The True Story Behind "The Haunting Of Hill House"

as long as humans have been around and as long as homes have been standing it's very likely that someone if not many others have died in that very spot you're in right now from bumps in the night to ghostly apparitions an old building or plot of land is sure to embody some of these experiences for those who dare to occupy them [Music] the haunting of hill house was authored by shirley jackson and published in 1959 it's one of jackson's most renowned works and has been adapted on screen a number of times it's important to note that it's not based on a single true story but inspired by various encounters experiences and hearsay a prominent inspiration for jackson's the haunting of hill house is drawn from a group of 19th century psychic researchers who moved into a presumably haunted house to study supernatural activities along with many real locations such as the neuschwanstein castle in germany and the winchester mystery house in california along with a collection of other odd occurrences mostly indirectly experienced by jackson with very few exceptions one house where the psychics lived and studied was known as the borley rectory which was once called the most haunted house made notorious by the famed psychic researcher harry price harry price and louis mayerling both occupied the residence and would publish separate books contradicting one another's experiences price's book the most haunted house in england detailed his alleged encounters at borley rectory price became best known for his research into borla rectory where he lived for a year to study the supernatural elements he claimed to have numerous experiences with poltergeists during this time his book would serve as a sort of bible and foundation of knowledge to those interested in psychic phenomena at the time meanwhile we faked the ghost at borley rectory authored by louis mariling which challenged the authenticity of price's experiences despite marilyn's book calling out prices there was however one incident maryling could not discount the incident took place during easter of 1935. mayerling along with a handful of people attended a science at borley which he recounts as being an ill-lit and underground cellar at about midnight where they all sat in silence after the kitchen bells clambered together unprovoked one of the other attendees was said to have jumped up and there was a lightning strike of silver blue light which appeared to implode from all walls in the ceiling of the cellars and then there was a dead silence maryland continued on saying that every member of the science was struck with an instant paralysis which lasted about five seconds he even recounted being blinded afterward and recovered his sight in just one eye maryling wrote that i can't explain that occurrence and to be honest it still makes me feel rather shaken the rest of the hauntings were without exception the most successful hoax of the age but that still sets my spine tingling author shirley jackson said of the boarly rectory case they thought that they were being terribly scientific and proving all kinds of things and yet the story that kept coming through their dry reports was not at all the story of a haunted house it was the story of several earnest i believe misguided certainly determined people with their differing motivations and backgrounds the second case of 19th century psychic researchers believed to have inspired jackson's novel were the group at scotland's boleken house the blekken house was owned by major robert stewart who'd become a believer in reincarnation and transmigration after his military service in india it was said that stewart believed that he would be reincarnated as a dog in his next life and so he bought many dogs who lived on the estate stewart died in 1876 and his dogs and his state were inherited by his nephew john skinner john found his uncle's idea of returning in the form of a dog to be disconcerting and shot all of the dogs because of this massacre it was thought that robert stewart disembodied would haunt the house forever some other texts that might have inspired jackson include an adventure written by two respectable british women named charlotte and moberly and eleanor jordan in it the women claimed that on one summer day in august 1901 they had a supernatural encounter while walking in the gardens near the petit trianon in the palace of versailles france they recalled a sudden feeling of unnatural oppression and dreariness followed by the appearance of phantom-like figures including marie antoinette who had considered the petit trianon one of her favorite retreats after it was gifted to her by louis xvi during the account the women claimed that some of the present-day buildings and bridges appeared to have vanished and that the apparitions were dressed in 18th century attire and even interacted with them the incident led them to believe they experienced some sort of time slip jackson was also notably inspired by the writings of supernatural expert nandor fodor who believed that haunted houses were typically homes filled with the emotional trauma of its past residents fodor's belief was that hauntings were manifestations of this leftover energy resulting in events such as knocks on walls doors slamming and cold drafts all of which lent itself to jackson's book along with the counts of poltergeist activity also collected by fodor he also believed that ghosts were external manifestations of the internal subconscious mind meaning if a location is haunted some trauma certainly occurred there the jenning music building at bennington college in vermont where jackson's husband taught was also notoriously believed to be haunted both students and professors alike have reported paranormal activity in and around the building such as cold spots and voices arising from empty hallways it's believed that this notoriously haunted building was another source of inspiration for jackson's work as well a biography of shirley jackson written by ruth franklin mentions that jackson may have also been inspired by the edward h everett mansion near old bennington in vermont the legend of this mansion recounts that the ghostly presence of everett's first wife roams the hallways franklin wrote that jackson said of the experience most people have never seen a ghost and never want or expect to but almost everyone will admit that sometimes they have a sneaking feeling that they just possibly could meet a ghost if they weren't careful if they were to turn a corner too suddenly perhaps