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Pentadactyl

Pentadactyl was a Firefox extension forked from the Vimperator and designed to provide a more efficient user interface for keyboard-fluent users. The design is heavily inspired by the Vim text editor, and the authors try to maintain consistency with it wherever possible. It is now maintained as a Pale Moon extension.

Features
Once activated, Pentadactyl removes all Firefox's default user interface chrome (except for the tab bar) and adds a Vim-inspired command line at the bottom of the window. The key bindings and dialog invocation are also changed to those familiar to Vim users.

Apart from Vim-like features, Pentadactyl includes the Lynx-like links hinting mode, allowing user to enter links manipulation commands referring to the links by labels or numbers.

As the key mappings of the Pentadactyl differ significantly from those typically expected by web application developers, occasional conflicts of browser- and site-defined key mapping occur. Pentadactyl deals with such cases by providing a special "pass-through" mode, which passes all the key press events (except for Esc key) directly to the site. This mode can either be activated manually or enforced on a per domain basis with a configuration file.

Development
Pentadactyl was forked from the Vimperator Firefox extension after the disagreement over the project directions and governance. After the split Pentadactyl differentiated itself with improved start timing, ability to use the extension without restarting Firefox after installation and some changes for consistency with Vim.

The extension is available as stable releases and nightly builds.

As of November 2020, the project has been on hiatus since March 2017 due to developer inactivity and noncommunication, and doesn't seem to work on Firefox 57.0 (Firefox Quantum) or newer versions. The project was reported still working for Waterfox, Basilisk and Pale Moon browsers, but has since started to degrade due to no updates and will only work after applying community made patches. For the Pale Moon browser there is an actively maintained fork of Pentadactyl using the same name being hosted at GitHub.

Tridactyl
There is a WebExtension called Tridactyl, a Vimperator and Pentadactyl inspired Firefox-interface on GitHub

Reception
In February 2011, Erez Zukerman of Download Squad described Pentadactyl as "probably the weirdest and coolest add-on we've ever seen."

In June 2011, Chad Perrin of TechRepublic noted: "As a former Vimperator user who has spent substantial time in surf, Uzbl, and Vimium, as well as more cursory time trying out other browsers and Chromium extensions that offer similar interface options, I am much happier with Pentadactyl than any of the alternatives. Its command functionality, in-application help documentation, completeness, configurability, stability, and (for those using the nightly builds, at least) currency are all superior to the other possibilities for vi-like keybindings in a browser."

title: Pentadactyl


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Clas Thunberg

Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.

Short biography
Thunberg began with speed skating rather late, at the age of 18, having led a somewhat rowdy life as a compulsive smoker and drinker before he concentrated fully on his sport. However, from the age of 28 – when he turned up at his first European Allround Championships – and for the following ten years, he was by far the most-winning skater.

Thunberg's greatest strengths were the shortest distances, the 500 through 5000 metres. He never won an international 10000 metre event, although he did win a silver medal on the 10000 metres at the 1924 Winter Olympics – beaten by three seconds by compatriot Julius Skutnabb. Thunberg won three gold medals at the 1924 Olympics – the allround event, the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres. He remains the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal in allround speed skating, as despite the status of allround as the premier skating event, at least up until the 1990s, the event was abolished in the Olympics from 1928 onwards.

Thunberg won five World Allround Championships titles from 1923 to 1931, and also four European Allround Championships titles. He also took two more gold medals at the 1928 Winter Olympics, to end with five, and these two medals made him the oldest Olympic Speed Skating Champion, at the age of 34. However, despite his amazing run, he was occasionally vulnerable on the long distances. If his 500 and 1,500 metre events did not go exactly according to plan, then he could be beaten – as shown in the 1927 season when the 22-year-old Bernt Evensen pipped him to both the World and European title. Evensen, however, could never string together the long run of victories that Thunberg ended up with.

Despite his amazing career record, Thunberg never reached the top of Adelskalender – a statistical invention which ranks skaters according to their personal bests and then converts them into allround performances, using a table. Oscar Mathisen's personal bests on the three longest distances were simply too good for Thunberg to match. However, Mathisen – who was born five years before Thunberg – turned professional during World War I, meaning that the two never met in an ISU-sanctioned event.

World records
Over the course of his career, Thunberg skated four world records: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records
Note that Thunberg's personal record on the 3000 m was not recognised as an official world record.

Thunberg has an Adelskalender score of 192.633 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a second place.

Medals
An overview of medals won by Thunberg at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Clas Thunberg


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Thanda

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was speedy deleted by Henrygb for no assertion of significance. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 10:20, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanda
Notability not shown. WCFrancis 16:44, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Notability not shown to be part of deletion criteria. Trollderella 18:19, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Failure to show notability most assuredly is a valid CDS criterion.  Stop trolling VfD.  Zoe 20:28, August 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete per CSD-A7. If a non-noteable bio is grounds for a speedy, then it is a de facto VfD criterion.  The latter half might be interesting at Wiktionary, but not here.  Lomn | Talk 18:56:06, 2005-08-18 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete. Doesn't even provide a full name. ManoaChild 20:51, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 'Speedy delete under A7, and I have so tagged it. DES (talk) 21:29, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Thanda


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Jacquelyn Mitchard

Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author. She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996. Other books by Mitchard include The Breakdown Lane, Twelve Times Blessed, Christmas, Present, A Theory of Relativity, The Most Wanted, Cage of Stars, No Time to Wave Goodbye, Second Nature - A Love Story, and Still Summer.

She is a professor of creative writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Biography
Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, Mitchard's father was a plumber, from Newfoundland, Canada, and her mother a hardware store clerk, a competitive horsewoman, and a member of the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Cree tribe. She studied creative writing for three semesters under Mark Costello (author of The Murphy Stories) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

She became a newspaper reporter in 1979, eventually achieving a position as lifestyle columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. Her weekly column, The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship, appeared in 125 newspapers nationwide until she retired it in 2007. Mitchard is a contributing editor for More (magazine) and is featured regularly in Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, Hallmark, Real Simple and other publications. Her nonfiction work includes the 1986 memoir 'Mother Less Child' (WW Norton) and essays in more than 30 anthologies.

Mitchard married Dan Allegretti, a reporter for The Capital Times, and the couple had three children (Robert, Daniel, and Martin). Dan also had a daughter, Jocelyn, from a previous marriage. After 13 years of marriage, Allegretti died of cancer at the age of 45 in 1993.

After the death of Allegretti, while working freelance for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a part-time public relations position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she started writing her first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean. The idea for the story had come to her in a dream in the summer of 1993. She is an alum and distinguished fellow of the Ragdale Foundation, an artist's colony in Lake Forest, Illinois, where she went to write the first two chapters on the encouragement of author Jane Hamilton. After finishing the first six chapters, 70 pages, she received a contract with Viking Press in December 1994, for that book and a second one to be written later (The Most Wanted).

Bolstered by being featured by Oprah, the novel sold close to 3 million copies by May 1998. It has been Mitchard's only #1 New York Times Bestseller, on the list for 29 weeks, including 13 weeks at number 1. The book had originally reached number 14, but after being selected by Winfrey, sales jumped. The paperback would spend 16 weeks on the list. The film rights were sold to Mandalay Entertainment, and the story later became a feature film starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

But all of her other novels have been bestsellers as well as garnering critical acclaim—particularly for The Most Wanted, Cage of Stars and The Breakdown Lane. The Most Wanted was nominated for Britain's Orange Prize for Fiction and Cage of Stars for Britain's Spread The Word Prize.

In 2004 Mitchard published her first book for children and young adults. Her first children's picture book, Baby Bat's Lullaby, appeared in 2004 from HarperChildren's. Her two middle-grade novels, also published by HarperChildren's, Starring Prima!: The Mouse of the Ballet Jolie, and Rosalie, My Rosalie: The Tale of a Duckling appeared in 2004 and 2005. Her second children's picture book, Ready, Set, School!, appeared in 2007.

Now You See Her, Mitchard's first Young Adult novel, was published in 2007 by HarperTeen. All We Know of Heaven (HarperTeen) appeared in spring 2008, and the first in a series of Young Adult mysteries, The Midnight Twins (Razorbill/Penguin), based on the bewildering clairvoyant gift of twins Mallory and Meredith Brynn, debuted in summer 2008.

Awards
Mitchard has won the Bram Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award, and Walkabout Prize (UK).

Personal life
In 2011, Mitchard wrote that she and her husband had lost millions of dollars and most of their possessions to investment advisor Trevor Cook, who was convicted of operating a Ponzi Scheme.

