Ghost Stories · Chapter
The Room in the Tower explained
The narrator reflects on the nature of dreams and coincidences before recounting a recurring nightmare from his youth about a redbrick house with a tower.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the nature of dreams and coincidences before recounting a recurring nightmare from his youth about a redbrick house with a tower. Years later, he visits his friend Jack Stone's home and realizes it matches the dream house. He is given a bedroom in the tower, where a portrait of Mrs. Stone hangs. After the portrait is moved, he experiences a terrifying supernatural encounter: the ghostly figure of Mrs. Stone appears, touches him, and speaks of feasting. His friend John Clinton discovers the portrait back in place and a foul, earth-stained thing on the floor. The story concludes with the revelation that Mrs. Stone committed suicide in the tower room and her body was repeatedly found protruding from its grave.
Themes in this chapter
Psychology of Dreams and Perception
The chapter opens with a detailed discussion of dreams, coincidence, and the subconscious, framing the supernatural events as a possible psychological phenomenon.
Supernatural and Occult
The central event is a ghostly visitation by the deceased Mrs. Stone, involving a moving portrait, a spectral figure, and physical evidence of the supernatural.
Death and the Afterlife
The story revolves around Mrs. Stone's suicide, her restless spirit, and the gruesome detail of her coffin filling with blood, suggesting an unnatural death.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator and protagonist, a habitual dreamer who experiences a recurring nightmare that later comes true.
- Jack Stone
A former schoolfellow of the narrator, son of the house where the nightmare is realized.
- Julia Stone
Jack Stone's mother, whose portrait hangs in the tower room; she committed suicide and her ghost haunts the narrator.
- John Clinton
A friend staying at the house who investigates the tower room and confirms the supernatural presence.
Key passages
“It is probable that everybody who is at all a constant dreamer has had at least one experience of an event or a sequence of circumstances which have come to his mind in sleep being subsequently realised in the material world.”
Most frequent dreamers have likely experienced a dream that later came true in real life.
Opening reflection on the commonality of precognitive dreams.
“I knew you would come to the room in the tower. I have been long waiting for you. At last you have come. Tonight I shall feast; before long we will feast together.”
The ghost of Mrs. Stone tells the narrator she has been expecting him and promises a shared feast.
Climactic supernatural dialogue during the haunting.
“Yes, the portrait's there, and on the floor is a thing—a thing spotted with earth, like what they bury people in. Come away, quick, come away.”
John Clinton confirms the portrait has returned and there is a grave-soiled object on the floor, urging immediate escape.
John's horrified discovery after investigating the tower room.