The Terrible Old Man cover art

The Terrible Old Man

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Terrible Old Man

By: H. P. Lovecraft
Narrated by: Howard King
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £0.99

Buy Now for £0.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

"The Terrible Old Man" is a very short short story (less than 1200 words) by H. P. Lovecraft, written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the Tryout, an amateur press publication, in July 1921. It is notable as the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport.

A strange old man, "so old that no one can remember when he was young, and so taciturn that few know his real name," lives alone in an ancient house on Water Street in the town of Kingsport. Even among the locals, few know the details of the old man's life, but it is believed that he once captained East Indian clipper ships in his youth and accumulated great riches throughout his life. Those who had visited the property had seen bizarre collections of stones in the front yard and observed the old man carrying on conversations with mysterious bottles on his table, which make "certain definite vibrations as if in answer." Most locals take care to avoid the man and his house.

Public Domain (P)2022 Digital Literature International
Horror Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

HorrorBabble's Lovecraft Shorts: Volume 1 cover art
The Lurking Fear, and Other Stories cover art
The Stolen Relic cover art
Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories cover art
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward cover art
The Call of Cthulhu cover art
The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft cover art
The Complete Weird-Fiction Works of H.P. Lovecraft: In One Volume cover art
The Adventure of the Empty House cover art
The Three Strangers cover art
The Vampire's Bedside Companion: The Amazing World of Vampires in Fact and Fiction cover art
The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu cover art
The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual cover art
The Flying Inn cover art
The Adventure of the Retired Colourman: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure (Argo Classics) cover art
The Adventure of the Empty House cover art
No reviews yet