For adults

 * Non-fiction/biography:
 * 1985: Mother Less Child — (W.W. Norton & Co.)
 * Fiction:
 * 1996: The Deep End of the Ocean — (Viking Press)
 * 1998: The Most Wanted — (Viking Press)
 * 2001: A Theory of Relativity — (HarperCollins)
 * 2003: Christmas, Present — (HarperCollins)
 * 2003: Twelve Times Blessed — (HarperCollins)
 * 2005: The Breakdown Lane — (HarperCollins)
 * 2006: Cage of Stars — (Warner Books; ISBN 978-0-446-57875-2)
 * 2007: Still Summer — (Warner Books; ISBN 978-0-446-57876-9)
 * 2009: No Time to Wave Goodbye — (Random House; ISBN 978-1-4000-6774-9)
 * 2011: Second Nature: A Love Story - (Random House; ISBN 978-1-4000-6775-6)
 * 2016: Two if by Sea : A Novel - (Simon & Schuster; ISBN 978-1-5011-1557-8)

For young adults

 * Non-Fiction/biography:
 * 1992: Jane Addams: Pioneer in Social Reform and Activist for World Peace — (Gareth Stevens Children's Books)
 * Fiction:
 * 2007: Now You See Her — (HarperCollins)
 * 2008: All We Know of Heaven — (HarperTeen)
 * 2008: The Midnight Twins — (Razorbill)
 * 2009: Look Both Ways — (Razorbill)
 * 2010: Watch For Me By The Moonlight - (Razorbill)
 * 2013: What We Saw at Night - (Soho Teen)
 * 2013: What We Lost in the Dark - (Soho Teen)

For children

 * 2004: Baby Bat's Lullaby — (with Julia Noonan; HarperCollins)
 * 2004: Starring Prima!: The Mouse of the Ballet Jolie — (with Tricia Tusa; HarperCollins)
 * 2005: Rosalie, My Rosalie: The Tale of a Duckling — (with John Bendall-Brunello; HarperCollins)
 * 2007: Ready, Set, School! — (with Paul Rátz de Tagyos; HarperCollins)

Essays
Mitchard's essays have appeared in:

 * 1997: The Rest of Us: Dispatches From the Mother Ship — (Viking Press; ISBN 978-0-670-87662-4)
 * 2005: A Love Like No Other: Stories from Adoptive Parents, edited by Pamela Kruger and Jill Smolowe (Riverhead)
 * 2006: My Father Married Your Mother, edited by Anne Burt (W.W. Norton)
 * 2007: Mr. Wrong: Real Life Stories About Men We Used to Love, edited by Harriet Brown (Ballantine)
 * 2007: Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood and Abortion, edited by Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont (McAdam Cage)
 * 2007: Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups and What Women Really Think About Contemporary Weddings, edited by Collen Curran (Vintage)

title: Jacquelyn Mitchard


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Methyl red

Methyl red (2-(N,N-dimethyl-4-aminophenyl) azobenzenecarboxylic acid), also called C.I. Acid Red 2, is an indicator dye that turns red in acidic solutions. It is an azo dye, and is a dark red crystalline powder. Methyl red is a pH indicator; it is red in pH under 4.4, yellow in pH over 6.2, and orange in between, with a pKa of 5.1. Murexide and methyl red are investigated as promising enhancers of sonochemical destruction of chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants. Methyl red is classed by the IARC in group 3 - unclassified as to carcinogenic potential in humans.

Preparation
As an azo dye, methyl red may be prepared by diazotization of anthranilic acid, followed by reaction with dimethylaniline:
 * [[Image:Preparation of Methyl Red.png|600px]]

Properties
The color of methyl red is pH dependent, because protonation causes it to adopt a hydrazone/quinone structure.
 * Methyl red indicator.svg

Methyl Red has a special use in histopathology for showing acidic nature of tissue and presence of organisms with acidic natured cell walls.

Methyl Red is detectably fluorescent in 1:1 water:methanol (pH 7.0), with an emission maximum at 375 nm (UVA) upon excitation with 310 nm light (UVB).

Methyl red test
In microbiology, methyl red is used in the methyl red test (MR test), used to identify bacteria producing stable acids by mechanisms of mixed acid fermentation of glucose (cf. Voges–Proskauer test).

The MR test, the "M" portion of the four IMViC tests, is used to identify enteric bacteria based on their pattern of glucose metabolism. All enterics initially produce pyruvic acid from glucose metabolism. Some enterics subsequently use the mixed acid pathway to metabolize pyruvic acid to other acids, such as lactic, acetic, and formic acids. These bacteria are called methyl-red positive and include Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris. Other enterics subsequently use the butylene glycol pathway to metabolize pyruvic acid to neutral end products. These bacteria are called methyl-red-negative and include Serratia marcescens and Enterobacter aerogenes.

Process
A tube filled with a glucose phosphate broth is inoculated with a sterile transfer loop. The tube is incubated at 35 C for 2–5 days. After incubation, 2.5 ml of the medium are transferred to another tube. Five drops of the pH indicator methyl red is added to this tube. The tube is gently rolled between the palms to disperse the methyl red.

Expected results
Enterics that subsequently metabolize pyruvic acid to other acids lower the pH of the medium to 4.2. At this pH, methyl red turns red, a positive test. Enterics that subsequently metabolize pyruvic acid to neutral end products lower the pH of the medium to only 6.0. At this pH, methyl red is yellow, a negative test.

title: Methyl red


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Curtea Veche

Curtea Veche (the Old Princely Court) was built as a palace or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in 1459. Archaeological excavations started in 1953, and now the site is operated by the Muzeul Municipiului București in the historic centre of Bucharest, Romania.

Voivode’s Palace
Vlad the Impaler's reign was dominated by conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, hence the necessity to permanently watch over and protect the southern border, the Danube, made him stay in the fortified town on the Dâmbovița banks. He issued a Latin document on 13 June 1458 from the area of current Bucharest. Then, on 20 September 1459, he issued a document in Slavonic, specifically referring to the "fortress" in Bucharest, his "princely residence". Other documents were issued in 1460 and 1461. Vlad would have been accompanied by his family, courtiers, and an army corps.

During his reign, Mircea Ciobanul repaired the palace, and defined the limits of the city. His palace became the economic nucleus of Bucharest, surrounded by the houses of traders and craftsmen known as the Lipscani. Matei Basarab repaired the palace during his own reign, so that it was "completely rebuilt...amazingly elegant" with a "charming aspect, much finer and gayer". Constantin Brâncoveanu rebuilt and extended the palace using stone, including a great marble staircase at the entrance.

Alexander Ypsilantis built a new princely court in 1775 at Dealul Spirii. The old court was auctioned in 1798 by Constantine Hangerli.

Annunciation Church of Saint Anthony
This princely church was built by Mircea Ciobanul in 1559, and is the location of his grave. The church is "the oldest religious building maintained in its original aspect in Bucharest".

Popular culture
In its current role as a museum, the palace and neighbourhood inspired Mateiu Caragiale to write his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche. It is also at the center of efforts to restore the historic center of Bucharest.

title: Curtea Veche


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Shawn Spears

Ronnie William Arneill (born February 19, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler and trainer currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Shawn Spears. He previously performed in WWE from 2013 to 2019 under the name Tye Dillinger. He is also known for his time in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2019 to 2023.

Having begun his career on the independent circuit in 2002 as Shawn Spears, Arneill initially joined WWE in 2006 and worked for the company between 2006 and 2009, performing in the developmental territories Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) as well as briefly on the main roster brand ECW under the slightly modified ring name Gavin Spears. After being released from WWE in 2009, he returned to the independent scene, before rejoining WWE in 2013 where he was assigned to NXT under the new gimmick of Tye Dillinger. After a rise in popularity, he was promoted to the main roster in April 2017, working on the SmackDown brand until his second release from the company in February 2019.

Shortly after leaving WWE, he signed with the newly founded AEW in May 2019, reverting to his Shawn Spears name. After his AEW contract expired at the end of 2023, Arneill rejoined WWE in February 2024 and was assigned once more to the NXT brand, retaining the Shawn Spears character.

Early life
Born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Arneill attended Laura Secord Secondary School. He played hockey for over ten years until he decided to leave the sport and enter professional wrestling. During his childhood, he was a fan of Rick Rude, Rick Martel, and Mr. Perfect.

Early career (2002–2006)
Arneill trained at the Hart Wrestling School in Cambridge Ontario with Smith Hart, Ike Shaw and Waldo Von Erich and then with Eric Young at the WrestlePlex school before receiving further training from Derek Wylde and Cody Deaner. Upon wrestling his debut match in March 2002 as Shawn Spears, he began wrestling for some of the biggest independent wrestling promotions throughout Ontario and the United States, including Border City Wrestling, World Xtreme Wrestling, and Blood Sweat and Ears. On February 27, 2005, Arneill made an appearance on an edition of WWE Heat, unsuccessfully teaming with Mikael Yamaha to face The Hurricane and Rosey.

Tryout (2006)
After sending a tape to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) officials, Arneill was called for a try-out in Buffalo, New York. He was signed to a developmental contract by WWE following the tryout, on January 21, 2006. He made a cameo appearance at Cyber Sunday as an employee called "Stan", who gets superkicked by Shawn Michaels of D-Generation X when Michaels is told that he doesn't understand the meaning of the word "controversial".

Developmental territories (2006–2008)
After signing his WWE contract, Arneill was assigned to the company's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He made his OVW television debut as "The Canadian Sensation" Shawn Spears, where he defeated then-SmackDown! superstar Simon Dean. After his victory, Dean attacked Spears until Spears was saved by Al Snow, who fended off Dean with a chair. After his debut, Spears quickly made an impact in OVW with a short undefeated streak that was soon ended by Aaron "The Idol" Stevens when Stevens made Spears submit. After this, Spears formed a tag team with Cody Runnels and they feuded with The Throwbacks for the Southern Tag Team Championship. On December 15, 2006, Spears and Runnels won the title from The Throwbacks. During 2006 Spears appeared at Cyber Sunday 2006 as backstage producer Stan, getting superkicked by Shawn Michaels.

On March 17, 2007, Spears won the Television Championship from Boris Alexiev, his first singles title in OVW. Soon after winning the title, he became more focused on championships and even began trying to steal Runnels' Heavyweight Championship opportunity. During Runnels' Heavyweight Title match, Spears interfered and performed a piledriver to Runnels, preventing him from winning the Heavyweight Championship and thus solidifying his heel turn. Spears then began feuding with Runnels and eventually lost the Television Championship to him on July 6, 2007 before winning it back one week later. He once again lost the title on September 19 to the debuting Ted "Manbeast" McNailer. Spears later regained the Television Title, only to lose it to Colt Cabana. Spears then began feuding with Cabana and the pair went on to win the vacant Tag Team Title with on November 7 after defeating Paul Burchill and Stu Sanders. On December 19, Cabana and Spears' feud culminated in a ladder match in which the winner would claim the Tag Team titles for themselves and choose a new partner. Spears lost to Cabana, who then chose Charles "The Hammer" Evans as his new tag team partner.

After OVW split with WWE, Spears debuted in WWE's new development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and teamed up with Nic Nemeth to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares for the Florida Tag Team Championship on August 17. Nearly a month later, Nemeth and Spears lost the title to Joe Hennig and Heath Miller on September 11.

