Pop Matters has an interesting article about the unintended religious legacy of writer H.P. Lovecraft.
From the piece...
In his lifetime, some people were already finding religious inspiration from Lovecraft’s literary work. He wrote in a 1933 letter that the author William Lumley believed that Lovecraft and his literary pals who used his pseudomythology were “genuine agents of unseen Powers in distributing hints too dark and profound for human conception or comprehension.” Lovecraft recognized the dilemma that he had become an unwitting oracle with some humor: “Bill tells me that he has fully identified my Cthulhu & Nyarlathotep … so that he can tell me more about ‘em than I know myself.” The irony was not lost on Lovecraft. In fact, it confirmed his views that people fall for some of the most absurd religious beliefs: even from his own pen! Nevertheless, this was a portentous moment. Lovecraft’s religious seed had been spilled.
Since William Lumley, the people finding a religious message in Lovecraft have slowly proliferated. It is a very dark, though ironically appealing message for many. The beginnings of the occult fascination with Lovecraft may be attributable to the number of forged Necronomicons, purporting to be the actual book that Lovecraft mentions in his fiction, that were forged as early as the 1940s and sold to unsuspecting seekers. The Simon Necronomicon (1977) is but the most popular of many predecessors. But it was not until the 1970s that Lovecraft’s fate as an unbeknownst prophet, one who made contributions to a recognized religion, was solidified by the notorious, but often misunderstood Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan.
As a brief aside, Selections from H.P. Lovecraft's Brief Tenure as a Whitman's Sampler Copywriter.
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