While Lovecraft’s work may be best known
for the unknowable cosmic beings that it introduced,
there are plenty more terrors lurking where
you’d least expect it: in the souls of horrible
people.
I suppose that’s where we find most horrors,
but the abominations and ancient beasts kind
of overshadow the humans in Lovecraftian work.
That doesn’t make them any less awful and
fearsome, though!
So today we’ll pay respects to the people
who manage to cause as much chaos as many
magnificent monsters.
Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the
scariest channel on YouTube: Top5Scary Videos.
I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and
today we’re going to be taking a look at
the Top 5 Scary Lovecraftian Villains.
No gods, no masters, but people!
Before we get started, make sure to give this
video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more
pestilent people!
Wicked, let’s begin.
NUMBER FIVE: OBED MARSH
This salty sea captain from Innsmouth caused
a whole lot of trouble for a whole lot of
people.
Over time, he became the defacto leader of
this community, established a well-known cosmic
worship group, and essentially created a race
of terrible man-beast hybrids!
And all of this happens BEFORE the real story
of the Shadow Over Innsmouth even begins!
Obed Marsh’s presence looms over this seaside
town, even long after he perished.
Way back when, Captain Marsh travelled the
seas.
Innsmouth had fallen on hard times, and he
wanted to get some trade going to boost their
little town.
In these travels, he came across a tribe that
was prosperous.
Almost… too prosperous.
They had limitless fish, an abundance of gold,
and religious items with strange creatures
engraved upon them.
Marsh discovered that this tribe had been
sacrificing their people to the ancient fish
race known as the Deep Ones in exchange for
wealth and prosperity.
The deal they made with the Deep Ones also
involved fulfilling a ritual, creating near-immortal
human-fish hybrids, and eventually rising
up to overthrow humanity with an army of Shoggoths.
Obed Marsh though all of this sounded pretty
good, so he learned the rites and brought
this style of worship back to Innsmouth.
For a while he traded with the tribe, but
eventually they were wiped out by those who
considered their worship an affront to humanity.
When Marsh realized what had happened, he
decided to make Innsmouth the new mecca for
blasphemous worship.
He ran the Christians out of town, installed
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra as the new deities,
and even sacrificed his first mate.
The authorities were alerted to all of this
mysterious behaviour, and tossed Marsh in
jail.
However, the Deep Ones wanted to continue
being worshipped.
The gigantic fish beasts rose out of the water,
attacked the town, and freed Marsh and his
supporters.
From then on, everyone in Innsmouth was required
to take the Oath of Dagon.
Marsh took a Deep One as a wife, and spawned
many hybrids.
And again, this is all before the events of
the Shadow Over Innsmouth.
Obed Marsh, the OG Lovecraftian villain.
NUMBER FOUR: AMOS HACKSHAW
That name just SCREAMS villain, doesn’t
it?
Making his grand debut in the 1991 flick Cast
a Deadly Spell, Mr. Hackshaw is as evil as
it gets.
The man is a WARLOCK from LOS ANGELES!
My goodness, it’s hard to top that.
After losing his wife, Hackshaw decided to
focus pretty much exclusively on summoning
some Great Old Ones.
He discovered the Necronomicon while in Egypt,
and started planning to bring Yog Sothoth
forth into our world.
The ritual involved requires a virgin sacrifice,
so Hackshaw does what any evil, magical dad
would do and prevents his own daughter from
engaging in sexual activities at all costs.
Before he could go through with sacrificing
his daughter, though, his chauffeur steals
the Necronomicon and makes a speedy getaway.
To get the book back, Hackshaw hires a strictly
NON-magical detective to track it down.
But of course, just sending a detective to
retrieve the book you will use to kill your
daughter and gain godly powers isn't enough.
So he brings a stone gargoyle to life to follow
the detective.
And in true villain style, he instructs the
gargoyle to “take care” of the detective
after he finds the book.
Eventually, Hackshaw manages to collaborate
with another warlock for the summoning, and
actually brings Yog Sothoth forth.
He even brings his daughter to ensure the
sacrifice goes through.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the pure-as-snow
virgin he was hoping for.
Yog Sothoth takes this as a grave offence,
and eats Hackshaw before returning to the
underworld.
Even if this warlock’s plan didn’t go
through, the fact that he was willing to take
it that far to gain power is a pretty spooky
situation.
NUMBER THREE: THE WHATELEYS
A whole family of awful, cosmic terrors!
There are layers to their villainy, and it
crosses over generations.
At the top, we’ve got Old Whateley.
This elderly gentleman is obsessed with the
dark arts and rituals.
He actually managed to mate Yog Sothoth with
his daughter, something Mr. Hackshaw couldn’t
achieve.
In doing so, two more terrible Whateleys are
introduced to the world.
Old Whateley taught the cosmic spawn all sorts
of evil rituals and the like throughout their
life.
All the while, he took care of their unique
needs, seeing as they’re cosmic beast-human
hybrids.
Of course, like all good villains, Old Whateley
dies and leaves his evil deeds to his less
organized but just-as-destructive progeny.
Next up is Wilbur.
This young Whateley is a terrifying, stinky
humanoid who matures way too fast.
Like, full adulthood in a matter of years.
He doesn’t really know how to gen on in
the world without Old Whateley, but still
wants to summon some abominations.
So he visits Miskatonic U to snag a copy of
the Necronomicon.
