The Thing on the Doorstep

The Thing on the Doorstep is a horror short story written by H. P. Lovecraft and originally published in 1937 in Weird Tales magazine.

The story is narrated in the first person by Daniel Upton, who has killed his friend Edward Derby. But with this story he wants to prove his innocence and demonstrate that he is not a murderer.

From the present, the story flashes back to the past as Upton narrates how he and Derby met. Their friendship came from their common interest in the occult, to which they devoted all their spare time.

But everything changes when Derby meets Asenath Waite at Miskatonic University. She also had an interest in the occult and her appearance in Derby's life will not be as positive as one might expect....