British fantasy author William Hope Hodgson wrote the supernatural horror book The House on the Borderland in 1908. The book is a hallucinogenic description of a recluse's stay in a rural location and his encounters with paranormal beings and ethereal realms. Two men are taken aback when they come upon a peculiar abyss while on a two-week fishing trip in secluded western Ireland. They discover ruins and a journal buried in them on a rock spur above this hole. They read the journal. The journal's author describes himself as an elderly guy who has long resided in a historic building. A few months later, awful man-sized monsters with dead-white skin attack the House after emerging from a nearby Pit. Strong and intelligent, the Swine-Things are unable to enter; after a night and day during which the Recluse kills several of them, they vanish. He waits several days before leaving the House with Pepper to seek the previous gardens outside because he is scared of the dangerous monsters. The story closes with the guy in his study seeing the beast enter the Cellar through the trap door. After recovering from reading the journal, the two guys resume fishing without attempting to return to the terrifying abyss.