Lumley, William

   (1880–1960)

   Eccentric friend of HPL, born in New York City but residing most of his life in Buffalo, N.Y. In late 1935 HPL revised his “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” from a draft prepared by Lumley (the original draft was published in CryptNo. 10 [1982]: 21–25). HPL also revised Lumley’s “occasional bits of verse,” perhaps including “The Elder Thing” ( Fantasy Fan,January 1935). Lumley, a nearly illiterate would-be author, was occupied as a watchman for the Agrico Chemical Company in Buffalo for most of his career. An occultist, he claimed to have voyaged to various mysterious lands such as China and Nepal, and asserted that the myth-cycle written by HPL and his colleagues was based upon the truth. “We may thinkwe’re writing fiction, and may even (absurd thought!) disbelieve what we write, but at bottom we are telling the truth in spite of ourselves” ( SL4.271). He came in touch with HPL around 1931, and they seemed to remain in contact to the end of HPL’s life, but only a few of HPL’s letters to him survive.