Fishhead

by Irvin S. Cobb

Irvin S. Cobb’s infamous Fishhead, first published in 1913, is a short novel set in the backwoods bayous of the American South, detailing Reelfoot Lake and its most infamous resident, an outcast freak called Fishhead. The missing link between Mark Twain and H.P. Lovecraft, with a surprise Jaws-like ending, Fishhead is wonderfully gruesome and will remind readers of EC comics and was a major influence on Lovecraft's later work, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. "Still further carrying on our spectral tradition is the gifted and versatile humourist Irvin S. Cobb, whose work both early and recent contains some finely weird specimens. 'Fishhead', an early achievement, is banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake..." -H.P. Loveccraft

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Gothic

Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

(Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb)

American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky who relocated to New York during 1904, living there for the remainder of his life.

He wrote for the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, as the highest paid staff reporter in the United States.

Cobb also wrote more than 60 books and 300 short stories. Some of his works were adapted for silent movies. Several of his Judge Priest short stories were adapted for two feature films during the 1930s directed by John Ford.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recluse man, half fish, half human, lives alone at Realfoot Lake as a fisherman. After an argument with the Baxter brothers they plot revenge and waylay him sitting armed in a boat on the lake. How will the story end up for Fishhead? What are the consequences for the villains? I really loved the influence of Lovecraft and Twain in this intriguing story. Well plotted with some eerie elements (catfish, lake and the main character). It's also interesting to see how outsiders or coloured people are treated by society. A fine classic story, recommended!

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two local yokels get their comeuppance. This story was published in 1913, so while it's rife with political incorrectness, it is a tale rich in atmosphere.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cobb is really excellent at describing scenery!

No, I'm not being sarcastic. The landscape is very much the soul of the story, and Fishhead is a part of the natural world in which he exists. More so than the ignorant neighbors who deem him unnatural.

[Paul Hasbrouck · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this great horror short story, Cobb creates a great sense place and time. Reedfoot Lake is most evil thing in the story, sunk trees, lost side channels and a atmosphere that change a child into half man/fish. This is story murder and revenge, by humans and inhuman means.
After reading this story, the reader should avoid any large bodies of water in the near future.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quickie and there isn't really that much to it, but it's packed with lovely atmospheric descriptions of nature and eeriness to ensure that those descriptions are not a labor. The title character is a loner weirdo who lives on the shore of a lake full of fish that resemble him, and the lake itself is strange.

People often compare this one to “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, although much about it can be seen echoed in Lovecraft's writings in general. The descriptions of Reelfoot Lake and its creation by an Earthquake, the introduction of Fishhead, the drama played out without dialogue, are things all very much at home in any of Lovecraft's horrors.

Cobb was primarily a humorist, and I do intend to explore his other writings (I've got “The Escape of Mr. Trimm” in hardback waiting on my shelf), but there's no denying he was no slouch in the horror medium here.

Beware the giant catfish!

[Kendall Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little Southern Gothic horror story. The characterization is a bit lackluster but the setting is so good the story practically materializes with every word read.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fishheads, fishheads, roly poly fishheads. Fishheads, fishheads, eat them up, yum.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Dagon and The Shadow Over Innsmouth will feel at home with this one. The gothic-southern setting, the eerie, eldritch swamplands and pools of grotesque fish-people lurking in the depths. Classic weird fiction.

[Per · Rating 1 out of 5]

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

[Merri Barnousky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing and unintentionally amusing. This is a B movie among short stories. This random mixed-race guy (which is treated as creepy, btw) lives off alone in the swamp where he howls at the moon and communes with the fish, or something. And also he's got a fish head, because his mother was scared by a fish IDK. But he's basically minding his own business until some morons attack him and it all goes to heck. A masterpiece. Highly recommended.

[Jacob Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fair warning: this book was made a long time ago and does have some slurs relating to the main character. 




I just read this short story today. It was included in my book "Stories That Scared Even Me" presented by Alfred Hitchcock. 




