[poll]Have you seen the Yellow Sign?

[Celestial Goblin]

Well, have you?

[kongming]

One of my friends once took aside his friend's 6 year old son (note, both of these friends have read much of Lovecraft's works, and play Call of Cthulhu), and told him to go up to his dad and ask "Have you seen the yellow sign?"

I never could get my youngest sister to say "Hastur Hastur Hastur."

The Necronomicon?? *You* can't be shown one!
While the libraries *never* will loan one!
But if it's so rare
And guarded with care
Why does every nut case seem to own one?

[Celestial Goblin]

One of my friends once took aside his friend's 6 year old son (note, both of these friends have read much of Lovecraft's works, and play Call of Cthulhu), and told him to go up to his dad and ask "Have you seen the yellow sign?"

*wipes tear from eye*
Now I regret I don't have children. This trick is great:)

(By the way, the Yellow Sign does not really appear in Lovecraft's book. But Lovecraft knew about it all right.)

[kongming]

The Yellow Sign is linked to the King in Yellow, Hastur, though. Is this a creation by someone else using HP's mythos, perhaps?

[Lilac]

It predates Lovecraft, actually.

[Elvi]

About a hundred years before wasn't it?

[Celestial Goblin]

No, not by as much.
The Yellow Sign was created by Robert W. Chambers who started writing just at the turn of century. He was one of biggest influences on Lovecraft, though.

Now let's take off our masks everyone! :)

[kongming]

Hmm, interesting. Research informs me that Hastur was created* first by another author, then Chambers linked "him" into "The King in Yellow", and after that, Lovecraft adopted both.

Curious.

*Insofar as a creature of such magnitude and unspeakable horror can be created by anything. How unfortunate that I chose to delve into such mysteries just to unravel the secrets that surround the King in Yellow. For now the inner workings of this chaotic world have been shown to me, but too late have I realised that no mortal mind can contain such horror. The mad Arab was right in his writings, if only I had turned back as the professors at the Miskatonic had told me, but now I see all. Azathoth, the nuclear sleeping idiot god that lies a the center of all creation, the veil rended revealing the true form of all... By Enlil and Eniki! Magna mater! Magna mater! Ia Ia Cthulhu fh'tagn...

We regret to inform you that the author of this post has gone mad and is currently undergoing treatment at the Arkham psychiatric ward.

[Celestial Goblin]

Wasn't um... August Derleth the one who finally placed a 'link' between 'Hastur' and 'King in Yellow'?
Or not?

[kongming]

Not unless my sources are incorrect. My sources are Wikipedia, so there's a reasonable chance that they are incorrect, what with Wiki being what it is.