"The Trap" by H. P. Lovecraft / A HorrorBabble Production

[@coppullunketeer]

“You fool! Warren is dead!”, has developed within me quite the Pavlovian mental salivation response as I know I’m about to receive a very special bedtime treat…

[@randallbesch2424]

Too bad we never met Warren only of his final archeological dig with Randolph Carter.

[@nedwardnobqop6568]

>beat the ancient immortal wizard at his game of mirrors >use his powerful dimensional artifact as a paperweight

[@lugialover09]

Really happy you finally did this story. I discovered it a couple years ago, and I was fascinated to find that it actually had a pretty happy ending which is very uncommon with Lovecraft.

[@Kaori-fw6ie]

Your voice and manner of narration is so perfectly relaxing i find myself falling asleep before i even reach the halfway point of most of your videos. Thank you and apologies.

[@robertdeal410]

Oh shit!! An entire hour and cant wait till bedtime tonight. Really appreciate you giving us a full length story

[@lucasviselli8112]

Thank you for the entertainment

[@RustyDockLight]

Ikr? It's so good with a longer story I can get deeply into. Listening with lights off when I'm on the computer is magical

[@ShojoBakunyu]

It's amazing how many of HPL's stories are the direct basis for SO MANY books, films, and franchises I've encountered! This must be the inspiration for Oculas and the story of the empire under the mound is the inspiration for the Dark Eldar of Warhammer 40k.

[@radagast7200]

Stranger Things definitely helped to mainstream his genre over the last years. I think they leaned really heavily on his actual works as well, and it probably would have been better to actually address it.

[@c5365]

I really liked this one! SPOILERS BELOW: It really gets to the point without too much time-wasting, and it has a happy ending! Although, I have to question why that ninny wizard thought living forever trapped in mirror with nothing to do was a good idea...

[@randallbesch2424]

We would need to find out from the wizard himself.

[@hideousruin]

With the theme music, production, and of course your amazing narration - your channel stands head and shoulders above the rest of horror fiction YT. Classy would be the word, if I could only use one.

[@HorrorBabble]

Wow, thank you!

[@MrZooBreak]

Ian, you never fail to breathe life and excitement into the many well-crafted works you read. Lovecraft, of course, spins his yarns with consummate skill. This one is yet another where the final revelation accentuates an already satisfying listening experience. Plus, Warren is Dead!

[@Cantbuyathrill]

"HorrorBabble" What a great name!!! 😬🥹🫣😱🥶😵

[@daveharris555]

That was amazing!! Thanks HB.

[@francoisejohnson5492]

Love your Lovecraft readings he’s my favorite author. Welcome back and Happy new year!

[@ericwolff2700]

I was so happy when I discovered your channel, I have enjoyed reading lovecraft for years and you by far are the best voice for the book. I now find it impossible to listen to other people read the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

[@HorrorBabble]

Thanks for the kind words, Eric!

[@Nscladydarksideisamused]

​@@HorrorBabbleYOU are a treasure to many people

[@poison1vy]

Yaaasss! More Lovecraft! ♡♡ Thank you so much!! ♥︎♥︎

[@SixTough]

What an absolute gem of a story. Thank you

[@ginacardona549]

I am grateful for more H P lovecraft 😃

[@SkeletalCommissar]

I was so happy to see more lovecraft! Yay!

[@essen00cat]

Me too.Got to be read by Ian.I have listened to other narrators and Horror Babble is the go to brand for Lovecraft stories.

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

This is too wholesome, are we sure it is not one of Ian's stories?

[@HorrorBabble]

If only, Duchess!

[@jeffashley5512]

Never Enough Lovecraft!!!

[@AcornElectron]

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on Warren. Keep up the good work fella and stay safe.

[@ravenouscadaver8]

Youre my bloody savior, Ian. The Robertson Dean narration of the trap was just stricken from youtube. The trap is my favorite. Im currently working on adapting a short film screen play.

[@maunderjape8365]

Love the art once again.

[@colemarie9262]

Thank you, love this one!

[@donaldmccleary9015]

Excellent story and narration. I like how this had a happy but "reversed" ending, compared to many of Lovecraft's stories. I wonder which parts Whitehead did and which ones Lovecraft did? I like this story, and especially the relatively happy ending. Great job, as always! Keep them coming!

[@fredg.sanford634]

The wispy facial graphic reminded me of Malcolm McDowell's face on "A Clockwork Orange" posters from the '70s.

[@feralbluee]

Wow! really good story and, of course, a perfect reading. i was totally engrossed. i've been listening to so many stories for a second and sometimes a third time, just for the calmness of your voice, that i didn't think there were any new ones. i have been through a bout of "cabin fever", i mean, 10 months of this, ya know. whatever gets you through whatever! Thanks :)

[@janetcw9808]

Anyone else out there randomly holler 'YOU FOOL!! Warren is dead' whilst about their daily duties? 🤔 🤣 🤣. Warren (Warning To The Curious), where art thou? Good wishes everyone. Thanks so much Ian and Jen. Blessed Be Xxx 🙏🏼 ❤️ 🍀 🗺️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@czcrossman]

LOL I do that far more regularly than I should admit 😂

[@mbgocrazy]

Yeah I definitely do

[@evientually]

I yell it at my husband any hour of the day.

