Character guide

Charles Dexter Ward

major

Also known as Charles Ward, Ward, young Charles Ward, young Ward, Charles

Charles Dexter Ward is the only son of a wealthy Providence family, a gifted, meticulous boy whose antiquarian enthusiasms his parents indulged until his health and habits began to change. His genealogical digging into the family's colonial past carries him from graveyards and archives into something far older and hungrier, and the strain shows in his pallor, his secrecy, and his nights away from home. His slow estrangement from the ordinary world is the engine of the book's dread.

Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett

major

Also known as Dr. Willett, Willett, Marinus Bicknell Willett, Simon Orne

Dr. Marinus Bicknell Willett has attended the Wards for decades, which gives him both intimate knowledge of Charles and standing to challenge the specialists who dismiss the boy as merely mad. Where the alienists see pathology, Willett suspects something with intention behind it, and his stubborn, methodical skepticism becomes the story's chief instrument of investigation. He is the reader's surrogate: a rational man walking deliberately toward evidence he will not be able to unsee.

Theodore Ward

supporting

Also known as Mr. Ward, the senior Ward, the elder Ward, Dear Theodore

Theodore Ward presides over a comfortable Providence household and a family name he assumes is unremarkable, until his son's researches begin to disturb the house's peace and his wife's sleep. He is not a man of occult curiosity; he is a father trying to decide how much of his son's strangeness is illness, how much is defiance, and how much is something he would rather not understand. His reluctant consent to institutionalize Charles opens the novel and frames its central grief.

Joseph Curwen

major

Also known as Curwen, Joseph, Jos. Curwen, old Joseph Curwen

Joseph Curwen was a wealthy, reclusive eighteenth-century Providence figure whose long life, strange cargo, and nocturnal habits made him the subject of whispered legend and, eventually, of a conspiracy among his neighbors. He pursued a specific and terrible branch of learning — the raising of the dead from their essential salts — and he did not intend to be finished by mere mortality. His papers, his grave, and his reputation are the buried inheritance that Charles Dexter Ward goes looking for, and finds.

Dr. Allen

supporting

Also known as Allen, the bearded and spectacled Dr. Allen, the absent Dr. Allen

Dr. Allen appears in Charles Ward's life as a medical man of vague credentials, present at the bungalow, consulted by telephone, and never quite where he is expected to be. His voice unsettles those who hear it, and his comings and goings track the worst turns of Charles's decline. He is the human face of whatever has attached itself to the young antiquarian, and the question of what he actually is drives the middle chapters.

Ezra Weeden

supporting

Also known as young Ezra Weeden, Weeden

Ezra Weeden belongs to a Pawtuxet family with a colonial-era legend attached to its name, and his grave is rifled with deliberate, splintering malice during the worst of the disturbances. The nocturnal howling near the river and the vampirism reports cluster around the same ground his family has occupied for generations. He is the link between the eighteenth-century conspiracy against Curwen and the twentieth-century horrors unfolding in the same place.

Mrs. Ward

minor

Also known as Ward

Charles's mother, who suffers from the strain of her son's mysterious transformation.

Captain Abraham Whipple

minor

Also known as Captain Whipple, robust old Captain Whipple, poor old Whipple

An old sea captain who provides information about Curwen's past activities.

Eleazar Smith

minor

Also known as Smith, the Smith

A former associate of Joseph Curwen who left behind revealing documents.

Luke Fenner

minor

Also known as Fenner, Luke, the Fenner

A local man who witnessed strange events at Curwen's farm.

John Merritt

minor

Also known as Mr. Merritt, Merritt, good Mr. Merritt

A merchant who had dealings with Joseph Curwen in the 18th century.

Edward Hutchinson

minor

Also known as Hutchinson, Mr. Hutchinson

A Salem man who was involved with Simon Orne and Joseph Curwen.

Simon Orne

minor

Also known as Orne, Simon O., Simon O.—Simon Orne

A Salem sorcerer and associate of Joseph Curwen who vanished in 1771.

Ann Tillinghast

minor

Also known as Ann, Tillinghast, Ann Tillinghast Potter, Hannah

An old servant who remembers strange occurrences at the Curwen farm.

Captain Dutie Tillinghast

minor

Also known as Dutie Tillinghast, Captain Tillinghast

A sea captain who transported mysterious cargo for Joseph Curwen.

Robert Hart

minor

Also known as Hart

A sailor who reported seeing Curwen's ship engaged in suspicious activities.

Captain James Mathewson

minor

Also known as Captain Mathewson

Captain of the Enterprise who vouched for a witness against Curwen.

Dr. Jabez Bowen

minor

Also known as old Dr. Jabez Bowen, Dr. Bowen

An 18th-century physician who treated Curwen's victims.

Eliza Curwen

minor

Also known as Mrs. Eliza, Mrs. Eliza Curwen, Eliza

Joseph Curwen's wife, who lived in fear of her husband.

Eliza Tillinghast

minor

Also known as Miss Eliza Tillinghast

A relative of the Tillinghast family who knew of Curwen's deeds.

Dr. Waite

minor

Also known as Waite

A physician consulted about Charles's deteriorating mental state.

Dr. Lyman

minor

Also known as Lyman

A doctor who examined Charles during his confinement.

John Carter

minor

Also known as John

A historical figure mentioned in Curwen's correspondence.

President Manning

minor

President of Rhode Island College who knew of Curwen's activities.

Old Asa

minor

Also known as old Asa

An elderly local who recalled stories about Joseph Curwen.

Barnabas

minor

A servant or associate of Joseph Curwen mentioned in records.

Borellus

minor

An alchemist whose works were studied by Joseph Curwen.

Moses Brown

minor

Also known as Moses

A prominent Rhode Island merchant who opposed Curwen's activities.

Captain Eseh Hopkins

minor

Also known as Captain Hopkins

A sea captain who transported goods for Joseph Curwen.

Epenetus Olney

minor

A local resident who witnessed strange events at Curwen's farm.