And whatever walked there, walked alone...

Today's terror filled title has been a personal favorite of mine since I first read it when I was about 11 years old. The Haunting of Hill House by the brilliant Shirley Jackson deserves every bit of the praise and popularity it has received since its publication in 1959. It is a deep and terrifying story of haunting and possession that still rates as one of the scariest books I have ever read.  As with the James story that we discussed yesterday, Jackson leaves a lot to the reader's imagination and that, in my opinion, accounts for much of Hill Houses's impact.  

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

-- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)

The Haunting of Hill House is a deceptively simple tale rendered in Jackson's lovely, almost sparse prose, of four strangers who come together to study the potential supernatural forces at work in an old, deserted and reportedly haunted manse.  Throughout the novel we are left to wonder if the house is truly haunted or if the haunting takes place within the delicate and possibly damaged minds of the characters, especially the shy and complex Eleanor. Neither the characters nor the reader are ever completely sure what happens in Hill House and that is a big part of what makes the story so terrifying.  

Hill House was so popular that it is no surprise that Hollywood decided it had to become a film.  There have been two film adaptations of the novel.  The first, Robert Wise's 1963 The Haunting is considered something of a horror classic. The film is a faithful adaptation and one of the scariest movies I have ever had the pleasure of shivering my way through. The 1999 version by Jan de Bont was more of a typical special effects laden modern horror movie. It was certainly the weaker of the two versions, mostly because it seemed to ignore the very subtlety and suggestion that made the original story so compelling.

Well, there you have it, book number two on our terror filled list!  If you have read Hill House, I'd love to know your thoughts, if not, grab a copy, settle in and enjoy one of the most frightening and subtle tales ever written.