SOURCE: "The Beast of Averoigne" by Clark Ashton Smith (Weird Tales, May 1933)

DESCRIPTION: "Then, with terror ineffable, Gerome beheld the thing to which the light clung like a hellish nimbus, moving as it moved, and revealing dimly the black abomination of head and limbs that were not those of any creature wrought by God. The horror stood erect, rising to more than the height of a tall man; and it swayed like a great serpent, and its members undulated, bending like heated wax. The flat black head was thrust forward on a snakish neck. The eyes, small and lidless, glowing like coals from a wizard's brazier, were set low and near together in a noseless face above the serrate gleaming of such teeth as might belong to a giant bat..."

NOTES: The Beast of Averoigne is actually an alien thaty travels from planet to planet in a comet. The Beast was able to hide inside the body of human during the day, but took its own form by night. A wizard named Luc le Chaudronnier killed it by releasing an ancient demon to fight it.

HISTORY: The title of this story and its setting are probably inspired by the real-life story of the Beast of Gevauden. The alien in this story always reminds me of the spidery creatures from the Alien films.

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