The Dunsbury Prior Church

Bats in the belfry, rats in the walls and something more

Part One. History and Discovery

It is a topic of domestic, localized history that old things get replaced by new and, with passage of time, they get forgotten; at least, until someone or another happens across them and discovers them. So it had happened that Dunsbury Prior, which was both near in proximity and close in constituency and manner to such places as Arkham,Massachusetts₁, had built a new church for the residents and the old church, which by then had aged eighty five years, went on ignored and forgotten.  That was, until someone had wandered by it and discovered it.

Even as the living mass of flesh and tissue slowly ruminates in the grave and finally leaves behind the structure-bones-in its wake, so the edifice of the old church had slowly crumbled and left behind the few remnants of the structure. Left ignored and forgotten by men so long, the remaining structures were eventually discovered and invaded by rodents. By rodents, this author refers to rats and to bats respectively. Being winged, flying creatures and given to heights, the bats found and invaded the church’s belfry. The rats followed and soon invaded the walls and the floor stones of the church.

These creatures dwelt in the old church for almost ten years before any humans in the prior had ventured upon the church. Most residents of the prior were relieved and excited by the new church, and started visiting it for services soon after it was finished. Thus, the rodents carried on their limited existence undiscovered and unimpeded until the evening of 30 October, in the year that the old church had attained the age of eighty-five years. That was two years before the present year. The ones who discovered the old church were a band of children aged from ten to twelve years and a few accompanying teenagers, who were finishing with their round of tricks-or-treats and somehow passed the ground of the old church on their way homeward.

 Part Two. The Thing in the Church

Naturally, the teenagers of the band were prone to curiosity about the old church, because the Prior administrators had promoted the new church thoroughly. The younger children were curious too; but they were scared of it and their fear rose when the band drew within visible range of the old church. Whatever remained of the old church had stirred their imagination about the ill-fated Starry Wisdom sect₂ and Arkham, Massachusetts. Their parents had mentioned those places briefly to them in the late hours. Then, one older boy began to walk towards the threshold and some younger ones tried to warn him. Suddenly, the bats began to flee from the belfry wildly and the children noticed them and stared in shock. They shuddered.

“Let’s go!” a younger boy exclaimed fearfully. “Something strange is in there!”

“Let’s go!”

“Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here fast!”

They turned away from the edifice of the church en masse and started to run. Not once did anyone dare to look back. If they had looked, they would not have believed what they saw and they would have gone mad.

When the last bat had flown away, the rats followed suit. About five minutes had elapsed before the last rat had fled from the church. Something unseen from both within and without began to emerge from the shadows around the church yard. It seemed to stand about ten feet tall and its silhouette displayed the combined features of both the rodents mentioned. But it stood upright like a man. The silhouette had long straight hair and the ears of a bat. Two burning lobes of eyes glowed in the darkness. It seemed to walk on two legs and stalked the children as though hunting its prey.

Most of the children declined to look back; but one older boy slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. He was visibly scared. He saw the shadowy figure as it loomed nearer to them and was almost mad from terror. He wailed and mumbled. They heard him.

“Lord, help us! It is following us!”

“Huh? What is it, Tim?”

“L-look behind you!”

They looked. The enormous grotesque manimal had loomed close enough for them to see its features vaguely. Then, they screamed madly and ran as fast as they could towards their homes. 

<sub>1. Lovecraft's main scene of events
2. Providence, Rhode Island. Scene of an old haunted church belonging to the sect.</sub>