Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
The Tempest. Act v. Sc. 1
There's a short story, I think by HP Lovecraft, which has an invisible monster in it. The monster is invisble because it is a color that the human eye can't perceive (i.e. ultraviolet). This would explain the monster's invisibility scientifically (or pseudo-scientifically), so it would be within what the producers have said. And, even though you couldn't see it, it would still cast a shadow like it did on the cockpit.
Has anyone else read this story? Sorry I can't remember the exact title & author!
Does this theory sound plausible?
kat
Hi Kat,
Lovecraft borrowed from E. A. Poe, then Steven King, Anne Rice, and others borrowed from Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
I'm going to dig out my Lovecraft stories and re-read "The Beast in the Cave."
"His worlds have an air of completeness. The civilizations he conjures and their denizens -- the giant rugose cones in the steamy cities of pre-cambrian Australia, the star-headed, barrel-shaped Antartic radiates -- made a great deal of sense objectively, but they speak of histories, social structures, realities beyond our own."
The writers of this show may be mining Lovecraft for ideas. It's what makes "Lost" so wonderful. They take from the best.
eli255 Allen
I'm not sure if it's exactly the same story you're thinking of, but "The Color From Out Of Space" certainly featured the "color no human eye can see" thing. I think there was another theory which made me think of Lovecraft a while back. I'll search and update with a link if I find it.
Here we go, AceOfDiamonds about halfway down the first page. Option C.
railwaymadness
I have to say it if no one else will:
It's a Gru!
I hope no one wanders in to the dark or they will probably be eaten
/end old obscure text adventure reference
kenadak
Perhaps Lovecraft's "The Beast in the Cave" is somehwat of a
source of inspiration, although I know nothing of the story. I have from
a reliable source that an upcoming episode involves a cave populated by
skeletons.
However, I'm not sure the creators could avoid crossing the line into science fiction territory by having a huge, invisible, Lovecraftian beast inhabit the island.
Black Dahlia
Lovecraft was certainly a thought that ran through my mind, particularly
given that R'lyeh is supposed to be in the Pacific Ocean. Maybe the beast
is a shoggoth.
FrankCarr
Maybe it's Cthulhu!
angry may queen
The story is "The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce.
Here's an url to where you can read it online:
www.eastoftheweb.com/shor...Thin.shtml
GinWeasRox
(Lost Horizon opens up S.Petersen's Field Guide to Cuthulu Monsters..)
Like I mentioned in another thead regarding the nature of the Monster, I would say that the LOST moster could probably be either a "Flying Polyp" ( "Shadow out of Time" ),Star Vampire ( Robert Bloch's "The Shambler From the Stars" ) , or a Dark Young of Yog-Sothoth ( "The Dunwich Horror" ). All three are invisible monsters, but only the Flying Polyp and the Star Vampire actually flies.
Star Vampire :
Ecology:
Star vampires are interstellar beings. They are only found on Earth if summoned by a sorcerer or cult.
Personality/Motivations:
A star vampire is driven by hunger, and is usually in search of prey. Sorcerers usually use them to dispatch troublesome foes.
Powers/Tactics:
A star vampire attacks by grappling with a foe and then draining it's blood. It fill feed on a target until the target is dead, at which point it will discard the corpse and seek a new target.
Appearance:
Star vampires are normally invisible. After feeding, it will become suffused with blood, and turn a reddish shade. At this point it will become visible as a huge reddish mass of jelly, tentacles, talons and feeding mouths. After feeding, the blood will be metabolized and the star vampire will turn invisible.
Notes:
The Star vampire appears in the Robert Bloch's The Shambler From the Stars, where it eats a character who is obviously H. P. Lovecraft in disguise (HPL had his revenge by serving up one "Robert Blake" to a monster in The Hunter in the Dark.). It is an interstellar creature, like many other Lovecraftian monsters, and apparently dwells in deep space.
FLYING POLYP:
Ecology:
Flying polyps are an alien species that came to Earth over 750 million years ago. They settled on this planet (as well as several others) and raised great cities made from black basalt. They preyed on anything they could catch, and eventually came into conflict with the Great Race. This war drove the polyps underground, into great caverns, where they remain today. Entrances to the homes of the polyps can be found in ancient ruins and uninhabited wastes. They are usually marked by deep wells that have been sealed over with stone.
Personality/Motivations:
The polyps seem content to remain in their subterranean homes. They will quickly dispose of any intruder and are not to be disturbed. If angered, they will mass for the hunt, creating great howling winds with which to harass and destroy their enemies.
Powers/Tactics:
A polyp will usually dispatch its target with concentrated blasts of wind, leaving the victim burned and desiccated. If interested in a particular victim, the polyp will use its wind attack to slow the target until it can be picked up with a tentacle. If faced by a great number of enemies, or if they wish to ravage a wide area, the polyps will summon a massive windstorm, which they will use to scour the area clean.
As the flying polyps are composed of nonterrestrial matter, they are very hard to injure. Most physical attacks do them little or no harm, while such things as fire and electricity affect them normally. This nonterrestrial state also allows their tentacles to by pass physical body armors, although innate types of armor are not affected. A flying polyp can also vanish from sight at will, and they tend to appear and disappear almost at random. This invisibility is offset, however, by their constant whistling and piping, which usually heralds their approach.
