Beyond the Veil

I'm slowly making my way through The Souls of Black Folk, and a great big idea for a short story whomped me over the head after I read DuBois' piece on going back to Tennessee to catch up on the families he'd met while he was teaching up in the hills.

Hmm. Educated man heads to rural area cut off from 'civilization'... encounters weirdness and resistance from the locals... a young girl dies... he gets out, but is irrevocably changed and haunted by his experiences...

Sounds like the basis for a Lovecraftian tale to me.

The trick will be creating the right type of Mythosy horror for young DuBois to brush up against, and to retroactively inform the rest of his life. The metaphors have to be perfect.