The Dwellers Under the Tombs

There's three characters that appear occasionally in Robert E. Howard's horror stories: Conrad, Kirowan, and O'Donnel. Sometimes all three of these men are in the same stories, while others fragment the three. I covered one of these stories, “Dig Me No Grave” (Weird Tales, Feb. 1937), which featured both Kirowan and Conrad. I found another, “The Dwellers Under the Tombs”, that features both Conrad and O'Donnel. The story was originally titled “His Brother's Shoes”, and submitted to Weird Tales. It was rejected in 1932. It was later published for the first time in the fourth issue of Weinberg's Lost Fantasies in 1976 (alongside Warren Munn's “Tale of the Werewolf”).

In the story, O'Donnel is staying at his friend Conrad's house when a neighbor, Job Kiles, arrives screaming that he just saw his dead brother. It is revealed that Job's brother Jonas lived in an old house in the Dagoth Hills (unknown location). He recently died and is buried in the family's tomb, yet somehow is now alive as a vampire visiting Job. Obviously, the mystery is too inviting, and all three men journey to the tomb to see if Jonas is still lying at rest. What they find is surprising.

Howard is one of my favorite writers of all time (maybe the best), and even when he wasn't at his best, he's still better than the majority of his early 20th century contemporaries. This story may have been rejected for being a little too on the nose, leaving very little to the imagination. It may also have had too much “The Lurking Fear”, a Lovecraft classic first published by Weird Tales in 1928. 

Regardless of the original rejection, this ghoul story is ripe with atmosphere and incoming doom as the two men find themselves alone with the dead body of Job and a coffin that's empty. As they spiral deeper into the spiderweb of underground tunnels, they discover an ancient race that's inhabited the mountain. There is a tight tension as the duo read a diary entry from Jonas that explains his position and the concept of fooling his brother into thinking he was really dead (the reason for the story's original title). But is Jonas dead now? What are the yellow eyes that are peering from the hideous depths? Can O'Donnel, and Conrad, shoot themselves to freedom? 

Roy Thomas adapted this story as a Conan adventure in Savage Sword of Conan #224 (Aug. 1994). Howard loved his subterranean horror stories, evident in “The Children of the Night” and “Worms of the Earth”. This one is really a lot of fun and is highly recommended. 

Get the Del Rey omnibus of Howard's horror stories HERE. Get the 1978 paperback Black Canaan, which features this story and others, HERE. HorrorBabble also presents an excellent audio version of this for free HERE.