The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley
"The Haunting of Toby Jugg" is a novel that intertwines themes of love, evil, and the struggle for the soul against a backdrop of political intrigue. The story follows Toby Jugg, a young man paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained during the Battle of Britain. Confined to his family mansion in rural Wales, he battles a malevolent force that takes the form of a giant spider, coupled with the sinister influence of his former teacher, Dr. Helmuth Lisicky. This conflict is not just personal; it reflects a larger ideological struggle, positioning divine forces against satanic ones, with elements of communism woven into the narrative.
As Toby uses a secret journal to document his experiences and preserve his sanity, he discovers that those around him, including his guardians, are under Helmuth's influence. His journey of self-liberation is complicated by the arrival of a nurse, Sally Cardew, who becomes both his love interest and ally. The tension escalates with Helmuth's manipulative tactics and threats, but the narrative reaches a climax with Toby's unexpected recovery and the chaos unleashed by an elderly relative. Ultimately, their love prevails, allowing Toby and Sally to reclaim their lives and future, culminating in a hopeful conclusion of family and happiness.
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The Haunting of Toby Jugg
First published: 1948
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—occult
Time of work: During World War II
Locale: Wales
The Plot
This novel concerns a struggle between the forces of God and Satan for the souls of a pair of young lovers. It has a political cast, with God on the side of British democracy and Satan helping the communists. The novel is one of a number by this author that involve Satanism and communism, along with brainwashing, hypnotism, and extrasensory perception (ESP).
Toby Jugg, soon to turn twenty-one and inherit the largest industrial fortune in Great Britain, lies paralyzed from the waist down in a bed in the library of an old mansion near the village of Llanferdrack in rural Wales. He was injured when his fighter plane crashed during the Battle of Britain. He is in the care of Dr. Helmuth Lisicky, who had been one of his teachers when Toby attended Weylands Abbey, a co-ed boarding school with Nietzschean principles embodied in its slogan: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. At Weylands Abbey, Toby was educated to become atheistic and amoral as part of Helmuths plans for him later in life.
Narration of the novel occurs through a secret journal Toby keeps in an attempt to rescue his sanity. He undergoes a series of hauntings by a maleficent force that finds embodiment as a giant spider that manifests when the moon is full. Toby assumes that this evil presence has some connection to the old, ruined castle onto which the mansion backs, or to the nearby lake. Toby slowly discovers that Helmuth is his mortal enemy and that his guardians, Julia and Paul, are under Helmuths satanic influence. He is to be driven mad deliberately so that his fortune will go to this cynical diabolist, whose communism is merely a front for his worship of evil.
Toby attempts to enlist various household servants, sometimes by use of hypnotic powers learned from a book in the library, to help him escape, but Helmuth thwarts all these efforts. When young Sally Cardew arrives as a replacement nurse, Toby finds both true love and the ally he needs to overthrow his captors. The satanic powers nearly prevail by using Toby and Sallys love for each other against them. Helmuth tells Sally that she must yield her virginity to him in the course of a Black Mass in order to spare Toby, and after Julia fakes death from a heart attack in the course of a struggle with Sally and Toby, Helmuth tells Toby that he will have Sally charged with murder unless he signs away his fortune.
Two events prove decisive. Divine intervention restores to Toby the use of his legs, and a deus ex machina comes in the form of an insane elderly relative. Trying to reunite with her lover who drowned in the lake, she digs a tunnel that fills with water and floods the Black Sabbath chapel, sweeping the satanists away. Toby, stretching forth his arm, telepathically zaps the Great Spider. The next day, the lovers find the document that Toby was forced to sign, and they destroy it. A postscript informs readers that Sally and Toby are the parents of twins and are living happily.