Young Goodwife Doten

"Young Goodwife Doten" is a short story by American author Robert M. Price. It is an expansion on events referenced in Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-England Canaan, a fictional book which appeared in The Lurker at the Threshold.
== Synopsis ==
A young couple living near Arkham in what will one day become New England find that all of their attempts to have children result in stillbirth. In desperation they turn to a reclusive old woman who lives in the nearby woods, and is rumoured to possess arcane knowledge; after a visit to the woman, and coupling with what she believes to be an angel of heaven, the wife indeed becomes pregnant.
However, on the day of the birth the midwife runs in terror from the abomination which she sees brought into the world. It is quickly put to death, and the young couple burnt for witchcraft.
== Characters ==
* John Doten, a young farmer in the early days of American colonisation.
* Prudence Doten, John's wife.
* Goody Watkins, a worshipper of dark gods.
*Reverend Abijah Hoadley, a religious zealot with an apparently homicidal streak.
== Publication History ==
"Young Goodwife Doten" was first published in the 1995 anthology 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories. It was later included in Blasphemies & Revelations, a 2008 collection of Price's own works.
== Trivia ==
* The creature which impregnates Prudence recalls descriptions of the Black Man, an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
* The Reverend Abijah Hoadley made his first appearance in the opening chapter of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror."
Category:Robert M. Price works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works