When Obed and his followers were arrested, the Deep Ones attacked the town and killed more than half of its population, leaving the survivors with no other choice than to continue Obed's practices.

When hard times fell on the town, Obed established a cult called the Esoteric Order of Dagon, which offered human sacrifices to the Deep Ones in exchange for wealth in the form of large fish hauls and unique jewelry. The narrator meets Zadok, who explains that an Innsmouth merchant named Obed Marsh discovered a race of fish-like humanoids known as the Deep Ones. The narrator hears repeatedly that outsiders are never welcomed in Innsmouth, and that strangers, particularly government investigators, have disappeared when they pry too deeply into the town. The narrator gathers much information from the clerk, including a map of the town and the name of Zadok Allen, an elderly local who might give him information when plied with drink. The only person in town who appears normal is a grocery store clerk from neighboring Arkham. The narrator finds Innsmouth to be a mostly deserted fishing town, full of dilapidated buildings and people who walk with a distinctive shambling gait and have 'queer narrow heads with flat noses and bulgy, stary eyes'.

While he waits for the bus that will take him to Innsmouth, he busies himself in the neighboring Newburyport by gathering information on the town from the locals all of it having superstitious overtones. He proceeds to describe in detail the events surrounding his initial interest in the town, which lies along the route of his tour across New England, taken when he was twenty-one. The narrator explains how he instigated a secret investigation of the ruined town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, by the U.S.

The shadow over innsmouth book