The Dreams in the Witch House
A mathematician and physicist named Keziah Mason is accused of witchcraft and executed in the 17th century. Her spirit returns to haunt a young man who buys her former home, where she had been conducting occult experiments. The house has a strange geometry that warps space-time, allowing supernatural entities from other dimensions to enter our world.
By H.P. Lovecraft · First published 1933 · Genre: Horror, Weird Fiction, Gothic Fiction · 16,060 words
First lines
Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreams Walter Gilman did not know. Behind everything crouched the brooding, festering horror of the ancient town, and of the mouldy, unhallowed garret gable where he wrote and studied and wrestled with figures and formulae when he was not tossing on the meagre iron bed. His ears were growing sensitive to a preternatural and intolerable degree, and he had long ago stopped the cheap mantel clock whose ticking had come to seem like a thunder of artillery. At night the subtle stirring of the black city outside, the sinister scurrying of rats in the wormy partitions, and the creaking of hidden timbers in the centuried house, were enough to give him a sense of strident pandemonium. The darkness always teemed with unexplained sound-and yet he sometimes shook with fear lest the noises he heard should subside and allow him to hear certain other, fainter, noises which he suspected were lurking behind them.
What this Textopian page supports
The Dreams in the Witch House is listed on Textopian as a novel by H.P. Lovecraft, dated 1933 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: H.P. Lovecraft
- Date: 1933 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Horror, Weird Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Length: 16,060 words
- Structure: 1 section, 103 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Dreams in the Witch House by H.P. Lovecraft
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering The Dreams in the Witch House?
- How does this novel by H.P. Lovecraft fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Horror first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
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- Hypnos by H. P. Lovecraft
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Genres
- Horror — The narrative explores themes of fear, the supernatural, and the unknown, characteristic of horror literature.
- Weird Fiction — The story incorporates elements of the bizarre and the uncanny, blending reality with the surreal.
- Gothic Fiction — The setting and atmosphere evoke a sense of decay and dread, typical of Gothic literature.
- Fantasy — The presence of otherworldly beings and alternate dimensions introduces fantastical elements.
Tags
Horror · Fantasy · Science Fiction · Supernatural · Mystery · Thriller · Cthulhu Mythos · Lovecraftian Horror · Mathematics · Physics · Alchemy · Witchcraft