History Main / LovecraftCountry

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1936 SCP-1936]] was the New England town of Daleport that has since become a battlefield for numerous {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* Nathaniel Hawthorne's ''The House Of The Seven Gables'' is a Gothic haunted house story that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, and according to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} was apparently a big influence on Lovecraft's writings.

Milder versions of this can be found in other types of horror. The setting trend was then continued by Creator/StephenKing, a more contemporary famous American horror writer, although he sets his stories in UsefulNotes/{{Maine}} as opposed to UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}} and Rhode Island. In fact, you could divide it into southern New England being Lovecraft territory and northern New England as King country. If you don't want as many New England accents, upstate UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}} or the [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey Pine Barrens]] will do, although it probably won't be quite as Eldritch. New Jersey variants are particularly likely to be lighthearted or played for laughs, because, hey, {{Joisey}}. As for why this area seems to attract so much horror fiction (aside from Lovecraft and King [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they knew]] and other writers [[FollowTheLeader following the leader]])... if you ever go to New England in autumn or winter, you'll find it quite scenic during the day (the fall foliage is a major tourist magnet, as are the region's abundant ski resorts), but the sun sets early and it gets dark, cold, and spooky fast. Not so coincidentally, upstate New York is the birthplace of the Spiritualist movement. The [[WitchHunt Salem Witch Trials]] probably also have a role to play (cf. SalemIsWitchCountry). Expect a NewEnglandPuritan to show up, drawing on the region's history as a hotbed of religious fundamentalism.

* ''Webcomic/ShadowGirls'', set in Innsmouth and literally billed as "H.P. Lovecraft meets the Gilmore Girls" by its creators

* "Lovecraft Country" in a broad sense can refer to any generic rural New England setting (i.e. Stephen King's stories set in backwoods Maine), but if you want to get technical, the fictional locations in Lovecraft's stories which spawned this name are all concentrated in ''northeastern'' Massachusetts. Yes this overlaps with Salem, near the coast, but some of the other famous fictional locations like Dunwich were located a bit more north-central: deeper into the interior in the backwoods, not near the more densely settled and populous coasts (closest to Fitchburg and Greenfield).
** Ironically, while the strictly defined "Lovecraft Country" is concentrated in ''northeastern'' Massachusetts, in real life there actually is a hub of alleged paranormal sightings in ''southeastern'' Massachusetts known as the Bridgewater Triangle. Sightings have been reported of everything from ghosts to bigfoot to aliens. So basically, if you're anywhere in the woods of Massachusetts west of the Interstate 495 beltway around the greater Boston area and roughly east from Connecticut, ''do not stop your car for anything.''

Lovecraft Country is a dark, twisted version of [[{{Arcadia}} rural New England]] as used as a setting for horror fiction. Named for the author Creator/HPLovecraft -- a native of Rhode Island, [[{{Irony}} where there were no places named after him until 2013]] -- who wrote a number of tales set in a New England milieu, usually small isolated towns that look [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere boring and mediocre]] at first but [[TownWithADarkSecret are actually dark and foreboding on the inside]], populated by hostile and [[SmallTownTyrant corrupt (in several ways) hicks]] that often are not quite human, twisted by the influence of ancient horrors and [[EldritchAbomination extradimensional aliens]] (and generations of inbreeding).

Milder versions of this can be found in other types of horror. The setting trend was then continued by Creator/StephenKing, a more contemporary famous American horror writer, although he sets his stories in Maine as opposed to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In fact, you could divide it into southern New England being Lovecraft territory and northern New England as King country. If you don't want as many New England accents, upstate UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}} or the [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey Pine Barrens]] will do, although it probably won't be quite as Eldritch. New Jersey variants are particularly likely to be lighthearted or played for laughs, because, hey, {{Joisey}}. As for why this area seems to attract so much horror fiction (aside from Lovecraft and King [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they knew]] and other writers [[FollowTheLeader following the leader]])... if you ever go to New England in autumn or winter, you'll find it quite scenic during the day (the fall foliage is a major tourist magnet, as are the region's abundant ski resorts), but the sun sets early and it gets dark, cold, and spooky fast. Not so coincidentally, upstate New York is the birthplace of the Spiritualist movement. The [[WitchHunt Salem Witch Trials]] probably also have a role to play (cf. SalemIsWitchCountry). Expect a NewEnglandPuritan to show up, drawing on the region's history as a hotbed of religious fundamentalism.

