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It was around this point that Wilbur began to search for an unabridged copy of [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|the Necronomicon]]. He had learned all of what he knew from his grandfather's library, but his copy of that book was a shortened English version, which he apparently found insufficient. He discovers that nearby Miskatonic University has a copy, but the librarian refuses to loan it out to him. {{spoiler|So he breaks in to steal it, only to be killed by a guard dog}}. And that's when things get ''really'' weird.
 
One of [[H.P. Lovecraft (Creator)|HP Lovecraft]]'s most famous stories, it was adapted to film twice: as a [[So Bad It's Good]] [[Cult Classic]] in 1970, and a remake by the [[Sci Fi Channel]] in 2009. It has also been adapted ''thrice'', generally more faithfully, as a [[Radio Drama]], first as an episode of the long running ''[[Suspense]]'' series in the 1940s starring [[Ronald Colman]], later by the Atlanta Radio Theater Company, and yet again by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society for their ''[[Dark Adventure Radio Theater]]'' series. You can read it [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Dunwich_Horror here].
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=== This story includes examples of: ===
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* [[Animals Hate Him]]: Dogs ''loathe'' Wilbur Whateley, to the point where he has to start carrying a gun to defend himself from them. {{spoiler|In fact, it's a dog that eventually kills him.}}
** [[Evil-Detecting Dog]]
* [[Attack of the Fifty50 Foot Whatever]]
* [[Author Avatar]]: Disturbingly enough, Wilbur may have been one.
{{quote| "Wilbur's being raised by a grandfather instead of a father, his home education from his grandfather's library, his insane mother, his stigma of ugliness (in Lovecraft's case untrue, but a self-image imposed on him by his mother), and his sense of being an outsider all echo Lovecraft himself." - Robert M. Price in the introduction to ''[http://www.amazon.com/Dunwich-Cycle-Where-Cthulhu-Books/dp/156882047X The Dunwich Cycle]''.}}
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* [[Running Gag]]: The ''Dark Adventure'' version turns Zeb Whateley's insistence that Wilbur, et al are from "the decayed side of the Whateley family" into one.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: The opening descriptions of the country around Dunwich.
* [[Shout-Out]]: To [[Arthur Machen (Creator)|Arthur Machen]]'s ''[[The Great God Pan (Literature)|The Great God Pan]]'', Lovecraft's primary inspiration for "The Dunwich Horror."
{{quote| "Inbreeding? . . . God, what simpletons! Show them Arthur Machen's ''Great God Pan'' and they'll think it a common Dunwich scandal! But what thing - what cursed shapeless influence on or off this three-dimensional earth - was Wilbur Whateley's father?"}}
** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Wilbur is often described as "goatish." The Classical Pan is [[wikipedia:Pan chr(28)mythologychr(29)|often depicted]] with the [http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=831&tbm=isch&tbnid=VG7w0DFkP5qrQM:&imgrefurl=http://outlandish-knight.blogspot.com/2011/06/great-god-pan.html&docid=cmg29SjEiJ7lxM&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lLGajAt96BQ/TffPU9U7jeI/AAAAAAAACv4/rv2AKZh88h8/s1600/Pan%25252BGod.jpg&w=313&h=411&ei=5EnBTpiVNMjy0gH7mpzvBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=242&sig=113862698477808175622&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=98&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=56&ty=54 attributes of a goat], similar to fauns, satyrs, and, of course, [[Satan]].
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