The Terrible Old Man was written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1920. The story follows a set of 3 criminals who come to the town of Kingsport to rob an old man who is rumored to have a sizeable wealth of gold coins. What the criminals don't know, due to their unfamiliarity with the region, is that the locals stay away from the old man and his house due to some... odd practices that they have noticed about him.