The Haunting of Hill House is the second novel by Shirley Jackson I've read. Written in 1959, it's an original that, like Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell Tale Heart has become a classic of the genre.
Writing a book about psychic phenomena, Dr. Montague rents a large estate named Hill House outside the small town of Hillsdale. Several people who have shown clairvoyant abilities in studies are invited to spend a week in the house, but in the end, only two show up. Eleanor Vance is now free after taking care of her dying mother, and hasn't really been anywhere. Theodora is a worldly woman, possibly a lesbian, who is up for the adventure. Making up the fourth is Luke, the house owner's son who will inherit one day. Each off them is unattached to the world at the moment, free for a time and whatever comes. They are to relax and keep notes of whatever may happen during their stay.
At first it's a lark to explore the strange house where no rooms have right angles and the maze of rooms have doors that won't stay open. Soon, there are strange knocking sounds in the halls (funny at first), cold spots in rooms, escalating to clothing from the closets torn apart, and writing on the walls in blood - Help Eleanor Come Home Eleanor. After each encounter, the light of day dispels their fears and they continue on. It's after one night of increasing sounds, shaking rooms and nerve-wracking screams that Eleanor gives in, letting the strange forces prowling the house to win. When the week is over, Eleanor says her good byes, but knows she cannot leave Hill House.
Some say this is a story of possession, and some of mental breakdown. There is an air of eerie paranoia about the project, and a need they each feel to belong - they quickly make a tight group. The girls share clothes and a room, and in the night when the noises move closer to them down the hall they grip each others hands tightly - only to find when it stops they weren't near each other! Creepy. There are chilling moments, and unexplained ones. Her writing is very subtle and coasts you along blindly, until you turn the corner with surprise.
The 1963 film (of the same name) starring Julie Harris is considered by many in the top ten scariest films of all time (Spielberg says it's number one). The abysmal 1999 remake (The Haunting) was a painful flop after several directors and a misguided attempt to overdo everything. In the same range but not connected, the 1959 Vincent Price film House On Haunted Hill had eccentric millionaire Price luring five people to spend a night in a haunted house for a $10,000 prize. This was such a box office hit that Alfred Hitchcock was inspired to make his own B-movie, giving it the A-class treatment when he directed Psycho.
Again, Shirley Jackson is a pleasure to read. After a few in a row, I see themes she revisits - poisoning, mental illness, paranoia, cruel townspeople - a need for belonging that is rejected, causing you to create your own safe world. An excellent read.
1959 / Tradeback / 246 pages
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