The Events at Poroth Farm

by T.E.D. Klein, Jason Eckhardt (Illustrator)

The Events at Poroth Farm is a horror novella written by T.E.D Klein, in which Jeremy, a college lecturer, takes a summer vacation in Gilead, New Jersey, to prepare for a course on Gothic literature he'll be teaching in the upcoming semester. He rents an outbuilding from Mennonite couple Sarr and Deborah Poroth, and at first his holiday is happy and productive, but then odd things begin to happen...

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Novella, Lovecraftian, Weird Fiction, Gothic

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern horror classic. The narrator spends some time on a remote farm, the Poroth's Farm, where he intends to read Gothic classics (you'll get some inspiration from his reading list) for his studies. He's plagued with insects (especially large spiders), an allergy to cats (there are 7 in the story) and the over-religious Amish family (Sarr and Deborah Poroth) he stays with. Then things turn a bit eerie. A presumed dead cat (Bwada) returns. Was she really dead or was it the rabies? Deborah starts to change and becomes sleepy and moody. When things turn too sinister for the narrator he flees the farm. But he can't chase the feeling of being haunted. What really happend on that farm? Was it a conventional rural murder or something more? What happened to Sarr? The story is presented like a journal, is wordy, digressing in parts but uncanny and compelling. Highly recommended!

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sense of menace and the unraveling of the natural turns a pastoral setting into a nightmare for a young man seeking a peaceful place to study. Signs of aberrancy are eerily wrapped up in strange behavior and unforseen actions. This is horror that drops subtle hints before coming in for the kill.

[T.E. Grau · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of THE finest - and most unsettling - short stories ever written.

[H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars instead of five because of the unnecessary misogynistic comments and undertones that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. It was really off-putting.
Otherwise, it was flawless. I just read "Mountains of Madness," which was totally dull and lacked any plot or character development at all - it was literally a platform for Lovecraft to showcase his world building.
Klein does Lovecraftian horror better than Lovecraft himself. "The Events At Poroth Farm" left me with a sense of creeping unease, and isn't that what any self-respecting piece of horror aims to do?

[Rachel Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read this one for a while. I finally found it an anthology thanks to my Goodreads friend! And even better, it was on sale!

Wow, was this story worth the wait. Creepy, dreadful, ominous...

I love cats, but man, was that one creepy cat.

Perfect horror story to read as we transition from summer to fall.

[Jim Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterfully creepy horror yarn from a writer who makes up for a lack of consistency in releases with a resolute consistency in quality.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw a fair amount of enthusiasm about this but now that I've read it I'm not sure what the fuss is about. It stands in precisely the midpoint between early and contemporary cosmic horror, as much proto-Langan as post-Lovecraft. It anticipates modern preoccupations with metafiction through characters who are scholars and authors but doesn't seem to do anything with it at all. The narrative voice is more accessible and less offensive than Lovecraft but not as interesting. The story builds through the constant repetition of a few simple elements – bugs and insecticide, cats, and interpersonal relationships closer to mild awkwardness than drama. I like the way he's trying to incorporate insects and nature into the cosmic horror fabric here but the execution was dull and repetitive despite having a lot of clear opportunities to insert more powerful imagery. Plus, it takes a long time to build up and doesn't really go anywhere at the end. There is nothing wrong with this story but I feel like I've read 20 versions of it and there was nothing remarkable about this one.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't know what the elder words and hand signs will do, don't do them. Who knows what you will unleash.

