"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. Written in January/February 1932, it was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales. Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... Cthulhu Mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated writers. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. ... See also: 1931 in literature, other events of 1932, 1933 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1932 in literature, other events of 1933, 1934 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ...

Inspiration

An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia says that "The Dreams in the Witch House" was "heavily influenced by [Nathaniel] Hawthorne's unfinished novel Septimius Felton".^[1] Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrated in an 1870 publication. ...

Reaction

August Derleth's negative reaction to the unpublished story was conveyed by Lovecraft to another correspondent: "Derleth didn't say it was unsalable; in fact, he rather thought it would sell. He said it was a poor story, which is an entirely different and much more lamentably important thing."^[2] Lovecraft responded to Derleth: "[Y]our reaction to my poor "Dreams in the Witch House" is, in kind, about what I expected--although I hardly thought the miserable mess was quite as bad as you found it.... The whole incident shows me that my fictional days are probably over."^[3] To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Thus discouraged, Lovecraft refused to submit the story for publication anywhere; without Lovecraft's knowledge, Derleth later submitted it to Weird Tales, which indeed accepted it.^[4]

Many later critics have shared Derleth's view. Lin Carter calls the story "a minor effort" that "remains singularly one-dimensional, curiously unsatisfying."^[5] Peter Cannon says that "most critics agree" that "Dreams" ranks with "The Thing on the Doorstep" as "the poorest of Lovecraft's later tales."^[6] Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 - February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia complains that "[w]hile the tale contains vividly cosmic vistas of hyperspace, HPL does not appear to have thought out the details of the plot satisfactorily.... It seems as if HPL were aiming merely for a succession of startling images without bothering to fuse them into a logical sequence."^[7] Scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope depicting the inside of a starship entering hyperspace. ...

Synopsis

Walter Gilman, a student of mathematics and folklore at Miskatonic University, takes a room in the Witch House, a house in Arkham thought to be accursed. The first part of the story is an account of the history of the house, which has once harboured Keziah Mason, an accused witch who disappeared mysteriously from a Salem gaol in 1692. Gilman discovers that for the better part of two centuries many if not most of its occupants have died prematurely. Euclid, a famous Greek mathematician known as the father of geometry, is shown here in detail from The School of Athens by Raphael. ... Folklore is the body of verbal expressive culture, including tales, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs current among a particular population, comprising the oral tradition of that culture, subculture, or group. ... Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in the equally fictitious Arkham, Massachusetts. ... Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts. ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ... Settled: 1626 â€“ Incorporated: 1626 Zip Code(s): 01970 â€“ Area Code(s): 351 / 978 Official website: http://www. ...

The dimensions of Gilman's room in the house are unusual, and seem to conform to a kind of unearthly geometry that Gilman theorizes can enable travel from one plane or dimension to another. In his dreams Gilman is taken to a city of Lovecraft's "Elder Things", and even brings back tangible evidence that he's actually been there. Several times his dreaming self encounters a bizarre "congeries (agglomeration) of iridescent, prolately spheriodal bubbles," as well as a trapezoid, which may be the forms of Keziah and Brown Jenkin, respectively. Table of Geometry, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Dreaming is the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, thoughts or sensations during sleep, usually involuntarily. ... Elder Things are fictional characters in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ...

Of much more direct concern, however, are Gilman's nightly dream sojourns with the old hag Keziah Mason and her rat-bodied, human-faced familiar Brown Jenkin, sojourns which he increasingly believes are actually happening in the real world. One night, along with this duo and the infamous "Black Man", Gilman is an unwilling dream participant in the kidnapping of a baby. He awakes to find mud on his shoe and news of the kidnapping in the newspaper. In witchcraft, a familiar spirit, commonly called familiar (from Middle English familiar, related to family) is a spirit who obeys a witch, conjurer, etc. ... Nyarlathotep (the Crawling Chaos) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. ...

On May Eve (Walpurgis Night), Gilman dreams that he thwarts Keziah from sacrificing the baby, only to have it killed by Brown Jenkin. Coming back to wakefulness in this plane, Gilman hears an unearthly cosmic sound that leaves him deaf. The next morning, Gilman is found dead in his room in the Witch House, a hole burrowed through his chest and his heart eaten out. Walpurgis Night in Sweden Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht in German and Dutch, Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish, Vappu in Finnish, Volbriöö in Estonian, Valpurgijos naktis in Lithuanian,Valpurģu nakts or Valpurģi in Latvian, čarodějnice or Valpuržina noc in Czech, chódotypalenje Lower Sorbian, chodojtypalenje in Upper Sorbian, and... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ... The word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. ...

