Something About Sleepwalking

What sayeth you, somnambulist?

A handful of fans over the years have enjoyed finding connections between the Bellairs Corpus and other works from authors such H.P. Lovecraft or M.R. James. We periodically have been asked our thoughts on these connections. Here’s one such question:

Have you ever read H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams of the Witch's House" and felt there were similarities to The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost? Gilman, the young protagonist (who comes from Haverhill, where Bellairs later lived) moves into a rooming house where, just as Johnny does at the beginning of Bellairs’s book, he lapses into disturbing and vivid nightmares, sleepwalks barefoot while in his pajamas, goes into an academic spiral, and encounters a witch. Their styles are so different, but the parallels are there.

Any Lovecraft experts care to comment?