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90-464: In the desolate, decrepit Massachusetts village of Dunwich, Wilbur Whateley is the hideous son of Lavinia Whateley, a deformed and unstable albino , and an unknown father. Strange events surround Wilbur's birth and precocious development; he matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. Locals shun him and his family, and animals fear and despise him due to his repellent appearance and an unnatural, inhuman odor emanating from his body. All

180-553: A Wôpanâak word muswachasut , segmented as mus(ây) "big" + wach "mountain" + -s "diminutive" + - ut "locative". This word has been translated as "near the great hill", "by the blue hills", "at the little big hill", or "at the range of hills", in reference to the Blue Hills —namely, the Great Blue Hill , located on the boundary of Milton and Canton . Massachusett has also been represented as Moswetuset . This comes from

270-563: A right to shelter law, and the first U.S. state, and one of the earliest jurisdictions in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage . Harvard University in Cambridge is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States , with the largest financial endowment of any university in the world. Both Harvard and MIT , also in Cambridge, are perennially ranked as either

360-526: A check for $ 240 (equivalent to $ 4,259 in 2023), the largest single payment for his fiction he had received up to that point. Kingsley Amis praised "The Dunwich Horror" in New Maps of Hell , listing it as one of Lovecraft's tales that "achieve a memorable nastiness". Lovecraft biographer Lin Carter calls the story "an excellent tale...A mood of tension and gathering horror permeates the story, which culminates in

450-703: A co-founder of the Special Olympics . In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to directly elect an African American to the U.S. senate with Edward Brooke . George H. W. Bush , 41st President of the United States (1989–1993) was born in Milton in 1924. Other notable Massachusetts politicians on the national level included Joseph W. Martin Jr. , Speaker of the House (from 1947 to 1949 and then again from 1953 to 1955) and leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959 (where he

540-552: A frontrunner in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. However, she later suspended her campaign and endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, at around 2:49 pm local time ( EDT ). The explosions killed three people and injured an estimated 264 others. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later identified

630-487: A large population of grey seals . Since 2009, there has been a significant increase in the number of Great white sharks spotted and tagged in the coastal waters off of Cape Cod . Freshwater fish species in Massachusetts include bass , carp , catfish , and trout , while saltwater species such as Atlantic cod , haddock , and American lobster populate offshore waters. Other marine species include Harbor seals ,

720-587: A monster being secretly kept and fed in a house that it subsequently bursts out of and destroys. The tracks of Wilbur's brother recall those seen in Algernon Blackwood 's " The Wendigo ", one of Lovecraft's favorite horror stories. Ambrose Bierce 's story " The Damned Thing " also involves a monster invisible to human eyes. Lovecraft took pride in "The Dunwich Horror", calling it "so fiendish that [ Weird Tales editor] Farnsworth Wright may not dare to print it." Wright, however, snapped it up, sending Lovecraft

810-475: A passage from 'The Dunwich Horror' itself": When the road dips again there are stretches of marshland that one instinctively dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when unseen whippoorwills chatter and the fireflies come out in abnormal profusion to dance to the raucous, creepily insistent rhythms of stridently piping bullfrogs. The physical model for Dunwich's Sentinel Hill is thought to be Wilbraham Mountain near Wilbraham. Some researchers have pointed out

900-536: A path to decarbonize the state's economy. On April 22, 2020, Kathleen A. Theoharides, the state's Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, released a Determination of Statewide Emissions limits for 2050. In her letter, Theoharides stresses that as of 2020, the Commonwealth has experienced property damage attributable to climate change of more than $ 60 billion. To ensure that the Commonwealth experiences warming no more than 1.5 °C of pre-industrialization levels,

990-438: A shattering climax". In his list of "The 13 Most Terrifying Horror Stories", T. E. D. Klein placed "The Dunwich Horror" at number four. Robert M. Price declares that "among the tales of H. P. Lovecraft, 'The Dunwich Horror' remains my favorite." S. T. Joshi , on the other hand, regarded "Dunwich" as "simply an aesthetic mistake on Lovecraft's part", citing its "stock good-versus-evil scenario". However, he has also noted that it

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1080-436: A significant change to the state's built environment and ecosystems. In Boston alone, costs of climate change-related storms will result in $ 5 to $ 100 billion in damage. Warmer temperatures will also disrupt bird migration and flora blooming. With these changes, deer populations are expected to increase, resulting in a decrease in underbrush which smaller fauna use as camouflage. Additionally, rising temperatures will increase

