The red fetish

by Frank Belknap Long

"The Red Fetish" by Frank Belknap Long, Jr. is a horror short story that was published in the early 1930s. It delves into themes of survival and the primal instinct in a desperate situation. The narrative unfolds on a deserted island, where two men find themselves battling starvation, fear, and each other in a chilling exploration of the human psyche under stress. In the story, Bill Cullen and Wellington Van Wyck are left stranded on an isolated island, facing an overwhelming thirst and the lurking fear of cannibals. Bill's physical strength diminishes, while Van Wyck's cowardice exacerbates their dire predicament. As their desperation escalates, they propose a dangerous swim to find safety, only to encounter not only the threat of cannibals but also man-eating sharks. The narrative takes a darker turn when Van Wyck meets a gruesome fate at the jaws of a shark, leading Bill into the clutches of the cannibals, who, surprisingly, thank him for a mysterious object that had come ashore before him. The story culminates in madness as Bill, horrified by the fate of his companion and his own predicament, becomes part of the very culture he feared.