[@janetcw9808]

@@evientuallyAre we twins, separated at birth? 🤔 🤣

[@Eris123451]

Err, no not really.

[@itzybitzyspyder]

The Trap ~Admiral Akbar

[@Ivanhoe52]

I was thinking the other day; A mirror image of a mirror. Image within an image, within an image, within an image... all the way to infinity.

[@lisawhite-pagano3455]

I’d love to hear some good old fashioned ghost stories this winter!

[@Bakiniyorum]

Perfect times for listening to audiobooks.

[@Chaysjack0]

Good show, old boy!!!

[@HalfLord]

I'm glad to see you're managing to do well. Staying responsible and staying safe!

[@bookoftimes]

I love this stuff

[@scoutrifle6827]

HorrorBabble-killing it already in 2021!

[@robynmarler1951]

And that, your Honour, is the case for the defence. 😂

[@CPWebster]

superb.

[@sockrobot5]

More lovecraft!!! Yay!

[@dwellerofthedark]

Great story selection, excellent narration, and haunting artwork!

[@ShojoBakunyu]

The most unrealistic thing to me? "I must have dropped asleep instantly..." because for my experience I bet I'll encounter a soul sucking mirror LONG before I experience what it's like to immediately fall asleep! 🤣😂🤣

[@randallbesch2424]

It doesn't suck souls so much as draw them in to a special limbo. First season Lost in Space has a mirror prison too.

[@xabaya3294]

great story well told, thank you

[@sickshitzdoesitmatter5904]

Warren can't be dead ... everyone really liked him

[@randallbesch2424]

Tell that to the creature that killed him.

[@etinarcadiaego7424]

Just tuning in to check in on my good buddy Warren...WHAAAAT!?

[@wmnoffaith1]

You know, after I found out that spirits can enter mirrors, I got rid of all of the antique, secondhand mirrors I had, except one. I still have the antique vanity with nonremovable mirror from 1860 that belonged to my great grandmother; and it was this mirror I happened to catch a spirit popping it's head out of. I just hope it's a relative.

[@karenbanks5985]

It's warren

[@randallbesch2424]

You should see Sapphire and Steel the one concerning the Faceless Man is still chilling to me today.

[@blakmajk369]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@Rick.Fleischer]

"You fool! Warren is dead." I am embarrassed to admit how many stories I skipped because I thought they were the same one. I didn't remember the title; but I remembered the beginning. oops

[@HorrorBabble]

Ha!

[@randallbesch2424]

Remember that comment was said in a non-human voice.

[@randallbesch2424]

A fantastic trap that can be also a cage a holding prison. The aspects of its internal physics is fascinating. Did Whitehead or Lovecraft come up with it or some kind of collaboration?

[@reinisrunkulis2547]

22:47 If his motions where reversed as per mirror world, wouldn't his perception and intent over them also not be reversed, netting no difference in control over them, since they operate in the same spacetime?

[@doctorpretorious4196]

Excellent ! 🧟‍♀️ I just love a good yarn whilst waiting for the lightning ⚡️ to strike ! 😜🧠☠️

[@emanuelandersson8510]

LOVECRAFT ON A MONDAY? HELL YEAH

[@peterwall8191]

Loki's Glass? And the madman used it ? Anything to do with the trickster ,is to be distrusted. It never does what you think. 58:13 Disregard the whole sequence, from the internal organs trans-positioning, to the pockets and buttons of the clothing. It is a lie. The rest are plausible, this part is invention. Physical empirical proof needed, to satisfy the empiricist part of the writers ,or more likely the publisher. A lovely tale that grows with the listening. Second time around , i started noticing little details. Things that lead to my above statement. Someone blabbed to one or both of the writers, they took the core and run wild with it, as writers are wont to do. My thanks to all the HorrorBabble team. Your efforts are appreciated. Never doubt, you are valued.

[@feralbluee]

You're certainly right about Loki. I used to think he was just a funny trickster, but he really is not at all. Killed his brother, for crying out loud!!

[@peterwall8191]

@@feralbluee Loki is messed up. He's neither fish nor fowl, so he makes his own way. Fenrir the wolf destined to eat odin's heart, is his boy. Hel is his daughter. Wasn't she who brought the wyvern to Asgard? Almost lost ol' one eye then and there. The Nornes hate to be proven liars but, accidents happen just the same. Its one thing to pick a skein out of chaos and force it to prominence , quit another to actually control chaos.

[@Mi-yc3oy]

🥳 Happy 2021 all! 🎉🎉🥃

[@DemienC.]

Deja vu.... Haven't you already read something with mirror shenanigans?

[@zettaidullahan5913]

It was this story wasn't it?

[@DemienC.]

@@zettaidullahan5913 Sounded very familiar. Either I already heard this Lovecraft story somewhere else or I mistook it with Carnaki's The Haunting of Ravenglass (can be found at this channel).

