The vampire's smile (story)

The Grinning Ghoul, also translated as The Smile Vampire or The Smile Vampire is a horror story written by Robert Bloch. It appeared in June of 1936 in the magazine Weird Tales.

In the tale there are several to the myths of H. P. Lovecraft, such as Ludwig Prinn's The Mysteries of the Worm, Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon, and names like Yiggurath or Nyarlathotep.

Although the word ghoul has been translated into Spanish as a vampire in the story, it is likely that Robert Bloch refers to the gules, a race of carrion creatures and necropels of Lovecraft myth. Synopsis

The story is told in first person by a narrator who is hospitalized in a sanatorium for mentally ill and who was previously a prominent psychiatrist. According to the narrator is not really crazy, but have interned because the truth of their experience is not credible and has no evidence to prove the truth of his story.

The narrator says that in August he received in his psychiatric consultation a patient, Professor Alexander Chaupin, a gentleman from Newberry College. Professor Chaupin is tormented by a series of strange dreams that have as scene the nearby Cemetery of the Misericordia, entering a strange cave where they inhabit pale creatures in dwellings constructed with human bones adoring primitive Gods in altars with form of skull. / p>

The psychiatrist prescribes a tranquilizer to his patient and agrees with him a meeting after the following night to visit the Cemetery of Mercy.

The next night, psychiatrist and patient meet in the cemetery, and he reveals that the secret passage to the caverns with which he dreamed is real. Restless, the psychiatrist accompanies Chaupin along underground tunnels that enter into the darkness. However, Chaupin decides to step forward in the darkness and disappears, leaving his companion alone.

Suddenly, the psychiatrist hears howls and beastly laughter that come from the depths and sounds of approaching footsteps, so he runs off toward the exit. For a moment, before the torch goes off, the psychiatrist sees among the monsters who are after Professor Chaupin.

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