31 Days of Horror: Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House remains a top-notch ghost story

Stephen King once described the opening paragraph in Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House as one of the finest passages in the English language and added that it's "the sort of quiet epiphany every writer hopes for: words that somehow transcend the sum of the parts."

That's mighty praise coming from King. If you haven't read Jackson's seminal novel, October is the perfect time. Beyond what King already said, I'd argue that The Haunting of Hill House is one of the most effective ghost stories and haunted house novels ever written. This has to do, in part, because Hill House feels like a living, breathing character, with a sordid history, including the several wives of Hugh Crain that mysteriously died, and murderous family drama that ensued. Crain built the house. From the opening paragraph, it's clear that Hill House contains grisly history and something or someone lurks in its shadows. As the novel progresses, readers learn about the house's weird angles, mysterious cold spots, and uncanny knocking that especially targets and torments the protagonist, Eleanor Vance.

Speaking of Eleanor, another reason the novel functions so well is because of its characterization. Eleanor is a sad, 32-year-old woman who took care of her ailing mother, and once her mother died, Eleanor had no other connections. It's even stated early in the book that she hates her sister, for example. She's invited to Hill House by Dr. Montague, a paranormal researcher and academic who conducts an experiment to see if, well, ghosts actually exist. Eleanor's invitation to Hill House is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to her, and once at the house, she meets the cosmopolitan and stylish Theodora, playboy and habitual liar Luke, and Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, the caretakers who constantly remind everyone that they don't stay at the house after dark.

What I love about this novel is the ambiguity of the house and whether or not it's haunted, or if it's all a manifestation of Eleanor's increasingly fractured psyche. Jackson doesn't provide any easy answers, but the novel can certainly be read as a metaphor for Eleanor's loneliness and trauma, especially regarding her deceased mom. That said, the scenes where she hears knocking are absolutely hair-raising, and the novel's conclusion is utterly devastating.

Additionally, the relationship between Eleanor and Theodora is so well-written. These are two people who would never interact with each other. Eleanor is a homely young woman who sometimes speaks in child-like sayings. She's never traveled or had a long-term boyfriend, for that matter. Theodora is the opposite. She's confident and some of that rubs off on Eleanor. Because they're part of Dr. Montague's experiment, they befriend each other, but likely never would have otherwise. Meanwhile, Theodora has a life waiting for her back in the big city, including a "friend" at her apartment, which is certainly queer-coded I'd argue, while Eleanor has nothing to return to. It's why she so desperately wants to remain at Hill House. There's nothing back home for her.

The Haunting of Hill House was adapted three times. The first is The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise and released in 1963. I'd argue this is the best adaptation and the most faithful. There are also some wild camera tricks that Wise used to capture Hill House's presence. Then there's the very cheesy The Haunting from 1999, and finally Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House for Netflix in 2018.

While all of these adaptations are fun and each have their merits, none quite captured the mastery of Jackson's novel, including its ambiguity, rich characterization, and utter tragedy of Eleanor's arc. The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best haunted house and ghost stories of the 20th Century, and if you're looking for something to read this spooky season, you can't go wrong with a classic.