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The Dreams in the Witch House
This Halcyon Classics ebook is H.P. Lovecraft's classic occult tale of horror THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH-HOUSE.
The story follows Walter Gilman, who takes a room in the Witch House, an accursed house in Akham, Lovecraft's fictional New England town. The house once harbored Keziah Mason, an witch who disappeared mysteriously from a Salem jail in 1692. Gilman discovers that over the centuries most of its occupants have died prematurely. In his dreams while at the house, Gilman travels to the city of Elder Things and communes with the evil witch and her henchmen.
The story follows Walter Gilman, who takes a room in the Witch House, an accursed house in Akham, Lovecraft's fictional New England town. The house once harbored Keziah Mason, an witch who disappeared mysteriously from a Salem jail in 1692. Gilman discovers that over the centuries most of its occupants have died prematurely. In his dreams while at the house, Gilman travels to the city of Elder Things and communes with the evil witch and her henchmen.
Audiobook
First published January 1, 1933
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About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,111 books19.3k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 476 reviews
May 4, 2019
Objectively considered, this should have been a Lovecraft masterpiece. Unfortunately (as is often true of predictive analysis), the story itself didn’t turn out that way.
Here are the facts so you can decide for yourself. H.P. wrote “Dreams” in 1932, a few months after “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and more than halfway through his final decade of mature work, a period triggered by his failed marriage and fearful sojourn in New York and nourished by a return to his native Providence. Lovecraft’s artistic conception was certainly an ambitious one: to compose an account (not of interstellar but) of inter-dimensional visitation which the reader glimpses beneath the surface of the conventional panoply of New England witchcraft (evil crone, gothic mansion, furry familiar, “The Blackman,” etc.) Think of it! A horror for a new century! The union of Hawthorneian darkness and Einsteinian physics!
Sounds good, doesn’t? But like I said, it didn’t quite work out that way.
The problems began, I think, because H.P. thought of “planes” of existence as if they were geometric “planes,” and therefore, when describing the dreams of his protagonist Gilman—who initially explains his own visions as “a result, jointly, of his studies in mathematics and in folklore”—channeled Euclid when he should have been channeling Poe:
All the objects—organic and inorganic alike—were totally beyond description or even comprehension. Gilman sometimes compared the inorganic masses to prisms, labyrinths, clusters of cubes and planes, and Cyclopean buildings; and the organic things struck him variously as groups of bubbles, octopi, centipedes, living Hindoo idols, and intricate Arabesques roused into a kind of ophidian animation.This strikes me as amusing rather than terrifying. And things get worse:
Those organic entities whose motions seemed least flagrantly irrelevant and unmotivated were probably projections of life-forms from our own planet, including human beings. What the others were in their own dimensional sphere or spheres he dared not try to think. Two of the less irrelevantly moving things—a rather large congeries of iridescent, prolately spheroidal bubbles and a very much smaller polyhedron of unknown colours and rapidly shifting surface angles—seemed to take notice of him and follow him about or float ahead as he changed position among the titan prisms, labyrinths, cube-and-plane clusters, and quasi-buildings; and all the while the vague shrieking and roaring waxed louder and louder, as if approaching some monstrous climax of utterly unendurable intensity.I could offer more evidence, ladies and gentleman of the jury. But you get the idea.
Add to this the fact that the conventional witchcraft story is not of great interest in itself, and you are faced with a recipe for failure. (To be fair, though, I love that loathsome witch’s familiar, Brown Jenkin. Brown Jenkin gave me a few genuine chills. And what a wonderful name for a familiar!)
Lucky for us, though, that H.P., after a thorough contemplation of inter-dimensional horror, concluded that the most fruitful dimension for fictional exploration was time, aeon piled upon terrifying aeon, looming in the cosmic dark. Three years later, he would complete his meditative masterpiece, The Shadow out of Time.
October 4, 2018
I'm growing to appreciate HP Lovecraft's shorter works. In The Dreams of the Witch House, Lovecraft evokes both a nameless horror and moves the story at a decent pace. A general sense of foreboding dominates this story and it works here because there is a plot moving the story forward.
Unfortunately, while Lovecraft's ideas behind interdimensional horror which he introduces in the story are interesting, he isn't able to successfully pull that part off. His description seems forced and doesn't work with the tone of the story. Still, I enjoyed this story and liked how it concluded. 3.25 stars.
Unfortunately, while Lovecraft's ideas behind interdimensional horror which he introduces in the story are interesting, he isn't able to successfully pull that part off. His description seems forced and doesn't work with the tone of the story. Still, I enjoyed this story and liked how it concluded. 3.25 stars.
March 23, 2024
Arkham Horror!
While attending classes at Miskatonic University, in the ancient town of Arkham, New Hampshire, Walter Gilman learned about the evil witch Kezia Mason.
She was arrested for witchcraft by Cotton Mathers, but somehow escaped justice. She was never seen hide nor hair, again, except for maybe “periodic sightings” over the years, with visions of her familiar, Brown Jenkins.
Brown Jenkins was an ugly, bearded rat, with little human hands and long, sharp canines—like a dog’s. They traveled everywhere. If you saw one, then the other wasn’t far behind.
Gilman was so fascinated by the stories that he happily took lodgings in the old, derelict house that once belonged to Kezia Mason.
Some of the other lodgers shared horrific stories about Brown Jenkins and Kezia Mason. Their superstitious fear could not be controlled. But despite their efforts to spread their controversial instructions, Gilman ignored all advice.