or open their eyes too soon when they wake up at night or go into a dark room without hesitating first jackson also cited her own personal struggles with depression loneliness and alienation as a main inspiration for the house the author recounted that these personal struggles worked as inspiration for the haunting inside of the house before reaching its popularity and success on netflix the haunting of hill house was adapted for the screen a number of times the netflix series is said to be based very little on the actual story of the novel hardly faithful to it at all in fact show creator mike flanagan states that the show is way more of a riff than an adaptation he also said look at it as a remix it was more interesting to break down the book and pull out the characters and the themes and individual moments and pieces of prose even that had really stuck with me and try to rearrange it as flanagan notes there are clear themes barred from the book and a few homages sprinkled in but the actual story is altered quite a bit in the show in shirley jackson's novel the reader follows a group of strangers who accept an invitation to investigate an alleged haunted house as part of an experiment to prove the supernatural is real in flanagan's show the viewer follows a family who experienced trauma in a home as they lived there while a lot was altered such as turning the characters from strangers to family members some of the original characters essence and traits made the transition from book to scream for example in the novel hugh crane was the man who actually built the hill house in the late 19th century but in the show he purchased the house and moved his family in while renovating it many of the other characters went from strangers of different walks of life to siblings in the novel theodora or theo is part of the group investigating the house with dr montague the man who brought the group together in hopes of proving the existence of the supernatural theo is also an artist who experiences esp extrasensory perception in the show she is one of the five crane children who could sense monsters as a child and becomes a psychologist also in the show luke and eleanor aka nell are twins who saw ghosts as children as an adult luke is a recovering drug addict while nell is haunted by the death of her husband whom she felt was killed by the bent necklady a ghost who's been haunting her since childhood in the book luke is the heir to hill house and is one of the volunteers who shows up for dr montague's investigation as for nell she recently lost her mother after spending over a decade caring for her just before joining the other strangers at hill house nell is seen as a central focus in both the show and novel and seems to have the strongest connection with the house the other two siblings shirley and steven only exist in the show and are not in the book it is likely that the addition of the character shirley is a nod to author shirley jackson herself it's also noted that steven is seen reading one of jackson's book the lottery as a child shirley is a funeral home director and steven is an author who's writing the success of his novel of the same name the haunting of hill house which recounts his childhood hunting experiences in the crane family's hill house home his expose creates a strain between the siblings as they're left feeling exploited by the publication apart from dr montagu making an appearance as a therapist in one episode it's also said that steven is a nod to dr montague in terms of character the show is narrated by stephen who narrates a passage from the opening paragraph of jackson's actual novel other characters from the novel that also made it to the show are the dudleys who remained faithful in their role from the book as the caretakers of the home that says you and mr dudley come with the house houses like this one require a staff while the show has mostly altered the story there are subtle nods likely recognizable to fans of the book other small moments and themes from the books include cold spots felt throughout the house pounding sounds coming from the walls and the reigning stones the cup of stars is another crossover from text to screen in the book eleanor or nell encounters a girl who refuses to drink out of anything but her cup of stars in the show she sees a couple of stars during a tea party to which mrs dudley tells her to insist on her own cup of stars ultimately expressing the same sentiment eleanor had while watching the girl in the novel use your cup of stars insist on your cup of stars once they've trapped you into being like everyone else you'll never see your cup of stars again in the show olivia mrs crane tells luke her son of a cottage she saw while on a drive with her grandmother she then fantasizes about the life she would have had there this is taken directly from eleanor's experience in the book olivia also says to luke that she almost named him robin and not the part of eleanor's fantasy of having a robin in one of the scenes theo feels a non-human hand grab her hand which also happened to eleanor in the novel a line from shakespeare's twelfth night journeys end in lover's meeting is repeated throughout the novel and makes his small appearance in the show on the lid of a watch and finally two prominent deaths in the novel also make their way into the show as well but don't worry we'll spare you the spoilers okay fine just one hint it involves the staircase [Music] there are surely countless other similarities but alas the show is only partly inspired by the book whether fact or fiction all stories evolve in one way or another over the course of time sometimes inadvertently other times intentionally with the haunting of hill house it seems the various stories it derived from have gone through a number of filters to become the haunting of hill house we know today even still it hits all the right scary spots you

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

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Keywords: buzzfeed, buzzfeedunsolvednetwork, buzzfeed unsolved network, the haunting of hill house, haunting of hill house, haunting of hillhouse, story behind the haunting of hill house, true story of haunting of hill house, haunting of hill house true story, The Case That Inspired: The Haunting of Hill House, haunting of hill house case, true cases, true crime, cold case, haunting of hill house cold case, creepy, mystery, theories, investigate, mini doc

Id: ATENTb9HG8k

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 05 2020