1170-456: Is Boston . Other major cities are Worcester , Springfield and Cambridge . Massachusetts is also home to the urban core of Greater Boston , the largest metropolitan area in New England and a region profoundly influential upon American history , academia , and the research economy . Massachusetts has a reputation for social and political progressivism ; becoming the only U.S. state with

1260-461: Is "richly atmospheric." Although Lovecraft first mentioned Yog-Sothoth in the novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , it was in "The Dunwich Horror" that he introduced the entity as one of his extra-dimensional Outer Gods . It is also the tale in which the Necronomicon makes the most significant appearance, and the longest direct quote from it appears in the text. Many of the other standards of

1350-589: Is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States . It borders the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to its south, New Hampshire and Vermont to its north, and New York to its west. Massachusetts is the sixth-smallest state by land area . With over seven million residents as of 2020, it is the most populous state in New England,

1440-421: Is connected somehow to a being known as Yog-Sothoth , which is Wilbur's father. Year by year, the entity grows to monstrous proportions, requiring the two men to make frequent modifications to the farmhouse. People begin to notice a trend of cattle mysteriously disappearing. Old Whateley eventually dies, and Wilbur's mother Lavinia disappears soon after. The colossal entity eventually occupies the entire interior of

1530-467: Is its largest city. Despite its small size, Massachusetts features numerous topographically distinctive regions. The large coastal plain of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern section of the state contains Greater Boston , along with most of the state's population, as well as the distinctive Cape Cod peninsula . To the west lies the hilly, rural region of Central Massachusetts , and beyond that,

1620-503: Is little in Lovecraft's story that does not come directly out of Machen's fiction." As one example similarity, both Wilbur Whateley and Helen Vaughan are the child of an invisible god and a human female, and both of them after dying quickly turned into black liquid. Another source that has been suggested is "The Thing in the Woods", by Margery Williams , which is also about two brothers living in

1710-694: Is now known as Rhode Island , and Hutchinson joined him there several years later. Religious intolerance continued, and among those who objected to this later that century were the English Quaker preachers Alice and Thomas Curwen , who were publicly flogged and imprisoned in Boston in 1676. By 1641, Massachusetts had expanded inland significantly. The Commonwealth acquired the Connecticut River Valley settlement of Springfield , which had recently disputed with—and defected from—its original administrators,

1800-471: Is quite wet. Frosts are frequent all winter, even in coastal areas due to prevailing inland winds. Boston has a relatively sunny climate for a coastal city at its latitude, averaging over 2,600 hours of sunshine a year. Climate change in Massachusetts will affect both urban and rural environments, including forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and coastal development. The Northeast is projected to warm faster than global average temperatures; by 2035, according to

1890-622: Is set in this valley before it was flooded for the reservoir. Greenwich was disincorporated on April 28, 1938, as part of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir . Upon disincorporation, portions of the town were annexed to the adjacent towns of Hardwick , New Salem , Petersham , and Ware . (Because of the redrawing of town lines, the land is no longer completely in Hampshire County; only the portion located in Ware is.) Because most of Greenwich

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1980-447: Is the title of a collection of H. P. Lovecraft short stories published by Arkham House , containing what August Derleth considered to be the best of Lovecraft's shorter fiction. Originally published in 1963, the 6th printing in 1985 included extensive corrections by S. T. Joshi in order to produce the definitive edition of Lovecraft's works. The collection has an introduction by Robert Bloch , titled "Heritage of Horror", reprinted from

2070-650: The 16th-most-populous in the country, and the third-most densely populated , after New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization . The Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims of the Mayflower . In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony , taking its name from the Indigenous Massachusett people , also established settlements in Boston and Salem. In 1692,

2160-616: The American Human Development Index and the standard Human Development Index , first in per capita income , and as of 2023, first in median income . Consequently, Massachusetts typically ranks as the top U.S. state, as well as the most expensive state, for residents to live in. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the Indigenous population, the Massachusett or Muhsachuweesut , whose name likely derived from