He learned that, mathematically, Kezia Mason may still be, in another dimension, and if he could figure out the correct physical formula, he would recreate her abilities to exist, unaged, in another space and time.
His instructors were all impressed with his being the only one person who could understand the problem solving necessary to travel through dimensions, but they were unaware that Walter Gilman was suffering from nightmarish visitations from Kezia and the large, violent rat, Brown Jenkins.
Was he having troublesome dreams and nightmares? Or was he walking in his sleep? Was he being abducted by the evil witch and her familiar? Was he losing his mind at Miskatonic University in the town of Arkham?
Well, if you want to find out, you’ll have to read the book.
Four stars. ✨✨✨✨
While attending classes at Miskatonic University, in the ancient town of Arkham, New Hampshire, Walter Gilman learned about the evil witch Kezia Mason.
She was arrested for witchcraft by Cotton Mathers, but somehow escaped justice. She was never seen hide nor hair, again, except for maybe “periodic sightings” over the years, with visions of her familiar, Brown Jenkins.
Brown Jenkins was an ugly, bearded rat, with little human hands and long, sharp canines—like a dog’s. They traveled everywhere. If you saw one, then the other wasn’t far behind.
Gilman was so fascinated by the stories that he happily took lodgings in the old, derelict house that once belonged to Kezia Mason.
Some of the other lodgers shared horrific stories about Brown Jenkins and Kezia Mason. Their superstitious fear could not be controlled. But despite their efforts to spread their controversial instructions, Gilman ignored all advice.
He learned that, mathematically, Kezia Mason may still be, in another dimension, and if he could figure out the correct physical formula, he would recreate her abilities to exist, unaged, in another space and time.
His instructors were all impressed with his being the only one person who could understand the problem solving necessary to travel through dimensions, but they were unaware that Walter Gilman was suffering from nightmarish visitations from Kezia and the large, violent rat, Brown Jenkins.
Was he having troublesome dreams and nightmares? Or was he walking in his sleep? Was he being abducted by the evil witch and her familiar? Was he losing his mind at Miskatonic University in the town of Arkham?
Well, if you want to find out, you’ll have to read the book.
Four stars. ✨✨✨✨
July 17, 2019
Wow, what a spooky story! Walter Gilman, a student, lodges together with 3 other persons in a haunted house. It was Keziah Mason's home who vanished from her cell in the shape of a rat before her witch trial in Salem. Gilman is starting to have strange dreams about bizarre towns, the witch and a mysterious rat with human features (Brown Jenkin). He starts to sleep-walk and the situation gets more threatening day by day. When a little boy is kidnapped by a mysterious Black Man and the witch the story climbs to a peak. Can Gilman safe the child and kill the witch? It's a tale full of dreams, you hear about The Necronomicon and Innsmouth, also the old ones are mentioned (Azathoth). At the end you hear about the further history of this sinister house and what was found when it was demolished. Another Lovecraft at his very best story. It really scared the hell out of me. Witch, Black Man and Brown Jenkin were incredibly frighening. This story will haunt you in your dreams! Absolutely recommended!
March 12, 2020
Unsurprisingly for a Lovecraftian character, Walter Gilman, the protagonist of this story, is a young specialist in both mathematics and folklore. Moreover, this tale mixes considerations on the multi-dimensional nature of the cosmos with witchcraft — the rituals of Walpurgis Night — and the recurring Cyclopean cities of the Cthulhu mythos.
More characteristically, in stark contrast with At the Mountains of Madness, which takes place in the cold heart of the Antarctic, The Dreams in the Witch House, brings a new, inner flavour, intimate even, to Lovecraft’s weird imaginings. This time, the apparitions out of distant stars and countless aeons are revealed inside a series of nightmares. In the end, the monster bursts out, hatching from the shell of a human body: a nasty image that Ridley Scott translated into film, at the starting point of his Alien series.
At times, this tale made me think of De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Be it as it may, it certainly has ramifications into more recent literature (the daemons of Pullman's His Dark Materials) and film (David Lynch’s repeated witch dreams in, say, his masterpiece, Mulholland Drive).
More characteristically, in stark contrast with At the Mountains of Madness, which takes place in the cold heart of the Antarctic, The Dreams in the Witch House, brings a new, inner flavour, intimate even, to Lovecraft’s weird imaginings. This time, the apparitions out of distant stars and countless aeons are revealed inside a series of nightmares. In the end, the monster bursts out, hatching from the shell of a human body: a nasty image that Ridley Scott translated into film, at the starting point of his Alien series.
At times, this tale made me think of De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Be it as it may, it certainly has ramifications into more recent literature (the daemons of Pullman's His Dark Materials) and film (David Lynch’s repeated witch dreams in, say, his masterpiece, Mulholland Drive).
December 2, 2018
Dreams turning into nightmares!
RENTING WITCH-HOUSE
This is yet other tale part of the Cthulhu Mythos.
A student from the Miskatonic University, goes to rent an attic room in a house named as “The Witch House” and known to be cursed by the people of Arkham, Mass..
First, if that house is known to be “cursed” in a town sooo cursed like Arkham,...
...DANG!...
...Why the heck that student was so dumb to rent that attic?
Much less keep living there?!
Anyway, he started to have dreams about geometry, colors and sounds that can’t be described or named in human terms,...
...along with interactions with a witch,...
...compelled to participate in unholy rituals!
RENTING WITCH-HOUSE
This is yet other tale part of the Cthulhu Mythos.
