The Fog Horn

"The Fog Horn" is a 1951 science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, the first in his collection The Golden Apples of the Sun.

The plot follows Johnny, the protagonist and narrator, and his boss, McDunn, who are putting in a night's work at a remote lighthouse in late November.

McDunn and Johnny turn off the fog horn, and in a rage, the monster destroys the lighthouse before retreating to the sea.

[1] Bradbury says that the idea for the story came from seeing the ruins of a demolished roller coaster on a Los Angeles-area beach.

He credits this story with earning him the attention of John Huston, who engaged Bradbury to write the screenplay for the 1956 film version of Moby Dick.

[2] Leonard Nimoy stated that this story was part of the inspiration behind the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.