Ralph Hoadley

Ralph Hoadley was a fisherman in Dunwich, England. Alistair hired Hoadley to take him out over Dunwich's drowned churches in the North Sea, churches that had largely been swept into the sea in the fourteenth century. ("Hoadley" was a name Alistair had found in Massachusetts.) During the trip, Alistair inquired about the rumors that it wasn't just storms that swept Dunwich into the sea, but Hoadley seemed reserved. When Alistair asked whether the name [Great Cthulhu was known in Dunwich, Hoadley allowed that it was known, but seldom spoken. Hoadley also shared the story about the divers who explored the churches a few years prior. They'd laughed at the name Cthulhu. One of them, a woman, was killed when a large octopus pulled her face plate off. (Alistair knew of the ill-fated dive, but had not known the person killed was a woman, or the specific circumstances of her death.)

When they reached the right spot, Hoadley turned off the engine, and Alistair began looking into the sea. He could see the remains of churches. Suddenly, the sound of church bell tolling came from beneath the water. After an initial expression of shock, Hoadley calmly went to sleep, and despite numerous efforts, Alistair could not wake him up. Thus, he did not see what Alistair saw, including a giant octopus in one of the churches. Once the octopus vanished, Hoadley abruptly woke up (he didn't appear to know he'd been asleep), and took Alistair back to the shore.