The scholars on deck are understandably wary,
and prevent him from borrowing the blasphemous
book.
But a series of tut-tuts and no’s from a
bunch of bookworms has never stopped a villain
before.
So Wilbur sneaks in late at night to steal
the tome.
Too bad a guard dog didn’t like the smell
of him.
Wilbur is attacked by a hound, dies, and melts
into nothing, leaving the final Whateley alone
in a barn.
This horror doesn’t have a name, nor a concrete
form.
While Wilbur was more man than beast, this
is definitely more Yog than Whateley.
Left to its own devices, Horror Whateley breaks
free of the barn and runs rampant in Dunwich.
Man, the Whateley’s are bad people, eh?
NUMBER TWO: DR.
CARL HILL
My personal favourite way to consume Lovecraftian
horror is through Brian Yuzna and company’s
cosmic horror movies.
Society, From Beyond, Necronomicon, and of
course, the Re-Animator series.
And what villain could possibly be more sinister,
more disgusting, more horrendous than Dr.
Carl Hill?
This Miskatonic U professor feels threatened
by Herbert West, and is enamoured with young
Megan Halsey.
So when given an opportunity, he wreaks mega-havoc.
First, he lobotomizes Dean Halsey, Megan’s
father, and locks him in a padded cell.
Granted, the dean was already re-animated
and largely braindead, but still!
Not cool!
After discovering the re-animation of the
dean, he finds West, threatens him, and attempts
to steal his reagent research.
Now this is where things come to a… head.
West kills Hill, and decapitates him with
a shovel.
Unable to give up a good, fresh cadaver, West
then re-animates the body and head separately.
This creates a two-part person with autonomous
control over both pieces.
Hill the headless horror then knocks West
out, steals the research and reagent, and
heads back to the lab.
Soon, he discovers that with some minor surgery,
he can control other re-animated corpses telepathically.
Now, instead of bringing these discoveries
to the world, or attempting to discover more,
the mad scientist decides he wants to use
these new powers to fondle a coed.
Great.
Maniacal, deadly, and inexcusably horny.
The whole, villainous package.
After sicking a bunch of reanimated corpses
on Dan and Herbert, our decapitated cretin
overdoses on reagent and starts sprouting
limbs and viscera like mad.
After entering “sickening abomination”
mode, he rampages a little while longer before
succumbing to the effects.
UNTIL THE SEQUEL THAT IS!
NUMBER ONE: SUTTER CANE
Okay, I might have lied at the beginning.
I said no Gods, and well…
Sutter Cane is basically a god.
Do you read Sutter Cane?
He’s a horror writer akin to Stephen King,
penning New England tales about eldritch monstrosities.
He’s quite popular around the world, you
know.
Mr. Cane is the main antagonist in John Carpenter’s
In the Mouth of Madness.
He pulled a publicity stunt where he disappeared
before the release of his latest novel, prompting
his publisher to send an investigator after
him.
As the investigation begins, it becomes apparent
that many Sutter Cane readers are becoming
paranoid schizophrenics and psychopaths.
The investigator, John Trent, discovers a
hidden map on the covers of Cane novels, and
follows the trail to a town inaccessible by
normal means: Hobb’s End.
This is a place full of abominations and paranoia,
thanks to Cane himself.
It is here that Cane resides, summoning terrible
creatures through his writing.
Or is he simply holding them back?
Either way, there are awful happenings stemming
from the author, from tentacled husband-killing
innkeepers, to crazed mobs of people, to ever-repeating
roads.
After amassing so many loyal followers, Sutter
Cane has essentially become God.
He can write what he wants, and will it to
life.
His believers make it so.
Realizing he has such power, he decides that
it is time for the world to end.
Cane unleashes horrors all over the planet,
causing widespread destruction.
So again, I’ll ask: Do you read Sutter Cane?
OUTRO
Holy moly!
Those are some wicked people.
Wicked bad, not wicked cool.
Well, maybe a little bit of both.
So what did you think of the list?
Who is your all-time favourite Lovecraftian
villain?
Are people scarier than cosmic abominations
and gods?
Make sure you let me know down in the comments.
Speaking of comments, let’s take a look
at some of your more digital ones from the
TOP 5 LOVECRAFTIAN MONSTERS YOU SHOULD NEVER
SUMMON - PART 2:
The Mad Husher says “The last one I could
defeat with my rusty, wooden spoon.
I would cut its heart out (why spoon?
Cuz it would hurt more).
Hold up.
Forget the impromptu heart surgery; wooden
spoons can rust?
This is news to me.
Jerry Millet says “You are forcing us to
concentrate energy on “them” right now.
I wonder how many viewers’ thoughts it takes
at one time to accidentally summon one?”
You saw right through me, eh?
We’ll see what happens over the next little
while.
Steven Saldana says “Man I wish I had hidden
cosmic knowledge.”
Don’t we all…
Stuart says “Question: are you wearing pants?
Stay awesome Top 5 Scary Videos.”
I will neither confirm nor deny my pants status.
Big D says “How you doing you crazy son
of a gun?”
Pretty good!
Although I am wondering How you found out
about my dad being a Smith & Wesson.
And that’s all the time we have for today!
Before I check into a Slovakian hostel, make
sure to give this video a big thumbs up and
subscribe for more horrendous hijinks!
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next
time.
