2019 audio drama, adapted in eight parts by Julian Simpson from the
story by H. P. Lovecraft. Henry Akeley has vanished from his home near
Rendlesham Forest, and the podcasters investigate.
As with the previous Julian Simpson production of The Case of
Charles Dexter Ward, the story's been not just updated to the modern
day, transplanted to England, and converted to an audio drama, but
essentially rewritten from scratch using the original as inspiration.
Things do carry on from that previous production, though; there are
some reminders of what went on, but quite a few names from before are
mentioned in passing and it's a good idea to know what they signify.
If you can, listen to that before listening to this.
So yes, there are ultimately Mi-Go here (though not as they were in
the original story), but there's also the Rendlesham Forest
Incident of
1980,
EVP, the
Babalon Working, and
stranger things; but also
ECHELON and other contacts
with the creepier parts of the real world. There's an interesting
hierarchy of Lovecraftiana which explains at least some of the cultic
attitude, which I think works quite well… though things do get a bit
Derlethian at times, with a second conspiracy opposed to the cultists
that are trying to summon Elder Gods in order to gain power and wealth
and so on.
I suppose that's inevitable: if only one side has the establishment
supporting it, it's hard for heroic investigators to make much
progress (especially when they aren't particularly heroic, or at least
aren't as carefree as most player characters). For GMs looking for
motivation for their investigators, this adaptation does a good job of
striking the balance between "we can see that this is clearly very
dangerous" and "we almost know enough to make a difference".
There's a large cast; I found this version of Albert Wilmarth
particularly interesting, as the local vicar and one of the few people
to have known Akeley at all well before his disappearance.
All in all, highly recommended as a continuation of the story; this
time things have been left more open for a possible sequel, and I hope
that it's made.
The Whisperer in Darkness is available via
the BBC.
(If you don't have get_iplayer, you can apparently download it via the
BBC Sounds app.)
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