Subject: Re: {Question} Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or the ceiling is coming down
Tony Nance <
tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 10/17/26 8:27 AM, Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson wrote:
Dear rec.arts.sf.written,
Is there a known /first/ literary example of the trap in the Temple of
Doom?ÿ I know Dungeons & Dragons had some of these traps, but i don't
know if those pre-date the movie or not.
So, to recap, is there a known first literary example of the ceiling is
coming down, spikes are coming from the floor traps?ÿ I believe Terry
Pratchett made jokes about these literary devices, but I don't know
where he could have read them, if not just watched the movies.
Best wishes, and happy ceilings!
I don't know what the first one would be, but maybe we can glue some
things together.
The descending ceiling acting as a mechanical death trap has prominent
roots in early 19th-century Gothic horror, and became somewhat common,
or at least known/used in literature.
Spikes...in Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (for example) it is
"understood" that the pit was a "spike pit", of the sort one might use
in the jungle hunting large animals.
Internet searching indicates the following:
1) Floor spikes are specifically mentioned in Wilkie Collins' "The
Moonstone" (1868), Burton Stevenson's "The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet" (1912), and Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu "The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu" (1913).
2) The combination of the two is generally used in pulp magazines and
comics literature in the 1930s-1950s (Weird tales, Astounding Stories,
The Phantom). A few specific stories cited: "The Spider and the Fire
God" (1933), and The Phantom story arc(s) dealing with the Singh
Brotherhood (late 1930s - early 40s)
3) The initial D&D instances would pre-date the Indiana Jones movie.
Best I can do for now,
Humans hidden by the narrative physically put the protagonist into THE
PIT AND THE PENDULUM torture room prior to the story's start. Unseen
human operators control the titular pendulum as well as the perimetric
shape and temperature of the room's walls. The pit's centered in the
room.
After the protagonist extricates himself from the pendulum's reach,
the walls that surround the pit heat up and gradually transform from
square to lozenge, or rhombus. The intent is to push the room's occupant
into the pit.
White hot ceiling luminance provides the protagonist with his first
glimpse into the pit, whence big rats previously appeared:
The glare from the enkindled roof illumined its inmost
recesses. Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit refuse
to comprehend the meaning of what I saw. At length it
forced-it wrestled its way into my soul-it burned itself
in upon my shuddering reason. Oh! for a voice to speak!-
oh! horror!-oh! any horror but this! With a shriek, I
rushed from the margin, and buried my face in my hands-
weeping bitterly.
That's it. That's the beginning and the end of the physical description
of the pit. Such a paltry portrayal seems marginally McGuffinish. It
offers an explanation as to why adaptations focus solely on the
pendulum.
Did intentional authorial misdirection give the storied pit a place
of prominence in the title only to later belittle the pit by mostly
ignoring it for the sake of story tension? Or, more likely, Pit and the Pendulum sounded superior to Poe's profoundly poetic ear.
Note.
[1] "The Pit and the Pendulum" - about October 1842
<
https://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/pitpdma.htm>
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