2250-828: The Cape Cod National Seashore and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area . In addition, the Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a number of parks , trails, and beaches throughout Massachusetts. The primary biome of inland Massachusetts is temperate deciduous forest . Although much of Massachusetts had been cleared for agriculture, leaving only traces of old-growth forest in isolated pockets, secondary growth has regenerated in many rural areas as farms have been abandoned. Forests cover around 62% of Massachusetts. The areas most affected by human development include

2340-533: The Connecticut Colony . This established Massachusetts's southern border in the west. However, this became disputed territory until 1803–04 due to surveying problems, leading to the modern Southwick Jog . In 1652 the Massachusetts General Court authorized Boston silversmith John Hull to produce local coinage in shilling, sixpence and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in

2430-615: The Connecticut River Valley . Along the western border of Western Massachusetts lies the highest elevated part of the state, the Berkshires , forming a portion of the northern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains . The U.S. National Park Service administers a number of natural and historical sites in Massachusetts . Along with twelve national historic sites, areas, and corridors, the National Park Service also manages

2520-469: The Massachusetts Bay Colony —now known as Boston—in 1630. The Puritans believed the Church of England needed to be further reformed along Protestant Calvinist lines, and experienced harassment due to the religious policies of King Charles I and high-ranking churchmen such as William Laud , who would become Charles's Archbishop of Canterbury , whom they feared were re-introducing "Romish" elements to

2610-564: The Swift River . The Athol Branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad ran through the center of town, as did Route 21 . It was well known for its lakes and ponds, which were popular vacation spots. It bordered four towns—Enfield, Prescott, Dana, and Hardwick. H. P. Lovecraft 's fictional town of Dunwich in his seminal story " The Dunwich Horror " was partially based on the town of Greenwich. Additionally, Lovecraft's story " The Colour Out of Space "

2700-479: The common loon are becoming rare. A significant population of long-tailed ducks winter off Nantucket . Small offshore islands and beaches are home to roseate terns and are important breeding areas for the locally threatened piping plover . Protected areas such as the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge provide critical breeding habitat for shorebirds and a variety of marine wildlife including

2790-485: The monarchy the former colonies were fighting against during the American Revolutionary War . The name "State of Massachusetts Bay" appeared in the first draft, which was ultimately rejected. It was also chosen to include the "Cape Islands" in reference to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket —from 1780 to 1844, they were seen as additional and separate entities confined within the Commonwealth. Massachusetts

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2880-403: The steam engine to power factories. Canals and railroads were being used in the state for transporting raw materials and finished goods. At first, the new industries drew labor from Yankees on nearby subsistence farms, though they later relied upon immigrant labor from Europe and Canada. Although Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony with slavery dating back to the early 1600s,

2970-540: The "Atlas of Independence", was highly involved in both separation from Britain and the Constitution of Massachusetts , which effectively (the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker cases as interpreted by William Cushing ) made Massachusetts the first state to abolish slavery. David McCullough points out that an equally important feature was its placing for the first time the courts as a co-equal branch separate from

3060-756: The 1982 Ballantine collection, Blood Curdling Tales of Supernatural Horror: The Best of H.P. Lovecraft . The stories included in The Dunwich Horror and Others are " In the Vault ", " Pickman's Model ", " The Rats in the Walls ", " The Outsider ", " The Colour Out of Space ", " The Music of Erich Zann ", " The Haunter of the Dark ", " The Picture in the House ", " The Call of Cthulhu ", "The Dunwich Horror", " Cool Air ", " The Whisperer in Darkness ", " The Terrible Old Man ", " The Thing on

3150-472: The 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American Industrial Revolution , with factories around cities such as Lowell and Boston producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing tools, paper, and textiles. The state's economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of water-power and later

3240-458: The 48 states. After the world war, the economy of eastern Massachusetts transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service-based economy . Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the Route 128 / Interstate 95 corridor

3330-647: The British government, were a primary reason for the unity of the Thirteen Colonies and the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. The Battles of Lexington and Concord , fought in Massachusetts in 1775, initiated the American Revolutionary War . George Washington , later the first president of the future country, took over what would become the Continental Army after the battle. His first victory

3420-827: The British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s. Protests against British attempts to tax the colonies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 led to the Boston Massacre in 1770, and the 1773 Boston Tea Party escalated tensions. In 1774, the Intolerable Acts targeted Massachusetts with punishments for the Boston Tea Party and further decreased local autonomy, increasing local dissent. Anti-Parliamentary activity by men such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock , followed by reprisals by

