THE ROOM IN THE TOWER (1912) – This story was written by E.F. Benson. The British narrator has a recurring nightmare in which he visits his friend John Clinton at his family manor. The other family members, including his mother Mrs. Stone, are cold and grim toward him.
Mrs. Stone assigns the unnamed narrator to a room in the tower and has John lead the way. When the dreamer enters the room, he sees something horrific but always awakens before whatever it is fully registers in his mind.
This goes on for years, with Clinton family members aging in the dream. At one point Mrs. Stone dies, yet in the illogic of the narrator’s dream she is still in the manor when he visits, and she still has John lead him to the room in the tower. The ending of the dream is the same. Continue reading
