When you think of a haunted house, what comes
to mind? If you are over the age of 30 I would be willing to bet that you pictured an old
Victorian Era Mansion. Hi everyone ken here, welcome to "This House". Today we are
exploring why Victorian era mansions are associated with ghosts in this special
Halloween episode. Grab a bag of candy and smash that subscribe button so you never miss an
exciting, or maybe spooky episode of "This House" In countless horror movies and TV shows we have
seen this theme played out time and time again: A person visits an old house only to
discover that it is haunted by ghosts of generations past. But why don’t we usually
see this plot playout in newer homes? Surely terrible things have happened in homes that
are less than 100 years old, right? To better understand the answer to this question,
lets go back in time to the Victorian Era. In the 1800s the nouveau rich set out
to flamboyantly display their wealth by building massive houses in the
Queen Anne and Second Empire styles, many of them were architectural amalgamations
with towers, mansard roofs, gothic windows, and wrought iron fences. Critics at the time
looked at these grand homes in the same way we regard McMansions today, as being without
taste nor architectural merit. But nevertheless, these styles were so popular that they
were built all across North America. Many of these homes were built
without the modern conveniences we have today such electric wiring,
air conditioning, and centralized air. When the great depression hit, the once wealthy
families could no longer afford the upkeep on their grand homes, so many simply abandoned them.
By the late 1930s, a new way of life saw indoor plumbing and electric lightbulbs become the
new normal for even the most humble of homes. Instead of retrofitting old homes, it became
fashionable to build more modern homes leading into the mid century modern movement. Homes
were now designed with sleek, clean lines and open spaces illuminated by large windows. The
opposite of the dark interiors covered by heavy curtains which had been the style in the previous
century. It was a new way of life altogether. The media sensationalized this cultural
transition in newspapers. In 1938, The Adams Family Cartoon premiered in The New
Yorker, featuring a strange, aristocratic family living a frightening and bizarre lifestyle in
their outdated Second Empire Style Mansion. The cartoon was a hit, and culturally
symbolized the changing times. The public was now embracing this new way
of life and rejecting the lifestyles of their grand parents who grew up in what
were now dilapidated and musty houses, especially if they were in the rust belt
where the once wealthy neighborhoods were largely now considered the slums.
As the next decades followed, Hollywood got in on this trend, shaming the old architecture
as something perverse and sinister. In 1942, Cat People premiered featuring dark victorian
interiors with a sense of mystery worked into the details. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock the
premiered the classic horror movie, Psycho, using the Bates Mansion as its backdrop. It
had all the components of an outdated way of life including a mansard roof concealing dark,
cluttered interiors – everything about the house was now considered creepy, even though it had
been high fashion when it was first designed. Following the release of this movie, the 1964
Adams Family TV show now started with a shot of the exterior of 21 Chester Place in Los Angeles.
An impeccably maintained Second Empire style mansion that most would consider beautiful today,
was then seen as the embodiment of the macabre. This theme only continued to
build momentum, until finally, by the 1990s, Victorian Era architecture
was now synonymous with the term haunted after Hollywood had produced 1000’s of horror
movies set inside of victorian era mansions. This lead to a whole slew of television
shows to follow in the next decade such as MTV’s Fear and Ghost Hunters which primarily
were filmed in homes from the victorian era. But this theme started to become too played
out. The newer generations had a disconnect from the past and younger audiences just
weren’t as interested in seeing Victorian Era Homes in horror movies. Perhaps this was
the same disconnect that had happened nearly a century earlier as homes that were built
in the 1980s and 1990s were now viewed as outdated. We saw movies such as Paranormal
Activity playing on this fear of 30 and 40 year old homes as our culture shifted to
wireless technology and more modern ways of living. Since the success of that movie,
we have seen a plethora of Hollywood movies set in backdrops from that time period. So are
the victorian era houses haunted? Or is it just a rejection of the past manifesting as fear? Let
me know your thoughts down below in the comments. If you have been watching this channel for a long
time, you already know that I am a huge advocate for historic preservation and find Victorian era
architecture to be very fascinating and beautiful. I hope you all have a safe and fun spooky weekend.
Before you get all dressed up in your Halloween costumes, make sure to hit that subscribe button
so you never miss an exciting episode of "This House". I would also like to take a moment to say
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