Fishhead is a remarkable short story that I now understand why was included in Alfred's recommendations. This story is invigorating—the buildup of the life of a fishman, including how Fishhead was born, how he survived, and how he was feared. Although Fishhead was feared by everyone around him, Fishhead was by no means a man to be feared; even though he was scary-looking, he was still just as much a man as you and I are. Fishhead lived his life in the Reelfoot Lake of Tennessee and has lived there since he was a boy. No one dared interact with him unless they needed to. Still, people have talked to Fishhead, and he even gave local hunters and fishermen tours around Reelfoot Lake. Yet not everyone would care for him, and after Fishhead got into a scuffle with two drunk men, Fishhead became hated solely by the two men because a black man (Fishhead) beat the white men (two men) in that aforementioned scuffle. The two men slowly built up their hatred of Fishhead, eventually culminating in Fishhead's murder.

[William Cherico · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those interesting horror stories because it's so racist that you can't tell if it's an intentional screed against miscegenation, a riff on white trash racists who think it's fun to commit hate crimes on Friday nights, or a weird combination of the two. While the depiction of Fishhead as a product of marriage between a black man and half-Native American woman is a deeply uncomfortable one that undoubtedly influenced H.P. Lovecraft's Innsmouthers, the rest of the story treats the man in a somewhat humane way and seems to expect us to cheer for his revenge on the two hillbillies who set out to kill him after a fight. Despite the complex and icky problems that arise from the eugenics involved, this sympathetic portrayal of Fishhead is one that I would've loved to see Lovecraft explore in The Shadow Over Innsmouth or future works. The story's prose is unremarkable, and it's a very straightforward plot. The content is really the only reason to read this, and even then it's racist and unpleasant.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Homo Piscis.

🖊 He’s half man, half fish, and the adventure begins there. This was well-written with a strong creative basis. A bizarre world in the American South, this is.

📕Published in 1913.

જ⁀🟢This short story is found in The Escape of Mr. Trimm: His Plight and Other Plights as an e-book version on Project Gutenberg.
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My ratings for this work:
Plot: ★★★★★
Content: ★★★★★
Grammar: ★★★★★
Writing style: ★★★★★
Character(s): ★★★★☆
Ease of reading: ★★★★★
My recommendation: ★★★★☆
My total rating for this work: ★★★★★ (4.7)

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of a series that reprints some of H. P. Lovecraft's favourite horror stories. The horror in this one is conveyed more by the atmosphere than by action. We know something is going to happen to the antagonists of the story and we can think that the protagonist may not survive as well. Indeed things do happen, but some of it is more suggested than actually shown. For fans of weird fiction this is definitely one to look for. There is however an oddity of this story one should be aware of. The author, Irvin S. Cobb, is a well-known writer of the time. However what he is known for is his humourous stories. This story is possibly the only horror story he wrote. I suppose though that if you are only going to write one, make it a really good one. I daresay he succeeded in that.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining listening 🎧
I read this as part of the Clasic Horror Tales - 500+ stories. I was about a man living a bayuo and two bothers that are out to kill him. I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 2022

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fishsticks.

[Eggp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peaceful, but ugly
those peckerwoods can't take it
thrashed by such a man.

[Jörg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hat mit sehr gut gefallen diese Geschichte, interessant erzählt, spannend und doch kurz, gelungen

[Zeltzamer]

Effective muggy swamp chiller.

[Julka Oleś · Rating 2 out of 5]

trochę nie wiem o czym to jest, ale śmieszna nazwą rybiłeb więc ujdzie. Drugi raz bym już nie przesłuchała

[Glenn Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - wonderfully descriptive, with the swamp becoming a character in itself. Perhaps a little short, but the point was made - don't fuck with Fishhead

[Matthew Tansek · Rating 5 out of 5]

What blew me away about this story, and other stories by Cobb is his ability to paint an amazing picture of an exotic landscape. If you spend just a moment and read the first couple of paragraphs of this story you will understand how powerful his words are, and how immersive such writing can be.

This particular story I think serves better as an interesting piece in the greater cannon of material revolving around fish people that can be found in weird fiction and supernatural pulps, than perhaps a stand alone story.

Nevertheless I think because it is so short and it contains such masterful description and relatable situations I would recommend it to almost anyone interested in speculative fiction. You will fly through this story in one sitting and be glad that you did.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precursor to H.P. Lovecraft and worth a read. Short and quick. Slightly ahead of its time.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story set up the protagonist, his murderers, and then the terrifying surprise that the murderers got after their foul deed was accomplished.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was very short and despite its attempts, it was neither a horror nor a thriller. I'm likely missing something based on other reviews.