The horror elements of the tale are terrifying and very dark: witch’s Sabbaths, black books and child sacrifice, all told in a very effective and convincing way as only Lovecraft can do.
I also like the hints of how Keziah used her secrets culled from ancient tracts, like the Necronomicon, to find a way to escape Salem Gaol during the infamous Witch Trials of 1692. Then there is the all too familiar xenophobia creeping in with Lovecraft’s descriptions of the Polish immigrants, who are portrayed as brutish and uncouth.Įven so, I got a kick out of some of the scenes where Gilman sees Keziah and Brown Jenkin in the outer spheres either as weird geometrical congeries of bubbles and polyhedrons hinting at their earthly forms or when they are seen outright making cryptic hand gestures to guide Gilman to the desired portals into the dream dimensions. Also, he introduces elements that don’t really pay off, like the mention of the Elder Things which goes nowhere or even the Black Man of the Witches (an avatar of Nyarlathotep) who never makes a proper appearance and is only glimpsed furtively running around with the witch, Keziah Mason, and her familiar Brown Jenkin. Lovecraft gets so technical and oblique in his descriptions of Walter Gilman’s night-time sojourns that it gets a bit distracting. Lovecraft mixes Gothic Horror with really high brow Sci Fi.
I’ll admit that it is imperfect, but it is also admirable in it’s scope. Lovecraft‘s The Dreams in the Witch-House is actually one of my favorite of his latter tales. “The Dreams in the Witch House” first appeared in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.Īlthough often dismissed by critics, H.P.
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