[Justin Bog · Rating 5 out of 5]

T.E.D. Klein wrote The Events At Poroth Farm in the early seventies, and it has travelled well since then, becoming part of American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940's to Now (Library of America), a two-volume set of the best dark tales, edited by Peter Straub. Straub's anthology is a terrific collection of dark tales, hitting each century, from the earliest to the present. I read one a night. A bit after the publication of The Events At Poroth Farm, Klein decided to expand the novella. Over a five-year period, he succeeded in lengthening and strengthening the creepy story about a farm in New Jersey that still did things the old way, what is considered the best and only way, maybe a righteous way, and the infidel college student who rents an outbuilding over one hot summer and faces pure evil. The novella turned into the long novel titled The Ceremonies. I wanted to compare the two of them since I just finished reading The Ceremonies for a second time in thirty year's time. I would say that 90% of the novella has been changed, and in such wondrous fashion. The novella is focused solely on the college student and the farming couple, and the animals they look after. No one else makes an appearance. And this makes the remarkable creation of so many characters and a back story for The Ceremonies all the more amazing, a fantastical leap. Klein added a love interest, a flesh and blood villain, an entire supporting farming community, in-laws, mothers, teenagers, paranoid players who could react to the heightened drama, all the while keeping the skeletal plot of The Events At Poroth Farm as a guidepost. He even changed most of the language, the paragraphs that were memorable, and killer good in the novella, transformed into something similar and equally memorable. If you can find a copy of the novella, begin there, but I rather enjoyed beginning with the novel so that the surprise element was still in place and then reading the novella afterwards for a cool comparison. I read a few reviews from readers unhappy with the way the novel turned out, and I couldn't disagree more---to each his or her own though (I find differing opinions interesting; good debate). It's a phenomenal achievement, and both tales have jolts of horror and despair, a wicked turn of phrase here and there, and a lush setting perfect for a summer read.

[José Cruz Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

“How pleasant things were, at the beginning.”

In this novella, T. E. D. Klein is riffing on Lovecraft’s The Color out of Space. Although H. P. Lovecraft is far more popular and prolific than Klein, I prefer The Events at Poroth Farm to the short story which inspired it.

The Events at Poroth Farm begins with a cliché of weird and horror fiction. A narrator—whose name is Jeremy—speaks of a traumatizing experience that has left him scarred for life. Afterward, he reads from a journal he kept during his days on a farm. This sort of epistolary narrative is a story within a story, and it works fine in Klein’s text.

Jeremy decides to live in a rural area for a while in order to prepare a college course on Gothic literature. He rents a room from a religious couple in the countryside—the Poroths. The Poroths really resemble each other (like the brothers in The Fall of the House of Usher), but they’re good-natured people. However, weird things begin to happen on the farm. I won’t spoil it for you, but T. E. D. Klein really knows how to build suspense. The ending, although pulpy, is also good. However, I would’ve liked to have more resolution.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really two and a half stars. Contemporary Lovecraftian novella inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space. The story was OK, but it doesn't successfully maintain that sense of creeping dread that Lovecraft does so well.

[Rambling Raconteur · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/A7IIScUzRlA?si=rRgez...

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially unnerving, however, the story failed to sustain any sense of fear upon cultivating it. An underwhelming conclusion, lacking resolution.

[Heidi Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wondrously scary short story set in almost-Stephen King country - a rural, forgotten community in upstate New York where a young man goes to rent from a deeply-religious Amish-like couple one of the outbuildings on their farm for some pure summer reading of his carton of books. The very idea seems like what I'd love to do (and will do, one day) - get away from the hurly burly of city living with a carton of books and a journal to record observations of his reading list. Except that evil arrived one night, when, inspired by one of his reads (Arthur Machen's 'The White People') he climbed up a tree and made "strange gestures and faces that no one could see. Can't say exactly what it was I did, or why. It was getting dark - fireflies below me and a mist rising off the field. I must have looked like a madman's shadow as I made signs to the woods and the moon."
Hmm, when I take time off to go somewhere isolated just to read read read, I'll be sure not to act out my reading material.