3510-618: The Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment . In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass compulsory education laws. Although the U.S. stock market had sustained steep losses the last week in October 1929, Tuesday, October 29 is remembered as the beginning of the Great Depression. The Boston Stock Exchange , drawn into

3600-513: The Colony of Georgia in 1735.) Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as the second president of the United States . His son, John Quincy Adams , also from Massachusetts, would go on to become the nation's sixth president. From 1786 to 1787, an armed uprising led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays , now known as Shays' Rebellion , wrought havoc throughout Massachusetts and ultimately attempted to seize

3690-667: The Cthulhu Mythos, such as Miskatonic University, Arkham, and Dunwich , also form integral parts of the tale. A librarian named Armitage appears in Don Webb 's short story " To Mars and Providence ", an alternate history where a juvenile Lovecraft is influenced by the events of H. G. Wells 's The War of the Worlds . The biannual NecronomiCon Providence has a Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium, and its papers are printed by Hippocampus Press . The Dunwich Horror and Others

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3780-516: The Doorstep ", " The Shadow Over Innsmouth ", and " The Shadow Out of Time ". Massachusetts Masshole Massachusite (traditional) Massachusetts ( / ˌ m æ s ə ˈ tʃ uː s ɪ t s / , /- z ɪ t s / MASS -ə- CHOO -sits, -⁠zits ; Massachusett : Muhsachuweesut [məhswatʃəwiːsət] ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ,

3870-828: The Greater Boston area in the east and the Springfield metropolitan area in the west, although the latter includes agricultural areas throughout the Connecticut River Valley. There are 219 endangered species in Massachusetts. A number of species are doing well in the increasingly urbanized Massachusetts. Peregrine falcons utilize office towers in larger cities as nesting areas, and the population of coyotes , whose diet may include garbage and roadkill, has been increasing in recent decades. White-tailed deer , raccoons , wild turkeys , and eastern gray squirrels are also found throughout Massachusetts. In more rural areas in

3960-553: The Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization Initiative , also known as Question 4. Massachusetts is the seventh-smallest state in the United States . It is located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States . It has an area of 10,555 square miles (27,340 km ), 25.7% of which is water. Several large bays distinctly shape its coast, giving it the nickname "the Bay State". Boston

4050-511: The Northeast United States has risen by ten percent from 1895 to 2011, and the number of heavy precipitation events has increased by seventy percent during that time. These increased precipitation patterns are focused in the winter and spring. Increasing temperatures coupled with increasing precipitation will result in earlier snow melts and subsequent drier soil in the summer months. The shifting climate in Massachusetts will result in

4140-532: The U. S. Global Change Research Program, the Northeast is "projected to be more than 3.6°F (2°C) warmer on average than during the preindustrial era". As of August 2016, the EPA reports that Massachusetts has warmed by over two degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.1 degrees Celsius. Shifting temperatures also result in the shifting of rainfall patterns and the intensification of precipitation events. To that end, average precipitation in

4230-406: The broad transition zone to Humid Subtropical climates. The warm to hot summers render the oceanic climate rare in this transition, only applying to exposed coastal areas such as on the peninsula of Barnstable County . The climate of Boston is quite representative for the commonwealth, characterized by summer highs of around 81 °F (27 °C) and winter highs of 35 °F (2 °C), and

4320-531: The colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mintmaster. The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684. In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day Maine , which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and New York ) into the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Shortly after,

4410-504: The colony. Before that point, the colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and counterfeit coins. In 1661, shortly after the restoration of the British monarchy , the British government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous. However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract as mintmaster expired, and

4500-459: The departing soul. In another letter, Lovecraft wrote that Dunwich is "a vague echo of the decadent Massachusetts countryside around Springfield, Massachusetts—say Wilbraham, Monson and Hampden ." Robert M. Price notes that "much of the physical description of the Dunwich countryside is a faithful sketch of Wilbraham," citing a passage from a letter from Lovecraft to Zealia Bishop that "sounds like

4590-609: The departure of several manufacturing companies, the state's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century. By the 1920s, competition from the American South and Midwest , followed by the Great Depression , led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics. This decline would continue into the latter half of the 20th century. Between 1950 and 1979,

