The Spider Man
[comments:(0), views:(3153), rating:(0.0)]

Author: Steve Hatherley
Homepage: http://www.flar.demon.co.uk/terror/welcome.htm
System: Call of Cthulhu
Type: Hook
Category: Horror
Requirements:

The Spider Man
Steve Hatherley

        He is their least favourite patient. Everybody, even 
arachnophiles, find the presence of so many spiders disturbing. They 
are everywhere in the barren room: on the floor, walls and ceiling. 
They infest his bed, scamper across his clothes, and stalk through 
his hair.
        They are ignored by the patient, known to the staff of the 
Seaview Home for the Insane as 'the spider-man'. He sits on his chair, 
head cocked to one side, staring blankly at nothing.  He does not 
speak and needs to be hand-fed, not a popular task among the staff.
        The spiders have defeated all attempts to shift them. Steely 
nerved cleaners used to periodically clean the room, but each time 
they were back within a week. Now they just don't bother. Besides, the 
spider-man does not seem to mind.

Possibilities
1       Blown off course by a severe storm, the crew of a capsized 
tramp steamer found themselves cast on a pacific island inhabited by 
natives belonging to a spider cult.
        In the months that followed, those that weren't killed lost 
their sanity. Eventually, the cult elected one of the crew to godhood, 
sacred for the rest of eternity. They cast him adrift in the lifeboat 
to take the word to the masses, quite unaware that his mind was 
utterly blank.
        The man was picked up by a warship, pronounced insane, and 
committed to Seaview. There he has attracted the attention of the 
local spider population. He is their god, and they like being around 
him.

2       The spider-man is host to the Children of Atlach-Nacha, huge 
spiders with horrible faces. While exploring the Dreamlands he 
stumbled across Atlach-Nacha and her web. Atlach-Nacha welcomed the 
interruption, happily taking the opportunity to inject her young into 
a suitable host.
        He awoke in screaming terror. If it was only a dream, why did 
he hurt so? Then he saw the neat puncture marks in his abdomen, and 
felt their presence. It shattered his mind.
        Now the spiders are waiting for the joyous day when Atlach-
Nacha's brood will hatch from his rich flesh. For beneath the spider-
man's tender skin they slowly mature, soon to hatch.

3       The spiders are all one species. The spider-man has been 
cross-breeding them. His listless, blank periods are interspersed with 
activity when he is permitted to go into the gardens and catch spiders 
for his room. There he is breeding a new species.
        The spider-man was once a fine entomologist, fascinated by 
socially organised insects and puzzled over the lack of such order in 
spiders. The only survivor from an expedition to Gharne that went 
tragically wrong, he is now conducting his own experiments and trying 
to create a new arachnoid order.

Copyright (c) 1990 Steve Hatherley
steve@flar.demon.co.uk