The Dreams in the Witch House
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"The absolute heart of HPL's myth [...] what most rabid Lovecraftians continue to call, almost in spite of themselves, the 'great texts'." - Michel Houellebecq. Walter Gilman, a student of mathematics and folklore at Miskatonic University, rents an attic room in the "Witch House", a house in Arkham, Massachusetts that is rumored to be cursed. The house once harboured Keziah Mason, an accused witch who disappeared mysteriously from a Salem jail in 1692. Gilman discovers that, for the better part of two centuries, many of the attic's occupants have died prematurely. The dimensions of Gilman's attic room are unusual and seem to conform to a kind of unearthly geometry. Gilman theorizes that the structure can enable travel from one plane or dimension to another. Gilman begins experiencing bizarre dreams in which he seems to float without physical form through an otherworldly space of unearthly geometry and indescribable colors and sounds ... "The Dreams in the Witch House" is part of the Cthulhu Mythos cycle. And was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.
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1 primary book19 released booksDark Adventure Radio Theatre
Dark Adventure Radio Theatre is a 19-book series with 19 released primary work first released in 1923 with contributions by H. P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft, and Keith Herber.
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I got highs and lows from this short story. The really enjoyable bits were the narration of the protagonist's hypersensitive ears as well as the imagination-vs-reality contrasting and rationalisation. The suspense was definitely there as it keeps you guessing just what's going to happen. And in typical Lovecraft fashion, the narration was from the Gilman's (protagonist) perspective, except for the final bits.
The plot was a bit slow, but I guess it was meant to build suspense, since it draws in the perspectives and reactions of the people around Gilman. One of the bits I didn't like was when Gilman was experiencing his “dream” states - the descriptions of these were just too surreal and not very well done, resulting in difficulty to picture things. Another slightly unrealistic bit, just to nitpick, was why didn't it occur to Gilman to just move out; it wasn't as if he was unsuspecting that something weird is going on.
Still, I enjoyed it, just like I enjoyed the rest. The “monsters” in this one were a bit closer to home and much smaller in scale, bringing a different kind of eerie.
