Marsh, Barnabas (Old Man) (b. 1862).
In “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” the owner of the Marsh refinery in Innsmouth. He is grandson of Capt. Obed Marsh (1790–1878), who, in the 1840s, brought back to Innsmouth from his travels in the South Seas a wife who was in fact a monstrous amphibian hybrid, in exchange for treasure. Onesiphorus Marsh was Old Man Marsh’s father; his wife was a woman (actually a hybrid monster) never seen in public.
Marsh, Frank.
In “Medusa’s Coil,” a painter and friend of Denis de Russy, who tries to warn de Russy of the true background of his wife. Marsh begins to paint Marceline’s portrait, but de Russy suspects them of having an affair. (Marceline does, in fact, attempt to seduce Marsh, but he resists.) When Antoine de Russy finds Marceline slain, he suspects Marsh. However, Denis de Russy has killed her and cut off her sinister hair.
Martense, Jan.
In “The Lurking Fear,” a member of a Dutch family that built the Martense mansion atop Tempest Mountain. The mansion was built in 1670 by Gerrit Martense, a wealthy New Amsterdam merchant. Jan, returning to the
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mansion in 1760 after several years in the army, is later killed, probably by his own family, because he has discovered the family’s horrible secret: their unwholesome inbreeding has caused them to decline on the evolutionary ladder.
Mason, Keziah.
In “The Dreams in the Witch House,” the witch who once lived in the old Witch House in Arkham during the celebrated witch hunts in Essex County, occupying the room now inhabited by the student Walter Gilman. The witch plagues Gilman’s troubled dreams, and her ratlike familiar kills him. “Materialist Today, The.”
Essay (1,210 words); probably written in the summer of 1926. First published in Driftwind(October 1926); also as a separate pamphlet (Driftwind Press, 1926); rpt. MW.
A brief exposition of materialist metaphysics and ethics, the essay asserts that “ mindseems very clearly not a thing,but a mode of motion or form of energy” and that “all matter is in a state of balance betwixt formation and disintegration.” HPL states that the “essay” was part of a letter to Walter J.Coates, editor of Driftwind,prepared for publication at Coates’s insistence (HPL to August Derleth, October 19, 1926; ms., SHSW).
“Matter of Uniteds, A.”
Essay (1,720 words); probably written in the spring of 1927. First published in Bacon’s Essays (Summer 1927); rpt. MW
This substantial essay discusses the split in the UAPA following the disputed election of 1912, leading to the formation of the United Amateur Press Association of America, a group based in Seattle and led by F.Roy Erford, and the UAPA. HPL also wrote of this matter in an unsigned editorial, “The Pseudo-United” ( United Amateur,May 1920). In both articles, HPL suggests that the UAPA of A was the “rebel” organization, but historians generally conclude that HPL’s UAPA was largely responsible for the split.
Mauvais, Michel.
In “The Alchemist,” a wizard who is killed by Henri, comte de C———, who suspects him of making away with his son Godfrey. Michel’s son, Charles le Sorcier, exacts vengeance on the subsequent comtes de C———for the next 600 years.
Mazurewicz, Joe.
In “The Dreams in the Witch House,” a loomfixer who resides in the Witch House in Arkham and attempts to help Walter Gilman cope with his bizarre dreams and sleepwalking. At one point he gives Gilman a crucifix, which assists in temporarily warding off the witch Keziah Mason during one of Gilman’s dreams.
McNeil, [Henry] Everett (1862–1929).
Author of sixteen boys’ books and friend of HPL. He first met HPL in New York in September 1922; he was a member of the Kalem Club during 1924–26. McNeil was one of the first to urge HPL to contribute to the newly founded WT(see HPL to James F.Morton, March 29, 1923; AHT). He was the author of Dickon Bend the Bow and Other Wonder Tales(1903), The Lost Treasure Cave; or, Adventures with the Cowboys of Colorado(1905), In Texas with Davy Crockett: A Story of the Texas
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War of Independence(1908; rpt. 1937), The Cave of Gold: A Tale of California in ’49(1911), Tonty of the Iron Hand(1925), Daniel Du Luth; or, Adventuring on the Great Lakes(1926), The Shores of Adventure; or, Exploring in the New World with Jacques Cartier(1929), and others, many of them published by E.P.Dutton (HPL believed that Dutton’s stingy contracts contributed to McNeil’s poverty). He lived mostly in poor parts of New York City, notably Hell’s Kitchen; because of this, and because of a feud within the Kalem Club that caused separate “McNeil” and “Leeds” meetings, many members avoided coming to McNeil’s apartment, but HPL always came. He appreciated McNeil’s childlike naïveté; George Kirk described him as “an oldster—lovely purely white hair, writes books for boys and does not need to write down to them, he is quite equal mentally” (the comment was not meant derogatorily). Late in life, suffering from poor health, he moved to Tacoma, Washington, to live with his sister but died shortly after arriving there. HPL wrote an unaffected tribute to him in a letter to James F.Morton ( SL3.92–94; see also 3.112–15). “The Pigeon-Flyers” of Fungi from Yuggothwas inspired by McNeil’s death.
McNeill, Dr.
In “The Curse of Yig,” the curator of an insane asylum in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He informs the narrator of the story of the legend of Yig, the snake-god. His asylum houses the half-human, half-snake offspring of Audrey Davis and Yig.
McTighe,———.
In At the Mountains of Madness,a radio operator on the Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition of 1930–31 who takes down shorthand accounts of the discoveries of Lake’s subexpedition and relays them to the operator on board the brig Arkham.
“Medusa’s Coil.”
Novelette (16,950 words); ghostwritten for Zealia Brown Reed Bishop, May–August 1930. First published in WT(January 1939); first collected in Marginalia;corrected text in HM A traveler in Missouri finds himself in a deserted region with night coming on. He then spots a decaying mansion set back from the road and approaches it, hoping to find shelter for the night. The place is occupied by an old man, Antoine de Russy, who expresses alarm at the prospect of the traveler spending the night at his place. He finally agrees to house the traveler, and in the course of the evening he tells his tale:
His son, Denis de Russy, had gone to Paris and had fallen in love with a mysterious Frenchwoman, Marceline Bedard. Without his father’s permission or knowledge, Denis marries Marceline and brings her back to Missouri to live. In Paris, Marceline had practiced what seemed to be relatively innocuous occultist rituals for the apparent purpose of increasing her tantalizing allure, but when she comes to Missouri she is looked upon with awe and terror by the black servants, especially one “very old Zulu woman” named Sophonisba.