A student from the Miskatonic University, goes to rent an attic room in a house named as “The Witch House” and known to be cursed by the people of Arkham, Mass..
First, if that house is known to be “cursed” in a town sooo cursed like Arkham,...
...DANG!...
...Why the heck that student was so dumb to rent that attic?
Much less keep living there?!
Anyway, he started to have dreams about geometry, colors and sounds that can’t be described or named in human terms,...
...along with interactions with a witch,...
...compelled to participate in unholy rituals!
May 20, 2018
Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer sit at their favorite table at the café and discuss HP Lovecraft’s 1933 short story “The Dreams in the Witch House”.
George: See, that’s why we started rent control, even back then a good studio apartment was valuable – haunted, possessed by a two hundred year old witch and her malevolent rat-like familiar, maybe a portal to a demon – but still rentable.
Kramer: And ya gotta say, the super was trying, I mean he put down rat poison – there’s plenty of sub-leases today – forget it!
Elaine: So … why did we all read this stupid 80-year-old story again? I mean this student lives in a garret apartment – I can understand the discounted rent, I got that - and he has some weird dreams and there’s a weird rat thing, but why? Why does Lovecraft write this creepy, depressing stuff and why do we read it?
Jerry: Isn’t it obvious? You get a discounted rent because the place is haunted? You write about it, you tell everyone about the witch and the demon, I’m seriously considering a play at the haunted bit myself, maybe I’m having weird dreams and sleep walking, maybe the landlord needs to come off a few hundred a month.
George: I see what you’re saying, and I like it! I like what you’re saying.
Kramer: You know Newman said it was a lot like another older story, The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.
Jerry: Newman.
Elaine: Well, I thought the old Salem witch ghost or whatever she was creepy and so was her little pet thing and yada yada yada, Lovecraft being Lovecraft again.
Kramer: But what a great film it would make, Boy, I’d like to get it on video. Watch it in slow motion and freeze frame it!
Jerry: Ah, you’re crazy!
Kramer: Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
Jerry: It’s impossible!
Kramer: Is it?! Or is it so possible your head is spinning like a top?
Jerry: It can’t be!
Kramer: Can’t it?! Or is your entire world just crashing down all around you?
Jerry: Alright, that’s enough!
George: See, that’s why we started rent control, even back then a good studio apartment was valuable – haunted, possessed by a two hundred year old witch and her malevolent rat-like familiar, maybe a portal to a demon – but still rentable.
Kramer: And ya gotta say, the super was trying, I mean he put down rat poison – there’s plenty of sub-leases today – forget it!
Elaine: So … why did we all read this stupid 80-year-old story again? I mean this student lives in a garret apartment – I can understand the discounted rent, I got that - and he has some weird dreams and there’s a weird rat thing, but why? Why does Lovecraft write this creepy, depressing stuff and why do we read it?
Jerry: Isn’t it obvious? You get a discounted rent because the place is haunted? You write about it, you tell everyone about the witch and the demon, I’m seriously considering a play at the haunted bit myself, maybe I’m having weird dreams and sleep walking, maybe the landlord needs to come off a few hundred a month.
George: I see what you’re saying, and I like it! I like what you’re saying.
Kramer: You know Newman said it was a lot like another older story, The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.
Jerry: Newman.
Elaine: Well, I thought the old Salem witch ghost or whatever she was creepy and so was her little pet thing and yada yada yada, Lovecraft being Lovecraft again.
Kramer: But what a great film it would make, Boy, I’d like to get it on video. Watch it in slow motion and freeze frame it!
Jerry: Ah, you’re crazy!
Kramer: Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
Jerry: It’s impossible!
Kramer: Is it?! Or is it so possible your head is spinning like a top?
Jerry: It can’t be!
Kramer: Can’t it?! Or is your entire world just crashing down all around you?
Jerry: Alright, that’s enough!
December 10, 2019
Χ. Φ. Λάβκραφτ, δέκα μάγισσες τα δάχτυλα του, αυτές κινούν την πένα του, εξουσιάζουν το μυαλό του, μεγαλουργούν, ξορκίζοντας την εξωκοσμική φαντασία του τρόμου, που περιγράφει με γυμνή αντικειμενικότητα.
Μοναδικός και ανεπανάληπτος,
απίθανος και απαράδεκτος μαζί ο αξιολάτρευτος γητευτής της φρίκης που εξαπλώνεται στην καθημερινότητα και φανερώνει αγέλ��ς
απο απεχθή όντα που αντικαθρεφτίζουν τον σαρκασμό της Κόλασης.
Όλα ξεκίνησαν όταν ακούστηκαν οι μελωδίες απο τους αυλούς των Μεγάλων Παλαιών και ξύπνησαν οι μακάβριες μνήμες μιας πολυδιάστατης πραγματικότητας.
Ποιος θα κατανοήσει τον συνδυασμό των μαθηματικών με την αρχαία μαγεία των μεσαιωνικών μαρτυρίων,
τις υπόνοιες για την ύπαρξη απέθαντων,
πτωματοφάγων δαιμόνων που κρύβονται μέσα σε γοτθικούς μύθους
και παράδοξα παραμύθια, και θα περάσει την δοκιμασία αλώβητος.
