Our Views

As time has passed, John and I have come to accept the following assertions as being true:

  • The Necronomicon was the creation of H. P. Lovecraft.

  • No copy, or any mention of the book whatsoever, existed before Lovecraft began writing about them.

  • Lovecraft was an extraordinary man, but was not a practicing wizard or a member of a secret society.

  • All of the Necronomicons currently on the market are fakes created after Lovecraft's death.

  • The fact that no one has found a pre-Lovecraft Necronomicon reflects the fact that there isn't one, and there is no vast government/occult conspiracy dedicated to hiding all copies of the book.


    We don't ask you to believe the same things we do, but if you want to challenge it, you should have evidence to back you up. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVING YOUR CLAIMS. We've looked into many different rumors of a pre-Lovecraft Necronomicon, and we have found little or no new information through them. We are not obligated to check the testimony of each and every person who sends us what they know, and even if we were we wouldn't have the time. Being the discoverer of an authentic Necronomicon would quickly become famous, so surely you can put a few hours' work into backing up your case.

    To help would-be Necronomicon discoverers, here are some common claims and the necessary evidence to back them up:

  • Lovecraft knew that the Necronomicon was real: Direct quotes from Lovecraft's letters indicating that he knew this (include name of recipient, date, and publication and/or location of letter). Otherwise, verified biographical material taken from reminisces of friends, city records, etc.

  • The Necronomicon pre-existed Lovecraft: A pre-1920 copy of the Necronomicon (see below). Otherwise, documents from pre-Lovecraft times which mention the Necronomicon (list author, title, date, page reference, quote, and location of the particular copy). NOTE: The Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead bear little resemblance to the Necronomicon mentioned in Lovecraft's work; if you want to prove that they were the originals, you should come up with biographical evidence to prove that Lovecraft did indeed read them before 1920 (see above).

  • Copy of the pre-Lovecraft Necronomicon: The best way to prove this would be to make copies or photographs of the title, copyright, and several other pages of the book. If the book is held in a library collection, include a print-out of the card catalog entry and the address and phone number of the person in charge of the collection which holds it. If the book is in a private collection, the owner's name, address, and phone number will be required. (This is only to get us started; evaluating such a copy will obviously require testing and expert opinions.) In addition, double-checking to make sure the copy was published before 1920 will save us both a lot of work.

    A secret society covered up the book's existence/had Lovecraft as a member: This assertion requires a) proof that such a society does exist (with relevant citations), and b) that Lovecraft was connected in some way with one of its members (once again, with citations linking one to the other).

    The following do not constitute evidence, so don't bother sending assertions based solely on them:

  • Speculation on what kind of person Lovecraft "really" was.

  • The power of Lovecraft's fiction ("it's so good, it must be real!").

  • Claims that you or someone you know has the Necronomicon but can't possibly show it to anyone or let anyone contact you (this means you from Quebec!).

  • Claims that the Necronomicon's existence has been covered up by the government or a cult, without evidence of such a program in place. (Evidence must be something besides the fact that no one can find the Necronomicon).

  • What you heard someone on the Internet say (I'm starting to think we should dub this technological wonder the "Misinformation Superhighway").

  • What your buddy at school/work/the club/whatever told you.

  • The hoax Necronomicons. (If someone was able to find a pre-1920 manuscript of one of these, that might be acceptable, but nothing published after then is.)

  • Colin Low's Anti-FAQ.

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    1997 © Daniel Harms and John Wisdom Gonce.