At the Mountains of Madness

by H.P. Lovecraft

At last we had encountered an outpost of the great unknown continent and its cryptic world of frozen death.

Thenceforward the ten of us - but the student Danforth and myself above all others - were to face a hideously amplified world of lurking horrors which nothing can erase from our emotions, and which we would refrain from sharing with mankind in general if we could.

I could not help feeling that they were evil things - mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss.

The doubts and horrors around us - which we did not reveal - made us wish only to escape from this austral world of desolation and brooding madness as swiftly as we could.

If not dissuaded, they will get to the innermost nucleus of the Antarctic and melt and bore till they bring up that which we know may end the world.

So I must break through all reticences at last - even about that ultimate, nameless thing beyond the mountains of madness.