The Haunting of Hill House is often considered a classic in the horror genre. It revolves around four main characters, Dr. Montague, a psychologist and investigator of the paranormal, Eleanor Vance, a shy and timid woman who has spent most of her adult life caring for her sickly mother who recently passed away, Theodora, an artsy, bohemian type and Luke Sanderson, the young heir to Hill House and host of Dr. Montague’s investigative party.
Dr. Montague has rented Hill House for the summer to investigate whether the house really has supernatural occurrences. His broader goal is to prove or disprove the supernatural in general. He has chosen Eleanor and Theodora as well as several others because they have documented past experiences of supernatural occurrences in their lives. They are the only two who accept Dr. Montague’s invitation.

Creepiness abounds at Hill House as soon as Eleanor, who has fled from under the thumb of her oppressive, patronizing sister and brother-in-law in the car they had refused her, arrives at the town the house is located in. She then makes her way to the house where she is the first to arrive and runs head first into the elderly caretakers, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, who refuse to stay at the house after dark. Soon after Theodora arrives and she and Eleanor begin to form a friendship talking about the creepiness of the house and the yard in which they go exploring. Soon Dr. Montague and Luke arrive and the Dudley’s leave.

That evening, Dr. Montague begins to explain some of the history of Hill House including its early tragedies (suicide and other violent deaths) and the later fight over the estate between heirs. The four soon begin to experience strange events such as sounds in the halls at night, writing appearing on the walls and so on. Eleanor is much more attuned to this even experiencing some things that the others don’t seem to notice. But as the novel progresses it is not quite s clear that they are actually experiencing a true haunting as a few other possibilities exist for what occurs. Eleanor in particular begins getting quite suspect (but I won’t tell you why!)

Adding some comedic relief to the story is the arrival of Mrs. Montague and her assistant Arthur Parker. Interestingly enough, Mrs. Montague is arrogant and quite rude and a complete believer in the supernatural including the use of automatic writing (with the help of a planchette), séances and other such psychic means of communicating with spirits. Her arrival is comedic because she has absolutely no social skills; I often found myself laughing at her parts or sometimes even a little widemouthed at the rudeness of what she says. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that it is very interesting what she and Mr. Parker experience and may support the idea that there is more to Hill House’s haunting than meets the eye. It isn’t long and things begin to escalate quickly, especially with Eleanor, but alas, to write much more about the things that happen after this would be to spoil the ending. So, you will have to read it for yourself…

Word About the Narrator:

Since this was an audiobook I want to conclude with a word about the narrator, Bernadette Dunne. I thought she did a fantastic job, especially with the interplay between Theodora and Eleanor. She brought out the child-like naivete of Eleanor and the wild-child, Bohemian in Theodora. I would definitely consider listening to another work by her. The following is a blurb from audible.com.

From audible.com: Bernadette Dunne has appeared on stage at The Kennedy Center, The Washington Shakespeare Company, and Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C. As a playwright, her works have been produced in New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. She has recorded over 100 titles and received a Golden Earphone Award for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.