An Inhabitant Of Carcosa

by Ambrose Bierce

　　

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Fans of the HBO Series, "True Detective" will be familiar with the term Carcosa. This short story is the origination of that term. It appears in this story first, and then is used by Robert Chambers in his famous supernatural short story collection The King in Yellow. These two works are the originations the phrase "carcosa" and "the yellow king" that you hear repeatedly throughout the show.

　　

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For there be divers sorts of death -- some wherein the body remaineth;and in some it vanisheth quite away with the spirit. This commonlyoccurreth only in solitude (such is God's will) and, none seeing theend, we say the man is lost, or gone on a long journey -- which indeedhe hath; but sometimes it hath happened in sight of many, as abundanttestimony showeth. In one kind of death the spirit also dieth, and thisit hath been known to do while yet the body was in vigour for manyyears. Sometimes, as is veritably attested, it dieth with the body, butafter a season is raised up again in that place where the body did decay.Pondering these words of Hali (whom God rest) and questioning theirfull meaning, as one who, having an intimation, yet doubts if there benot something behind, other than that which he has discerned, I notednot whither I had strayed until a sudden chill wind striking my facerevived in me a sense of my surroundings. I observed with astonishmentthat everything seemed unfamiliar. On every side of me stretched a bleakand desolate expanse of plain, covered with a tall overgrowth of seregrass, which rustled and whistled in the autumn wind with Heaven knowswhat mysterious and disquieting suggestion. Protruded at long intervalsabove it, stood strangely shaped and sombrecoloured rocks, which seemedto have an understanding with one another and to exchange looks ofuncomfortable significance, as if they had reared their heads to watchthe issue of some foreseen event. A few blasted trees here and thereappeared as leaders in this malevolent conspiracy of silent expectation.The day, I thought, must be far advanced, though the sun wasinvisible; and although sensible that the air was raw and chill myconsciousness of that fact was rather mental than physical -- I had nofeeling of discomfort. Over all the dismal landscape a canopy of low,lead-coloured clouds hung like a visible curse. In all this there was amenace and a portent -- a hint of evil, an intimation of doom. Bird,beast, or insect there was none. The wind sighed in the bare branches ofthe dead trees and the grey grass bent to whisper its dread secret tothe earth; but no other sound nor motion broke the awful repose of thatdismal place.I observed in the herbage a number of weatherworn stones, evidentlyshaped with tools. They were broken, covered with moss and half sunkenin the earth. Some lay prostrate, some leaned at various angles, nonewas vertical. They were obviously headstones of graves, though thegraves themselves no longer existed as either mounds or depressions; theyears had levelled all. Scattered here and there, more massive blocksshowed where some pompous tomb or ambitious monument had once flung itsfeeble defiance at oblivion. So old seemed these relics, these vestigesof vanity and memorials of affection and piety, so battered and worn andstained -- so neglected, deserted, forgotten the place, that I could nothelp thinking myself the discoverer of the burial-ground of aprehistoric race of men whose very name was long extinct.Filled with these reflections, I was for some time heedless of thesequence of my own experiences, but soon I thought, 'How came I hither?'A moment's reflection seemed to make this all clear and explain at thesame time, though in a disquieting way, the singular character withwhich my fancy had invested all that I saw or heard. I was ill. Iremembered now that I had been prostrated by a sudden fever, and that myfamily had told me that in my periods of delirium I had constantly criedout for liberty and air, and had been held in bed to prevent my escapeout-of-doors. Now I had eluded the vigilance of my attendants and hadwandered hither to -- to where? I could not conjecture. Clearly I was ata considerable distance from the city where I dwelt -- the ancient andfamous city of Carcosa.No signs of human life were anywhere visible nor audible; no risingsmoke, no watch-dog's bark, no lowing of cattle, no shouts of childrenat play-nothing but that dismal burial-place, with its air of mysteryand dread, due to my own disordered brain. Was I not becoming againdelirious, there beyond human aid? Was it not indeed all an illusion ofmy madness? I called aloud the names of my wives and sons, reached outmy hands in search of theirs, even as I walked among the crumblingstones and in the withered grass.A noise behind me caused me to turn about. A wild animal -- a lynx-- was approaching. The thought came to me: if I break down here in thedesert -- if the fever return and I fail, this beast will be at mythroat. I sprang toward it, shouting. It trotted tranquilly by within ahand's-breadth of me and disappeared behind a rock.A moment later a man's head appeared to rise out of the ground ashort distance away. He was ascending the farther slope of a low hillwhose crest was hardly to be distinguished from the general level. Hiswhole figure soon came into view against the background of grey cloud.He was half naked, half clad in skins. His hair was unkempt, his beardlong and ragged. In one hand he carried a bow and arrow; the other helda blazing torch with a long trail of black smoke. He walked slowly andwith caution, as if he feared falling into some open grave concealed bythe tall grass. This strange apparition surprised but did not alarm, andtaking such a course as to intercept him I met him almost face to face,accosting him with the familiar salutation, 'God keep you.'He gave no heed, nor did he arrest his pace.'Good stranger,' I continued, 'I am ill and lost. Direct me, Ibeseech you, to Carcosa.'The man broke into a barbarous chant in an unknown tongue, passingon and away.An owl on the branch of a decayed tree hooted dismally and wasanswered by another in the distance. Looking upward, I saw through asudden rift in the clouds Aldebaran and the Hyades! In all this therewas a hint of night -- the lynx, the man with the torch, the owl. Yet Isaw -- I saw even the stars in absence of the darkness. I saw, but wasapparently not seen nor heard. Under what awful spell did I exist?I seated myself at the root of a great tree, seriously to considerwhat it were best to do. That I was mad I could no longer doubt, yetrecognized a ground of doubt in the conviction. Of fever I had no trace.I had, withal, a sense of exhilaration and vigour altogether unknown tome -- a feeling of mental and physical exaltation. My senses seemed allalert; I could feel the air as a ponderous substance; I could hear thesilence.A great root of the giant tree against whose trunk I leaned as Isat held enclosed in its grasp a slab of stone, a part of whichprotruded into a recess formed by another root. The stone was thuspartly protected from the weather, though greatly decomposed. Its edgeswere worn round, its corners eaten away, its surface deeply furrowed andscaled. Glittering particles of mica were visible in the earth aboutit-vestiges of its decomposition. This stone had apparently marked thegrave out of which the tree had sprung ages ago. The tree's exactingroots had robbed the grave and made the stone a prisoner.A sudden wind pushed some dry leaves and twigs from the uppermostface of the stone; I saw the lowrelief letters of an inscription andbent to read it. God in heaven! my name in full! -- the date of mybirth! -- the date of my death!A level shaft of light illuminated the whole side of the tree as Isprang to my feet in terror. The sun was rising in the rosy east. Istood between the tree and his broad red disk -- no shadow darkened thetrunk!A chorus of howling wolves saluted the dawn. I saw them sitting ontheir haunches, singly and in groups, on the summits of irregular moundsand tumuli filling a half of my desert prospect and extending to thehorizon. And then I knew that these were ruins of the ancient and famouscity of Carcosa.Such are the facts imparted to the medium Bayrolles by the spiritHoseib Alar Robardin.

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