ECW (2008–2009)
On the August 19 episode of ECW, Spears made his WWE television debut as a heel under the name Gavin Spears as part of Theodore Long's "New Superstar Initiative" in a losing effort to Ricky Ortiz. After his ECW debut, Spears began splitting time between ECW and FCW. On the September 2 edition of ECW, Spears was defeated by Super Crazy. After a three-month absence due to competing in FCW, Spears returned to television on the December 16 episode of ECW, where he lost to Finlay in what turned out to be his final match for the company. On January 9, 2009, Arneill was released from his contract.

Independent circuit (2009–2013)
The day before he had been released from WWE, Arneill had broken his hand, and was unable to wrestle for 12 weeks following his release as a result. On May 27, 2009, Spears wrestled and lost to fellow WWE alumnus Elijah Burke in a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at their Impact! television tapings. On June 12, Spears made an appearance for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he defeated Alex Payne.

On May 16, 2010, Arneill, under his Gavin Spears ring name, teamed up with El Hijo de L.A. Park in a losing effort to Dr. Wagner III and Gigante Extassis on an Extreme Air Wrestle show in Mexico, marking his first tour of Mexico. On May 28 and 29, Arneill made appearances at the 2010 Anime North convention.

On August 15, he teamed up with Idol Stevens to capture the WWC World Tag Team Championship after defeating Thunder and Lightning. On October 31, Spears and Stevens lost the World Tag Team Title back to Thunder and Lightning.

NXT (2013–2017)
On September 15, 2013, it was reported that Spears had re-signed with WWE, and he was assigned to WWE's developmental territory NXT under the ring name Tye Dillinger. He made his televised NXT debut in a losing effort against Mojo Rawley. In early 2014, Dillinger formed a tag team with Jason Jordan, with the two described as a pair of blue chip athletes. The team of Dillinger and Jordan got their first televised win on the April 17 episode of NXT, defeating Baron Corbin and Sawyer Fulton. On the June 5 episode of NXT, Dillinger and Jordan defeated local competitors. On the August 7 episode of NXT, Dillinger and Jordan lost in the first round of a NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. Dillinger and Jordan then appeared infrequently together, with Dillinger mostly being used as enhancement talent. On the February 25, 2015 episode of NXT, Dillinger's partnership with Jordan officially ended when Jordan, unhappy with his partner not initially tagging him in, jumped off the apron and walked out on Dillinger just as he went to make the tag. After the match, an enraged Dillinger called out his old partner but instead was met with a quick loss to Baron Corbin.

On the August 12 episode of NXT, Dillinger debuted a new gimmick as the "Perfect 10" and defeated Solomon Crowe. He faced the debuting Apollo Crews at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn and another debuting Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: The End, but he lost both matches. On the September 28, 2016 episode of NXT, Dillinger was approached by Bobby Roode, who proposed the two team up for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which Dillinger accepted. On the October 12 episode of NXT, Roode walked out on Dillinger during a tag team match against SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe and Sawyer Fulton), resulting in the team losing in the first round. The following week on NXT, Dillinger called out Roode for a match at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, thus turning face in the process. At the event, Dillinger lost to Roode.

On the December 14 episode of NXT, Dillinger defeated Eric Young by disqualification in a number one contender's Fatal 4-Way qualifying match. At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Dillinger was defeated by Young following a distraction from Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain. At NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Dillinger teamed up with Roderick Strong, Kassius Ohno and Ruby Riot to take on SAnitY in an 8-person mixed tag team match in a losing effort. Dillinger made his last NXT appearance on the April 5 tapings, closing out the event by winning a Steel Cage match against Eric Young.

SmackDown (2017–2019)
On January 29, 2017, at Royal Rumble, Dillinger was a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match, entering at number 10 but was eliminated by Braun Strowman. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger made his main roster debut, defeating Curt Hawkins. Dillinger entered a short feud with Aiden English, defeating him on various episodes of SmackDown Live, leading to a match at Backlash, where Dillinger once again defeated English to end their feud.

On the July 4 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger competed in an Independence Day Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the United States Championship, lasting until the final three before being eliminated by Sami Zayn. At Battleground, Dillinger briefly reignited his feud with English, with Dillinger facing him in a losing effort. On the August 29 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger confronted and brawled with Baron Corbin, who was about to answer an open challenge set by AJ Styles for the United States Championship. After Dillinger fought off Corbin, he took on Styles' challenge in a losing effort. On the September 12 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger received another shot at the title against Styles, once again in a losing effort. After trading victories with Corbin on various episodes of SmackDown Live, both Dillinger and Corbin challenged Styles for the United States Championship at Hell in a Cell in a triple threat match, in which Corbin won the title. On the December 26 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger competed in a United States Championship tournament, after former champion Dolph Ziggler vacated the title the week before; Jinder Mahal defeated Dillinger in the first round.

At Royal Rumble, Dillinger was to be the number 10 entrant in the Royal Rumble match but was attacked backstage by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, with Zayn taking his spot. At Fastlane, Dillinger teamed with Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), defeating the team of Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin and Mojo Rawley. At WrestleMania 34, Dillinger competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by Matt Hardy. In his final pay-per-view appearance, Dillinger competed in the Greatest Royal Rumble, where he entered at number 42, but was quickly eliminated by Braun Strowman. On the July 10 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger was scheduled to face Samoa Joe, but Joe attacked him after the match. This led to the next week where Dillinger challenged Joe in a losing effort. At a WWE live event on August 13, Dillinger was injured in a match with Shelton Benjamin. The referee called for the end of the match, giving Benjamin the win via count out. Dillinger was promptly escorted backstage by officials. Dillinger returned on the September 25 episode of SmackDown Live, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE United States Championship; however, he was attacked during the match by Randy Orton, in what was Dillinger's last televised match with the company.

Dillinger suffered a hand injury in October 2018 which kept him out of action for several months. He returned to in-ring competition at a house show on February 9, 2019; however, he was still not used on television. On February 19, 2019, Dillinger announced in a Twitter statement that he had requested his release from WWE and was granted on February 22, 2019.

Return to independent circuit (2019)
After his release from WWE, Arneill reverted to using the ring name, Shawn Spears once again. On March 1, 2019, he announced on Twitter that he will be accepting bookings on the independent circuit starting May 31. On the June 5 episode of Beyond Wrestling's weekly show, Spears debuted for the promotion defeating Orange Cassidy in the main event.

"The Chairman of AEW" (2019–2020)
Arneill, under his previous name of Shawn Spears, debuted for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at their inaugural pay-per-view event Double or Nothing, competing in the pre-show Casino Battle Royale that Adam Page won. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Spears stated he would be appearing with the promotion going forward. AEW officially announced his signing on June 12. At Fyter Fest in June, Spears established himself as a heel after hitting Cody with a steel chair shot to the top of the head. Going forward he began calling himself "The Chairman of AEW". At All Out on August 31, Spears unsuccessfully faced Cody in a singles match. Leading to All Out, Spears aligned with Tully Blanchard, who began acting as his manager. Spears then started a feud with Joey Janela, after Janela had disrespected Blanchard. At Full Gear on November 9, Spears defeated Janela. In February 2020, Blanchard and Spears began a campaign to recruit a new tag team partner for Spears. However, the angle was soon dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after, Spears was used primarily in a comedic role as he mocked Dustin Rhodes and the Rhodes family in a news report parody segment and challenged Dustin Rhodes to a match at Double or Nothing. At Double or Nothing, Spears had his clothes ripped off and was defeated by Dustin Rhodes.

On the June 3 episode of Dynamite, Blanchard returned and berated Spears for making a joke out of himself at Double or Nothing. He then presented him with a black glove, similar to the one worn by Blackjack Mulligan and Ted DiBiase, that can be illegally loaded with a metal slug. Spears made his in-ring return on the June 16 edition of Dark wearing the black glove, scoring a submission victory over Lee Johnson after applying the Sharpshooter on Johnson. Over the months, Spears claimed victories over various competitors, then knocked them out with his loaded black glove. He later disposed of the glove after an interview with AEW commentator Tony Schiavone. In October, Spears began a short feud against Scorpio Sky after taunting him several times before his matches. On the November 11 episode of Dynamite, Spears defeated Sky, ending their feud.

The Pinnacle (2020–2022)
After the December 23 episode of Dynamite, Spears was absent from AEW television, but was present on the stage for the ten-bell salute during the Brodie Lee Celebration of Life on December 30. He made his return on March 3, reuniting with Blanchard and FTR by helping them defeat Jurassic Express. On March 10, Spears, Blanchard and FTR joined a faction led by MJF, later known as The Pinnacle. The Pinnacle began a feud with The Inner Circle, defeating them in a Blood and Guts match at Blood and Guts before losing in a Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing. In early 2022, the Pinnacle began to dissolve. Spears continued aligning himself with MJF in the latter's feud against Wardlow. Spears lost to Wardlow on the May 25 episode of Dynamite in a steel cage match, with MJF as special guest referee.

Sporadic appearances and departure (2022–2023)
Spears returned on the October 12 episode of Dynamite in Toronto as a face, reverting to his "Perfect 10" gimmick from WWE. During the Zero Hour pre-show of All Out 2023, he participated in the Over The Budget Battle Royal, but was eliminated by Aussie Open. On December 23, Spears announced his departure from AEW, becoming a free agent on January 1, 2024.

Second return to WWE (2024–present)
At NXT Vengeance Day on February 4, 2024, a mysterious vignette was played. Arneill made his return to WWE during the February 27 episode of NXT, attacking Ridge Holland with a steel chair. Instead of returning as Tye Dillinger, he kept the Shawn Spears name as well as his "Chairman" gimmick from AEW. Spears defeated Uriah Connors on March 5 at NXT: Roadblock. After the match, Spears cut a promo on Holland, leading to Spears getting attacked by Holland. On the June 25 episode of NXT, Spears defeated NXT Champion Trick Williams in a non-title match. NXT General Manager Ava then announced that Spears along with Je'Von Evans (who had won a 25-man battle royal for a title shot) and Ethan Page (who later defeated Evans) will face Williams for the title in a fatal four-way match at NXT Heatwave. At the event on July 7, Page pinned Evans to become the new NXT Champion.