Lovecraft Country is a dark, twisted version of [[{{Arcadia}} rural New England]] as used as a setting for horror fiction. Named for the author Creator/HPLovecraft -- a native of Rhode Island, [[{{Irony}} where there were no places named after him until 2013]] -- who wrote a number of tales set in a New England milieu, usually small isolated towns that look [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere boring and mediocre]] at first but [[TownWithADarkSecret are actually dark and foreboding on the inside]], populated by hostile and [[CorruptHick corrupt (in several ways) hicks]] that often are not quite human, twisted by the influence of ancient horrors and [[EldritchAbomination extradimensional aliens]] (and generations of inbreeding).

* OlderThanRadio: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" (1835) is a short story set in [[LostWoods the woods]] outside [[UsefulNotes/TheThirteenAmericanColonies colonial]] Plymouth and involving [[DealWithTheDevil deals with the Devil himself]].

--->''"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are [[AncientTomb the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries.]] They climb to the moonlit towers of [[HauntedCastle ruined Rhine castles]], and falter down black [[CobwebJungle cobwebbed]] steps [[RuinsForRuinsSake beneath the scattered stones]] of forgotten cities in Asia. [[TheLostWoods The haunted wood]] and the [[Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness desolate mountain]] are their shrines, and they linger around the sinister monoliths on [[DesertedIsland uninhabited islands]]. [[AvertedTrope But the true epicure of the terrible]], to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteem most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous."''

--->"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are [[AncientTomb the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries.]] They climb to the moonlit towers of [[HauntedCastle ruined Rhine castles]], and falter down black [[CobwebJungle cobwebbed]] steps [[RuinsForRuinsSake beneath the scattered stones]] of forgotten cities in Asia. [[TheLostWoods The haunted wood]] and the [[Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness desolate mountain]] are their shrines, and they linger around the sinister monoliths on [[DesertedIsland uninhabited islands.]] [[AvertedTrope But the true epicure of the terrible]], to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteem most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous."
** The famous towns in Lovecraft's work include the hill-surrounded Dunwich (from Literature/TheDunwichHorror),the sea-side Innsmouth (Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth), and the real-life town of Providence (appearing in Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard and Literature/TheShunnedHouse). His fictional creation of Kingsport is home to the titular Literature/TheFestival and all sorts of strange old men (Literature/TheTerribleOldMan or "The Strange High House in the Mist"). But Arkham wins the cake, due to its Miskatonic University playing roles in Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness and Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime ; its asylums being involved in Literature/HerbertWestReanimator and Literature/TheThingOnTheDoorstep ; and its supernatural inhabitants appearing in works such as "The Unnameable" and Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse.

** To say nothing of the fact that several of his stories were set in real New England locations: ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'' uses the real towns of Brattleboro and Townshend in Vermont, and ''Pickman's Model'' is set in Boston.
** In "The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath," Randolph Carter discovers that the marvelous sunset city in his dreams is only the sum of his childhood memories in Boston. When Carter awakes in his home, he looks out his window on the beautiful Boston skyline at sunrise.

Lovecraft Country is a dark, twisted version of [[{{Arcadia}} rural New England]] as used as a setting for horror fiction. Named for the author Creator/HPLovecraft -- a native of Rhode Island, [[{{Irony}} where there were no places named after him until 2013]] -- who wrote a number of tales set in a New England milieu, usually small isolated towns that look [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere boring and mediocre]] at first but [[TownWithADarkSecret are actually dark and foreboding on the inside]], populated by hostile and [[CorruptHick corrupt (in several ways) hicks]] that often are not quite human, twisted by the influence of ancient horrors and [[EldritchAbomination extradimensional aliens]] (and [[IncestIsRelative generations of inbreeding]]).

