The monstrous tentacles in the image are a nod to the Cthulhu Mythos of the “father of American horror writing,” H.P. Lovecraft; the fictional town of Innsmouth appears in his novella, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”
(It should be noted that Lovecraft was a confirmed racist, misogynist, and antisemite. Later enthusiasts have salvaged the framework of his phenomenal world-building and created stories and other work with better principles.)
From Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos:
The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name “Cthulhu” derives from the central creature in Lovecraft’s seminal short story “The Call of Cthulhu“, first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928.[1]
From Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth:
[The novella] forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures, and invocations.
Lovecraft’s world is kept alive not only by many writers and in the popular imagination, but also by specialized retailers. My favorite is the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (https://www.hplhs.org/), which has a wealth of Lovecraft-themed material, from original movies and radio plays based on his work to books and props for role-play gaming. For a number of years they had a “Secret Shoggoth” gift exchange during the holiday season, similar to a Secret Santa exchange, with gifts inspired by Lovecraftian material. (Shoggoths are nightmarish creatures featured in several of Lovecraft’s works.) I participated several times and it was great fun!
This image is from holiday card titled “A Surprise for the Holidays” from the company Alternate Histories. You can buy it as part of a Holiday Scenes Greeting Cards Holiday Pack for $20.00 at https://alternatehistories.com/products/holiday-scenes-greeting-cards-variety-pack.