Ποιος θα μάθει πως οι παιδικές κραυγές απο κατασπαραγμένους ήχους,τις παραμονές Πρωτομαγιάς, οι μορφές που δεν προσδιορίζονται ανθρώπινες ή τερατώδεις
και αποτελούν διαβολικά υβρίδια απο απροσπέλαστες αβύσσους που έβριθαν απο απίστευτα γεννήματα οργανικών και ανόργανων αντικειμένων, τα
οποία, κανένας λογικός νους δεν κατόρθωνε να χαρακτηρίσει σχετικά με τό πως έμοιαζαν
ή τι υποδήλωναν, και να παραμείνει, μετά απο αυτό, απαλλαγμένος απο ψυχολογική διαταραχή, ένταση
ή μόνιμη βλάβη πέρα απο κάθε ανθρώπινη εμπειρία.
Η γριά μάγισσα Κεζάια με τους άγριους θρήνους
και τα πλοκαμοφόρα τέρατα της υποχθόνιας διάστασης που σπάει τα έγκατα των τύμβων και ανεβαίνοντας το Βουνό της Καταιγίδας μας πηγαίνει σε έναν γαλαξία αρρωστημένων,ασαφών δαιμονίων συναισθημάτων, γεμάτο στοιχειωμένα δάση, απειλητικούς λόφους, και απόκρημνες αβύσσους ουρλιαχτών, παραφροσύνης και νοσηρότητας.
Σε εκείνο το εξώτατο κενό του χάους που κυβερνά ο άνοος σουλτάνος των δαιμόνων Αζαθόθ.
Στο έρπον χάος και στα πυρετώδη όνειρα η μάγισσα μετατρέπει τα ανεξήγητα θριαμβευτικά ουρλιαχτά και τις ψαλμωδίες σε προσευχές προς την ίδια,την Αίγα με τα Χίλια Νεογνά.
Και ύστερα, ο τερατόψυχος μουσικός με το φανταστικό, αποτρόπαιο,υστερικό και μεγαλοφυϊές παίξιμο που κατείχε ένας παράξενος γέροντας και άνοιγε κάποιες απαγορευμένες πύλες με το άγριο στρίγκλισμα και τον θρήνο της απεγνωσμένης βιόλας του.
Μαζί με τον ζωγράφο των δαιμόνων μπορούσαν να ανακαλέσουν μνήμες και όντα απο το εποχή του παλιού Σάλεμ.
Ο ζωγράφος της ιστορίας μας ήταν γέννημα απο σκοτεινό σπέρμα, δεν ήταν εντελώς άνθρωπος. Κατοικούσε μέσα σε μύθους σκοτεινούς και όταν ξεπήδησε για λίγο απο τη ζωή,
ξεκλείδωσε παμπάλαιες σήραγγες που επικοινωνούσαν με νεκροταφεία, βρομερά καταλύματα μαγισσών
και θαλάσσιες ακτές.
Στα κελάρια που κρατούσε τα έργα της παραφροσύνης είχε κανονικές φωτογραφίες απο τα εξαμβλώματα
της κόλασης που απεικόνιζε στον φριχτό μουσαμά του.
Η γιορτή του χειμερινού ηλιοστάσιου ξεκινά
και η μυθολογία του Κθούλου αρχίζει να διοχετεύει εφιάλτες και διαθέσεις που προκύπτουν απο αποσπάσματα για το διαβόητο Νεκρονομικόν.
Ο φόβος ενεδρεύει παντού και πουθενά,
αναπάντεχα και ανατριχιαστικά καταλήγει σε υπερφυσικές διάστασεις.
Ο ναός των Ελλήνων κρυμμένος στα έγκατα του ωκεανού κάπου κοντά στον Α’ΠΠ και την χαμένη Ατλαντίδα του μυστηρίου συναντιέται εξωκοσμικά
με την αρχαία Αρκαδία του Πάνα, τους φαύνους,
τις μαινάδες, τις πανέμορφες και τρομερές μορφές
των δρυΐδων και ο αυλός της υπέρτατης μελωδίας
των εφιαλτικών ταξιδιών ανοίγουν τις σφραγισμένες αβύσσους του χώρου και του χρόνου.
ΤΡΕΛΑΝΕ ΜΑΣ ΔΑΣΚΑΛΕ!!
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
Μοναδικός και ανεπανάληπτος,
απίθανος και απαράδεκτος μαζί ο αξιολάτρευτος γητευτής της φρίκης που εξαπλώνεται στην καθημερινότητα και φανερώνει αγέλ��ς
απο απεχθή όντα που αντικαθρεφτίζουν τον σαρκασμό της Κόλασης.
Όλα ξεκίνησαν όταν ακούστηκαν οι μελωδίες απο τους αυλούς των Μεγάλων Παλαιών και ξύπνησαν οι μακάβριες μνήμες μιας πολυδιάστατης πραγματικότητας.
Ποιος θα κατανοήσει τον συνδυασμό των μαθηματικών με την αρχαία μαγεία των μεσαιωνικών μαρτυρίων,
τις υπόνοιες για την ύπαρξη απέθαντων,
πτωματοφάγων δαιμόνων που κρύβονται μέσα σε γοτθικούς μύθους
και παράδοξα παραμύθια, και θα περάσει την δοκιμασία αλώβητος.
Ποιος θα μάθει πως οι παιδικές κραυγές απο κατασπαραγμένους ήχους,τις παραμονές Πρωτομαγιάς, οι μορφές που δεν προσδιορίζονται ανθρώπινες ή τερατώδεις
και αποτελούν διαβολικά υβρίδια απο απροσπέλαστες αβύσσους που έβριθαν απο απίστευτα γεννήματα οργανικών και ανόργανων αντικειμένων, τα
οποία, κανένας λογικός νους δεν κατόρθωνε να χαρακτηρίσει σχετικά με τό πως έμοιαζαν
ή τι υποδήλωναν, και να παραμείνει, μετά απο αυτό, απαλλαγμένος απο ψυχολογική διαταραχή, ένταση
ή μόνιμη βλάβη πέρα απο κάθε ανθρώπινη εμπειρία.