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4680-524: The early 1600s, European colonists caused virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox , measles , influenza , and perhaps leptospirosis in what is now known as the northeastern region of the United States. Between 1617 and 1619, a disease that was most likely smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans . The first English colonists in Massachusetts Bay Colony landed with Richard Vines and spent

4770-458: The endangered North Atlantic right whales , as well as humpback whales , fin whales , minke whales , and Atlantic white-sided dolphins . The European corn borer , a significant agricultural pest, was first found in North America near Boston, Massachusetts in 1917. Most of Massachusetts has a humid continental climate , with cold winters and warm summers. Far southeast coastal areas are

4860-502: The exclusion of same-sex couples from the right to a civil marriage was unconstitutional. In 2004, Massachusetts senator John Kerry , who won the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, lost to incumbent George W. Bush . Eight years later, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (the Republican nominee) lost to incumbent Barack Obama in 2012. Another eight years later, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren became

4950-485: The executive. (The Constitution of Vermont , adopted in 1777, represented the first partial ban on slavery among the states. Vermont became a state in 1791 but did not fully ban slavery until 1858 with the Vermont Personal Liberty Law. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 made Pennsylvania the first state to abolish slavery by statute - the second English colony to do so; the first having been

5040-509: The farmhouse. Wilbur ventures to Miskatonic University in Arkham to procure their copy of the Necronomicon —Miskatonic's library is one of only a handful in the world to stock that book. The Necronomicon has spells that Wilbur can use to summon the Old Ones, but his family's copy is damaged and lacks the page he needs to open the "door". When the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage, refuses to release

5130-482: The father than he [Wilbur] did." In a letter to August Derleth , Lovecraft wrote that "The Dunwich Horror" "takes place amongst the wild domed hills of the upper Miskatonic Valley , far northwest of Arkham, and is based on several New England legends—one of which I heard only last month during my sojourn in Wilbraham ," a town east of Springfield, Massachusetts. One such legend is the notion that whippoorwills can capture

5220-662: The federal Springfield Armory . The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation . On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution . In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts and entered the Union as the 23rd state due to the ratification of the Missouri Compromise . During

5310-400: The knowledge and weapons needed to kill it. The use of a magic powder renders the monster visible just long enough to send one of the crew into shock. It babbles in an alien tongue, then screams for help from its father Yog-Sothoth in English just before the spell destroys it, leaving a massive burned area. In the end, its nature is revealed: it was Wilbur's twin brother, but it "looked more like

5400-415: The most or among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts's public-school students place among the top tier in the world in academic performance. Massachusetts is the most educated and one of the most highly developed and wealthiest U.S. states, ranking first in the percentage of population 25 and over with either a bachelor's degree or advanced degree , first on both

5490-424: The mysterious presence growing in the Whateley farmhouse. Early one morning, the farmhouse explodes, and the thing, a towering, invisible monster, rampages across Dunwich, leaving huge prints the size of tree trunks. The monster eventually makes forays into inhabited areas. The invisible creature terrorizes Dunwich for several days, killing two families and several policemen, until Armitage, Rice, and Morgan arrive with

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5580-415: The name of the Moswetuset Hummock (meaning "hill shaped like an arrowhead") in Quincy , where Plymouth Colony commander Myles Standish (a hired English military officer) and Squanto (a member of the Patuxet band of the Wamponoag people , who have since died off due to contagious diseases brought by colonists) met Chief Chickatawbut in 1621. Although the designation "Commonwealth" forms part of

5670-568: The national church. They decided to colonize to Massachusetts, intending to establish what they considered an "ideal" religious society. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was colonized under a royal charter, unlike the Plymouth colony, in 1629. Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded, shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, elsewhere in New England. The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams due to religious and political conflict. In 1636, Williams colonized what

5760-469: The new province's first governor, William Phips , arrived. The Salem witch trials also took place, where a number of men and women were hanged for alleged witchcraft . The most destructive earthquake known to date in New England occurred on November 18, 1755, causing considerable damage across Massachusetts. Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain . Colonists in Massachusetts had long had uneasy relations with

5850-456: The number of Massachusetts residents involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000. The 1969 closure of the Springfield Armory , in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the century's last 40 years. Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II , ranking tenth among

