The story begins with a note that this manuscript was found inside a container, which was sold at an auction. The story's narrator is George Reuter Fischer, who was born on April 30, 1912, in Louisville, Kentucky. Fischer's father is a mason and stonecutter, who moves his family to Vulture's Roost, California near Hollywood. There, his father builds a mansion with strange stonecarvings. George, however, is troubled by strange dreams where he's in a tunnel as a blind worm-like being. In one of his nightmares, George realizes he's one of the monsters and, in another dream, he sees himself being eaten by those monsters. George eventually finds a way to prevent these dreams. During a hike with his son one afternoon, Fischer's father is killed after he suddenly falls off a cliff. Years later, when Fischer is attending Miskatonic University, he's forced to leave the college soon after due to a combination of factors including nervousness, homesickness, actual ailment, increased hours of sleep, and sleepwalking.