 The same theme is treated with greater depth in Lovecraft's more substantial story "The Rats in the Walls" (1923).There is also a further autobiographical element in "The Moon-Bog" - Lovecraft had seen his boyhood haunt of Cat Swamp purchased by the city authorities with the declared aim of protecting it from developers.But instead the city allowed it to be drained for development, and 200 new houses were erected on the site in 1919 .