Η γριά μάγισσα Κεζάια με τους άγριους θρήνους
και τα πλοκαμοφόρα τέρατα της υποχθόνιας διάστασης που σπάει τα έγκατα των τύμβων και ανεβαίνοντας το Βουνό της Καταιγίδας μας πηγαίνει σε έναν γαλαξία αρρωστημένων,ασαφών δαιμονίων συναισθημάτων, γεμάτο στοιχειωμένα δάση, απειλητικούς λόφους, και απόκρημνες αβύσσους ουρλιαχτών, παραφροσύνης και νοσηρότητας.
Σε εκείνο το εξώτατο κενό του χάους που κυβερνά ο άνοος σουλτάνος των δαιμόνων Αζαθόθ.
Στο έρπον χάος και στα πυρετώδη όνειρα η μάγισσα μετατρέπει τα ανεξήγητα θριαμβευτικά ουρλιαχτά και τις ψαλμωδίες σε προσευχές προς την ίδια,την Αίγα με τα Χίλια Νεογνά.
Και ύστερα, ο τερατόψυχος μουσικός με το φανταστικό, αποτρόπαιο,υστερικό και μεγαλοφυϊές παίξιμο που κατείχε ένας παράξενος γέροντας και άνοιγε κάποιες απαγορευμένες πύλες με το άγριο στρίγκλισμα και τον θρήνο της απεγνωσμένης βιόλας του.
Μαζί με τον ζωγράφο των δαιμόνων μπορούσαν να ανακαλέσουν μνήμες και όντα απο το εποχή του παλιού Σάλεμ.
Ο ζωγράφος της ιστορίας μας ήταν γέννημα απο σκοτεινό σπέρμα, δεν ήταν εντελώς άνθρωπος. Κατοικούσε μέσα σε μύθους σκοτεινούς και όταν ξεπήδησε για λίγο απο τη ζωή,
ξεκλείδωσε παμπάλαιες σήραγγες που επικοινωνούσαν με νεκροταφεία, βρομερά καταλύματα μαγισσών
και θαλάσσιες ακτές.
Στα κελάρια που κρατούσε τα έργα της παραφροσύνης είχε κανονικές φωτογραφίες απο τα εξαμβλώματα
της κόλασης που απεικόνιζε στον φριχτό μουσαμά του.
Η γιορτή του χειμερινού ηλιοστάσιου ξεκινά
και η μυθολογία του Κθούλου αρχίζει να διοχετεύει εφιάλτες και διαθέσεις που προκύπτουν απο αποσπάσματα για το διαβόητο Νεκρονομικόν.
Ο φόβος ενεδρεύει παντού και πουθενά,
αναπάντεχα και ανατριχιαστικά καταλήγει σε υπερφυσικές διάστασεις.
Ο ναός των Ελλήνων κρυμμένος στα έγκατα του ωκεανού κάπου κοντά στον Α’ΠΠ και την χαμένη Ατλαντίδα του μυστηρίου συναντιέται εξωκοσμικά
με την αρχαία Αρκαδία του Πάνα, τους φαύνους,
τις μαινάδες, τις πανέμορφες και τρομερές μορφές
των δρυΐδων και ο αυλός της υπέρτατης μελωδίας
των εφιαλτικών ταξιδιών ανοίγουν τις σφραγισμένες αβύσσους του χώρου και του χρόνου.
ΤΡΕΛΑΝΕ ΜΑΣ ΔΑΣΚΑΛΕ!!
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
October 31, 2022
I decided to read this story before watching the corresponding episode of Cabinet of Curiosities since that has worked very well before. And once again, I was not disappointed.
We're once again in Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham (yep, you read that right). To be more precise, he's at the Witch House, a house that once belonged to Keziah Mason, a supposed witch who mysteriously disappeared during the Salem witch trials in 1692.
Walter Gilman is an educated young man who has found an interest in Gothic tales and legends of elder magic. Thus, he's read some books he shouldn't have (and Lovecraft should have taken more care with the correct title of the German one amongst them by the way), got fascinated by the urban legend of Mason, wanted to learn more about magic himself, rented a room in the supposedly haunted house, then contracted a fever - and that is when the weird dreams started along with some sort of sleepwalking. But all that is only the beginning ... I guess Walter is getting more than he bargained for (I always knew mathematics was the thing of the devil). *evil grin*
Great premise, right? I thought so too. And indeed, the story has immediately become my favourite of the few I've read so far. True, I'm into witchy stories anyway, but the atmosphere in this one was really truly special (not least because of the blend of scifi, fantasy and horror). So dark and brooding and ominous!
Moreover, the magic described (inter-dimensional walking or the dreaming elements) was really cool. Don't forget that this story was published in 1932 so it's even more remarkable!
You can read the story for free here: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
And yes, I can wholeheartedly recommend the corresponding episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities but be forewarned: it barely has anything to do with this story and decided not to use math as the underlying "magic" at all. On its own, it's a wonderful episode, but as something based on this, it's a disappointment.
We're once again in Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham (yep, you read that right). To be more precise, he's at the Witch House, a house that once belonged to Keziah Mason, a supposed witch who mysteriously disappeared during the Salem witch trials in 1692.
