain of events that led to Justin’s downfall, I began to speculate more and more about his behavior during that afternoon visit. Maybe he had discovered something and Watcher held the key to all of it.” He broke off and chuckled slightly, his eyes lighting with some new memory. “He surely downgraded Lovecraft and others after that. Said that their stuff was too watered down, and that they were afraid to face the truth, that they devised all these stupid monsters to bury what he described as the truth. He surely appeared to be always on the run from his pulp past, especially The Watcher From the Grave. When Cloak of Darkness was in production, the publisher wanted to include the novel in the book, but Justin refused. He never wanted that novel in print ever again, and he never mentioned it in bibliographies after that. It was almost as if he were trying to distance himself from that work, as if he were trying to escape its influence. I sometimes got the impression that…he was worried there really was a cult out there, and that they were on to him. That by keeping a low profile, moving around a lot, it would keep them off his trail.” Calvin shook his head. “If I’d only known.”
David let this sink in. He was v
ery intrigued by what Calvin had just told him, but a part of him was still skeptical. David didn’t believe in speculation and rumor; he needed the pure, hard facts to lean toward the angle Calvin was edging at.
Calvin shook his head. “I know it sounds hard to believe. But it’s what Justin told me the whole genesis of his story was based on. I only came up with what I’ve told you through investigation and my own theories.”
“Still it is an interesting theory, even for entertainment purposes. It’s still kind of wild though. The only thing different about it is that the Old Ones, or whatever, lack an organized following today.”
“Oh, but according to Long’s work there is a cult.” Calvin said. “They’re not as obvious as Lovecraft’s Mythos cult; they’re not some half-breed mulattos speaking broken English and chanting in weird tongues around a fire in some swamp. Far from it. Why, you remember what happens in Justin’s story at the end, don’t you?”
David nodded. It had slipped his mind and now it all came back to him. The protagonist’s love interest seduces him one night in his basement where he found evidence of the cult, and the place is suddenly swarming with strange shapes who later materialize as people…and strange beings. His lover holds him down and he knows now that he is in the hands of the cult. His death guarantees the gate to the other side will be thrown open, allowing the Watchers entry into this world.
Calvin rose and took David’s empty coffee cup, prompting David to start making his exit. He gathered his belongings, turned off the recorder and followed Calvin to the kitchen. “Do you think you could tell me where the house was that Justin lived in here in Lancaster County?”
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