The Bad Lands

# Catalog Note: "The Bad Lands" by John Metcalf

This psychological horror story follows Brent Ormerod, a man seeking neurosis treatment in the coastal town of Todd, Norfolk. After nine days of improvement, he develops inexplicable dread while repeatedly drawn to a peculiar tower beyond the sand dunes. Compelled to confront the obsession, Ormerod passes through a gate and enters a winding road where the landscape transforms into a melancholic, shadowy country—markedly different from Todd's physical geography. He encounters a gaunt laborer who identifies the region as "Hayes-in-the-Up" and mentions Fennington ahead. Ormerod recognizes this location from a disturbing dream and discovers a white house set among towering pines. Peering through a window, he observes an unsettling interior dominated by a large, sinister spinning-wheel that appears to move of its own accord. The narrative employs atmospheric gothic imagery and mounting psychological unease to suggest an otherworldly dimension accessible only through the tower.