Other media
Arneill, as Tye Dillinger, appears in the video games WWE 2K17 (as downloadable content), WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19 as a playable character.

Personal life
In August 2019, Arneill married Australian professional wrestler Cassandra McIntosh, best known by her ring name Cassie Lee in Impact wrestling and as Peyton Royce in WWE.

It was announced on August 3, 2022, that he and McIntosh were expecting their first child together. On January 17, 2023, they welcomed their son Austin Jay Arneill. On December 24, 2023, he and McIntosh announced they are expecting their second child, also a boy, Harley Dean Arneill who was born on June 21, 2024.

Arneill along with fellow wrestler and compatriot Matthew Clement (better known as Tyler Breeze) run a wrestling school in Apopka, Florida, called Flatbacks Wrestling.

Championship and accomplishments

 * American Combat Wrestling
 * ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * King Of Florida (2010)
 * Deadlock Pro-Wrestling
 * DPW Awards (1 time)
 * Match of the Year (2023) vs. Chris Danger at World's Strongest
 * Florida Championship Wrestling
 * FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nic Nemeth
 * Florida Underground Wrestling
 * FUW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kenny Kendrick
 * Ground Breaking Pro Wrestling
 * GBPW Championship (1 time)
 * Great Lakes Championship Wrestling
 * GLCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
 * NEO Pro Wrestling
 * NEO Grand Independent Championship (1 time)
 * Ohio Valley Wrestling
 * OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * OVW Television Championship (3 times)
 * OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Cody Runnels (2) and Colt Cabana (1)
 * Prairie Wrestling Alliance
 * PWA Commonwealth Championship (1 time)
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * Ranked No. 114 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
 * Pure Wrestling Association
 * PWA Pure Wrestling Championship (1 time)
 * Tri-City Wrestling
 * TCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * '''World Series Wrestling
 * WSW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * World Wrestling Council
 * WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Idol Stevens

title: Shawn Spears


text:
Lovecraftian horror

Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games, and comics.

Origin
American author H. P. Lovecraft refined this style of storytelling into his own mythos that involved a set of weird, pre-human, and extraterrestrial elements. His work was influenced by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, Robert W. Chambers, and Lord Dunsany. However, Lovecraft was keen to distinguish his work from existing gothic and supernatural fiction, elevating the horror, in his own words, to a "cosmic" level. Stephen King has said the best of Lovecraft's works are "uniquely terrible in all of American literature, and survive with all their power intact."

The hallmark of Lovecraft's work is cosmicism, the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person, insignificance and powerlessness at the cosmic scale, and uncompromising negativity. Author China Miéville notes that "Lovecraft's horror is not one of intrusion but of realization. The world has always been implacably bleak; the horror lies in our acknowledging that fact." Lovecraft's work is also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England, and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization.

Themes
The core themes and atmosphere of cosmic horror were laid out by Lovecraft himself in "Supernatural Horror in Literature", his essay on gothic, weird, and horror fiction. A number of characteristics have been identified as being associated with Lovecraftian horror:
 * Fear of the unknown and unknowable.
 * The "fear and awe we feel when confronted by phenomena beyond our comprehension, whose scope extends beyond the narrow field of human affairs and boasts of cosmic significance". Here horror derives from the realization that human interests, desires, laws and morality have no meaning or significance in the universe-at-large. Consequently, it has been noted that the entities in Lovecraft's books were not evil. They were simply far beyond human conceptions of morality.
 * A "contemplation of mankind's place in the vast, comfortless universe revealed by modern science" in which the horror springs from "the discovery of appalling truth".
 * A naturalistic fusion of horror and science fiction in which presumptions about the nature of reality are "eroded".
 * That "technological and social progress since Classical times has facilitated the repression of an awareness of the magnitude and malignity of the macrocosm in which the human microcosm is contained", or in other words, a calculated repression of the horrifying nature of the cosmos as a reaction to its "essential awfulness."
 * Having protagonists who are helpless in the face of unfathomable and inescapable powers, which reduce humans from a privileged position to insignificance and incompetence.
 * Preoccupation with visceral textures, protean semi-gelatinous substances and slime, as opposed to other horror elements such as blood, bones, or corpses.

Collaborators and followers
Much of Lovecraft's influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who developed their own notable works. Many of these writers also worked with Lovecraft on jointly written stories. His more famous friends and collaborators include Robert Bloch, author of Psycho; Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian; and August Derleth, who focused on extending the Cthulhu Mythos.

Subsequent horror writers also heavily drew on Lovecraft's work. While many made direct references to elements of Lovecraft's mythos, either to draw on its associations or to acknowledge his influence, many others drew on the feel and tone of his work without specifically referring to mythos elements. Some have said that Lovecraft, along with Edgar Allan Poe, is the most influential author on modern horror. Author Stephen King has said: "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."

By the late 20th century, Lovecraft had become something of a pop-culture icon, resulting in countless reinterpretations of and references to his work. Many of these fall outside the sphere of Lovecraftian horror, but represent Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture.

Literature and art
Lovecraft's work, mostly published in pulp magazines, never had the same sort of influence on literature as his high-modernist literary contemporaries such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, his impact is still broadly and deeply felt in some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary fiction. The fantasias of Jorge Luis Borges display a marked resemblance to some of Lovecraft's more dream-influenced work. Borges also dedicated his story, "There Are More Things" to Lovecraft, though he also considered Lovecraft "an involuntary parodist of Poe." The French novelist Michel Houellebecq has also cited Lovecraft as an influence in his essay H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life in which he refers to the stories written in the last ten years of Lovecraft's life as "the great texts".

Lovecraft's penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre has also profoundly influenced visual artists such as Jean "Moebius" Giraud and H. R. Giger. Giger's book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon, the name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft's mythos stories. Dan O'Bannon, the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film. With Ronald Shusett, he would later write Dead & Buried and Hemoglobin, both of which were admitted pastiches of Lovecraft.

Comics
Lovecraft has cast a long shadow across the comic world. This has included not only adaptations of his stories, such as H.P. Lovecraft's Worlds, H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness, Graphic Classics: H. P. Lovecraft, and MAX's Haunt of Horror, but also the incorporation of the Mythos into new stories.

Alan Moore has touched on Lovecraftian themes, in particular in his The Courtyard and Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths (and Antony Johnston's spin-off Yuggoth Creatures), but also in his Black Dossier where the story "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss?" mixed Lovecraftian horror with Bertie Wooster. Neonomicon and Providence posit a world where the Mythos, while existing as fiction written by Lovecraft, is also very real.

As well as appearing with Fort in two comics stories, Lovecraft has appeared as a character in a number of Lovecraftian comics. He appears in Mac Carter and Tony Salmons's limited series The Strange Adventures of H. P. Lovecraft from Image and in the Arcana children's graphic novel Howard and the Frozen Kingdom from Bruce Brown. A webcomic, Lovecraft is Missing, debuted in 2008 and takes place in 1926, before the publication of "The Call of Cthulhu", and weaves in elements of Lovecraft's earlier stories.

Boom! Studios have also run a number of series based on Cthulhu and other characters from the Mythos, including Cthulhu Tales and Fall of Cthulhu.

The creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola, has described the books as being influenced primarily by the works of Lovecraft, in addition to those of Robert E. Howard and the legend of Dracula. This was adapted into the 2004 film Hellboy. His Elseworlds mini-series The Doom That Came to Gotham reimagines Batman in a confrontation with Lovecraftian monsters.

The manga artist Junji Ito is heavily influenced by Lovecraft. Gou Tanabe has adapted some of Lovecraft's tales into manga.

Issue #32 of The Brave and the Bold was heavily influenced by the works and style of Lovecraft. In addition to using pastiches of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and R'lyeh, writer J. Michael Straczynski also wrote the story in a distinctly Lovecraftian style. Written entirely from the perspective of a traumatized sailor, the story makes use of several of Lovecraft's trademarks, including the ultimate feeling of insignificance in the face of the supernatural.

Film and television
From the 1950s onwards, in the era following Lovecraft's death, Lovecraftian horror truly became a subgenre, not only fueling direct cinematic adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft, but providing the foundation upon which many of the horror films of the 1950s and 1960s were constructed.

1960s
One notable filmmaker to dip into the Lovecraftian well was 1960s B-filmmaker Roger Corman, with his The Haunted Palace (1963) being very loosely based on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , and his X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes featuring a protagonist driven to insanity by heightened vision that allows him to see God at the heart of the universe.

Though not direct adaptations, the episodes of the well-known series The Outer Limits often had Lovecraftian themes, such as human futility and insignificance and the limits of sanity and understanding.

Amongst the other well-known adaptations of this era are Dark Intruder (1965) which has some passing references to the Cthulhu Mythos; 1965 also saw Boris Karloff and Nick Adams in Die, Monster, Die! based on Lovecraft's short story "The Colour Out of Space"; The Shuttered Room (1967), based on an August Derleth "posthumous collaboration" with Lovecraft, and Curse of the Crimson Altar (U.S. title: The Crimson Cult) (1968), based on "The Dreams in the Witch House".

1970s
The 1970s produced a number of films that have been classified as Lovecraftian horror. This includes the themes of human fragility, impotence in the face of the unknowable, and lack of answers in Picnic at Hanging Rock, and The Dunwich Horror, with its source in Lovecraft's work and emphasis on "forces beyond the protagonist's control." The 1979 film Alien has been described as Lovecraftian due to its theme of "cosmic indifference", the "monumental bleakness" of its setting, and leaving most questions unanswered.

Rod Serling's 1969–73 series Night Gallery adapted at least two Lovecraft stories, "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air". The episode "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", concerning the fate of a man who read the Necronomicon, included a student named "Mr. Lovecraft", along with other students sharing names of authors in the Lovecraft Circle.

1980s
In 1981, The Evil Dead comedy horror film franchise was created by Sam Raimi after studying H. P. Lovecraft. It consists of the films The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992). The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, or simply The Book of the Dead, is depicted in each of the three films.

