I HP Lovecraft Lurking Fear , den eponymous fear noteras för att inte lämna några spår av sina offer.
George Bennett and William Tobey had left no trace, not even of a struggle. They were never heard of again.
och
When we asked them to help us find Bennett and Tobey they were truly distressed; for they wanted to help us, yet knew that these victims had gone as wholly out of the world as their own missing people. That great numbers of them had actually been killed and removed, just as the wild animals had long been exterminated, we were of course thoroughly convinced; and we waited apprehensively for further tragedies to occur.
Men några offer, särskilt
Arthur Munroe
lämna fysiska resurser.
När jag först läste berättelsen tillskrivade jag offer försvinnande på något slags världsligt inflytande, som om människor bokstavligen togs på andra ställen, men det verkar osannolikt när det är uppenbart att "rädslan" är
The genetically and culturally degraded descendants of the Martense family, mutated or de-evolved into something not quite human, but still very physical and earthly, not gods or elder things.
Missade jag något i historien? Är "försvinnandet" hos många av offren helt enkelt ett testamente till en särskilt grym typ av mord som lämnar litet spår eller är offren faktiskt tagit till en annan plats för ett visst syfte?
Jag hade en teori som
"Disappeared" victims are kidnapped for breeding stock. This makes some sense as it is mentioned in the story that the Martense family at one point was openly interbreeding with the "squatter" population, and after their final withdraw from society would have had recourse only to inbreeding unless they could regain a supply of outside genetic material. Perhaps the kidnappers found it impractical to take Munroe due to his presence in the cabin with the narrator, or perhaps they decided he was not a good genetic match.
men det verkar inte alls uppenbart och inte särskilt Lovecraftian.