The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (Fantasy and Horror Classics) ; With a Dedication by George Henry Weiss

<p><strong>Some secrets are not meant to be resurrected.</strong></p><p>When the young cultured and highly promising Charles Dexter Ward abruptly vanishes from his prominent Providence family home the only evidence left behind is a trail of unsettling research and a baffling sinister change in his personality.</p><p>His worried doctor and family begin to piece together Ward's obsessive investigations into his own ancestry specifically his notorious 18th-century ancestor Joseph Curwen--a brilliant but reviled sorcerer who fled Salem to practice gruesome unspeakable rites in colonial Rhode Island.</p><p>As they delve deeper into Curwen's secrets they uncover a hidden laboratory cryptic alchemical notes and the disturbing truth about Curwen's death... and his ultimate goals. Ward hasn't just been studying history; he has discovered the dark terrifying method of reincarnation and necromancy.</p><p>The doctor soon realizes that Ward's disappearance is not a mystery of murder or madness but a chilling case of possession. He is forced to confront the impossible: is the man who returned to the Ward house truly Charles or is he a centuries-old sorcerer successfully resurrected and carrying on his gruesome immortal work?</p><p>H. P. Lovecraft's only full-length novel is a masterful blend of gothic horror historical mystery and his signature cosmic dread.<em>The Case of Charles Dexter Ward</em> is a terrifying tale of ancestry identity theft and the forbidden power that lies in knowing the final words of the dead.</p>