[Hilario Peña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los sucesos en la granja Poroth (1972), de T.E.D. Klein, es un ensayo sobre horror sobrenatural —como Danza macabra, de Stephen King, y El horror sobrenatural en la literatura, de Lovecraft—y, al mismo tiempo, una novela corta protagonizada por Jeremy, un profesor que está por impartir un curso sobre literatura gótica. Jeremy decide pasar el verano en una aislada aldea menonita, lejos de cualquier tipo de distracción. La narración de eventos (tanto mundanos como fantásticos) que desembocan en un asesinato, se intercala con el análisis de autores como Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Bram Stoker, Robert W. Chambers, Aleister Crowley, Shirley Jackson y Lovecraft. Debido a que la trama del relato está estrechamente relacionada con El pueblo blanco (de Machen), forma parte de los mitos de Cthulhu. Recomiendo este clásico a estudiosos del género y a entusiastas del canon lovecraftiano, pero no al público en general. Le doy cuatro estrellitas de cinco.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a 3.5, rounded up to 4.0. Short chap-b00k, this version printed in 1990, thought the original was published in the early ;70's. T.E.D. Klein, as you may already know, has a very scant resume of published material, but what he has produced, especially his novel, The Ceremonies, and his collection of four stories, Dark Gods, are among the best horror ever published. This particular story, in fact, becomes the germ of The Ceremonies, and he does a good job here creating a claustrophobic sense of doom and a creepy atmosphere. Since this is, in fact, the first story T.E.D. Klein ever published, and although it is a bit rough, it is pretty impressive. Not easy to find a copy of this one, but it does pop up from time to time on eBay and Amazon.

[Mark Tallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent story by T.E.D Klein. I enjoyed every page and it deserves its 5 stars. It is creepy throughout and is very well written and I found the prose very engaging. For me, everything about this weird tale was just perfect. I'm very much looking forward to reading more from Klein. Highly recommended reading.

[Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A top-notch weird tale that’s just reaching its 50th anniversary. I liked it more than the more elaborate snd overtly horrific, but overlong, novel The Ceremonies that Klein extended it into.

[katabaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved

[Aadhavan R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written short story, which is quite disturbing, written in the form of journal entries about the unnatural incidents that happen during a teacher's visit to a rural farmhouse in New Jersey. It does not contain gore or explicit body horror but nevertheless gives haunting thoughts. As T.E.D. Klein quotes certain abstractions, in books read long ago, would provide "a pleasant shudder", The Events at Poroth Farm suffused me with that same experience. I would definitely re-read it a later point in time.

[Χρυσόστομος Τσαπραΐλης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αριστουργηματική νουβέλα που μπλέκει τον κοσμικό τρόμο του Λάβκραφτ, την απόκοσμη δυσοίωνη ατμόσφαιρα του Μάχεν και μεγάλο μέρος της λογοτεχνίας τρόμου, φτιάχνοντας ένα άκρως ανησυχητικό αφήγημα στην ύπαιθρο της Πενσυλαβανίας. Μακράν ό,τι καλύτερο έχω διαβάσει από τον Klein (το γνωστό Ceremonies του οποίου είναι μια ίσως αχρειάστη διόγκωση αυτής εδώ της νουβέλας).

[Arka Chakraborty · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sometimes, we forget to blink."

The explanations at the end, made it a bit rickety, but until then, this was one hell of a chiller! Subtle, eerie and gets under your skin. Klein's a damn good storyteller. Will definitely check out DARK GODS.

[Felipe Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encontrei esse autor enquanto pesquisava por autores de horror cósmico além do Lovecraft. Só consegui encontrar o livro em inglês.
Gostei da maneira que, diferente do Lovecraft, o autor realmente não revela muito dos "horrores incompreensíveis", deixando-os realmente misteriosos.

[Mark Schiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely impeccable bit of 70s horror. I wish it was easier to find because this belongs towards the top of the pile.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cats suck.

[francesco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Build up atmosphere was great but the ending was a little underwhelming not even that it needed to be more pulpy but even just more something

[Tonk82 · Rating 5 out of 5]

T.E.D. Klein siempre será uno de esos grandes misterios del Terror. Partiendo de una gran relación con Rod Serling y The Twilight Zone, durante unos pocos años produjo algunos relatos, novelas cortas y una novela, considerados absolutos clásicos. Y sin embargo, tras alcanzar un nivel tan excelso, prácticamente dejó de escribir y ni se sabe que anda haciendo a día de hoy.

