Yeah, and in a universe ruled by the Rule of Cool, people are occasionally raped to death by a giant undead albino gorilla on a motorcycle, because that certainly sounds cool to someone.
It's a part of the genre convention, and as such it must be regarded in context of its setting. In Lovecraft Universe, the uncarring universe is terrible to behold, and an old cowshed is creepy or outright vile. That doesn't mean that this is or is not a very realistc concept, or that it would make sense when you transfer it to the real world, but that is also true for almost every other fictional setting.

Besides, there is also another reason for why the mythos revelation is considered to be mind-shattering, but debating that one does not cope well with the forum's ban on religious debates.