Henry Wentworth Akeley (1871–1928) is a character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness".
Overview[]
A farmer residing at the Akeley farm on Black Mountain, Vermont, Henry Akeley is a correspondent of Professor Albert Wilmarth. He is also an amateur student of folk lore who takes it upon himself to investigate the Bostonian man Noyes and several locals during their interaction with the Mi-Go. During his investigations, he manages to ship a black stone which originated on one of the Mi-go worlds to Professor Wilmarth, as well as a phonograph record of a dark ceremonial incantation of theirs and several wax rubbings, photographs and other research notes. Wilmarth eventually destroys these though.
He is later found out to be investigating these people and is beset by several home invasions and killed by these outer beings from Yoggoth. Whilst his fate remains slightly ambiguous, we know the following of his end. His brain is placed inside of a Mi-go brain case and his body parts are used as props to lure Wilmarth into staying at the Akeley farm overnight. Whilst Akeley may not be fully dead, his body is no longer organically alive.
He has one documented relative, his son, George Goodenough Akeley, who lives in San Diego.
Trivia[]
- A man named William Akeley works for the Dean of Occult Studies at Miskatonic University. According to the Dean "his family has been in Arkham since its founding and has witnessed many strange things firsthand". Akeley is later revealed to be an avatar of Nyarlathotep (EXP: "It Ends Where It Began").