The Terrible Old Man, Written January 28, 1920, published July 1921 in The Tryout, 7, No. 4, 10–14 by H. P. Lovecraft Text copied from the Wikisource. Below, a Spoken Word Version. It was the design of Angelo Ricci and Joe Czanek and Manuel Silva to call on the Terrible Old Man. This old man dwells all alone in a very ancient house on Water Street near the sea, and is reputed to be both exceedingly rich and exceedingly feeble; which forms a situation very attractive to men of the profession of Messrs. Ricci, Czanek, and Silva, for that profession was nothing less dignified than robbery.