Join Tod and Congressional Candidate Claire as they discuss H.P. Lovecraft's "The Silver Key," first published in the January, 1929 issue of Weird Tales.

Please note: while this story is largely fanciful, this is ultimately a horror podcast, and so it may not be suitable for all audiences. In particular, this discussiojn involves the horrors of growing old, the siren's song of nostalgia bordering on retromania, grotesque packaging, and the utter meaningless of life in a blind and uncaring cosmos. If this subject matter is likely to disturb or offend you, you may wish to skip this episode.

You can catch Claire on CombatVetPaul's channel, live streamed (or recorded if it's after April 29, which is almost certainly is when you read this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_si0s8YO8

You can follow along with Tod's adventures with "The Lovecraft Conference" here:
https://lovecraft-conference.podsothoth.club

Hey, it's registration and travel planning time for NecronomiCON Providence! Go here: https://necronomicon-providence.com/welcome/. Wanna meet up? Write or at-us at hideous@podsothoth.club or https://defcon.social/@podsothoth!

Finally, you should also listen to War in Pieces: https://warinpiec.es. It's a day-by-day, sentence-by-sentence reading of War in Peace, usually read by Tod, occasionally read by Claire and other guests. If you want to read a sentence, just record yourself on a voice memo and email it to patience@warinpiec.es. It'd be helpful to limit yourself to something nearby where the podcast is, and of course, please use the same text Tod uses: https://github.com/todb/warinpieces/blob/main/warpeace01tols_0.pdf (as of this show note in April of 2026, we've just started on page 4).

Update: it has come to our attention that we failed to make, or even consider, a single Silver Surfer joke. I guess we'll have to wait for Through the Gates of the Silver Key to correct this oversight.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

A reading of the "The Silver Key," by H.P. Lovecraft, first published in the January, 1929 issue of Weird Tales, and first read aloud here, by me, in March of 2026.

Please note: while this story is largely fanciful, this is ultimately a horror podcast, and so it may not be suitable for all audiences. In particular, this story involves the horrors of growing old, the siren's song of nostalgia bordering on retromania, suicidal thoughts, grotesque packaging, and the utter meaningless of life in a blind and uncaring cosmos. If this subject matter is likely to disturb or offend you, you may wish to skip this episode.

You can read this story yourself at HPLovecraft.com, or enjoy the ambient "Sound of Jupiter | 12 Hours of Space Ambient Sounds" by Voice of the Deep Space, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8myhlA8PZA

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

Join Tod and Congressional Candidate Claire as they discuss "The Last Test," by H.P. Lovecraft and Adolphe de Castro. It was first published in the November 1928 issue of Weird Tales, under de Castro's name.

Please note: this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story touches on sensitive subjects such as suicide, the unethical treatment of animals, the unethical treatment of humans, the lost city of Atlantis, hypodermic needles, California politics, prison administration, unkind characterizations of Tibetans and Mexican-Americans, Nyarlathotep (also known as the Crawling Chaos), wildly unethical journalism, and the vilification of medical science. If this subject matter is likely to disturb or offend you, you may wish to skip this episode.

Specifically, in this episode, there's a very short story that's worth an extra warning. If you don't want to hear that, skip from 57m23s to 59m37.

You can read this story yourself at HPLovecraft.com.

Other Links

• Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein coverage of the story
• Learn about Roko's Basilisk, sucker!
• Man of science Lister did not "invent" Listerine, but it's named after him. Neat!
• We have two new podcasts, War in Pieces and War in Pages. They're both kind of dumb but also kind of not?
• Finally, you can listen to Claire not talk about Lovecraft nonsense, but actual things that matter, on the Wait WHAT?! podcast. She comes in at right about the half hour mark. Then she leaves and the guys talk about football. Check it out on Spotify and elsewhere.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

A reading of "The Last Test" by H.P. Lovecraft and Adolphe de Castro. It was first published in the November 1928 issue of Weird Tales, under de Castro's name, and first read aloud here, by me, in January of 2026.

Please note: this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story touches on sensitive subjects such as suicide, the unethical treatment of animals, the unethical treatment of humans, the lost city of Atlantis, hypodermic needles, California politics, prison administration, unkind characterizations of Tibetans and Mexican-Americans, Nyarlathotep (also known as the Crawling Chaos), wildly unethical journalism, and the vilification of medical science. If this subject matter is likely to disturb or offend you, you may wish to skip this episode.

You can read this story yourself at HPLovecraft.com, or enjoy the ambient "Chambers of Torture" by Michael Ghelfi Studios at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzYZQySL8Ac.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

Tod and Claire discuss "The Tomb," by H.P. Lovecraft. It was first published in the March, 1922 issue of The Vagrant, and first read aloud here, by me, in November of 2025.

Please note: this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story is concerned with loneliness, the idle rich, monomania, desiccated corpses, some lightly implied necrophilia, some ribald poetry, drunkenness, and an involuntary commitment. If this subject matter is likely to disturb you, you may wish to skip this episode.

If you're a French sort, check out Lovecraft L’intégrale des histoires, it sounds pretty great! Alternatively, if you want to see Tod and friends talk about cybersecurity and horror movies in English, see CVE's emerging threats and horror movies over on ThreatCon1.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

A reading of "The Tomb," by H.P. Lovecraft. It was first published in the March, 1922 issue of The Vagrant, and first read aloud here, by me, in November of 2025.

Please note: this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story is concerned with loneliness, the idle rich, monomania, desiccated corpses, some lightly implied necrophilia, some ribald poetry, drunkenness, and an involuntary commitment. If this subject matter is likely to disturb you, you may wish to skip this episode.

You can read this story yourself at HPLovecraft.com, or enjoy the ambient Haunted Cemetery Ambience soundscape by Sound Illusion.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

Tod and Claire discuss "The Loved Dead" by C.M. Eddy, Jr. and H.P. Lovecraft, which was first published in the May/June 1924 issue of Weird Tales. As this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story is about necrophilia, or as we refer to it, "corpse snuggling." There's also brief mention of suicide as a viable out for the main character. Finally, there's a fairly long conversation about the nature of evil and how parricide (the killing of one's parents) figures in the balance of evil. We kinda go back to that over and over in this one.

Claire mentioned Jonica's Island, which was published in 1945. Claire says, "check it out!"

We never solved the mystery of "what was Tod thinking of" when he suggested a) Wuthering Heights has a plot element of indenturing, and b) that it takes place in Nova Scotia. Tod was thinking of Anne of Green Gables, which is, indeed, set in NS, Canada. But we're still unclear if any of the characters were indentured because we still haven't looked it up.

Finally, give @GreatOldBot a follow on Mastodon. Do it! And also Kevin -- find him in my mentions!

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!

A reading of “The Loved Dead” by C.M. Eddy, Jr. and H.P. Lovecraft, which was first published in the May/June 1924 issue of Weird Tales, and first read aloud here, by me, in July of 2025.

Please note: this is a horror podcast, and may not be for everyone. In particular, this story is about necrophilia -- though it is heavily suggested, the dead are not loved in a graphic or overtly sexual way. But, that's pretty much this story's whole thing. If this subject matter is likely to disturb you, you may wish to skip this episode.

You can read this story yourself at HPLovecraft.com, or enjoy the ambient "Haunted Cemetery Ambience" soundscape by Sound Illusion at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_mMqKt_lU.

You can text us now. Why? That’s between you and your Elder God.

Support the show

Like the show? Say so with money! Or just hang out with us on Mastodon, at @podsothoth@defcon.social. Or email us at hideous@podsothoth.club. Best thing? Rate us (positively!) in your favorite podcast app. That helps other people find the show!