Charles Dexter Ward's wife sought the help of a private detective to understand her husband's behavior in a remote hut owned by his family for centuries. The husband is a chemical engineer. His experimental smell (and what seems to be human remains at any time) began to attract the attention of neighbors and local law enforcement officials. When the detective and his wife found the diary of their husband's ancestors in 1771, and reports of the terrible murder in the area began to surface, they began to suspect that this old house was carrying out some very unnatural experiments. Based on H.P.Lovecraft