John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness) feature Lovecraftian elements, which become more noticeable in each film.

The blackly comedic Re-Animator (1985) was based on Lovecraft's novella Herbert West–Reanimator. Re-Animator spawned two sequel films.

Released in 1986, From Beyond was loosely based on Lovecraft's short story of the same name.

The 1987 film The Curse was an adaptation of Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space". Its sequel, Curse II: The Bite was loosely inspired by "The Curse of Yig", originally a collaboration between Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop.

1990s
The 1991 HBO film Cast a Deadly Spell starred Fred Ward as Harry Phillip Lovecraft, a noir detective investigating the theft of the Necronomicon in an alternate universe 1948 Los Angeles where magic was commonplace. The sequel Witch Hunt had Dennis Hopper as H. Phillip Lovecraft in a story set two years later.

1992's The Resurrected, directed by Dan O'Bannon, is an adaptation of Lovecraft's novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It contains numerous elements faithful to Lovecraft's story, though the studio made major cuts to the film.

The self-referential Necronomicon (1993), featured Lovecraft himself as a character, played by Jeffrey Combs. The three stories in Necronomicon are based on two H. P. Lovecraft short stories and one Lovecraft novella: "The Drowned" is based on "The Rats in the Walls", "The Cold" is based on "Cool Air", and "Whispers" is based on The Whisperer in Darkness.

1994's The Lurking Fear is an adaptation of Lovecraft's story "The Lurking Fear". It has some elements faithful to Lovecraft's story, while being hijacked by a crime caper subplot.

1995's Castle Freak is loosely inspired by Lovecraft's story "The Outsider".

2000s
This period saw a few films using lovecraftian horror themes. 2007's The Mist, Frank Darabont's movie adaptation of Stephen King's 1985 novella by the same name, featuring otherworldly Lovecraftian monsters emerging from a thick blanket of mist to terrify a small New England town, and 2005's The Call of Cthulhu, made by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, a black and white adaptation using silent film techniques to mimic the feel of a film that might have been made in the 1920s, at the time that Lovecraft's story was written.

2001's Dagon is a Spanish-made horror film directed by Stuart Gordon. Though titled after Lovecraft's story "Dagon", the film is actually an effective adaptation of his story The Shadow over Innsmouth.

Cthulhu is a 2000 Australian low budget horror film directed, produced, and written by Damian Heffernan. It is mostly based on two Lovecraft stories, "The Thing on the Doorstep" and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

2007's Cthulhu, directed by Dan Gildark, is loosely based on the novella The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936). The film is notable among works adapted from Lovecraft's work for having a gay protagonist.

2010s
Since 2010, a number of popular films have used elements of cosmic horror, notably Alex Garland's Annihilation (based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer) with its strong themes of incomprehensibility and outside influence on Earth. Robert Eggers' 2019 movie The Lighthouse has been compared to Lovecraft's works due to the dreary atmosphere, deep sea horror imagery and the otherworldly and maddening power of the titular lighthouse that drives the protagonists to insanity. Ridley Scott's 2012 science-fiction horror epic Prometheus and Gore Verbinski's 2016 film A Cure for Wellness  have been noted for their Lovecraftian elements. HBO's 2019 miniseries Chernobyl has been described as "the new face of cosmic horror", with radiation filling the role of an incomprehensible, untamable, indifferent terror.

The films of Panos Cosmatos, Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy take cosmic horror themes and blend them with psychedelic and new age elements, while the work of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead in Resolution, Spring and The Endless has also been described as "Lovecraftian."

Other films directly incorporating or adapting the work of Lovecraft include the 2011 film The Whisperer in Darkness based on Lovecraft's short story of the same name, the 2017 Finnish short film Sound from the Deep incorporating elements from At the Mountains of Madness in a modern-day setting, and Richard Stanley's Colour Out of Space based on Lovecraft's short story "The Colour Out of Space". Of note also is Drew Goddard's 2012 film The Cabin in the Woods, a comedy horror which deliberately subverts cosmic horror conventions and tropes.The concept of a sky-creature was part of an homage to the imagery evoked by H. P. Lovecraft, the 2010 film Altitude is a Canadian horror direct-to-video film directed by Canadian comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews.

2020s
William Eubank, director of the 2020 film Underwater, has confirmed that the creatures of his film are tied to the Cthulhu Mythos. Masking Threshold (2021) uses Lovecraftian story elements. Director and writer Johannes Grenzfurthner confirms the influence in interviews. The 2022 horror film Venus is inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House".

It has been confirmed by Toonami that the series Housing Complex C was meant to invoke Lovecraftian themes.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities features two episodes adapted from Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model" and "Dreams in the Witch House."

Games
Elements of Lovecraftian horror have appeared in numerous video games and role-playing games. These themes have been recognized as becoming more common, although difficulties in portraying Lovecraftian horror in a video games beyond a visual aesthetic are recognized.

Tabletop
Lovecraft was an influence on Dungeons & Dragons starting in the early 1970s, and initial printings of AD&D Deities & Demigods included characters from Lovecraft's novels. Dungeons & Dragons influenced later role-playing games, including Call of Cthulhu (1980), which in turn recruited new fans for the Cthulhu mythos. Magic: The Gathering expansions such as Battle for Zendikar (2015), Eldritch Moon (2016), and Shadows over Innistrad (2016) contain Lovecraftian components.

1980s and 1990s
Video games, like films, have a rich history of Lovecraftian elements and adaptations. In 1987, The Lurking Horror was the first to bring the Lovecraftian horror subgenre to computer platforms. This was a text-based adventure game, released by Infocom, who are best known for the Zork series.

Alone in the Dark (1992 video game) contains Lovecraftian elements and references.

Shadow of the Comet, a game which takes place in the 19th century, is strongly inspired by the myth of Cthulhu.

The 1998 text adventure game Anchorhead is heavily inspired by Lovecraftian Horror and features many elements of the Cthulhu mythos, as well as quotes from Lovecraft.

Quake (video game), a FPS Game that has Lovecraftian elements.

2000s
The 2005 Russian game Pathologic features many themes common in Lovecraftian works: The three main characters are all in some way outsiders to the city. The game centers around an unstoppable plague which leaves gelatinous bloody slime in contaminated areas; the player character is completely helpless in stopping the plague.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth for Windows and Xbox is a first person shooter with strong survival horror elements.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for the GameCube utilizes heavy themes of cosmic horror throughout the game, in particular with the player characters' sanity being affected through their interactions with the supernatural.

2010–present
The survival horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent is heavily inspired by Lovecraftian horror, in visual design, plot and mechanics, with a recognized lasting impact on horror games as a genre. The Last Door is a point-and-click adventure game which combines Lovecraftian horror with Gothic horror,  and the FromSoftware game Bloodborne includes many Lovecraftian and cosmic horror themes,  without using the Cthulhu Mythos.

Other games released since 2010 with elements of Lovecraftian horror include Dragon's Crown, a DND-inspired dark fantasy ARPG which contains deities, supernatural creatures and transformations, Sunless Sea, a gothic horror survival/exploration role-playing game, Vintage Story, a sandbox survival game with in-game enemies called "Drifters" inspired by the genre, the game Darkest Dungeon a role-playing video game with an emphasis on mental trauma and affliction, Edge of Nowhere, an action-adventure virtual reality game, and The Sinking City, an open world detective and survival horror game set in 1920s New England, drawing inspiration from The Shadow over Innsmouth and "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family." Smite features Cthulhu as a playable character, the 2018 first-person shooter Dusk with many Lovecraftian influences, such as its 3rd chapter, The Nameless City, the final boss Nyarlathotep, and its inspiration from the Lovecraft themed first-person shooter Quake. In 2020, Call of the Sea, an adventure-puzzle game heavily inspired by the works of Lovecraft, was released. Dredge is a 2023 indie fishing video game, which follows a fisherman who encounters increasingly Lovecraftian creatures as he ventures out further into an open world archipelago. An Indie game named "The Baby in Yellow" is a Lovecraftian horror game created by Swedish designers and is mainly focused on a Babysitter and a demon possessed Baby.

Other media

 * Junji Ito's Uzumaki
 * Mansions of Madness 1st and 2nd edition board game
 * The Magnus Archives
 * The Call of Ktulu, The Thing That Should Not Be, All Nightmare Long and Dream No More songs by Metallica
 * The Call of the Void

title: Lovecraftian horror


text:
Bernard Cohen (Australian author)

Bernard Cohen (born 1963) is an Australian writer, the author of five novels, a book of short stories and a children's picture book.

Career
Cohen's first novel, Tourism, was published in 1992. The Blindman's Hat won the Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 1996. Cohen's fifth novel, The Antibiography of Robert F Menzies, won the inaugural Russell Prize for Humour Writing. Cohen's short stories have been widely anthologised, including in the Penguin Century of Australian Stories, Best Australian Stories 2002 and 2009 and Picador New Writing. His first collection of short stories, When I Saw the Animal (UQP), was published in 2018. From 1990 to 1991 he was co-editor of the literary journal Editions Review.

In 2006 Cohen founded The Writing Workshop, which runs creative writing programs for children in New South Wales, and online.

Awards

 * 2015 Russell Prize for Humour Writing for The Antibiography of Robert F Menzies
 * 1996 The Australian / Vogel Literary Award for The Blindman's Hat
 * Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian novelist (3 times: 1996 [for Tourism], 1997 [for The Blindman's Hat], 1998 [for Snowdome]
 * 2001 Arts Council England Writer's Award
 * 1997 Alumnus of the Year University of Technology, Sydney
 * 1986 Winner, Canberra Times Short Story of the Year (under 25 year-old category).

title: Bernard Cohen (Australian author)


text:
Svikiro

Svikiro is a spirit medium of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

A svikiro is an ancestral spirit primarily known to possess a living human and will give advice based on that communication.

The word comes from the verb kusvika meaning "to arrive at or reach a place". It also stems from kusvikirwa meaning "to arrive upon", as it is believed that the ancestral spirits arrive in the bodies of the mediums.

