Johnny Dixon and Byron Ferguson attend Camp Chocorua in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and come across "a small stone church by a quiet lake, a grove of willow trees, and a grim gray stone mansion with clusters of spires, minarets, turrets and funny bulbous domes [36]."
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The name of this estate is Staunton Harold, based on the original near Leicestershire, England. Staunton Harold, with it's Hall, church, park and lake has been a major attraction for Derbyshire people for many years. The first house at Staunton was built by Sir William de Staunton in 1324. In 1423 Margaret, sister and heiress of Thomas de Staunton, married Sir Ralph Shirley, Constable of Melbourne Castle and the adopted Staunton as the family Home. The house was largely rebuilt by Sir Robert Shirley, Ist Earl of Ferrers. He also built the church in 1653 which adjoins the house. Washington Shirley who became the 5th Earl Ferrers, rebuilt the Hall in the present Palladian style to which was added later the Georgian front as it is today, mellow brick with stone faced, pedimented, centre surmounted by figures of Minerva, Apollo and Ceres.
Johnny and Fergie discover the New Hampshire Stauton Harold while at Scout camp:
"The boys were standing on the rim of a gently sloping ridge. On their left the ground fell away fairly steeply. In the valley below them they could see a small stone church by a quiet lake, a grove of willow trees and a grim gray stone mansion with clusters of spires, minarets, turrets and funny bulbous domes. And in the distance Johnny could see the high rusty iron fence that surrounded the grounds of the estate. There were iron gates, chained shut, and a rutted disused road that wound away from the fence right up to the road the were standing on. The place where it met the road was marked by a big stone arch. Monster heads and leering human face were carved on the arch, and there was also a name: Staunton Harold." [36]
Bellairs' passage is reminiscent of an episode of the
M.R. James story,
Wailing Well, the story of "two members of [a] Troop of Scouts" that come across a strange section of land near their camp:
It was a lovely morning, and Stanley Judkins and one or two of his friends - for he still had friends - lay basking on the top of the down. Stanley was lying on his stomach with his chin propped on his hands, staring into the distance.
"I wonder what that place is," he said.
"Which place?" said one of the others.
"That sort of clump in the middle of the field down there."
"Oh, ah! How should I know what it is?"
"What do you want to know for?" said another.
"I don't know: I like the look of it. What's it called? Nobody got a map?" said Stanley. "Call yourselves Scouts!"
The chapel stands on the edge of the ornamental lake and one of the few churches built in, and surviving from, the Commonwealth Period. Built by Sir Robert Shirley, who died as a prisoner in the Tower of London in 1656, there are two inscriptions to the memory of his work and defiance of Puritan rule over the entrance, the most famous on the exterior:
In the yeare: 1653
When all thinges sacred were throughout ye nation
Either demollisht or profaned
Sir Robert Shirley Barronet
Founded this Church
Whose singular praise it is
to have done the best thinges in ye worst times
And
hoped them in the most callamitous
The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance
Great Gildersleeves?
The novel begins with a rather lengthy introduction of the deceased patriarch of the Glomar Cereal Company, based in nearby Gildersleeve, Massachusetts. This is appears to be a fictitious community, possibly named after the popular radio program, The Great Gildersleeves.
The Glomus Family
Herbert "Herby" Bagwell Glomus was the founder of the Glomus Cereal Company in Gildersleeve, Massachusetts [4]. Best described as a health nut and the inventor of a cereal drink called Glomar ("black and looked like coffee, but it was made out of wheat"), and Oaty Crisps, a cereal similar to Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
The Glomus mansion, built like a castle, was across the street from the cereal factory and contained many works of art and antiquity. Glomus's office, located at the top of a tower at the northwest corner, contained many similar furnishings, as well as objects he collected when he began a pursuit of demonology (such as magical mirror that once belonged to Dr. John Dee). He also is attributed to creating the Guardian, an evil spirit that haunts his estate near Kancamagus Center.
Glomus died from drinking a mixture of strychnine and cognac on November 13, 1936; a note found said he had not left a will. Examination of a diary led the family to believe a will did exist, with clues supposedly within his office. His greedy sons [166] led his widow, Annabelle, to offer a $10,000 award to anyone who could decipher the clue and find the will.
Johnny Dixon, convinced that the monetary award can be used for his gramma's operation, accidentally stumbled upon the gloomy and all-but-abandoned Glomus estate, Staunton Harold, and eventually pieced the clues together to identify the location of the missing will.
In a book with a character trying to overcome a brain tumor, Glomus is an interesting choice for a name. A glomus tumor is a small, ball-like swelling usually found in the middle ear, usually causing hearing loss, tinnitus, or dizziness. Such tumors may also affect other nerves in the face, producing paralysis of the face, vocal cords and tongue. Such tumors are rarely malignant, which means that they do not tend to spread to other parts of the body after surgery.
The name also brings to mind thoughts of the similarly spelled Glamis Castle (pronounced Glahmz), north of Dundee, Scotland. While it is was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, it is probably best known as the legendary setting of Shakespeare's Macbeth - a fact no doubt realized by Bellairs.
Cereal Thrillers
H. Bagwell Glomus is a Bellairsian spoof of John Harvey Kellogg, the cereal magnate of Battle Creek, Michigan, a town not more than 20 miles west of his hometown of Marshall. Like H.B., John Kellogg had some pretty stringent thoughts on health and nutrition, both inspired by the late nineteenth century health craze that swept the country. In 1876 Kellogg became the staff physician at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and soon helped develop it into one of the most famous health resorts in the world. There Kellogg introduced the "Battle Creek Idea" - "good health and fitness were the result of good diet, exercise, correct posture, fresh air and proper rest." From this regimine, John, along with his brother, William, developed a diet of cereals as healthy breakfast food, especially corn flakes. In 1906 the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company was founded by the brothers. In 1998 Kellogg's Cereal City USA opened in Battle Creek, a one-stop museum and tourist center showcasing the history of the Kellogg name in Michigan.
Glomar, Glomus's wheat-based, coffee like beverage is based on Postum, the creation of Charles William Post. Post arrived at Kellogg's Sanitarium in poor health and soon became interested in nutrition as well. Once discharged, Post experimented with his own grain-based products and, in 1895, introduced his caffeine-free beverage Postum as a healthful alternative to coffee. This, and other creations, helped spark the creation of the Post Cereal Company, one of Kellogg's main rivals in the breakfast cereal business.
Youth Do Cheer?
At one point in the story, Johnny finds a strange item: "an old-fashioned black-and-white woodcut. It showed some young men drinking in a tavern. Outside the tavern door stood a skeleton. It held a spear up over its head, and it looked like it was getting ready to throw the spear at the young men. Underneath the picture was a little two-line poem, printed in old fashioned lettering. It read:
While Youth do chear
DEATH may be near.
Bellairs is using a poem from the
New England Primer, something Fergie later correctly identifies as something "the Pilgrims used to teach their kids their ABCs."