5940-428: The number of reported Lyme disease cases in the state. Ticks can transmit the disease once temperatures reach 45 degrees, so shorter winters will increase the window of transmission. These warmer temperatures will also increase the prevalence of Asian tiger mosquitoes , which often carry the West Nile virus . To fight this change, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has outlined

6030-411: The re-routing of several other major highways. The project was often controversial, with numerous claims of graft and mismanagement, and with its initial price tag of $ 2.5   billion increasing to a final tally of over $ 15   billion. Nonetheless, the Big Dig changed the face of Downtown Boston and connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway. Much of the raised old Central Artery

6120-420: The state became a center of progressivist and abolitionist (anti-slavery) activity in the years leading up to the American Civil War . Horace Mann made the state's school system a national model. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson , both philosophers and writers from the state, also made major contributions to American philosophy. Furthermore, members of the transcendentalist movement within

6210-565: The state emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity. Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837, abolitionist views there gradually increased throughout the next few decades. Abolitionists John Brown and Sojourner Truth lived in Springfield and Northampton, respectively, while Frederick Douglass lived in Boston and Susan B. Anthony in Adams . The works of such abolitionists contributed to Massachusetts's actions during

6300-814: The state will work towards two goals by 2050: to achieve net-zero emissions , and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent overall. The State of Massachusetts has developed a plethora of incentives to encourage the implementation of renewable energy and efficient appliances and home facilities. The Mass Save program, formed in conjunction with the State by several companies that provide power and gas in Massachusetts, provides homeowners and renters with monetary incentives to retrofit their homes with efficient HVAC equipment and other household appliances. Appliances such as water heaters, air conditioners, washers and driers, and heat pumps are eligible for rebates in order to incentivize change. Greenwich, Massachusetts Greenwich ( / ˈ ɡ r iː n w ɪ tʃ / )

6390-416: The state's official name, it has no practical implications in modern times, and Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States as other states. John Adams may have chosen the word in 1779 for the second draft of what became the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution ; unlike the word "state", the word " commonwealth " had the connotation of a republic at the time. This was in contrast to

6480-456: The stories of Welsh horror writer Arthur Machen , particularly " The Great God Pan " (mentioned in the text of "The Dunwich Horror") and " The Novel of the Black Seal ". Both Machen stories concern individuals whose death throes reveal them to be only half-human in their parentage. According to Robert M. Price , "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and even a pastiche. There

6570-530: The story's apparent connections to another Massachusetts region: the area around Athol and points south, in the north-central part of the state (which is where Lovecraft indicates that Dunwich is located). It has been suggested that the name Dunwich was inspired by the town of Greenwich , which was deliberately flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir , although Greenwich and the nearby towns of Dana, Enfield and Prescott actually were not submerged until 1938. Donald R. Burleson points out that several names included in

6660-509: The story—including Bishop, Frye, Sawyer, Rice and Morgan—are either prominent Athol names or have a connection to the town's history, however Rice is also the name of a prominent Wilbraham family as well. Athol's Sentinel Elm Farm seems to be the source for the name Sentinel Hill. The Bear's Den mentioned in the story resembles an actual cave of the same name visited by Lovecraft in North New Salem, southwest of Athol. (New Salem, like Dunwich,

6750-501: The suspects as brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev . The ensuing manhunt ended on April 19 when thousands of law enforcement officers searched a 20-block area of nearby Watertown . Dzhokhar later said he was motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs and learned to build explosive devices from Inspire , the online magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula . On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voted in favor of

6840-650: The town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria , the Salem witch trials . In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that later led to the American Revolution . In 1786, Shays' Rebellion , a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention . Originally dependent on agriculture , fishing , and trade , Massachusetts

6930-506: The university's copy to him (and, by sending warnings to other libraries, thwarts Wilbur's efforts to consult their copies), Wilbur breaks into the library under the cover of night to steal it. A guard dog, maddened by Wilbur's alien body odor, attacks with unusual ferocity and kills him. When Armitage and two other professors, Warren Rice and Francis Morgan, arrive on the scene, they see Wilbur's semi-human corpse before it melts completely, leaving no evidence. With Wilbur dead, no one attends to

7020-468: The western part of Massachusetts, larger mammals such as moose and black bears have returned, largely due to reforestation following the regional decline in agriculture. Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway , a major route for migratory waterfowl along the eastern coast. Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for many species of fish and waterfowl, but some species such as