** While it is unknown whether Ware was also an inspiration for one of his fictional towns (as it was reasonably prosperous at the time, though the fact that it gained the remaining land from several of the towns that were flooded to form the Quabbin Reservoir means that it is not out of the realm of possibility), it also fits the bill for "decaying, degenerate rural Massachusetts town". Like Athol, it is heavily isolated and located in a heavily wooded area (about forty minutes from Springfield and a little less from Worcester, but it makes up the difference by being a decent distance away from the Mass Pike, with the notoriously winding and treacherous Route 202 being the main thoroughfare connecting it to both cities), and also like Athol, it is highly economically depressed and lacking in well-paying jobs, has high rates of domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and substance abuse (especially hard drugs, as the downtown is locally known as an area to avoid like the plague after dark), and also holds the dubious distinction of having the highest concentration of Level 3 sex offenders in all of Massachusetts.

* ''Literature/InCryptid'': Downplayed with New Gravesend, Maine. [[EldritchAbomination The Crossroads]] and its ghosts are there, but they can be anywhere, they just pushed Annie and her friends there so she'd encounter James. Aside from the HereditaryCurse keeping James from leaving, it's a relatively normal small New England town.

** While it is unknown whether Ware was also an inspiration for one of his fictional towns (as it was reasonably prosperous at the time, though its proximity to the towns that were flooded to form the Quabbin Reservoir means that it is not out of the realm of possibility), it also fits the bill for "decaying, degenerate rural Massachusetts town". Like Athol, it is heavily isolated and located in a heavily wooded area (about forty minutes from Springfield and a little less from Worcester, but it makes up the difference by being a decent distance away from the Mass Pike, with the notoriously winding and treacherous Route 202 being the main thoroughfare connecting it to both cities), and also like Athol, it is highly economically depressed and lacking in well-paying jobs, has high rates of domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and substance abuse (especially hard drugs, as the downtown is locally known as an area to avoid like the plague after dark), and also holds the dubious distinction of having the highest concentration of Level 3 sex offenders in all of Massachusetts.

* Athol, Massachusetts is known to have been one of the rural Central/Western Mass towns that Lovecraft based the town of Dunwich off of. While not known to be especially prone to spooky phenomena, it ''does'' get very foggy and is in a heavily wooded area. The "degenerate, decaying town" part is also very much true with Athol, as it is notoriously economically depressed, heavily isolated (even with an exit from Route 2, the nearest major economic centers are close to an hour away), and has rates of domestic violence, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol addiction, and child abuse that are well above average for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

** ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum'' takes place in Briarcliff Manor, an horrible Massachusetts [[BedlamHouse asylum]] which on top of hosting serial killers and mad doctors receives the visit of supernatural entities, such as aliens of the Devil itself.
** ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryRoanoke'' takes place on a cursed plot of land in the middle of the North Carolina woods. It is where the original Roanoke colony went to die, and is now haunted by murderous ghosts, incestuous HillbillyHorrors, creepy pig-men and a zombie-witch. This season also has several nods to other iconic movies depicting this trope, such as ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' or ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979''.
** "Red Tide", the first part of ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryDoubleFeature'' is a huge homage to this trope, taking place in Provincetown, a dying seaside Massachusetts town where strange Nosferatu-like monsters roam and great artists come in winter to make [[DealWithTheDevil strange deals]] and commit hidden atrocities... However the typical idea of a close-minded, Puritan town is completely avoided as Provincetown is a former gay hub whose DyingTown status is due to the AIDs epidemic.

** The famous towns in Lovecraft's work include the hill-surrounded Dunwich (from Literature/TheDunwichHorror),the sea-side Innsmouth (Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth), and the real-life town of Providence (appearing in Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard and Literature/TheShunnedHouse). His fictional creation of Kingsport is home to the titular Literature/TheFestival and all sorts of strange old men (Literature/TheTerribleOldMan or "The Strange High House in the Mist"). But Arkham wins the cake, due to its Miskatonic University playing roles in Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness and Literature/TheShadowOutOfTown ; its asylums being involved in Literature/HerbertWestReanimator and Literature/TheThingOnTheDoorstep ; and its supernatural inhabitants appearing in works such as "The Unnameable" and Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse.

