I have overlooked the 100th anniversary of the real-life earthquake that brought the fictional (we hope) Cthulhu Island to the surface of the South Pacific Ocean. It happened this past weekend, February 28-March 1, 2025. The earthquake struck at 9:23:30 p.m. on February 28, 1925, off the coast of Maine. In the South Pacific, it was March 1, and at coordinates 47° 9′ South, 126° 43′ West, Cthulhu's undersea crypt, on the island known as R'lyeh, was thrust up from the ocean floor. If I have calculated correctly, it was a little before 1 o'clock in the morning local time that R'lyeh bubbled up from the depths.
The Cthulhu crisis culminated on March 23, 1925, when the crew of the Emma encountered--and were slaughtered by--the Great Green Fiend from another world. Second Mate Gustaf Johansen fled. Once on board ship again, he drove the Emma into Cthulhu, cleaving him like a sunfish. Johansen escaped, only to be murdered later on by some Cthulhu cultists. Johansen's act was one of desperation and survival. But maybe we can stretch things a little and say that he acted heroically, as did, we hope to say, other characters in "The Call of Cthulhu." That's more than can be said of weird-fictional characters of today, who are either unheroic or downright reprehensible in their actions. Anyway, Happy Anniversary, Earthquake and R'lyeh!
(By the way, singer and band member David Johansen died on February 28, 2025. We send condolences to his friends and family. It's sad, so sad, that so many people so prominent in the culture of the 1960s and '70s have died and that those times are so rapidly fading from memory.)
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| The location of R'lyeh (at the crosshairs), about halfway between New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego. |
Text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley
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