Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror

by Lynne Jamneck

One particular adherent to this view has been the noted parapsychologist, Dr. Hadrian Spencer. His interpretation takes this idea to its extreme conclusion, asserting that Clarke's work, even from its earliest stages, originated from the subconscious influence of some powerful external entity. This would certainly account for the all-possessing drive that seemed to have taken Eugenia, coming as if from nowhere, and inspiring her towards ever greater revelations. Even critics of this idea have noted her tendency to make improbable leaps between disparate ideas and concepts, without once finding her discoveries running short. That Eugenia herself was ever conscious of this all-too-convenient progress in her researches never really comes to light. On this point, Dr. Spencer once likened her behavior to that of “a murderer posing as a detective at the scene of their own crime, and giving a performance of surprise at every clue they turn up.”