The Lair of the White Worm

The Lair of The White Worm (1911) is a novel by the Irish novelist Bram Stoker who is mostly known for being the author of the seminal horror classic Dracula (1897). In both novels, Stoker proves to be a masterful creator of visceral fear and breath-taking suspense. The story of The Lair of The White Worm centers on the character of the Australian young man, Adam Salton, who is summoned to England by his granduncle Richard Salton. The latter wants to strengthen the bonds between the family’s last two members, but also to make Adam his heir. As soon as Adam reaches his granduncle’s house in the Old World, he starts to witness curious happenings that he fails to understand. Most – but not all – of the inexplicable phenomena that he observes center around the suspicious characters of Edgar Caswall and Arabella March. While the first has mesmerizing capabilities that he uses for licentious ends, the second seems to be mysteriously linked to all the strange killings of kids and animals recently recorded. Indeed, it is amid Arabella’s big house that Adam discovers a pit where a huge snake-like worm dwells. The rest of the story displays Adam’s fatal combat against Caswall, Arabella and the White Worm.