Walter Gilman is an educated young man who has found an interest in Gothic tales and legends of elder magic. Thus, he's read some books he shouldn't have (and Lovecraft should have taken more care with the correct title of the German one amongst them by the way), got fascinated by the urban legend of Mason, wanted to learn more about magic himself, rented a room in the supposedly haunted house, then contracted a fever - and that is when the weird dreams started along with some sort of sleepwalking. But all that is only the beginning ... I guess Walter is getting more than he bargained for (I always knew mathematics was the thing of the devil). *evil grin*
Great premise, right? I thought so too. And indeed, the story has immediately become my favourite of the few I've read so far. True, I'm into witchy stories anyway, but the atmosphere in this one was really truly special (not least because of the blend of scifi, fantasy and horror). So dark and brooding and ominous!
Moreover, the magic described (inter-dimensional walking or the dreaming elements) was really cool. Don't forget that this story was published in 1932 so it's even more remarkable!
You can read the story for free here: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
And yes, I can wholeheartedly recommend the corresponding episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities but be forewarned: it barely has anything to do with this story and decided not to use math as the underlying "magic" at all. On its own, it's a wonderful episode, but as something based on this, it's a disappointment.
Want to read
February 7, 2018Lovecraft Illustrated Volume 2
Contents:
ix - Introduction by S.T. Joshi
03 - "The Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft
53 - "Through Hyperspace with Brown Jenkins" by Fritz Leiber
Contents:
ix - Introduction by S.T. Joshi
03 - "The Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft
53 - "Through Hyperspace with Brown Jenkins" by Fritz Leiber
November 1, 2022
I'm glad I revisited this one. As an older reader I appreciate just how special it is to have some rather fascinating mathematical concepts introduced upon the page, very heavy SF ideas of alternate dimensions or foldings of space that would take a proper mind -- and body -- some place or time -- very distant indeed. Beyond the galaxy, perhaps.
Combining the pure mathematics with one hell of an obsession and an equally heavy interest in some esoteric folklore -- and the realization that these old maths had been the preview of ancient peoples -- makes this utterly irresistible.
Of course, this is Lovecraft, and he takes a goodly bit of time to gnaw away at his character's sanity one night or non-euclidian geometry at a time. The witch and Brown Jenkin and all the mysterious ceremonies and sacrifices are just icing on the cake. I love how he gathers so many of his friends around him to keep him tethered to reality and how they failed.
Am I extremely happy to have read this on Halloween night?
HELL YES. :)
Combining the pure mathematics with one hell of an obsession and an equally heavy interest in some esoteric folklore -- and the realization that these old maths had been the preview of ancient peoples -- makes this utterly irresistible.
Of course, this is Lovecraft, and he takes a goodly bit of time to gnaw away at his character's sanity one night or non-euclidian geometry at a time. The witch and Brown Jenkin and all the mysterious ceremonies and sacrifices are just icing on the cake. I love how he gathers so many of his friends around him to keep him tethered to reality and how they failed.
Am I extremely happy to have read this on Halloween night?
HELL YES. :)
November 18, 2017
*Όνειρα στο σπίτι της Μάγισσας: 5/5 ,το εκτενέστερο διήγημα της συλλογής και αυτό που μου άρεσε πιο πολύ
*Ο αλχημιστής: 3/5 ,καλό αλλά λίγο αδιάφορο
*Η μουσική του Έριχ Τσαν: 3/5 ,επίσης καλό αλλά λίγο αδιάφορο
*Η γιορτή: 3,5/5 ,αρκετά καλό
*Ο φόβος που ενέδρευε: 4,5/5 ,πολύ καλό
*Το μοντέλο του Πίκμαν: 3/5 , καλό αλλά λίγο βαρέθηκα
*Ο ναός: 4/5 ,κι αυτό πολύ ωραίο
*Το δέντρο 3,5/5 ,το μικρότερο από όλα τα διηγήματα, αρκετά συμπαθητικό
Τα συγκεκριμένα διηγήματα είναι η πρώτη μου επαφή με το έργο του Lovecraft και μπορώ να πω πως έμεινα αρκετά ικανοποιημένη. Φαν των διηγημάτων δεν είμαι αλλά αυτά μου άρεσαν αρκετά. Κάποιες ιστορίες ήταν πιο ωραίες από κάποιες άλλες, αλλά όλες ήταν σίγουρα πολύ ατμοσφαιρικές! Δεν ενδείκνυνται για μεταμεσονύχτιο διάβασμα!
*Ο αλχημιστής: 3/5 ,καλό αλλά λίγο αδιάφορο
*Η μουσική του Έριχ Τσαν: 3/5 ,επίσης καλό αλλά λίγο αδιάφορο
*Η γιορτή: 3,5/5 ,αρκετά καλό
*Ο φόβος που ενέδρευε: 4,5/5 ,πολύ καλό
*Το μοντέλο του Πίκμαν: 3/5 , καλό αλλά λίγο βαρέθηκα
*Ο ναός: 4/5 ,κι αυτό πολύ ωραίο
*Το δέντρο 3,5/5 ,το μικρότερο από όλα τα διηγήματα, αρκετά συμπαθητικό
Τα συγκεκριμένα διηγήματα είναι η πρώτη μου επαφή με το έργο του Lovecraft και μπορώ να πω πως έμεινα αρκετά ικανοποιημένη. Φαν των διηγημάτων δεν είμαι αλλά αυτά μου άρεσαν αρκετά. Κάποιες ιστορίες ήταν πιο ωραίες από κάποιες άλλες, αλλά όλες ήταν σίγουρα πολύ ατμοσφαιρικές! Δεν ενδείκνυνται για μεταμεσονύχτιο διάβασμα!