The landlord then abandons the house completely, and when it is finally demolished years later, a space between the walls is found filled with children's bones, a sacrificial knife, and a bowl made of some metal that scientists are unable to identify. A strange stone statuette of a star-headed "Elder Thing" is also found, and these items go on display in the Miskatonic University museum, where they continue to mystify scholars. Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...

Characters

Walter Gilman

Walter Gilman, formerly of Haverhill, Massachusetts, came to Miskatonic to study "non-Euclidean calculus and quantum physics", which he linked to the "fantastic legends of elder magic". He is troubled by mental tension brought on by studying too hard, and at one point is forbidden by his professors to further consult Miskatonic's collection of rare books, including the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon and Unaussprechlichen Kulten.^[8] Seal of Haverhill, MA Haverhill is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts. ... The Necronomicon is the title of a fictional text in the works of American fantasy/horror author H.P. Lovecraft and other writers in the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ... Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... Unaussprechlichen Kulten (the name was supposed to mean nameless cults in German, but really translates as unspeakable/unutterable cults) is a fictitious book, said to be written by Friedrich von Junzt. ...

Keziah Mason

Keziah Mason was an old woman of Arkham who was arrested as part of the Salem witch trials of 1692. In her testimony to Judge John Hathorne, she had spoken of "lines and curves that could be made to point out directions leading through the walls of space to other spaces beyond.... She had spoken also of the Black Man, of her oath, and of her new secret name of Nahab." She later disappeared mysteriously from Salem Gaol, leaving behind "curves and angles smeared on the grey stone walls with some red, sticky fluid" that were inexplicable even to Cotton Mather. Gilman comes to suspect that Mason--"a mediocre old woman of the Seventeenth Century"--had developed "an insight into mathematical depths perhaps beyond the utmost modern delvings of Planck, Heisenberg, Einstein, and de Sitter." 1876 illustration of the courtroom; the central figure is usually identified as Mary Walcott The Salem witch trials, which began in 1692 (also known as the Salem witch hunt and the Salem witchcraft episode), resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in both Salem Village and Salem... John Hathorne (August 5, 1641 - May 10, 1717) was one of the associate magistrates in the Salem witch trials, and later, the only one not to repent of his actions. ... Cotton Mather (1663–1728) circa 1700 Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728). ... This article is about Planck, the German physicist. ... Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. ... Einstein redirects here. ... Willem de Sitter (May 6, 1872 – November 20, 1934) was a mathematician, physicist and astronomer. ...

Mason is described as having a "bent back, long nose, and shrivelled chin", She wears an expression "of hideous malevolence and exultation", and has a "croaking voice". She dresses in "shapeless brown garments".

Critics have noted with some surprise that Mason is "struck with panic" at the sight of a crucifix.^[9] A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in Košice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus. ...

Brown Jenkin

Brown Jenkin, Mason's familiar, is "a small white-fanged furry thing", "no larger than a good-sized rat", which for years haunts the witch house and Arkham in general, "nuzzl[ing] people curiously in the black hours before dawn". The creature is described: In witchcraft, a familiar spirit, commonly called familiar (from Middle English familiar, related to family) is a spirit who obeys a witch, conjurer, etc. ... Arkham is a fictional city in Massachusetts. ...

Witnesses said it had long hair and the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old Keziah and the devil, and was nursed on the witch's blood, which it sucked like a vampire. Its voice was a kind of loathsome titter, and it could speak all languages.

The Black Man

In his dreams, Gilman is introduced by Mason to

a figure he had never seen before--a tall, lean man of dead black colouration but without the slightest sign of negroid features: wholly devoid of either hair or beard, and wearing as his only garment a shapeless robe of some heavy black fabric. His feet were indistinguishable because of the table and bench, but he must have been shod, since there was a clicking whenever he changed position. The man did not speak, and bore no trace of expression on his small, regular features. He merely pointed to a book of prodigious size which lay open on the table....

This character is later identified as "the immemorial figure of the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers--the 'Black Man' of the witch-cult, and the 'Nyarlathotep' of the Necronomicon." There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Nyarlathotep (the Crawling Chaos) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. ... The Necronomicon is the title of a fictional text in the works of American fantasy/horror author H.P. Lovecraft and other writers in the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ...

Notes

1. ^ S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 107.
2. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters Vol. 4, p. 91; cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 76.
3. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, letter to August Derleth, June 6, 1932; cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 76.
4. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 76.
5. ^ Lin Carter, Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos, p. 92.
6. ^ Peter Cannon, "Introduction", More Annotated Lovecraft, p. 9.
7. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 76.
8. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dreams in the Witch House", At the Mountains of Madness, p. 263.
9. ^ Price, The Azathoth Cycle, p. xii.