"The events at Poroth Farm" es uno de sus relatos mas celebres y la base que usó para su novela "The ceremonies" (Ceremonias macabras, como salió en España). Curiosamente, es también de lo poco suyo importante que no hemos tenido publicado en España. Lo he leido en inglés, en un eBook para kindle muy barato llamado "The Cthulhu Mythos MEGAPACK: 40 Modern and Classic Lovecraftian Stories" cuyo contenido esta autorizado, al parecer, por el autor.

Narra las vivencias de Jeremiah en los 3 meses de retiro que pasó en la granja de los Poroth, preparando un curso sobre literatura de terror (el relato está repleto de comentarios sobre obras góticas clásicas). Una comunidad muy cerrada, devotamente religiosa (similar a los Amish) y donde apenas hay tecnología alguna. Durante ese tiempo vive prácticamente aislado, a una distancia considerable del pueblo mas cercano, solo con ese matrimonio.

Calor, situaciones extrañas, cansancio, gatos, ruidos en la noche... conforme pasan los dias todo va adquiriendo un progresivo ambiente malsano. Y pronto está claro que algo no va nada bien.

Contrariamente a lo que se lee por ahí no es esctrictamente un relato de "Los mitos de Cthulhu", pero tiene ciertamente tintes Lovecraftianos a nivel de estructura y de implicaciones de la trama. Es el mejor tipo de herencia que dejó el maestro de Providence: discípulos que entienden sus ideas e intenciones, y no se limitan a hacer simples pastiches y ensaladas de nombres.

Es un gran relato, que está muy bien escrito. Las descripciones de ambientes y sucesos son exhaustivas, y el ritmo de la narración sigue muy bien la rutina del protagonista. Está a la altura de su condición de clásico moderno.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

T.E.D Klein doesn’t write much, but his short work (mostly longer short stories and novellas) are among the best examples of modern cosmic horror. He’s clearly inspired by Lovecraft, but unlike so many of H.P.L’s admirers who tend to either over analyze the “mythose” until it losses on sense of mystery, or sadly attemp to imitate the most excessive and overweight examples of Lovecraftian prose, Klein focuses on the good stuff; a vague sense of dread that slowly builds, the idea of something awful lurking behind the innocuous, and fear of the unknown.

Because of Klein’s literary restraint (undoubtedly honed from his time as editor at Twilight Zone magazine) his works (despite some unfortunately dated social views) hold up very well, and The Events at Poroth Farm is a prime example. The less said about the plot the better, just know that it’s the kind of story that makes great use of atmosphere and setting to slowly unnerve the reader.

It’s also useful to know that this story inspired Klein’s novel “The Ceremonies” which is also good, but really this story works better as a novella, since the dread and unease are much better sustained over the shorter length.

Anyone who enjoys this story is strongly advised to seek out a copy of Klein’s Dark Gods, which contains four of his best short works.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had great atmosphere - Klein manages to evoke that Dunwich feeling in modern (yes I'm old) New Jersey, deftly setting up the natural surroundings as ominous and creepy crawly.

It also shows both deep knowledge of weird fiction, and a playful attitude in making use of references. Taking a summer to read creepy stories in a primitive building in the wild - what could go wrong? (I strongly recommend listening to the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast analysis, with guest Ken Hite - he understands all the nuance of Klein's use of uncanny literature, as well as taking the listener multiple layers deep in the "unreliable narrator" question.)

Overall, this is a must-read for fans of Lovecraft, Gothic tales, or weird literature in general.

[Patrick.G.P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read T.E.D. Klein's collection «Dark Gods» and loved every story in it, I was eager to read his perhaps best known short story «The Events at Poroth Farm». Very atmospheric and genuinely creepy, this is indeed one of Klein's very best stories. As Klein is also a literary critic of some note, I loved the clever commentaries from the protagonist as he works his way through classic gothic literature, and felt his frustration over books not read in Lovecraft's superb essay, «Supernatural Horror in Literature». Overall a fantastic short story, one I can see myself reading again many times. A must read for fans of horror and weird fiction!