"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924. The story tells of an American named Delapore, who restores an ancestral estate in rural England following the death of his son in the First World War. Unfortunately, and to the dismay of his neighbours, Delapore—with the exception of his cat—isn't the priory's only occupant...