THE TRANSITION OF JUAN ROMERO

Episode #442 · Written by H. P. Lovecraft · Narrated by Scott Miller

In a remote desert mine, something ancient and impossible awakens beneath the earth—pulling one man toward a fate no human mind can endure.

The Transition of Juan Romero is one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most overlooked stories, written in 1919 but unpublished until decades after his death. Set in a deep mining operation in the desert Southwest, the tale follows a strange and sudden event that occurs far below ground: a tremor, a sound no one can describe, and the disappearance of a quiet laborer named Juan Romero.

The story is less about what is seen and more about what is felt—a creeping cosmic pull, a sense that the world is not solid beneath our feet, and that forces far older than mankind still move in the dark. Even in this early work, Lovecraft was already exploring the themes that would define his career: forbidden knowledge, unseen dimensions, and the smallness of humanity in a vast and alien universe.

While brief, the tale is atmospheric and unnerving, with a mystery that is never fully explained—because in Lovecraft’s world, the truth is not only unknown, but unknowable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) is often credited as the father of modern cosmic horror. His fiction introduced the idea that the universe is vast, indifferent, and filled with ancient beings beyond comprehension. Though largely unknown in his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century horror and science fiction.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to The Transition of Juan Romero by H. P. Lovecraft — a strange and unsettling descent into the unknown.

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