Other types of mediums (svikiro) include mhondoro which are possessed by the ancestor spirits of the same name. Mhondoro means lion in Shona. It is believed that mhondoro spirits reside in the bodies of maneless lions until they have a host to possess. Mhondoro spirits are royal ancestral spirits of deceased chiefs and kings or any other royals. They are believed to be concerned with matter of the clan and territories including the nation.

Roles of the Svikiro
 * they are given leading figure in the community and they deal with the welfare of the community at large.
 * they mediate between the spiritual world and the human world.
 * they protect the society from disturbing factors.  they understand some of the life complications and for the society to maintain its equilibrium ...
 * they receive visions and dreams
 * they make offerings,
 * they perform healing rituals
 * and they serve as a messenger

title: Svikiro


text:
Cahto

The Cahto (also spelled Kato, especially in anthropological and linguistic contexts) are an Indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. Today most descendants are enrolled as the federally recognized tribe, the Cahto Indian Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria, and a small group of Cahto are enrolled in the Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation.

Name
Cahto (Kato) means loosely "People of the Lake" or "Lake People," and may derive from the Northern Pomo word for "lake", which referred to an important Cahto village site, called Djilbi. Therefore the Cahto are sometimes referred to as the Kaipomo or Kato people. The Cahto (Kato) called themselves Tlokyhan, or "Grass People." Today they use Kooʾyoohaangn or Cahto Tribe as tribal designation.

Reservation
The tribe controls the Laytonville Rancheria (39.66917°N, -123.50056°W), also known as the Cahto Rancheria, a federal Indian reservation of Cahto and Pomo people. The rancheria is 264 acres large and located 3 mi west of Laytonville in Mendocino County. It was founded in 1906. The reservation's population is about 188.

Cahto Flag
The Cahto flag, representing their sovereign nation, features a stylized bear claw outlined in white and centered on a black pictograph representing the Cahto ancestral lake home. The pictograph is centered on a red field surrounded with a white and red border. The Words "CAHTO TRIBE" is written in white block letters above the lake pictograph. The bear claw is placed to indicate the importance of the bear as one of their most important tribal totems. The lake symbol denotes their ancestral lands, the color red indicates the blood of their people, white is for the purity of their spirit, and the black is for the rich lake bottomland that sustained their ancestors. This flag is of modern creation and not traditional. It was adopted in 2013.

Government
The Cahto Indian Tribe is run by a democratically elected tribal council. The current tribal executive committee is: The tribe operates its own housing authority, tribal police, and EPA office. Economic development comes from revenues generated by the tribe's Red Fox Casino, located in Laytonville.
 * Mary Norris, Chairwoman
 * Tasheena Sloan, Vice-Chair,
 * Kendra Campbell, Secretary-Treasurer
 * Atta Stevenson, Member at Large.

Language
The Kato language is one of four Athabaskan languages that were spoken in northwestern California. The others were Eel River Athabaskan (to which Kato is most similar), Mattole-Bear River, and Hupa-Chilula. Most Kato speakers were also bilingual in Northern Pomo.

History
The Kato lived farthest south of all the Athapascans in California, occupying Cahto Valley and Long Valley, and in general the country south of Blue Rock and between the headwaters of the two main branches of Eel River. This region comprises rolling hills and oak savannas and is veined with streams. Most of these are nearly dry during the dry summers but are torrential during the rainy winters.

In the early 18th century, the Cahto lived in approximately 50 village sites. Several villages were organized into bands (band names, village name + gentilic suffix (tribe, people of place) kiiyaahaan(gn)):
 * Gaakee-kiiyaahaangn or Gaakee band: village Gaashlai ("Yew Top village")
 * Gaashtcʾeengʾaading-kiiyaahaangn or Yew Sticks Out Place band: village Gaashtcʾeengʾaading ("Yew Sticks Out Place village")
 * Konteelhtc-kiiyaahaangn or Streeter Creek Valley band: village Chilhsaitcding ("Little Dry Tree Place"), Kaachʾaangʾchowkʾit ("Redemeyer's Place rancheria"), Konteelhtcbiiʾ1 ("Streeter Creek Valley"), Nooniitcingʾangding ("Grizzly Den Place"), Nooniitcing-uuʾaangʾchiiʾ  ("Grizzly's Den Creek Mouth"), Saakʾeeninsinchineeʾding / Saakʾeeninsinding ("Streeter Creek Ridge village"), Saisʾaantcbiiʾ  ("Lower Pasture"), Seeghaaʾlaiʾ  ("Rock Moss Top village"), Seeyeeh-ntcʾeeʾtcding ("Bad Rock Shelter Place"), Tinishtʾanʾchowbiiʾ  ("Big Manzanita Valley"), Yiishtc-Silhtiinding ("Streeter Creek mouth village"), Yiishtc-Silhtiinkwot ("2nd Streeter Creek village")
 * Koshbiiʾ-kiiyaahaang or Mill Creek band, also Blackberry Valley band: village Binkʾaabiiʾ  ("Lake Valley village"), Gaashkwot ("Yew Creek"), Koshbiiʾ  ("Mill Creek Valley village"), Koshbiiʾ  ("2nd Mill Creek Valley village"), Naadeelʾnaatʾaaʾding ("Sugar Pine Standing village"), Neeʾtaangʾailaiʾ  ("Land Extends Into Water peak"), Seekʾaiʾnaangʾaiʾkwot ("Deerbrush Extends Across Creek village"), Tlʾohkʾiikwot ("2nd Prairie Creek village")
 * Neeʾlhsowchiiʾ-kiiyaahaangn or Mud Springs Creek Mouth band, also Blue Earth Creek Mouth band: village Neeʾlhsowchiiʾ  ("Mud Springs Creek Mouth village")
 * Neeʾlhtciiktiskwoh-kiiyaahaangn or Above Red Ground Creek band: village Neeʾlhtciikchowtis ("Above Big Red Earth village")
 * Seenchaagh-kiiyaahaangn or Big Rock band: village Lhtaaghtaahding ("Among the Black Oaks Place village"), Saaktooʾchowding (" Big Spring Place village"), Saaktooʾding ("Spring Place"), Seenchaagh ("Big Rock"), Seenchaahding ("Big Rock Rancheria"), Seenchaahkwot ("Big Rock Creek village"), Tcʾibeetctaahding ("Little Douglas Firs Village"), Tinishtʾangʾkooghingʾaading ("Manzanita Runs Down village"), Tnaaʾsʾaanding ("Milkweed Lies Place village"), Tnaaʾsʾaankwot ("Upper Mud Springs Creek")
 * Seetaahding-kiiyaahaangn or Little Rock Creek band, also Rocks Place band, Among the Rocks Place band: village Seetaahding ("Little Rock Creek village")
 * Seeyeehkoh-kiiyaahaangn or Tuttle Creek band, also Rock Shelter Creek band: village Seelshooltcʾeengʾaading ("Grinding Stone Sticks Out village"), Seeyeehkwot ("Tuttle Creek")
 * Siinkook-kiiyaahaangn or Siintkwot-kiiyaahaangn ("Jackson Valley band"), also Branscomb band, syn: Siintkwot-kiiyaahaang ("South Fork Eel River band"): village Beehshoochinmiiʾ  ("Horseshoe Bend"), Kʾashtaakashbiiʾ  ("Alder Falls in Water Valley"), Lheetcghaaʾtoochiiʾ  ("Jack of Hearts Creek Mouth village"), Seenaansaankwot ("2nd Rock Creek camp"), Siinteekwot ("South Fork Eel River"), Tcʾibeetooʾlaiʾ  ("Douglas Fir Water Top"), Tcʾiitinchowding / Tciitinchowding / Tlʾohlhgaichiiʾ  ("Redwood Creek Mouth village"), Tlʾohlhgaikwot ("Redwood Creek"), Tlʾohtooʾtcchiiʾ  ("2nd Little Charlie Creek Mouth"), Tlʾohtooʾtckwot ("Little Charlie Creek")
 * Tcʾeetinding-kiiyaahaangn or Trail Comes Out band: village Saaktooʾneesding ("Long Spring village"), Tcʾeetinding ("Trail Comes Out village"), Tlʾohtooʾtcchiiʾ  ("Little Prairie Water Creek Mouth village")
 * Tcʾibeetaahding-kiiyaahaangn or Tcʾibeetaahkwot-kiiyaahaangn ("Cahto Creek band"), also Among the Douglas Firs Place band, Among the Douglas Firs Creek band: village Chinsʾaanding ("Tree Lies Place (at Laytonville cemetery)"), Seekʾaiʾbinghaading ("Deerbrush Edge village"), Tcʾibeetaahding ("Cahto Creek village"), Tcʾibeetaahkwot / Tcʾbeetckwot ("Cahto Creek village"), Neeʾlhtciiklhgishding ("Red Earth Gap place"), Neeʾlhtciitcchineeʾding ("Red Earth Base village"), Seelhsowkaanaatinding ("Blue Rock Crossroad village"), Tlʾohsaks-uuningʾ  ("Horsetail Hillside")
 * Tcʾindinteelhaatc-kiiyaahaangn or Sick Man Jump band: village Tcʾindinteelhagh-uuyeeh ("Sick Man Jump Under village")
 * Tlʾoh-kiiyaahaangn or Long Valley band, also Laytonville band, Grass band: village Banʾtcnaandeehding ("Laytonville Bridge area camp"), Banʾtcnoondilyeegh ("Flies Settle Under"), Chinsʾaanding ("Tree Lies Place (at Laytonville cemetery)"), Diltciikninsingkwot ("Wilson Creek"), Distʾeegits'-iiyiw ("Under Crooked Madrone village"), Konteelhbiiʾ  ("Long Valley"), Neeʾboosheeʾkwʾit ("Bumpy Ground Hilltop"), Seelhgaichineeʾding ("2nd White Rock Base camp"), NSeelhgaitcʾeeliinding ("White Rock Outflow Place village"), Shaahnaaʾ  ("Ten Mile Creek"), Tlʾohkʾiikwot ("Prairie Creek"), Uusiiʾding ("Head Place Rancheria")
 * Toodjilhbiiʾ-kiiyaahaangn or Cahto Valley band, also Wet Water band, Lake band, Kato-Pomo, syn: Naahneesh Toodjilhbii ("People of Cahto"): village Chʾingchiinooldeel ("Noise Went Down spring"), Chʾingkiiʾnooldeelʾlai ("Noise Went Down Top village"), Chinlhgaichowding ("White Log village"), Chʾnankaabiiʾ  ("Deer Lick In It village"), Gaashtckwot ("Rancheria Creek"), Kai-kwontaah("Cahto Rancheria"), Seelhgaichineeʾding ("White Rock Base village"), Toodjilhbiiʾ  ("Cahto Valley/Winchester Flat"), Toodjilhbiiʾ  ("2nd Cahto Valley village"), Toodjilhkwʾit ("Cahto Hilltop"), Tsʾisnoiʾchineeʾding ("Mountain Base village")
 * Tootagit-kiiyaahaangn or Between Water band: village Tootagit ("Redemeyer Rancheria Flat village")
 * Yeehliinding-kiiyaahaangn or Flows In Place band, also Slide band: village Dindai-ntceeʾtcding ("Bad Flint Place village"), Kʾaiʾkwot ("Peterson Creek"), K'ai'kwotKʾaiʾtc-chiiʾ  ("Peterson Creek mouth village"), Kʾashtaahchiiʾ  ("Grub Creek Mouth village"), Kʾashtaahkwot ("Grub Creek"), Lheetcghaaʾchineeʾding ("Moss Base Village"), Neeʾlhitchowbiiʾ  ("Big Smoky Ground valley"), Seenaatʾai-uuyeeh ("Under the Upright Stone village"), Seeninding ("2nd Rock Hillside place"), See-Uuyeeh ("Rock Shelter village"), Tagittlʾohding ("Peterson Creek Fork village"), Tlʾohchowsʾaankwot ("Bunchgrass Lies Creek"), Yaachʾilhsaikwʾit ("Dry Up Into the Air hilltop"), Yeehliinding ("Flows In Place village")

