Charles Dexter Ward's wife enlists the help of a private detective to find out what her husband is up to in a remote cabin owned by his family for centuries. The　　husband is a chemical engineer and the smells from his experiments (and the delivery of what appear to be human remains at all hours) are beginning to arouse the　　attention of neighbors and local law enforcement officials. When the detective and wife find a diary of the husband's ancestor from 1771 and reports of gruesome　　murders in the area begin to surface they begin to suspect that some very unnatural experiments are being conducted in the old house. Based on an H.P. Lovecraft