March 15, 2024
This is probably my least favorite Lovecraft story to date. It had some creepy moments- I enjoyed the witch and her rat-like familiar. Unfortunately, I felt that the constant references to mathematical planes of existence and geometric shapes tedious just took me out of the story. It did build up to a fairly decent ending, but overall, just not for me.
February 19, 2017
Masters of Horror: season 1, episode 2
This short story was just not my cup of tea. I struggled through it, but it was a hard, hard story to complete.
This short story was just not my cup of tea. I struggled through it, but it was a hard, hard story to complete.
April 30, 2021
Lovecraft’s very first, and possibly only, female baddie. Don’t expect a red-eyed ingénue in a dark cloak, oh no, this is a proper Lovecraftian monster: horrible to behold, speaking solely through blasphemous actions.
The only thing Lovecraft finds sexy is fear. He wants your screams of madness:
“The vague shrieking and roaring waxed louder and louder, as if approaching some monstrous climax of utterly unendurable intensity.” Whoa.
What I find frightening are the hints of the real crimes being covered up by legends. The dead child’s mother knew he was endangered.
“Her friend Pete Stowacki would not help because he wanted the child out of the way.”
That sounds like her lover was tired of the extra mouth to feed. Maybe he did something about it.
Lovecraft describes the witches’ Black God as an obsidian, tall, lean humanoid “without the slightest sign of negroid features.” But witnesses to the kidnapping are eager to vow they saw a “huge robed negro.”
The combination of real and fantastic evil is chilling.
“This fusion of dream and reality was too much to bear.”
December 4, 2014
This science fiction paranormal horror story should be enough for any fan. Or you could be like me and like one part more than the other (the second one). The mathematical explanations aren't my thing. It can get a bit too detailed for my taste. Still, the main idea that if we knew the right mathematical formulae, we wouldn't be bound to our dimension or universe is interesting.
I liked the idea for the story itself and that ending didn't hurt it one bit.
Walter Gilman becomes obsessed with a witch who disappeared from her jail during the Salem witch trials in 1692. It is believed she escaped to Arkham and lived in a house now known the Witch House. Soon, weird things start happening to him and around him.
The paranormal elements are great. Unexplained events, weird evil creatures that come at night and attack you in your sleep, murders and kidnappings and so on - all contribute to the general creepy atmosphere of the house.
I liked the idea for the story itself and that ending didn't hurt it one bit.
Walter Gilman becomes obsessed with a witch who disappeared from her jail during the Salem witch trials in 1692. It is believed she escaped to Arkham and lived in a house now known the Witch House. Soon, weird things start happening to him and around him.
The paranormal elements are great. Unexplained events, weird evil creatures that come at night and attack you in your sleep, murders and kidnappings and so on - all contribute to the general creepy atmosphere of the house.
January 22, 2018
These old sci-fi/horror stories are fun. They are filled with Victorian era supposition (or post-Victorian in this case) in which scientific explanation is given for the supernatural. These stories come out of a time when science started to be able to explain things like time and space and so credence was given to some historical superstitions. My favorite such example was: "Elwood agreed that Gilman had good scientific grounds for thinking she might have stumbled on strange and significant information....it was by no means impossible that Keziah had actually mastered the art of passing through dimensional gates."
Overall it is short and interesting.
Overall it is short and interesting.
August 20, 2017
It is Donnie Darko meets The Blair Witch Project. One of those unique stories by Lovecraft where science-fiction, fantasy and horror are blended for the best, or should I say... the worst? One sentence from the text says it all: “he began to connect his mathematics with the fantastic legends of elder magic”, the rest is an escalation towards the ultimate horror.
October 17, 2013
I listened to this on the SFF Audio Podcast http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=48997. The actual book reading was 1hr 42min followed by discussion of the book.
I remember seeing the Masters of Horror TV show adaptation which came off pretty creepy. The book itself not so much. I mean the witch coming for the protagonist through his dreams with the little rat creature Brown Jenkins, with the human face and 4 hands, were pretty creepy, and there is a lot of weird and grotesque elements in the book, but a lot of the psychological tension in the story is undermined by the fact that we get to see what the horror is ie the irrational fear of the unknown, unseen terror doesn't come into play to a significant degree, if at all.
There are arguably two distinct elements of the book which were discussed on the podcast - one is the sci fi element where the idea that if we knew the right numbers or the right math we could transport ourselves to anywhere in the universe or even into a parallel universe or dimension. References to Einstein's work are referred to. Bear in mind this was published in 1933 when all these weird and wonderful extrapolations of the emerging quantum physics were being explored.
Then we have the horror element with other worldly beings and their minions in another dimension.
Ultimately, neither part of the story appealed to me that much - but the parts where the witch and Brown Jenkins come for Walter Gilman in the night add enough creepiness to pull this up to...
3 stars
I remember seeing the Masters of Horror TV show adaptation which came off pretty creepy. The book itself not so much. I mean the witch coming for the protagonist through his dreams with the little rat creature Brown Jenkins, with the human face and 4 hands, were pretty creepy, and there is a lot of weird and grotesque elements in the book, but a lot of the psychological tension in the story is undermined by the fact that we get to see what the horror is ie the irrational fear of the unknown, unseen terror doesn't come into play to a significant degree, if at all.