Appearance:
A flying polyp is an enormous flying creature rife with dangling tentacles, multiple eyes and several gaping mouths. Their forms are pliable and tend to change slightly at all times. They are horrid to look at and highly dangerous to approach.
Dark Young of Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth. One of the Outer Gods. Many would differ from this and classify Yog-Sothoth as a Great Old One along with Cthulhu, though he is not. In The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft narrates a passage from page 751 of the Necronomicon which states
''Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.' ('The Dunwich Horror')
In this passage, Yog-Sothoth is described as he who knows of the Great Old Ones and their ways, where they lived and where they lay in deep slumber now. Thus, Yog-Sothoth is a different class of creature, one above the Great Old Ones because of what he is. Yog-Sothoth is thought to be the unearthly father of the Whateley twins, Wilbur and his brother, who was never actually named (Dark Young of Yog-Sothoth). The twin which looked more like his father was described when visible when a special powder was sprayed onto it as-
'Bigger'n a barn...all made o' squirmin' ropes...hull thing sort o' shaped like a hen's egg bigger'n anything with dozens o' legs like hogsheads that haff shut up when they step...nothin' solid abaout itall like jelly, an' made o' sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost together...great bulgin' eyes all over it...ten or twenty maouths or trunks a-stickin' aout all along the sides, big as stove-pipes, an' all a-tossin' an' shuttin'...all gray, with kinder blue or purple rings...Oh, oh, my Gawd, that haff facethat haff face on top of it...that face with the red eyes an' crinkly albino hair, an' no chin, like the Whateleys...It was a octopus, centipede, spider kind o' thing, but they was a haff-shaped man's face on top of it, an' it looked just like Wizard Whateley's, only it was yards an' yards acrost...'
The Dunwich Horror, H.P. Lovecraft......Or the "Monster" can be something completely different!
We'll soon find out, I hope....
LostHorizon
Shambler from the Stars was written by Robert Bloch, who also wrote Psycho.
He was VERY influenced by Lovecraft. He wrote the story you're thinking
about.
Re: lovecraft: he was a virgin til age 36. Then he got married. And never wrote another word.
Suil Liath
I like it. Have to read the story some time. Ultraviolet was something
that has come up in various forms regarding the dualism of light and dark
aspects of lost when I was looking this up on the Internet. Something
to do with dark decay, polar bear fur, photosynthesis, crystal technology,
amino acids, harmonics in sound and color stimulus. What it all means
I don't know. But this ultraviolet idea is something I think that deserves
some investigation.
Jays tao
So then we are all in agreement that the "Monster" could be
a Lovecaftian/Blochian "Star Vampire"?
LostHorizon
Just as an aside I'd considered R'lyeh - the legendary homeland of Cthulhu
in the Pacific - as a possible contender for the island, but the co-ordinates
given in 'The Call of Cthulhu' (-47.0900,-126.4300) place it much too
far to the east & south.
Star Vampire? Yeah why not
kiwipat
Suil, I thought Lovecraft started writing again when they split.
If Joss Whedon can draw on the mythos, why not others? But I don't know if I'd go as far as invisible gelatinous masses . . .
drabauer
This revived thread reminds of another possibility: what if the origin
of this island is tied up with the lost continent of Mu?
For those of you who may not have heard of it (& I wouldn't be surprised if this is almost everyone), Mu was the Pacific equivalent of Atlantis, first speculated to have existed by Augustus LePlongeon -- although the best known writings on Mu were by James Churchward (whose writings, to be blunt, make him an undeniable kook).
Frankly, I don't believe that this is a possibility, but it's a possibility that should be mentioned, for completeness sake.
llywrch
this is all very interesting...and here's another angle.
in lovecraft's stories, the simple act of viewing some of lovecraft's
otherworldly horrors will drive a human being mad. could madness be the
"sickness" danielle claims infected her crew, forcing her to
kill them? could we be seeing some of that madness manifesting now, in
locke, in boone, and in sawyer?
lachme
Lachme that's a great suggestion. It also ties into one of my favorite
Greek myths--the Gorgon's stare turning men to stone, but there being
a workaround. That is, those who behold the creature head on may be "infected,"
but there may be a way to approach it and still stay sane, like Danielle
(sanity in her case being a relative term!)
drabauer
Don't forget also that telepathy plays a large part in Lovecraft's books,
and it could explain some of the things we are seeing.
Cthulhu from his island lair in the Pacific could influence sensitive individuals around the globe telepathically, and could force them to create cults dedicated to him.
This parallels the notion that the LOST may have been deliberately 'guided' to the island by an 'unseen hand' (eg. via the Aussie psychic & the lottery numbers), and the cult thing especially resonates when it comes to Locke.
kiwipat
Yes, Chuthulu had/Has great Telepathic powers. There could be some kind
of Entity similar to Chuthulu trapped underground, down in that Hatch,
and the "Monster" could be one of many of it's vassal "Servitor"
beings that it also controls...
LostHorizon
i have a niece, her name is rain celephais, taken after h p lovecrafts
story of the same name. i started thinking about this. could locke be
like kuranes in the story? it is about a "lost horizon" type
of city of a dream state, he reigns over in the end. this is a take from
it:
...kuranes had not lingered but had plodded on as though summoned toward some goal. he dared not disobey the summons for fear it might prove an illusion like the urges and aspirations of waking life, which do not lead to any goal....
interesting thoughts to link LOST to h.p. lovecraft.