The Tale of Toad Loop

"The Tale of Toad Loop" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by American author Stanley C. Sargent.
==Synopsis==
A man incarcerated in a sanatorium relates a tale from his youth. The story concerns the arrival in town of a man from Innsmouth named Mulltree who proceeds to buy up a parcel of land including Toad Loop, an area avoided by the townsfolk and feared by the natives. 
After Mulltree marries a local girl by the name of Pritchy and puts her in the family way, he is witnessed summoning forth a dark entity through the old shrine at Toad Loop, although the creature breaks free and devours him. 
The doctor called to look after Pritchy shoots himself after witnessing the being that she gives birth to, and the teller of the tale is driven insane when he ventures onto the farm to help her. 
==Characters==
*The Narrator, an unnamed man from Madlan County, currently residing in a mental institution.
*Mazrah Mulltree, a stranger from Innsmouth with a dark agenda.
*Pritchy Mulltree (née Kwik), a local girl who marries Mazrah.
*Steve Simmons, a rebellious young teenager.
*Doc Jefferys, the local physician.
*The Sheriff, the local lawman.
*Olivia "Oly" Johnson, a local woman hired to care for Pritchy.
*Toadaggwa, or Tsathoggua, a Great Old One.
==Publication History==
First featuring in the online zine Nightscapes in January 1998, "The Tale of Toad Loop" was later included in the first edition of sporadic horror magazine Dark Legacy. It has since appeared in a number of anthologies including Ancient Exhumations and Ancient Exhumations +2, Eldritch Blue: Love & Sex in the Cthulhu Mythos and The Tsathoggua Cycle: Terror Tales of the Toad God.
==Trivia==
*"The Tale of Toad Loop" is dedicated to American author Robert Bloch.
Category:Stanley C. Sargent works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works