There are arguably two distinct elements of the book which were discussed on the podcast - one is the sci fi element where the idea that if we knew the right numbers or the right math we could transport ourselves to anywhere in the universe or even into a parallel universe or dimension. References to Einstein's work are referred to. Bear in mind this was published in 1933 when all these weird and wonderful extrapolations of the emerging quantum physics were being explored.
Then we have the horror element with other worldly beings and their minions in another dimension.
Ultimately, neither part of the story appealed to me that much - but the parts where the witch and Brown Jenkins come for Walter Gilman in the night add enough creepiness to pull this up to...
3 stars
April 28, 2023
'That the influence of the old house was unwholesome, he could not deny...'
A creepy story featuring a witch who is, of course, ugly and evil, but at least not stupid.
I read this because I had seen the adaptation as part of 'Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities', and the witch character is impressive there. The adaptation has little to do with the original text (as it often happens), but both are worthy.
I loved the atmospheric first half of the story, but the second half was rather disappointing: repetitive and gory.
Still, not bad as far as witch stories go.
A creepy story featuring a witch who is, of course, ugly and evil, but at least not stupid.
I read this because I had seen the adaptation as part of 'Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities', and the witch character is impressive there. The adaptation has little to do with the original text (as it often happens), but both are worthy.
I loved the atmospheric first half of the story, but the second half was rather disappointing: repetitive and gory.
Still, not bad as far as witch stories go.
May 31, 2025
I don’t write reviews.
“To what extent could the laws of sanity be applied to such a case?”
Too true! There’s nothing “sane” about it: inter-dimensional travel through strange angles, cosmic gods, creepy familiars, old crone witches, kidnapping, child sacrifice, nightmares, fevers, sleepwalking, forbidden tomes, forced initiations and perhaps the most horrifying part of all, mathematics. Keep an eye open and your ears tuned, Brown Jenkin is on the prowl…
“To what extent could the laws of sanity be applied to such a case?”
Too true! There’s nothing “sane” about it: inter-dimensional travel through strange angles, cosmic gods, creepy familiars, old crone witches, kidnapping, child sacrifice, nightmares, fevers, sleepwalking, forbidden tomes, forced initiations and perhaps the most horrifying part of all, mathematics. Keep an eye open and your ears tuned, Brown Jenkin is on the prowl…
October 17, 2018
Ατμοσφαιρικός, ζοφερός, πλέον λατρεμένος!!!
September 19, 2023
Моторошне. Пасує до Львівської осені.
January 29, 2022
Lovecraft en estado puro.
September 14, 2025
It's interesting to read another witch story since H.P. Lovecraft only wrote one before in The Alchemist and never ever again after The Dreams in the Witch House.
The dimensions and dreams were somewhat good but it wasn't the most spectacular one from all the dream narratives I read. I definitely prefer Randolph Carter as a protagonist. Maybe it's 'cause I'm not a mathematician myself but I can't connect well with mathematicians.
My idea of witches is different from H.P. Lovecraft's version which made me disappointed. The ritual stuff already appeared in other short stories from him without any witch and it made the witch not special which is sad 'cause witches can be very cool if done right.
The ending was the only creepy part as everything else felt like it was some illegal ritual I watched and the protagonist slowly turning mad.
This short story wasn't bad, but I also didn't feel enough to call it astonishing or something similar.
The dimensions and dreams were somewhat good but it wasn't the most spectacular one from all the dream narratives I read. I definitely prefer Randolph Carter as a protagonist. Maybe it's 'cause I'm not a mathematician myself but I can't connect well with mathematicians.
My idea of witches is different from H.P. Lovecraft's version which made me disappointed. The ritual stuff already appeared in other short stories from him without any witch and it made the witch not special which is sad 'cause witches can be very cool if done right.
The ending was the only creepy part as everything else felt like it was some illegal ritual I watched and the protagonist slowly turning mad.
This short story wasn't bad, but I also didn't feel enough to call it astonishing or something similar.
October 27, 2014
Yeah, it's Lovecraft, so it's got the usual overwrought, portentous language, and lengthy, wordy descriptions involving impossible angles, unreal violet light, and inexplicable events. Because this book is about dreams encroaching into the real world, the excess works for me. A lot of Lovecraft's mythos is showcased in this story, and I do love Nyarlathotep, so flawed as it is, I enjoyed this one.
January 8, 2019
I dig the combination of Ye Olde Superstitious Rumours and what was at the time fairly cutting-edge mathematical physics. I admit after all the 4th Dimension, floating polygon, angles of space stuff I was totally not expecting the protagonist to so you totally got me that time, HP.
December 24, 2014
Un relato sobre brujería que dice mucho del estilo lovecraftiano. Definitivamente uno de mis favoritos. Por lo general, no me generan ninguna inquietud las brujas, pero a medida que el relato se desarrollaba algo adentro me daba vueltas, pertubándome, iniquietándome. Supongo que es la magia que este gran autor logra generar en sus escritos.
October 5, 2016
This was a very powerful and vivid story. Lovecraft used his theme of long walks in this story and it worked in rather well.
Want to read
November 13, 2025Me gustó bastante la adaptación que se hizo de este cuento de horror, en la serie Masters of Horror S1E2 (2005) Sueños en la Casa de la Bruja. El universitario Walter se convierte en inquilino en una vieja casa que renta habitaciones, y una bruja agriará su vida. El vasallo y lameculos de la bruja es de lo más curioso y excéntrico que he visto en mi vida.
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