In Which I Discover My Secret Ancestral Lovecraftian Nature

[dr_pretentious]

Some people's ancestors had houses with respectable names, like Crosswicks or Rokeby. Some people I know now have lived in houses they named Turtle Hill and, in a fit of Eva-Peron-inspired irony, Casa Rosada. What did my ancestors and their neighbors call our original family homestead, from its establishment in 1656 until the day it burned in 1894? The Hive of the Averys.

We came from a Hive? A capital-H Hive? In a coastal New England town? Apparently we're characters from as-yet-unwritten H.P. Lovecraft fanfic.

I especially like the picture of the official town map, with HIVE scratched in as an essential landmark.

Comments

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

"...She remembers lying on the ground across the road, covered with a coat, holding Parke Avery's pet chicken."

And the unnameable consequences of that night would scream and gibber forevermore in her fevered memory.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that line about the chicken ought to be the first sentence of somebody's short story.

I thought the detail about the unnamed girl from Providence was especially telling for the Lovecraftian secret history.

[jaime-sama.livejournal.com]

At least the home "never passed into alien hands."

[happy-dr-friend.livejournal.com]

Apparently we're characters from as-yet-unwritten H.P. Lovecraft fanfic.

Well? Get to it. I'll be expecting a version out on nook by this time next year.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Oh, gods, the Hive was close to the Ichabod Lord house.

You HAVE to write this story!

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

I bet it'll generate a lot of buzz....

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey - NO!

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

I love it. You can find out so many interesting things in the family history. Maybe you have bees or beekeepers as ancestors? Wait--facepalm--of course they had a hive, they're W.A.S.P.s. My relatives have also been hanging out in New England since slightly after yours (1669 I think). Among the more interesting ones, 2 were hung as witches in CT. It almost makes one want to start a very subversive & exclusive DAR chapter (only descendants of witches or current witches and pagans need apply). Can you just imagine the Initiation Ceremony?

I can't wait for the short story with the line about the chicken. I'm picturing it as a Muppet chicken though so in my head it is more comedy than horror (frog left at the crossroad).

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I still suspect we're distant cousins. There were only so many Europeans in Connecticut in the 1600s.

I'm trying to imagine what a Pagan chapter of the DAR could do with Constitution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DAR_Constitution_Hall.JPG) Hall (http://www.darconstitutionhall.us/gallery.html) for ritual space.

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

Well, if you go back far enough we are all distant cousins. But it certainly could be closer than that. When the number of second cousins on my dad's side passed the 100 mark I lost track and only keep up with a few. I suppose we could compare family histories sometime but I don't have all the documentation that has been researched by my various relatives.

I'd imagine the pagan DAR would lean toward ceremonial magic and that could be great in Constitution Hall. I wonder if the Rugosa coven might run into them at some point. I can't quite picture them camping at festival, at least not without a _lot_ of gear. I'm trying to imagine what their special talents are. I get a bit of an ancestor worshiping vibe and I think they could do a powerful tea ritual and brewing. Also, pearls with lots of spells worked on them (I'm tempted to make a prototype). Maybe glamor spells that enhance dignity and social standing. What do you think?

[puckmls.livejournal.com]

I love this! New England, Lovecraft, the family "hive" ... it's a hilariously gothic tale waiting to be written.

Your story has me thinking of ways to play with elements of my family's history. My dad's Canadian forebears (Scottish/English) and my mom's huge farm families (German/Irish), all of whom wound up in eastern Michigan ... hmmm.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Oh, how delicious! The HIVE? Perfect.

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

Phil offers this timely filk of "Close to You":

Why do birds fall down from the sky,
Every time you walk by?
Let me see, might your Dad be,
Azathoth!


Why do bats suddenly appear,
every time you are near?
Let me see, your Dad must be,
Azathoth!


On the day that you were spawned the Old Ones got together,
And decided that the stars were all aligned,
So they summoned Shoggoths to your lair,
And all the Gugs and Nightgaunts they could find!


That is why Tyndalos's Hounds,
Follow you all around!
They can see, your Dad must be,
Azathoth!

(Aaaaah-aaaaaaaaaah, Azathoth!)
(Aaaaah-aaaaaaaaaah, Azathoth!)


...and then points out that, instead af "Azathoth", "Avery" would scan just as well.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

My name also scans well in place of "Happy Holidays," as in that old Bing Crosby tune:
Let the merry bells keep ringing,
Sarah Avery, to you.

Did Phil come up with that filk (philk?) before or after the brilliantly creepy use of that Carpenters song in Mirrormask?

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

Neither one of us have seen _Mirrormask_. Now I may need to check it out.