The Haunter of the Dark

The story (which is based on the diaries of its protagonist) is set in Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft's hometown and a favourite locale for his fiction. The protagonist, Robert Blake - a young man with an interest in the occult (he is a writer of weird stories and a painter of fantastic paintings) - becomes fascinated by a large disused church set on Federal Hill in Providence's west - the Italian and migrant quarter - which he can see from his lodgings in Providence's Upper East side. His researches reveal that the church has a sinister history involving a cult called the Church of Starry Wisdom and is dreaded by the local inhabitants as being haunted by a primeval evil.