The Malice of Inanimate Objects: Horror Stories about Things

[MadsPLP]

Thank you for all the suggestions.

I thought of a few of those mentioned, but M.R. James is embarrasingly far away in the basements of my memory, and I've never actually read 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. I am, however, glad to hear that some stories I thought of weren't that far off the mark, and, more importantly, I'm glad to see all these suggestions here.

I think one of the reasons for there being so many borderline thing-stories is that it's not necessarily the thing-ness of the things that are central in weird fiction narratives; a lot of the things' thingness seem to be receding in order to make room for the supernatural phenomenon they are impregnated with. A lot of horror things seem to be more a portal or a medium for supernatural phenomena, rather than the horror narrative being concerned with the things themselves.

The boundaries between the things and between the supernatural phenomena which are associated with the things seem to constantly receding. Where should one draw the line? Should one draw the line? And a drawn line can almost always be erased anyway.

At one point, it could be interesting to make subdivisions:
Furniture
Mirrors
Effigies of the human body
Art objects
Books
Vehicles
Trains
(Maps ?)

Etc., etc.

What would they have in common, what would divide them?

E.F. Benson's 'The Dust-Cloud' is a possibility as well.

By the way: Any writers here on TLO should feel free to point in the direction of their own stories; I am certain there are stories I haven't thought of by TLO'ers as well.

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[DoktorH]

Quote Originally Posted by MadsPLP

What would they have in common, what would divide them?.

For the most part, they are man-made things.

horrific furniture; "The Curious Sofa" by Edward Gorey is the only thing that comes to mind where the furniture itself is the issue rather than some ghost that is associated with it.

Open Graves - evil board-game

if computers count, we can add....
Brain Scan - evil video game
Wargames - killer computer
The Tower - killer security system

[Karnos]

I haven't read the whole thread, so maybe it was mentioned before, but I think Horacio Quiroga's "The Feather Pillow" might be a good choice, even though the horror resides within the pillow and is not the pillow itself.

[Ramsey Campbell]

Philip K. Dick's "Colony"?

[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by MadsPLP

By the way: Any writers here on TLO should feel free to point in the direction of their own stories; I am certain there are stories I haven't thought of by TLO'ers as well.

I'll avail myself of this. Thank you. I was going to mention 'The Human Chair' (Edogawa Rampo), but Joel got there before me. Also, it's a borderline case. As you suggest, often with horrible 'things' it's not the thingness that is horrible. In this case it's the humanness of the chair that is horrible, or perhaps the chairness of the human.

I would like to suggest my own work 'Karakasa' as being in this vein. The idea for the story partly came from this area of East Asian folklore, which is highly pertinent to this thread:

Wikipedia (Links)

Tsukumogami

I have, however, since very young, had an instinct for the malice of inanimate objects. I remember watching a sketch on The Benny HIll Show as a child, which featured malignant televisions (and other furniture) coming to life. (Or did I dream this? Can anyone verify this?) I have remained fascinated by this general idea.

By the way, has anyone mentioned Bruno Schulz? It's been a while since I read his work, but I feel sure that this plays a large part in his vision, either implicitly or explicitly.

[Gray House]

Theodore Sturgeon's "The Professor's Teddy Bear". But the toy talks, which may make it too animate for this thread?

[MagnusTC]

MadsPLP referred me to this site. I really appreciate all the suggestions so far.
Perhaps some of the following stories might also be relevant?

Machen: The Inmost Light (the jewel)
Ligotti: Nethescurial (the fragments of the idol)
Gustav Meyrink: Golem (the hat of A. Pernath), not sure about this one, as it is mostly (metaphysically) present in the beginning and end chapters.

[MagnusTC]

Quote Originally Posted by qcrisp

By the way, has anyone mentioned Bruno Schulz? It's been a while since I read his work, but I feel sure that this plays a large part in his vision, either implicitly or explicitly.

I totally agree about Schulz's vision as somehow refracted through physical objects (books, textiles, furniture...). In this connection, perhaps Max Blechers' Adventures in Immediate Unreality, could also apply? He seems to be a kind of darker, more dysfunctional version of Schulz...

[bendk]

I don't know if "Nadelman's God" by T.E.D. Klein would qualify. But it is a great story and I take every opportunity to recommend it.

[Daisy]

An astonishing inventory of “unique novelty items” can be found in “The Red Tower” by TL:

Among the objects and constructions now manufactured were several of an almost innocent nature. These included tiny, delicate cameos that were heavier than their size would suggest, far heavier, and lockets whose shiny outer surface flipped open to reveal a black reverberant abyss inside, a deep blackness roaring with echoes. Along the same lines was a series of lifelike replicas of internal organs and physiological structures, many of them evidencing an advanced stage of disease and all of them displeasingly warm and soft to the touch. There was a fake disembodied hand on which fingernails would grow several inches overnight and insistently grew back should one attempt to clip them. Numerous natural objects, mostly bulbous gourds, were designed to produce a long, deafening scream whenever they were picked up or otherwise disturbed in their vegetable stillness. Less scrutable were such things as hardened globs of lava into whose rough, igneous forms were set a pair of rheumy eyes that perpetually shifted their gaze from side to side like a relentless pendulum. And there was also a humble piece of cement, a fragment broken away from any street or sidewalk, that left a most intractable stain, greasy and green, on whatever surface it was placed. But such fairly simple items were eventually followed, and ultimately replaced, by more articulated objects and constructions. One example of this complex type of novelty item was an ornate music box that, when opened, emitted a brief gurgling or sucking sound in emulation of a dying individual’s death rattle. Another product manufactured in great quantity at the Red Tower was a pocket watch in a gold casing which opened to reveal a curious timepiece whose numerals were represented by tiny quivering insects while the circling “hands” were reptilian tongues, slender and pink. But these examples hardly begin to hint at the range of goods that came from the factory during its novelty phase of production. I should at least mention the exotic carpets woven with intricate abstract patterns that, when focused upon for a certain length of time, composed themselves into fleeting phantasmagoric scenes of a kind which might pass through a fever-stricken or even permanently damaged brain. (Teatro Grottesco [Durtro, 2006], pp. 67-68)