Ahab Marsh is the main antagonist of August Derleth's Cthulhu Mythos short story "The Watcher from the Sky", part of Derleth's series The Trail of Cthulhu.
Biography[]
Ahab was a Deep One living in the underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei near Innsmouth, Massachusetts. The Deep Ones had a deal with Captain Obed Marsh of Innsmouth that they would provide Innsmouth with an endless supply of fish in return for Innsmouth adopting worship of Dagon, Hydra and Cthulhu and providing them with human sacrifices. In service of this deal, Obed formed the Esoteric Order of Dagon to rule over Innsmouth, abducting people from nearby towns and sacrificing them to the Deep Ones at Devil's Reef, writing their deaths off as accidental drowning. The Innsmouthers soon began breeding with the Deep Ones, producing hybrids who gradually evolved into Deep Ones and travelled to Y'ha-nthlei once their transformation was complete.
In 1928 the U.S. Federal government discovered the truth about Innsmouth and dynamited most of the town, forcibly disbanded the Esoteric Order of Dagon and torpedoed Devil's Reef. Unknown to them, the Deep Ones had survived and one ventured above the surface under the guise of an Innsmouther. He took the name "Ahab Marsh" and falsely claimed to be Obed's great-grandson, rebuilding Innsmouth and the Dagon cult. He began sacrificing outsiders who ventured too close to Innsmouth, particularly if they went near the Esoteric Order's hall or the Marsh gold refinery. Ahab, being a Deep One, was able to swim out to Devil's Reef to deliver the sacrifices to his brethren personally.
Ahab was finally stopped in 1940 when Andrew Phelan began investigating the resurgence of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. He was pursued by Deep Ones after attempting to investigate, but returned a few days later with his ally Abel Keane in disguise as Deep One hybrids. They followed Ahab down to the beach when he next brought the Deep Ones a sacrifice and saw from his footprints that he had webbed feet. Discerning the truth about Ahab, Phelan left Innsmouth, but returned with Keane that night to destroy Ahab. The two of them ensured Ahab would be alone and encircled the Marsh house with Elder Sign talismans to prevent Ahab from leaving before setting the house on fire. Ahab attempted to flee the house but was unable to cross the property line due to the Elder Sign and was caught in the flames. As he burned to death, Ahab's human guise was burned away, revealing him as a Deep One. The Innsmouthers covered up his death, claiming that the fire was caused accidentally when Ahab got drunk and knocked over a lantern.
