James Tilly Matthews - Fictional Representations

Fictional Representations

• Haslam's Key, a play written by journalist Danny O'Brien and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1993, imagined Matthews as a forerunner of modern science fiction authors. The titular "key" was a wooden spoon-like device invented by John Haslam, the documenter of Matthew's delusions, which was used to force-feed Bedlam patients.
• Richard Hayden's novel The Influencing Engine (1996) is a fantasy loosely based on aspects of Matthews' life.
• In 2002, the British artist Rod Dickinson built a re-creation of the air loom from Matthews' original plans.
• Greg Hollingshead's novel Bedlam (2004) concerns the changing relationship between John Haslam and Matthews and is narrated in first-person from the perspective of Haslam, Matthews, and Matthews' wife.
• The CSI episode "Lab Rats" (2007), Grissom uses Matthews' condition as an analogy in describing The Miniature Killer, a serial killer obsessed with bleach.
• Robert Rankin's 2007 novel, The Da-da-de-da-da Code, features a group of villains known as the Air Loom Gang, as well as a doctor named Doctor Archy, a character known as "The Middleman" and a beer called "King Billy".
• The first album from British band The Lowland Hundred features a song called "The Air Loom", which references the affair.