The Voice in the Night

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"The Voice in the Night"
Author William Hope Hodgson
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Science fiction, Horror
Published in Blue Book Magazine
Publication dateNovember 1907

"The Voice in the Night" is a short story by English writer William Hope Hodgson, first published in the November 1907 edition of Blue Book Magazine .

Contents

The story has been adapted a number of times, most prominently in the 1963 Japanese film Matango .

Weird fungi in the shape of animals or humans are a recurring theme in Hodgson's stories and novels; for example, in the novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" the survivors of a shipwreck come across tree-like plants that mimic (or, perhaps, have absorbed) birds and people.

Publication history

After its first outing, the story was reprinted numerous times: in collections of Hodgson's stories like Deep Waters , in more general anthologies like Beyond Time and Space , as well as in other publications like Twilight Zone Magazine . It also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's paperback anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV which appeared in several imprints, e.g. Simon and Schuster (1957); most recently by Amereon Ltd (January 2002) ISBN   0848819853

Plot synopsis

In this story, a schooner at sea ("becalmed in the Northern Pacific") is approached in the middle of "a dark, starless night" by a small rowboat. The passenger aboard the boat, who refuses to bring his boat close alongside and requests that the sailors on the schooner put away their lanterns, tells everyone a disturbing tale. Begging food for his fiancée, he receives some rations, floated to him in a wooden box. Later that same evening, he returns to report that his fiancée is grateful for the food, but will soon die, and he tells the sailors his full story.

He and his fiancée, aboard the ship Albatross, were abandoned by the ship's crew, who took the remaining lifeboats. After building a raft, they escaped from the sinking vessel and found an apparently abandoned ship in a nearby lagoon, covered with a fungus-like growth. They attempted to remove this growth from the living quarters but were unable to do so; it continued to spread, and so they returned to their raft. The nearby island was also covered with this growth, except for a narrow beach. Eventually, the man and his fiancee found the fungus growing on their skin and felt an uncontrollable urge to eat it. They discovered that other humans on the island have been entirely absorbed by the strange fungal growth.

As the man in the rowboat rows away, just as the sky is lightening, the narrator can dimly see a grotesquely misshapen figure in the rowboat, scarcely recognisable as human.

Adaptations

Film

The story has been filmed twice. The first and more faithful adaptation, under the title "Voice in the Night," was made as an episode of the television series Suspicion (1958). This was one of 10 episodes of Suspicion made by Shamley Productions, the company established by Alfred Hitchcock to produce his television series. It was directed by Arthur Hiller from a script by Stirling Silliphant. [1] It starred (in the order they were billed in the titles and credits) Barbara Rush, James Donald, Patrick Macnee, and James Coburn. [2]

The second filmed adaptation was the Japanese motion picture Matango (1963), shown on American television under the title Attack of the Mushroom People.

Episode 229 of the Japanese anime Naruto Shippuden , titled, "Eat or Die! Mushrooms from Hell!", is an adaptation of this story,[ citation needed ] in which mushrooms overtake the ship on which the team is sailing. Upon being eaten, the mushrooms sprout from the eater's skin and influence their actions.

Comics

The story acted as the springboard for the story "Forbidden Fruit" in The Haunt of Fear No. 9.

Doug Wheeler adapted the concept for his run on DC Comics' Swamp Thing , even naming the main villain Matango. [3] [4]

Similar works

"Gray Matter", a short story by Stephen King first published in the October 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift , is the story of a man who, having become reclusive after a work-related accident, drinks a bad can of beer and is ultimately overtaken by fungal growth from within.

John Brosnan's novel The Fungus from 1985 has a similar plot, in which mutated fungi destroy England, and those infected die or become mutated mushroom people, depending on which type of fungus has infected them.

Brian Lumley's short story "Fruiting Bodies", which won the British Fantasy Award in 1989, concerns a strange fungus that slowly destroys a town and ultimately consumes the bodies of the last remaining residents, but keeps their form. The story ends ominously as wood from the town has been harvested for use in homes across England, and the narrator has inhaled spores from the strange fungi. Lumley has named "The Voice in the Night" as one of his favourite stories. [5]

The concept of fungal symbiosis or assimilation of humans is also frequently found in the work of Jeff VanderMeer, especially in his "Ambergris" novels and short stories.

The same concept is used in the video game The Last of Us .

Related Research Articles

Mycology Branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi

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<i>Suspicion</i> (1941 film) 1941 American film by Alfred Hitchcock

Suspicion is a 1941 romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also features Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, and Leo G. Carroll. Suspicion is based on Francis Iles's novel Before the Fact (1932).

Brian Lumley

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Polypore group of fungi

Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypores are closely related to each other. Polypores are also called bracket fungi, and their woody fruiting bodies are called conks.

<i>Armillaria mellea</i> Species of fungus

Armillaria mellea, commonly known as honey fungus, is a basidiomycete fungus in the genus Armillaria. It is a plant pathogen and part of a cryptic species complex of closely related and morphologically similar species. It causes Armillaria root rot in many plant species and produces mushrooms around the base of trees it has infected. The symptoms of infection appear in the crowns of infected trees as discoloured foliage, reduced growth, dieback of the branches and death. The mushrooms are edible but some people may be intolerant to them. This species is capable of producing light via bioluminescence in its mycelium.

Lingzhi (mushroom) Species of fungus

Lingzhi, Ganoderma lingzhi, also known as reishi, is a polypore fungus belonging to the genus Ganoderma.

