The Dunwich Horror and Whippoorwills as Psychopomps of the Dead?

Timing is everything when it comes to reading a story for the first time and yesterday in the 90th anniversary year of Lovecraft's story and in the Chinese 'Year of the Dog' (dogs play quite a part in this tale) I read 'The Dunwich Horror', where it is suggested that whippoorwills act as psychopomps for the dead.

'Tidelands' starring Chris Hemsworth's wife, Elsa Pataky was filmed on Stradbroke Island, which has a town named Dunwich on it, which is why I included the clip above about the Netflix series, and does have some synchromystic bearing on the rest of this post.

2018 is the Chinese 'Year of the Dog'

As I read about whippoorwills acting as psychopomps for the dead in 'The Dunwich Horror' I couldn't get the song 'My Blue Heaven' out of my head while I was reading the rest of the story.

"In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret; it charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies becoming one of the best selling singles of all time."

""The Dunwich Horror" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft.

Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales (pp. 481–508). 

It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts.

It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos."

Dunwich, Queensland, Australia

While Dunwich may be a fictional town in Lovecraft's story there is a real town named Dunwich right across the bay from the city where I live, that always creeped me out when the barge would drop us off and we passed through the town to drive to the other side of the island.
It was probably the site of the cemetery and its headstones, plus the tales of the madhouse that was located there many years ago that scared me as a kid.

An advert for Stradbroke Island and
surfing with Baker's story

North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia,
 the home to the town of Dunwich

The Six Degrees and Synchromysticism of Simon Baker?

The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum

"Dunwich /ˈdʌnɪtʃ/ which is known as Goompi by the traditional owners; the Quandamooka people, is a small town and locality on the western side of North Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia.

The town is part of the Redland City local government area, based on the mainland in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Cleveland.

Dunwich is one of three towns on North Stradbroke Island - the others being Amity Point and Point Lookout.

In the 2011 census, Dunwich had a population of 883 people.

Dunwich was named after the Suffolk village of Dunwich near to the Stradbroke Estate by Sir Ralph Darling on 16 July 1827, in honour of the family title (Viscount Dunwich) of the Earl of Stradbroke, father of Captain Henry John Rous RN, commander of HMS Rainbow, which carried Governor Darling to Moreton Bay and surveyed the immediate Dunwich area."

After reading 'The Dunwich Horror' I kept thinking wouldn't it be cool to hold a 'Dunwich Horror Film Festival' every year in the Dunwich Public Hall?-)
I'm actually half serious about the film festival, too.

Inside the Dunwich Public Hall

I hope that's not the Necronomicon they're
reading in the Dunwich Public Hall

Century-old halls have rich history

"There is something special about standing inside an old building and just listening; striving to hear echoes of the past as one imagines antique floors, walls and ceilings whispering secrets about the many people and events that have brought them life over the decades."

Concert in the Victoria Hall for the Dunwich inmates, 1909

Ironically, there is a sermon preached in the Dunwich church in Lovecraft's story about daemons and a few months back actor Matt Damon came through the town of Dunwich on Stradbroke Island to catch the barge back to Cleveland, after his surfing safari with his pal Chris Hemsworth.

Matt Damon as Loki in 'Dogma'

Paranormal Podcast 516: What Happens After We Die?

My Blues Heaven?-)

I don't think I'll ever be able to pass through the town of Dunwich on Stradbroke Island again without hearing 'My Blue Heaven' playing in my head.
And if some director ever plans on making a decent and faithful movie adaption of 'The Dunwich Horror', then maybe 'My Blue Heaven' should be that creepy song in the movie's soundtrack;-)

Cthulhu is Not Happy with Japan?