Something Wicked This Way Comes centres upon two 13 year old boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade. Not only are the two neighbours and best friends, but Will was born one minute before midnight on October 30 and Jim was born one minute after midnight on October 31. The two boys, with the help of Will's father Charles, find that they must defend their hometown of Green Town against the malevolent, supernatural carnival known as Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show. Headed by the menacing Mr. Dark, the Pandemonium Shadow Show featured such unusual attractions as the Dust Witch, The Skeleton, and a rather unusual carousel.
In writing Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury drew upon his childhood spent in the Midwest. It would be his second novel to be set in the fictional city of Green Town, Illinois, the first being Dandelion Wine (published in 1957). It is fairly obvious that Green Town was inspired by Ray Bradbury's hometown of Waukegan, Illinois. A portion of the inspiration for Something This Way Comes may well go back to 1932, when Ray Bradbury's uncle Lester Moberg was murdered and a young Ray Bradbury met a sideshow performer known as Mr. Electrico.
Ray Bradbury's uncle, Lester Moberg, was an attendant at the Veteran's Bureau hospital in North Chicago. Lester Moberg had been shot in a struggle with a mugger. While surgery performed on him seemed successful, he died a week later. It was following the death of Ray Bradbury's uncle that he had his encounter with Mr. Electrico. While Ray Bradbury's account of his meeting with Mr. Electrico would vary, in nearly every account Mr. Electrico sat in an electric chair with a sword in his hand. Several volts of electricity would would be run through Mr. Electrico so that his hair would stand on end and sparks would leap from his fingers. He then stood and went for to the children, tapping each one of them with the sword. He tapped young Ray Bradbury with the sword so that electricity ran through the boy, and told him, "Love forever!"
Ray Bradbury usually portrayed the death of his uncle and his meeting with Mr Electrico has having occurred on Labour Day weekend in 1932. Relatives of Ray Bradbury also believed that this was the date of Lester Mosberg's death. According to records, he died on October 24. The date of October 24 is significant, as it is also the date that Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show arrived in Green Town in Something Wicked This Way Comes. Given Ray Bradbury always said his uncle died in September, it seems very unlikely that Ray Bradbury intentionally chose October 24 for the date of the sinister, supernatural carnival's arrival, but it seems quite possible that his subconscious pulled that date from deep in his memory.
While Something Wicked This Way Comes owed much of its inspiration to Ray Bradbury's childhood, the novel also owed a good deal to film. Ray Bradbury and his wife Marguerite were invited to a showing of Invitation to the Dance (1956) by their friend, legendary actor, director, and dancer Gene Kelly. The carnival sequence in the movie struck a particular chord with Mr. Bradbury. He told his wife walking home from the film, "I'd give my right arm to write a screenplay for Gene Kelly." His wife told him she was certain that in his files he had something dealing with carnivals or circuses.
The two of them looked through his files and found a short story entitled "The Black Ferris" that had been published in Weird Tales (May 1948). ). Ray Bradbury wrote an 80 page screenplay and sent it to Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly loved the screenplay and wanted to both produce and direct it. Unfortunately, he had difficulty getting backing for the project. Gene Kelly sent the script back to Mr. Bradbury. Ray Bradbury then re-wrote the screenplay as the novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes. It was published in 1962.
Something Wicked This Way Comes has received generally positive reviews from the beginning. In the June 15 1952 issue of Kirkus Reviews, it was observed of the novel, "The allusions (the October country, the autumn people, etc.) as well as the concerns of previous books will be familiar to Bradbury's readers as once more this conjurer limns a haunted landscape in an allegory of good and evil. Definitely for all admirers." It would also have a lasting influence on various authors. Stephen King referenced Something Wicked This Way Comes in his novel The Dead Zone. Something Wicked This Way Comes also provides much of the inspiration for Stephen King's novel Needful Things. Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, R. L. Stine, and yet other authors have also been influenced a good deal by Something Wicked This Way Comes.
The influence of Something Wicked This Way Comes would go beyond literature. The title of Harry Nilsson's second album is Pandemonium Shadow Show, taken from the novel. The band Creature Feature's song "The Greatest Show Unearthed" references Something Wicked This Way Comes and their 2007 album The Greatest Show Unearthed takes inspiration from the book. Tessa Violet named her 2016 EP Halloway after Will Halloway. Yet other music artists have referenced the novel in songs and on albums.
Something Wicked This Way Comes would also have an impact on movies and television. Don Coscarelli has credited Something Wicked This Way Comes with some of the inspiration for his movie Phantasm (1979). The 2003 HBO series Carnivàle would appear to owe Something Wicked This Way Comes.Such shows as South Park, The League of Gentlemen, and Rick and Morty have paid homage to the novel. Something Wicked This Way Comes has itself been adapted as a film twice. Forest Hill Film Unit & Drama Troupe produced a 1972 low-budget adaptation of the novel directed by Colin Finbow. The second time was a big budget version produced by Walt Disney Productions and Bryna Productions.
Something Wicked This Way Comes would not be Ray Bradbury's last novel set in Green Town, Illinois. In 2007 Farewell Summer, the sequel to Dandelion Wine, was published. A collection of short stories and vignettes set in Green Town, Summer Morning, Summer Night, was published in 2008.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is still counted among the greatest novels ever written. It is certainly one of the most influential. And given its subject matter and the time in which it is set, it remains one of the best books to read around Halloween.
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