A Very Creepy Book

Two movies have been made from Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," but neither one does it justice. Of the two, the black and white version made in 1960 is better. The modern version is not nearly as good, Liam Neeson notwithstanding.

In the beginning, we learn that Eleanor sleeps on her sister's couch. She spent her youth looking after their mother, while her sister tended her own little family. Now that Mother is gone, and the house sold, Eleanor has nowhere to live, except under her sister's grudging roof. When the letter comes, inviting her to spend some time at Hill House, as part of a research experiment, she leaps at the chance to escape her bleak surroundings.

While driving to Hill House, she starts an internal journey, coming out of the shell she has inhabited for years. She is thinking about what she wants out of life. She's almost giddy with the sense of freedom her trip is giving her.

Then, she arrives.

It's huge. And spooky. The gatekeeper is obnoxious, the housekeeper, more so. She explains that the guests will be locked in, because she leaves before dark. And no one will hear them scream. In the night. In the dark. As Eleanor is the first to arrive, and knows nothing about the rest of the party, this is a bit daunting. She is tempted to leave. Enter Theo.

Theo is everything Eleanor is not. She's sophisticated, witty, glamourous, shallow and brittle. And beautiful. She sizes Eleanor up in a heartbeat, and decides she'll be fun to play with until someone more interesting arrives.

The rest of the party consists of the doctor, and Luke. The doctor is the host--it's his experiment. Luke is the nephew of Hill House's owner.

Now we start to hear the story of Hill House. It was built in Victorian times, and has never been a happy home. Hugh Crain was the builder. His young wife was killed before she ever set eyes on the place, because the horses pulling her carriage saw it first, and slammed the vehicle into a tree rather than get any closer. She died. She and Hugh had two daughters, who grew up in the house with a succession of housekeepers. Hugh was not much there, and died away from home. One of the daughters married and left; the other stayed and grew old, with a paid companion. The companion got the house when Old Miss Crain died. She committed suicide, and the house passed to a relative of hers. Nobody has managed to live there. This is a house with a reputation.

The doctor, whose name I can't remember at the moment, is a psychic researcher, and has tried to fill the house with people who have a history of psychic phenomena. Theo has ESP, and Eleanor was involved in a stone-raining episode when younger.

The house is oppressive. Doors refuse to stay open, even when propped. There's a cold spot. There's a room Eleanor can't enter. There are things that go bump in the night. Every little ghostly thing you can imagine happens in Hill House.

The horror comes in as the house seduces Eleanor, only partly against her will.

Comic relief is provided by the doctor's wife, who likes to communicate with ghosts via planchette, which is a ouija board with a pencil in it.

I won't tell you how it ends--get it from your local library or bookstore.

Shirley Jackson is the person who wrote "The Lottery, " another creepy little gem.