** King's Maine notably has a trio of recurring cursed fictional towns in Maine: Derry, most famous for being the domain of the EldritchAbomination Pennywise (the titular It from Literature/It) ; Salem's Lot (most famous for becoming a vampire-infected town in Literature/SalemsLot, though additional short stories such as Literature/JerusalemsLot adds more traditional Lovecraftian horror to the town's past) and Castle Rock, THE most dangerous place of Maine, hosting threats ranging from rabid and maybe possessed dogs (Literature/Cujo) to a [[DealWithTheDevil deal-making demon) (Literature/NeedfulThings), passing by perverse serial killers (Literature/TheDeadZone), evil witches (Literature/SkeletonCrew)and some sort of sentient ever-growing house (Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes).

* Salem-born Creator/MikeFlanagan loves this trope, which is most prominent in some of his television series work, such as Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse (a terrifying [[EldritchLocation haunted house]] in Massachusetts drives its occupants to death and madness) or Series/MidnightMass (taking place on the isolated island of Crockett Island, and exploring themes of religious fanaticism, the nature of sin and [[spoiler: vampirism]]).

* ''Series/DarkShadows'', the 1960s gothic soap opera about supernatural horrors, takes place in Collinsport, Maine. Clearly this town, with its witch trials and monsters, is to be found in Lovecraft Country.
* ''Series/{{Haven}}'' takes place in a New England town of the same name, where bizarre mysteries abound (and based on a Creator/StephenKing story to boot).
* ''Series/StormOfTheCentury'' was a Creator/StephenKing miniseries set on Little Tall Island (a central character in ''Series/KingdomHospital'' evidently came from there). Apart from a veritable brew of dark secrets, much of the town engaged in a pact with darkness.
* Many of the Sci-Fi horrors on ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' crop up in Massachusetts or Upstate New York milieus that would be right at home with Lovecraft or King, although they just as often pop up in urban areas as well.
* The town of Storybrooke in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' is located in Maine. Darkness quotient varies depending on the story arc.
* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'', which is set in Rockland County, NY. Fitting considering it's a darker take on the [[ComicBook/ArchieComics Archie series]], borrowing heavily from ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' (See Comic Books).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'' love these places.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' and ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' both use this to an extent. %%The ''Real'' episode "Drool the Dog-Faced Goblin", which sent the 'Busters out to the Poconos, stands out in particular - except that the Poconos are in ''Pennsylvania'', which is not Lovecraft Country.

* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' might be this trope. While Riverdale's [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield exact location is never given]], it's suggested it's located in the Northeastern United States. Fitting considering it's a darker take on the [[ComicBook/ArchieComics Archie series]], borrowing heavily from ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' (See Comic Books).

* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndACrusaderKingsIIMod'', while the actual existence of anything supernatural or eldritch is [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane left up in the air]], New England has become the center of a new Occultist religious movement that takes a number of cues from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.

For analogous settings outside of New England, see CampbellCountry, SinisterSouthwest, SouthernGothic, WeirdWest, and {{Uberwald}}. Compare and contrast HollywoodNewEngland.

Milder versions of this can be found in other types of horror. The setting trend was then continued by Creator/StephenKing, a more contemporary famous American horror writer, although he sets his stories in Maine as opposed to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In fact you could divide it into southern New England being Lovecraft territory and northern New England as King country. If you don't want as many New England accents, upstate UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}} or the [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey Pine Barrens]] will do, although it probably won't be quite as Eldritch. New Jersey variants are particularly likely to be lighthearted or played for laughs, because, hey, {{Joisey}}. As for why this area seems to attract so much horror fiction (aside from Lovecraft and King [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they knew]] and other writers [[FollowTheLeader following the leader]])... if you ever go to New England in autumn or winter, you'll find it quite scenic during the day (the fall foliage is a major tourist magnet, as are the region's abundant ski resorts), but the sun sets early and it gets dark, cold, and spooky fast. Not so coincidentally, upstate New York is the birthplace of the Spiritualist movement. The [[WitchHunt Salem Witch Trials]] probably also have a role to play (cf. SalemIsWitchCountry). Expect a NewEnglandPuritan to show up, drawing on the region's history as a hotbed of religious fundamentalism.

For analogous settings outside of New England, see CampbellCountry, SouthernGothic, WeirdWest, and {{Uberwald}}. Compare and contrast HollywoodNewEngland.