Dermatophytes are a common label for a group of fungus of Arthrodermataceae that commonly causes skin disease in animals and humans. Traditionally, these anamorphic mold genera are: Microsporum, Epidermophyton and Trichophyton. There are about 40 species in these three genera. Species capable of reproducing sexually belong in the teleomorphic genus Arthroderma, of the Ascomycota. As of 2019 a total of nine genera are identified and new phylogenetic taxonomy has been proposed.

<i>Matango</i>

Matango (マタンゴ) is a 1963 Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film stars Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. It is partially based on William H. Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night" and is about a group of castaways on an island who are unwittingly altered by a local species of mutagenic mushrooms.

Sargasso Sea Stories are a group of short stories written by English author William Hope Hodgson's short stories which are set around the Sargasso Sea. They have been featured in various short story collections, including The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and Other Nautical Adventures: The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Volume 1. In his introduction to this volume, the editor Jeremy Lassen writes:

[These stories] are the kind of stories that helped Hodgson achieve commercial success. These stories were often published in the highest paying fiction markets of his day, and demonstrate his wide-ranging narrative talent... Today's readers of Hodgson may be more familiar with his stunningly original novels of cosmic vision, such as The House on the Borderland or The Night Land, but it is his narratives of the sea that first captured the attention of the reading public. Most importantly, however, it was in the weed-choked Sargasso Sea where Hodgson first began to explore unreality, and the borderlands of human existence.

Mycovirus


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Fungivore

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Fungus Biological kingdom, separate from plants and animals

A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms, those being Plantae, Animalia, Protozoa, and Chromista.

<i>Geastrum fornicatum</i>

Geastrum fornicatum, common name known as the acrobatic earthstar or the arched earthstar, is an inedible species of mushroom in the family Geastraceae. Like other earthstar mushrooms, the thick outer skin splits open at maturity to expose the spore sac to the elements; the specific epithet fornicatum refers to the arched shape of the rays which extend downwards to rest on the mycelial sac and elevate the spore sac.

<i>Suspicion</i> (American TV series)

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<i>Suillus brevipes</i> Species of edible fungus in the family Suillaceae found throughout North America

Suillus brevipes is a species of fungus in the family Suillaceae. First described by American mycologists in the late 19th century, it is commonly known as the stubby-stalk or the short-stemmed slippery Jack. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) produced by the fungus are characterized by a chocolate to reddish-brown cap covered with a sticky layer of slime, and a short whitish stipe that has neither a partial veil nor prominent, colored glandular dots. The cap can reach a diameter of about 10 cm (3.9 in), while the stipe is up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. Like other bolete mushrooms, S. brevipes produces spores in a vertically arranged layer of spongy tubes with openings that form a layer of small yellowish pores on the underside of the cap.

<i>Dendrocollybia</i> Genus of fungi in the family Tricholomataceae containing the single species Dendrocollybia racemosa

Dendrocollybia is a fungal genus in the family Tricholomataceae of the order Agaricales. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Dendrocollybia racemosa, commonly known as the branched Collybia or the branched shanklet. The somewhat rare species is found in the Northern Hemisphere, including the Pacific Northwest region of western North America, and Europe, where it is included in several Regional Red Lists. It usually grows on the decaying fruit bodies of other agarics—such as Lactarius and Russula—although the host mushrooms may be decayed to the point of being difficult to recognize.

<i>Panellus stipticus</i> Species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America

Panellus stipticus, commonly known as the bitter oyster, the astringent panus, the luminescent panellus, or the stiptic fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae, and the type species of the genus Panellus. A common and widely distributed species, it is found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, where it grows in groups or dense overlapping clusters on the logs, stumps, and trunks of deciduous trees, especially beech, oak, and birch. During the development of the fruit bodies, the mushrooms start out as tiny white knobs, which, over a period of one to three months, develop into fan- or kidney-shaped caps that measure up to 3 cm (1.2 in) broad. The caps are orange-yellow to brownish, and attached to the decaying wood by short stubby stalks that are connected off-center or on the side of the caps. The fungus was given its current scientific name in 1879, but has been known by many names since French mycologist Jean Bulliard first described it as Agaricus stypticus in 1783. Molecular phylogenetic analysis revealed P. stipticus to have a close genetic relationship with members of the genus Mycena.

Marine fungi Species of fungi that live in marine or estuarine environments

Marine fungi are species of fungi that live in marine or estuarine environments. They are not a taxonomic group, but share a common habitat. Obligate marine fungi grow exclusively in the marine habitat while wholly or sporadically submerged in sea water. Facultative marine fungi normally occupy terrestrial or freshwater habitats, but are capable of living or even sporulating in a marine habitat. About 444 species of marine fungi have been described, including seven genera and ten species of basidiomycetes, and 177 genera and 360 species of ascomycetes. The remainder of the marine fungi are chytrids and mitosporic or asexual fungi. Many species of marine fungi are known only from spores and it is likely a large number of species have yet to be discovered. In fact, it is thought that less than 1% of all marine fungal species have been described, due to difficulty in targeting marine fungal DNA and difficulties that arise in attempting to grow cultures of marine fungi. It is impracticable to culture many of these fungi, but their nature can be investigated by examining seawater samples and undertaking rDNA analysis of the fungal material found.

Human interactions with fungi

Human interactions with fungi include both beneficial uses, whether practical or symbolic, and harmful interactions such as when fungi damage crops, timber, or food.

References

  1. McCarty, John and Kelleher, Brian. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: An Illustrated Guide to the Ten-Year Television Career of the Master of Suspense. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1985. Pages 326–329. ISBN   9780312017118
  2. "Voice in the Night", Suspicion, National Broadcasting Company, 1958.
  3. Matango at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original )
  4. Lineage of the Elementals at Roots of the Swamp Thing
  5. "An Interview with Brian Lumley", by Robert M. Price, Nightscapes No. 5