Stephen King mentions the book in his 1979 novel The Dead Zone and echoes the beginning scene of it by referring to a lightning-rod salesman in a chapter titled "Dark Carnival". His novels 'Salem's Lot (1975), Needful Things (1991) and Fairy Tale (2022) also contain references from Something Wicked This Way Comes.[15]
A crucial subplot of Harry Turtledove's fantasy novel Every Inch a King is set at a circus called Dooger and Cark's Traveling Emporium of Marvels. Like Bradbury's Cooger and Dark, Turtledove's Dooger and Cark have access to literal magic, including witchcraft, demons, and unicorns. However, the trope is inverted because Inch is set in a world where the existence of these creatures, along with vampires, werewolves, dragons, trolls, and sea serpents, is universally acknowledged, making this circus mundane and unremarkable in context.
Don Coscarelli has cited the novel as a major inspiration for his 1979 film Phantasm.
The TV show South Park parodied the novel in the 2004 episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes" with a similar plot about the titular department store luring townsfolk with its super-low prices. British TV comedy series The League of Gentlemen features the Pandemonium Carnival of Papa Lazarou. In similar vein, the animated TV show Rick and Morty paid homage to the novel in an episode titled "Something Ricked This Way Comes", which centers around a comically-shadowy figure granting the citizens of the town wishes, but the plot largely draws upon Needful Things by Stephen King, which itself was largely based on Bradbury's novel. UK Horror soundtrack producer Sam Haynes has released two Halloween themed albums influenced by the novel, The Incredible Dark Carnival and Something Wicked.
The band Creature Feature released a song titled "The Greatest Show Unearthed", which references the novel and takes heavy inspiration for the lyrics.[19] The band Vernian Process released a song titled "Something Wicked", which shares the novel's setting.
The heavy metal thrash band Nuclear Assault also had the same song title referencing the lyric phrase and their self titled video was also on the same self titled album.
In the video game Ultrakill, the first of the game's secret levels is named "Something Wicked", which features the player navigating through a dark maze while avoiding the titular monster, a thin creature capable of instantly killing the player on contact. (Editorial note: please review this item to make sure it is an actual reference to Bradbury's novel rather than Shakespeare's play.)
American progressive rock band Stencil Forest released a song called "The Pandemonium Shadow Show" on their debut album Opening Act, which references the novel and is a straightforward adaptation of the novel.
Hard Rock band Starset released a song also titled "Something Wicked" with parallels to the novel in their song and album's lore, including the novel's title being sang at the end of the song.
British alternative-rock band Sea Power released the song "Something Wicked" to their album 'The Decline of British Sea Power' named after the novel, ten years later Sea Power named an album after another Bradbury work.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern features fraternal twins born either side of midnight on opening night of the Cirque de Reves by several minutes. Widget the boy is born first, on the 31st of October. His sister Poppet is born 1 November. Each possesses bright red hair and a talent for 'seeing' the past (Widget) or the future (Poppet). They are the only circus performers in the plot who age.
American musician Tessa Violet named her 2016 EP Halloway after Will Halloway. Violet listened to audiobook version while on tour after her mom said it was "one of the scariest books she's read, and one of the most well-written".[20]
The Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition module "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight" has taken inspiration from Bradbury's book. The carnival at the beginning of the adventure has clear resemblances to Bradbury's carnival, and the back cover begins with the line 'Something Wicked this Way Comes'.
In the video game Team Fortress 2, an unusual effect added in the Scream Fortress V update bears the name "Something Burning This Way Comes".[21] (Editorial note: please review this item to make sure it is an actual reference to Bradbury's novel rather than Shakespeare's play.)
Also, American musical artist Harry Nilsson named his debut album "Pandemonium Shadow Show", famously calling it "Shandemanium Shadow Poe" in a spoken word moment that opens the album.
