If you want to understand why modern horror feels the way it does, you have to look at a Welsh writer who died decades before Stephen King was even born. Honestly, most people who love horror movies have never heard of Arthur Machen. That’s a shame. His 1904 story, The White People, is basically the "final boss" of weird fiction. It’s dense. It’s confusing. It’s genuinely deeply upsetting in a way that slasher films just can't touch.
It doesn't rely on jump scares. Instead, it uses a diary. A young girl’s diary.
The Frame Narrative That Changes Everything
The story starts with two men, Ambrose and Cotgrave, sitting around having a chat about the nature of evil. It’s a very "gentlemanly" setup. Ambrose argues that true sin isn't just breaking laws or being mean; it’s an attempt to take heaven by storm. It’s an intrusion into another world. To prove his point, he pulls out a "Green Book." This is the diary of a young girl who stumbled into something she shouldn't have.
This is where Machen gets brilliant.
The diary isn't written like a Victorian novel. It’s stream-of-consciousness. It’s frantic. The girl—we never even learn her name—describes her life in the English countryside, but she’s seeing things that aren't there. Or rather, she’s seeing things that are there, but that we’ve trained ourselves to ignore. She talks about "Nymphs" and "Dols" and "Alala." She mentions a ceremony called the "Aklo letters."
If those terms sound familiar, it's because H.P. Lovecraft stole them.
Lovecraft called The White People one of the greatest horror stories ever written. He wasn't exaggerating. The power of the story comes from what it doesn't explain. What are the White People? Are they fairies? Demons? Extradimensional entities? Machen never tells you. He just lets you feel the girl’s slow descent into a reality that is far older and far more dangerous than our own.
Why The White People Still Hits Hard in 2026
We live in an era of "folk horror." Think Midsommar or The Witch. All of those films owe a massive debt to Arthur Machen. He pioneered the idea that the landscape itself is haunted—not by ghosts of dead people, but by the memory of things that existed before humanity.
✨ Don't miss: Who was the voice of Yoda? The real story behind the Jedi Master
The girl in the story is being "educated" by her nurse. This nurse isn't teaching her how to sew or play the piano. She's teaching her how to find the "hidden places."
There’s this one passage where the girl finds a white statue in the woods. It’s beautiful, but it’s wrong. She feels a "burning" sensation. She starts to lose her grip on what is "good" and what is "evil." That’s the core of Machen’s philosophy. He believed that the world we see is just a thin veil. Behind it is a chaotic, shimmering, and terrifying reality.
It’s about the loss of innocence, but not in the way we usually mean. It's the loss of the "human" perspective.
Decoding the Folklore of Arthur Machen
Machen was obsessed with his home in Gwent, Wales. He grew up surrounded by Roman ruins and dark forests. You can feel that geography in every line of The White People. He didn't view the countryside as a peaceful retreat. To him, it was a graveyard of dead gods.
The Concept of Sin as a Creative Act
Most people think of sin as "doing bad things." Ambrose, the character who introduces the diary, disagrees. He thinks most "sinners" are just pathetic people with bad impulses.
- True sin is a miracle.
- It is an effort to gain a "forbidden" knowledge.
- It is the ecstasy of the occult.
The girl in the diary isn't "evil" in a way we’d recognize. She’s just curious. She follows the "little people" into the hills because they seem more real than the boring world of tea and biscuits. This is why the story is so effective; it makes the supernatural feel like a temptation rather than a threat. You want to see what she sees, even though you know it will destroy her.
The Influence on Cosmic Horror
It’s impossible to talk about this story without mentioning its legacy. Without The White People, there is no Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft was deeply moved by the idea of "The Great God Pan" (another Machen masterpiece) and the "Green Book" diary.
🔗 Read more: Not the Nine O'Clock News: Why the Satirical Giant Still Matters
Machen introduced the idea that certain words—like "Aklo"—could actually change your brain. This "linguistic horror" is a huge part of modern weird fiction. Authors like Ramsey Campbell and T.E.D. Klein have spent their entire careers trying to replicate the atmosphere Machen created in just a few dozen pages. Klein’s famous novella The Events at Poroth Farm is essentially a modern riff on Machen’s themes.
How to Read The White People Without Getting Lost
Look, I’ll be honest. The first time you read the diary section, you’re going to be confused. Machen uses long, rambling sentences. He omits punctuation. He jumps from a story about a "poisoned water" to a story about a "woman in a white dress" without any warning.
Don't fight it.
The confusion is the point. You’re supposed to feel like you’re reading the private thoughts of someone who is no longer thinking like a human being. The "Green Book" is meant to be a document of a mind being rewritten by the supernatural.
Key Elements to Watch For:
- The Nurse: Pay attention to how she introduces the girl to "the play." It’s a slow grooming process into the occult.
- The Landscape: Notice how the hills and trees are described. They aren't scenery; they are characters.
- The Ending: It’s abrupt. It’s cold. It’s one of the most chilling final reveals in literature. Ambrose explains what happened to the girl after the diary ends, and it’s a gut-punch.
Machen was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society dedicated to the study of the occult. He knew the terminology. He knew the "feel" of ritual magic. This isn't someone guessing what a cult looks like; it’s someone who lived in those circles and decided to turn that atmosphere into fiction.
The Misconception of "Fairy Tales"
When the girl talks about fairies, she’s not talking about Tinkerbell. In Machen’s world, fairies are "The Little People"—vicious, ancient, and utterly non-human remnants of a pre-Celtic race. They are the "White People." They are pale because they live in the dark, under the earth, in the "hollow hills."
When she meets them, it’s not a magical adventure. It’s a tragedy.
💡 You might also like: New Movies in Theatre: What Most People Get Wrong About This Month's Picks
Actionable Insights for Fans of the Weird
If you’ve read the story and found yourself vibrating with a weird sort of dread, you’re not alone. Here is how to dive deeper into the world of Arthur Machen and the "weird" genre:
1. Read the "Trilogy" of Machen’s Best Work
Don’t stop at The White People. You need to read The Great God Pan and The Inmost Light. Together, these three stories form the foundation of British weird fiction. They all deal with the same theme: the "veil" between our world and something much darker.
2. Explore the Welsh Landscape
If you ever find yourself in the UK, visit the Wye Valley. This is "Machen Country." Seeing the actual hills and the Roman ruins at Caerleon makes the stories feel 100% more grounded in reality. You realize he wasn't just making it up; he was describing a place that actually feels "thin."
3. Check Out Modern Successors
If you like the "found document" aspect of the story, look into the "New Weird" movement. Authors like Jeff VanderMeer (Annihilation) and Caitlín R. Kiernan use similar techniques. They focus on the "unknowability" of the threat.
4. Study the Golden Dawn Context
Understanding the history of the Golden Dawn—and other members like W.B. Yeats and Aleister Crowley—gives Machen’s work a lot of weight. It helps you see that for Machen, this wasn't just "fantasy." It was a reflection of what he believed might actually be possible through ritual and focus.
Arthur Machen didn't write for everyone. He wrote for the people who look at a dark forest and feel a shiver that isn't from the wind. The White People remains the gold standard for that feeling. It’s a story that stays with you, tucked in the back of your mind, making you wonder what might be happening in the woods behind your house when no one is looking.
To fully appreciate the text, find a version that preserves Machen's original, erratic punctuation in the diary section. Many modern "cleaned-up" editions ruin the pacing. The raw, breathless quality of the girl’s writing is exactly what makes the horror feel authentic. Seek out an edition from a publisher like Tartarus Press or Penguin Classics that respects the original 1904 formatting.