7110-433: The while his grandfather, a sorcerer called only Old Whateley, indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft . Various locals grow suspicious after Old Whateley buys more and more cattle, yet the number of his herd never increases and the cattle in his field become mysteriously afflicted with severe open wounds. Wilbur and Old Whateley have sequestered an unseen entity at their farmhouse; this entity

7200-610: The whirlpool of panic selling that beset the New York Stock Exchange, lost over 25 percent of its value in two days of frenzied trading. The BSE, nearly 100 years old at the time, had helped raise the capital that had funded many of the Commonwealth's factories, railroads, and businesses. " Governor of Massachusetts Frank G. Allen appointed John C. Hull the first Securities Director of Massachusetts. Hull would assume office in January 1930, and his term would end in 1936. With

7290-681: The winter in Biddeford Pool near Cape Porpoise (after 1820 the State of Maine) in 1616. The Puritans , arrived at Plymouth in 1620. This was the second permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the Jamestown Colony . The "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Puritans after their first harvest in the " New World " and lasted for three days. They were soon followed by other Puritans, who colonized

7380-630: The woods, neither of them quite human and one of them less human than the other. The name Dunwich itself may come from Machen's The Terror , where the name refers to an English town where the titular entity is seen hovering as "a black cloud with sparks of fire in it". Lovecraft also takes Wilbur Whateley's occult terms "Aklo" and "Voorish" from Machen's "The White People". Lovecraft also seems to have found inspiration in Anthony M. Rud 's story "Ooze" (published in Weird Tales , March 1923), which also involved

7470-570: Was a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts , United States. The town was lost as a result of the formation of the Quabbin Reservoir in order to supply Boston's growing water needs. Greenwich was established in 1739 as Quabbin, incorporated as Quabbin Parish in 1754, and became the town of Greenwich (named for John Campbell , Duke of Greenwich) in 1754. It was located along the East and Middle branches of

7560-618: Was dotted with high-tech companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education. In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Commonly known as "the Big Dig ", it was, at the time, the biggest federal highway project ever approved. The project included making the Central Artery , part of Interstate 93 , into a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to

7650-492: Was founded by settlers from Salem—though in 1737, not 1692.) The book Myths and Legends of Our Own Land (1896), by Charles M. Skinner , mentions a " Devil's Hop Yard " near Haddam, Connecticut as a gathering place for witches. The book, which Lovecraft seems to have read, also describes noises emanating from the earth near Moodus, Connecticut , which are similar to the Dunwich sounds decried by Rev. Abijah Hoadley. Lovecraft's main literary sources for "The Dunwich Horror" are

7740-539: Was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family , including Wampanoag , Narragansett , Nipmuc , Pocomtuc , Mahican , and Massachusett . While cultivation of crops like squash and corn were an important part of their diet, the people of these tribes hunted , fished , and searched the forest for most of their food. Villagers lived in lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses . Tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems . In

7830-543: Was replaced with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway . The project also improved traffic conditions along several routes. The Kennedy family was prominent in 20th-century Massachusetts politics. The children of businessman and ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. included John F. Kennedy , who was a senator and U.S. president before his assassination in 1963; Ted Kennedy , a senator from 1962 until his death in 2009; and Eunice Kennedy Shriver ,

7920-690: Was the siege of Boston in the winter of 1775–76, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city. The event is still celebrated in Suffolk County only every March 17 as Evacuation Day . On the coast, Salem became a center for privateering . Although the documentation is incomplete, about 1,700 letters of marque , issued on a per-voyage basis, were granted during the American Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers, which were credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships. Bostonian John Adams , known as

8010-696: Was the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995), John W. McCormack , Speaker of the House in the 1960s, and Tip O'Neill , whose service as Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987 was the longest continuous tenure in United States history. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage . This followed the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court 's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in November 2003, which determined that

8100-725: Was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution . Before the American Civil War , the state was a center for the abolitionist , temperance , and transcendentalist movements. During the 20th century, the state's economy shifted from manufacturing to services ; and in the 21st century, Massachusetts has become the global leader in biotechnology , and also excels in artificial intelligence , engineering , higher education , finance , and maritime trade . The state's capital and most populous city , as well as its cultural and financial center ,

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