[@julianhermanubis6800]

From the title, I knew this wasn't one of Lovecraft's own stories but one of his revision jobs for other authors. The title is just too...simple for Lovecraft. LOL

[@lugialover09]

Actually, a lot of Lovecraft's titles are rather simplistic. The Tomb, The White Ship, The Picture in the House, The Hound, The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, etc.

[@julianhermanubis6800]

@@lugialover09 True, but "The Trap" just doesn't sound like a title Lovecraft would've used. It's just too basic. It's the kind of unoriginal title a hack pulp writer would use, so, in other words, just like the author whose work Lovecraft was revising to make a quick buck.

[@lugialover09]

@@julianhermanubis6800 I dunno about that. I actually like the story. I think it's kinda interesting.

[@hideousruin]

@@lugialover09 Haha. Yep. I was just going to be a smart ass with "you mean like: 'The Mound?' "

[@hideousruin]

I love Lovecraft too bro, but in your enthusiasm you got this one dead wrong. There is nothing wrong with underselling a story btw. And sometimes brevity is simply more powerful ala "The Thing On The Doorstep." In the latter case the brevity only highlights the shock of the narrator's friend's fate.

[@mushroomGdog77]

this story remind me of one the Carnacki story the one that has the little boy trap in a mirror and Carnacki went in the mirror and walke out with the mising kid

[@fourthdrawerdown6297]

2021: Warren still dead. Tsk.

[@Eris123451]

Tsk.

[@howardhavardramberg333]

You fool!

[@DackRedd-q5z]

2023. Warren still dead

[@MahoneyBadger]

2024 here: Warren still dead.

[@karenbanks5985]

Warren is still dead, August 2024.

[@JamesMC04]

There go the "non-Euclidian mathematics" ! Waiting for the "blasphemous", "eldritch", "cyclopean". Spotted "palaeogean" though.

[@liamrobinson2084]

Also foetor, ichor, chtonic, Stygian, and something about madness!

[@danielvahnke3369]

@@liamrobinson2084 I killed my liver with the 'shudder' drinking game. Poor guy needed a thesaurus, then he could write 'The Saurus".

[@ClockworkChainsaw]

As someone who studied colour theory, it really irks me that they are saying that the opposite of yellow is blue. XD The opposite of yellow is purple, orange is the opposite of blue.

[@DemienC.]

Lovecraft wasn't... je ne sais quoi... scientific. He kept using "Non-Euclidean geometry" to describe weird structures, but it just geometry on non-plane surfaces. Triangle drawn on sphere is non-euclidean.

[@feralbluee]

@@DemienC. What??! triangle on a sphere is non-plane - so that is 3 dimensional . of course! a sphere isn't a circle. duh!. still don't quite get it though. but thanks ! :} Keep safe 🌷

[@Ivanhoe52]

Exactly! As an artist, when I heard this "blue complementary to yellow", I saw a giant red exclamation point in a triangle.

[@randallbesch2424]

@@DemienC. Lovecraft was scientific and science fiction too.

[@TheDeadmanTT]

Funny that. I also try to escape my problems by going to sleep. It’s not going well

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Lovecraft: It was on a certain thursday morning in december the whole thing began with that unaccountable motion i saw in my antique Copenhagen mirror … Me, in Copenhagen, on a thursday, owning a mirror: 😱

[@miskatonicalumni5612]

Any August Derleth tales?

[@randallbesch2424]

His best tales are not Lovecraft related.

[@prophetic0311]

I hope Warren is ok.

[@otterrivers3765]

"I felt as if it was pulling my finger into it". ....could this be the origin of "pull my finger"?... 👉🔍

[@EnDungeoned]

Didn't you already do this one?

[@theNuclearNixons]

Lovecraft always had an aversion to and health issues in cold climates.

[@randallbesch2424]

He got to feel the heat of Florida when he visited. He wasn't impressed with Lugosi as Dracula on the stage.

[@mandolemite]

Well I will not listen to, "Mirror, Mirror" by Dollar, or "Mirror in the Bathroom" by the Beat in quite the same way again!

[@JungleLeeLewis]

Question? Are you Implying that Us, the Audience, Are A "Randolph Carter". OF Sorts? SINCE, We continue on with the Adventure, EVERY TIME! Despite the Dire Warning of "Warren's DEAD!"...?? GLAD I have Some Fearsome Felines, In Close proximity!

[@randallbesch2424]

We also have no idea what killed him. The creature sounded vaguely human.

[@SBCBears]

Very much prefer the new intro.

[@cosmicgeologist]

ye olde wizard vr

[@unclesam1756]

The narration was good, but the story was really weak. It was pretty much just an excuse for Lovecraft to tell us his thoughts on what a mirror universe would be like. The characters and their limited interactions were almost an afterthought.

[@Rhobyn]

The Lovecraft collabs are often overblown as to how much he contributed. I've seen stories citing him as the main author where he really just did some editing.

[@feralbluee]

well, i liked the story! whether it's "the great Lovecraft" (whom i don't particularly always find good), or not. really enjoyed it!

[@randallbesch2424]

@@Rhobyn Lovecraft made what the Mound is as a story.

[@pattersonparkin5262]

Sorry to much waffle......