Culture
Traditionally, the Cahto made such articles of stone, bone, horn, wood and skin, as were commonly made in northern California. The primitive costume for both men and women was a tanned deer-skin, wrapped about the waist, and a close-fitting knitted cap, which kept in place the knot of hair at the back of the head. At a later period, the Cahto garment included a shirt made of two deer-skins, laced down the front and reaching to the knees. Both men and women generally had tattoos on their faces and the chest: designs consisted largely of upright lines, both broken and straight.

In constructing a Cahto house, a circular excavation about two feet deep was prepared, and in it, at the corners of a square were erected four forked posts. The front pair were a little taller than the other, so that the roof would have a slight pitch to the rear. The roof was so small that it was of much less importance in determining the final shape of the house than was the circularity of the base. The space between the posts were stuffed with bunches of long grasses, and slabs of wood and bark. An opening in the roof served to carry off smoke, and the doorway was a narrow opening in front from ground to roof. As many as three families occupied one of these little houses, with all persons cooking at the same fire. For summer camps, brush lean-tos were set up. The dog was the only domesticated animal.

A favorite pastime for the females was to assemble early in the evening for singing in chorus. One of the best singers would lead, and two others kept time by striking one bone with another. The men took no part but hung around and listened.

Social organization
Each village had its chief, dog sled, and some villages, a second chief. Generally, the chief’s son succeeded to the office, but if a headman died without sons, the people, by common consent and without formal voting, selected from among themselves the man whom they regarded as best fitted for the place. The duty of a chief was to be the adviser of his people. When anything of great importance was to be decided, the village chief summoned the council, which comprised all the elder men. Each expressed his opinion, and the chief would go along with the consensus.

Social practices
Many of the social practices of the Cahto tribe show how strongly they were influenced by the culture of northern-central California.

Children of both sexes were required to observe certain rites at the age of puberty. Annually in midsummer, a group of boys, ranging from 12 to perhaps 16 years old, were led out to a solitary place by two men, one of whom was the teacher. Here, they received instructions in mythology and the supposed origin of customs, such as the mortuary rites, shamanistic practices and puberty observances. In the winter, these boys assembled again in the ceremonial house and remained there during the four winter months for instructions on tribal folklore.

At puberty, a girl began to live a very quiet and abstemious life for five months, remaining always in or near the house, abstaining from meat, and drinking little water. She was not permitted to work, lest she catch a cold.

Marriage was arranged between the two persons concerned, without consulting anybody else. Having secured a girl’s consent, her lover would sleep with her clandestinely at night, and at dawn steal away. The secret was preserved as long as possible, perhaps for several days, and the news of the match transpired without formal announcement, even to the girl’s parents, who would learn of their daughter’s marriage in this same, indirect fashion. His marriage no longer a secret, the young man might erect a house of his own.

The bond was as easily loosened, for either could leave the other for any reason, the man retaining any male children and the woman the female children. Children were not regarded as belonging any more to the paternal than to the maternal side. When adultery was discovered, the only result was a little bickering and perhaps an invitation to the offender to take up permanent relations with the new love.

Funerals
In preparation for burial, a corpse was washed, clothed in good garments, and wrapped in deer skins. A pit was excavated on a dry hillside. The bottom was laid with a floor of poles, covered with bark and several deer skins. On this was deposited the corpse, which was covered with bark before the attendees covered it with earth.

The entire population accompanied the bearers to the grave and wailed loudly. Women, and occasionally men, cut their hair short as a symbol of grief. For persons of prominence, a mourning ceremony would be held in the year following their death. This ceremony marked the end of the mourning period, and those who had hitherto wept became immediately cheerful and smiling.

Religion
The religious conceptions of the Kato tribe are grouped around two deities: Chénĕśh or T'cenes, the creator, who is identified with thunder and lightning, and his companion, Nághai-cho or Nagaicho, the Great Traveler. The latter is a somewhat mischievous personage, who in the myth, constantly urges Chénĕśh to acts of creation, while pretending that he has the knowledge and power to perform them, if only he has the desire to do so.

In mythology, as in other phases of their culture, the Kato tribe showed their susceptibility to the double influence to which they had been exposed. With a creation story of the type prevailing in central California, they preceded it with an account of a race of animal-people who were swept from the earth by the deluge — a theme characteristic of North Pacific Coast mythology.

The creator, Chénĕśh, who is identified with lightning, dwelt in the sky. Below was an expanse of water, with a rim of land in the north. With his companion, Nághai-cho, he descended and turned a monstrous deer into land. Chénĕśh created the people, but Nághai-cho made the mountains and the streams. In everything, the latter tried to outdo Chénĕśh, playing the role (usually assigned to coyote) of the buffoon and trickster.

Cahto people also belonged to the Kuksu religion.

Shamans
The shamans of the Kato tribe were of three classes:
 * 'ŭtiyíņ', who removed, by sucking, the foreign object that caused disease;
 * 'náchǔlna', who cured illness caused by woodland creatures; and
 * 'chģhályiśh', who were not healers at all but the restored victims of the diminutive "outside people", possessing the faculty of foreseeing the future in dreams.

The ŭtiyíņ became medicine men by instruction, not by supernatural agencies. The two other classes acquired their power solely through dreams. When the old men of a village deemed it advisable to have a new ŭtiyíņ or "sucking doctor", either because of the death of some of the shamans or because of their waning power, the active and the retired shamans selected a promising young man. With his consent, they took him away from the village to a solitary place in the hills. The one who had been selected to be his instructor and "father" would pray and instruct the young man in the secrets of the medicine men.

When a medicine man was summoned, any others of that profession who happened to be nearby could come and observe. If the medicine man first called upon could not effect a cure, he would ask the assistance of another. While engaged in his work, a shaman would beseech the unnamed powers for help, naming the various mountains of the region and asking the spirits resident there to assist him. He would also call on Nághai-cho, and occasionally on Chénĕśh.

Education
The Laytonville Ranchería is served by the Laytonville Unified School District.

Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber put the 1770 population of the Kato at 500. Sherburne F. Cook estimated the pre-contact populations of the Kato at 1,100. James E. Myers thought the total might be 500.

title: Cahto


text:
Viy (story)

"Viy" (Вий, ), also translated as "The Viy", is a horror novella by the writer Nikolai Gogol, first published in volume 2 of his collection of tales entitled Mirgorod (1835).

Despite an author's note alluding to folklore, the title character is generally conceded to be wholly Gogol's invention.

Plot summary
Students at Bratsky Monastery in Kiev break for summer vacation. The impoverished students must find food and lodging along their journey home. They stray from the high road at the sight of a farmstead, hoping its cottagers would provide them.

A group of three, the kleptomaniac theologian Khalyava, the merry-making philosopher Khoma Brut, and the younger-aged rhetorician Tiberiy Gorobets, attracted by a false target of wheat fields suggesting a nearby village, must walk extra distance before finally reaching a farm with two cottages, as night drew near. An old woman begrudgingly lodges the three travelers separately.

At night, the woman calls on Khoma, and begins grabbing at him. This is no amorous embrace; the flashy-eyed woman leaps on his back and rides him like a horse. When she broom-whips him, his legs begin to motion beyond his control. He sees the black forest part before them, and realizes she is a witch (ведьма, ved'ma). He is strangely envisioning himself galloping over the surface of a glass-mirror like sea: he sees his own reflection in it, and the grass grows deep underneath; he bears witness to a sensually naked water-nymph (rusalka).

By chanting prayers and exorcisms, he slows himself down, and his vision is back to seeing ordinary grass. He now throws off the witch, and rides on her back instead. He picks up a piece of log, and beats her. The older woman collapses, and transforms into a beautiful girl with "long, pointy eyelashes".

Later, rumour circulates that a Cossack chief (sotnik )'s daughter was found crawling home, beaten near death, her last wish being for Khoma the seminary student to come pray for her at her deathbed, and for three successive nights after she dies.

