The Necronomicon: Table of Contents
The Necronomicon could truly look like any other book; both because of its mystical properties, and because of the allegedly strenuous lengths men have gone to over the years to keep its existence clandestine. In some instances, the book is a hidden manuscript, quite the epitome of dank, musty Gothic manuscript, furrowed away in the deepest bowels of a lunatic elderly relative’s cellar. Or, the Necronomicon could be a clean, leatherbound book with an innocuous title, such as a definitive guide to bird watching, though hidden in the deepest archives of the Library of Congress, or any other university.
One example is in the novella, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, where a main character browses through a large book titled “Qanoon-e-Islam” from Joseph Curwen’s bookshelf, only to discover that it is the Necronomicon. Its appearance may be that of the classically musty, and over sized decrepit Gothic book, or the clean, leatherbound reference book that looks more like an old journal. However, the film series, Evil Dead, claimed that the true Necronomicon, or “Book of the Dead” was, bound in human skin, and penned in human blood.
The Necronomicon is infamous for its passages on resurrection, –reanimating the dead, or the spirits of the damned, rituals to invoke demons, and to bring nightmare figures from Hell to Earth. Others claim the contents also include the proper rituals for worshipping the Lovecraftian gods, such as Cthulu. The most famous passage from the Necronomicon is:
“That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