Khoma learns of this from the seminary's rector who orders him to go. Khoma wants to flee, but the bribed rector is in league with the Cossack henchmen, who are already waiting with the kibitka wagon to transport him.

 * At the Cossack community

The Cossack chief Yavtukh (nicknamed Kovtun) explains that his daughter expired before she finished revealing how she knew Khoma; at any rate he swears horrible vengeance upon her killer. Khoma turns sympathetic, and swears to discharge his duty (hoping for a handsome reward), but the chief's dead daughter turns out to be the witch he had fatally beaten.

The Cossacks start relating stories about comrades, revealing all sorts of terrible exploits by the chief's daughter, who they know is a witch. One comrade was charmed by her, ridden like a horse, and did not survive long; another had his infant child's blood sucked out at the throat, and his wife killed by the blue necrotic witch who growled like a dog. Inexhaustible episodes about the witch-daughter follow.

The first night, Khoma is escorted to the gloomy church to hold vigil alone with the girl's body. Just as he wonders if it may come alive, the girl is reanimated and walks towards him. Frightened, Khoma draws a magic circle of protection around himself, and she is unable to cross the line. She turns cadaverously blue, and reenters her coffin making it fly around wildly, but the barrier holds until the rooster crows.

The next night, he draws the magic circle again and recites prayer, which render him invisible, and she is seen clawing at empty space. The witch summons unseen, winged demons and monsters, that bang and rattle and screech at the windows and door from the outside, trying to enter. He endures until the rooster's crow. He is brought back, and the people notice half his hair had turned gray.

Khoma's attempted escape into the brambles fails. The third and most terrifying night, the winged "unclean powers" (, nechistaya sila) are all audibly darting around him, and the witch-corpse calls on these spirits to bring the Viy, the one who can see everything. The squat Viy is hairy with an iron face, bespattered all over with black earth, its limbs like fibrous roots. The Viy orders its long-dangling eyelids reaching the floor to be lifted so it can see. Khoma, despite his warning instinct, cannot resist the temptation to watch. The Viy is able to see Khoma's whereabouts, the spirits all attack, and Khoma falls dead. The cock crows, but this is already its second morning call, and the "gnomes" who are unable to flee get trapped forever in the church, which eventually becomes overgrown by weeds and trees.

The story ends with Khoma's two friends commenting on his death and how it was his lot in life to die in such a way, agreeing that if his courage held he would have survived.

Analysis
Scholars attempting to identify elements from folklore tradition represent perhaps the largest group.

Others seek to reconstruct how Gogol may have put together the pieces from (Russian translations of) European literary works. There is also a contingent of religious interpretation present, but also a considerable number of scholars delving in psychology-based interpretation, Freudian and Jungian.

Folkloric sources
Among scholars delving into the folkloric aspects of the novella, Viktor P. Petrov tries to match individual motifs in the plot with folktales from Afanasyev's collection or elsewhere.

Viacheslav V. Ivanov's studies concentrate on the Viy creature named in the title, and the themes of death and vision associated around it; Ivanov also undertakes a broader comparative analysis which references non-Slavic traditions as well.

Hans-Jörg Uther classified the story of "Viy", by Gogol, as Aarne–Thompson–Uther tale type ATU 307, "The Princess in the Coffin".

The witch
The witch (ведьма, ved'ma or панночка, pannochka) who attempts to ride her would-be husband is echoed in Ukrainian (or Russian) folktale.

The Malorussian folktale translated as "The Soldier's Midnight Watch", set in Kiev, was identified as a parallel in this respect by its translator, W. R. S. Ralston (1873); it was taken from Afanasyev's collection and the Russian original bore no special title, except "Stories about Witches", variant c.

The "Vid'ma ta vid'mak" (Відьма та видьмак), another tale or version from Ukraine, also features a "ride" of similar nature according to (1893)'s study of Gogol; this tale was edited by Drahomanov.

A listing of a number of folktales exhibiting parallels on this, as well as other motifs, was given by Viktor Petrov (pen names V. Domontovych) and paraphrase of it can be found in Frederik C. Driessen's study (avail. in English translation).

Viy
Gogol insisted in his author's note that Viy (Вий) was the name given to the "chief of the gnomes" (нача́льник гно́мов, nachál'nik gnómov) by the "Little Russians" (Ukrainians).

However, given that the gnome is not a part of native Ukrainian folklore, or of Eastern Slavonic lore in general,  the viy has come to be considered a product of Gogol's own imagination rather than a figure of folklore.

The fact that the word viy itself shows little sign of existing in the region's folklore record is an additional plain reason for the critical skepticism. Thus the consensus opinion of modern commentators is that Gogol invented the viy, and they regard the viy as a literary device, and so forth.

In the past, people have assumed that the viy had been a part of genuine Malorussian (Ukrainian) lore. For instance, Scottish folklorist Charlotte Dempster, writing in 1888, mentions the "vie" of Little Russia in passing, and floats the idea of a phonetic similarity to the vough or vaugh of the Scottish Highlands. Ralston suggested that Viy was known to the Serbians, but clarification as to any attestation is wanting.

There is a tantalizing claim that an acquaintance of Gogol, Aleksandra Osipovna Rosset (later Smirnova) wrote c. 1830 that she heard a Viy-tale from a nurse, but this informant's reliability has been questioned, as well as her actual authorship at such a date, So the story was probably something Smirnova had heard or read from Gogol, but reshuffled as a remote past memory.

Heavy-eyebrow motif
The witch's husband in the Russian folk-tale "Ivan Bykovich" (Ivan the Bull's Son), needed to have his eyebrows and eyelashes lifted with a "pitchfork". The aforementioned Viacheslav V. Ivanov (1971) is credited, in modern times, with drawing the parallel between Gogol's viy and the witch's husband, called the "old, old man" or "Old Oldster" (staryĭ starik). However, this was perhaps anticipated by Ralston, who stated that the witch-husband ("Aged One") bore a physical resemblance to what, he claimed, the Serbians called a "Vy", though he did not address any resemblance with Gogol's viy directly.

There also exists an old folk-tradition surrounding Saint Cassian the Unmerciful (Касьян Немилостливый), who was said in some tales to have eyebrows that descended to his knees and which were raised only on Leap Year. Some scholars believe that the concept of Viy may have been at least partially based on Saint Cassian, as it is likely that Gogol had heard about the character and designed Viy on the basis of his various forms.

Psychological interpretations
Hugh McLean (1958) is a noted example of a psychological study of this novella; he identifies the running motif of sexual fulfillment resulting in punishment in this Gogol collection, so that when the student Khoma engages in the ride of the witch, "an obviously sexual act", death is meted out as punishment. A supplementary understanding of this schema using Lacanian analysis is undertaken by Romanchuk (2009), where Khoma's resistance using prayer is an enactment of his perversion, defined as Perversion is "a wish for a father's Law that reveals its absence". McLean's analysis was poorly received by Soviet scholars at the time.

Due to the psychosexual nature of the central plot, namely Khoma's killing of the witch and her subsequent transformation into a beautiful girl, the novella has become open to various psychoanalytical (Freudian) interpretations, thus the attempt by some, to interpret Khoma's strife with the witch in terms of Oedipal desires and carnal relations with the mother.
 * Psychoanalysis

Viy was proclaimed "the image of an inexorable father who comes to avenge his son's incest", in a comment near the end given without underlying reasoning, by Driessen (1965). This was modified to "a condensation of the [witch] who was ravished by [Khoma] Brut and the sotnik/father who has vowed to take revenge against the ravisher of his daughter" by Rancour-Laferriere (1978), though Rancour-Laferriere's approach has been characterized as "an interesting extreme" elsewhere.

 * Vision

Leon Stilman has stayed clear of such psychoanalytic interpretations, and opted to take the eye motif as symbolic of Gogol's own quest for gaining visionary power (an "absolute vision" or "all-seeing eye"). However, his study is still characterized as "psychosexual" in some quarters.

 * Viy and the witch's eye

The close relationship between the witch and the Viy has been suggested, based on the similarity of her long eyelashes with the Viy's long eyelids. The Ukrainian word viy glossed as 'eyelid' incorrectly, has been connected with a hypothetical viya or viia meaning 'eyelash'.

Further proposed etymology entwines connection with the word vuy (Ukr. 'maternal uncle'), suggested by This establishes the blood relationship between the two for some commentators.

Adaptations

 * Viy (1909 film), silent film adaptation by Vasily Goncharov. The film is lost.
 * Viy (1967 film), a faithful Soviet adaptation by Georgi Kropachyov, Konstantin Yershov, and Aleksandr Ptushko.
 * A Holy Place (1990 film), a Serbian (Yugoslav) horror film based on the story.
 * Viy (1996 animated short) ‘Вій’ by Leonid Zarubin, Alla Grachyova
 * The Power of Fear (2006 film), a Russian horror film very loosely based on the story.
 * Evil Spirit; VIY (2008 film), a South Korean horror film by Park Jin-seong based on the story.
 * Viy (2014 film), internationally known as Forbidden Empire, and in the UK as Forbidden Kingdom. A Russian dark fantasy film by Oleg Stepchenko very loosely based on the story. A young, British map maker stumbles onto a rural Transylvanian town steeped in the myth.
 * Gogol. Viy, 2018 film, serialized for TV as Gogol (film series); Viy is episode 6

Several other works draw on the short story:
 * Mario Bava's film Black Sunday is loosely based on "Viy".
 * In the 1978 film Piranha, a camp counselor retells Viy's climactic identification of Khoma as a ghost story.
 * Russian heavy metal band Korrozia Metalla are believed to have recorded a demo tape in 1982 titled Vii, however, nothing about the tape has surfaced.
 * In the adventure-platformer video game La-Mulana, Viy serves as the boss of the Inferno Cavern area.
 * In Catherynne M. Valente's novel Deathless, Viy is the Tsar of Death, a Grim Reaper-like figure who embodies gloom and decay in Russia.
 * In the mobile game Fate/Grand Order, Viy appears as Anastasia Nikolaevna's familiar and the source of her powers.

title: Viy (story)


text:
Talk:Venom

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