Walking Alone in Haunted Grounds

Attention!!! - this article contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen (or read) The Haunting of Hill House and you intend to, you probably shouldn’t keep reading (of course, you can come back later if you wish). 

“Shirley Jackson's Hill House is as nearly perfect a haunted-house tale as I have ever read,” Stephen King declares in his work Danse Macabre (1981, 163). Wait, does the name of the house rings a bell to you? Of course, it does! The Haunting of Hill House, directed by Mike Flanagan and released in October 2018, is one of the latest and most well-known original Netflix series, and it’s based on the homonymous short novel written by Shirley Jackson in 1959. However, the expression “based on” seems perfect to me to describe the series if it’s compared with the book, since they have little to do with each other – although some references to the novel can be found if we look into the details. 

The first (and most obvious) similarity is the house - Hill House is haunted and creepy both in the novel and in the series. But still, there’s something different: the perception that the characters have about it. The Crains seem to be totally okay with spending their time in that old mansion in their summer vacation, and they don’t expect it to be haunted (so naïve…). Everyone seems to be fine, and nobody gets bad vibes in there... at least until the ghosts show up. In the series, the house is just a house, the setting for the action, and nothing else – that however changes in the final episode when we’re explained that it’s way more than just a house: it’s alive, it’s hungry, and that’s why it’s swallowing all the family members one by one. On the contrary, in Jackson’s work, the main character, Eleanor, feels that the house is “deceived” and “vile” even before setting foot into the house. Also, it’s stated from the beginning that the house is apparently alive (“the face of Hill House seemed awake,” she says in the second chapter).  

"And whatever walked there… walked alone." This is a quote that appears both in the novel and in the series, and which is repeated in the first and in the last paragraph, giving the sensation that there is a never-ending loop.

Nell and Arthur Vance in their wedding, scene in episode 5.

Another similarity, as you may have imagined from the previous paragraph, is found in the characters. Despite the fact that in the novel they are four strangers, and, in the series, they are seven people forming a family (which obviously means that they know each other), some of the Crains are taken from the written version. I’m referring to three of the siblings – Luke, Eleanor, and Theodora; who are based on the assistants of Dr Montague (and whose surnames evidently aren’t Crain) – and the father – Hugh Crain, name that appears when the history of the house is told, and who was the builder of Hill House. If looked more in detail, one of the character’s has even more relation with the book: Nell’s surname becomes Vance when she gets married, and Vance is actually her original surname in the novel. In addition, the older sister is named Shirley – can you guess after who is she named after? – and the older brother, Steven – apparently as a tribute to Stephen King, who, as you saw in the first paragraph, is a great fan of Jackson; and who, as a curiosity, wrote the introduction to the 2003 edition of the novel.

Also, some of the supernatural events experienced by the Crain family were experienced by the four paranormal investigators in the novel. In the written version, the first supernatural occurrence, experienced only by Theo and Nell, was that of "a hollow bang" in the walls, apparently made by an iron bar. In the series, this loud bang is also present - although it is lived by Theo and Shirley and not Eleanor; and some paintings moving and hitting the walls are added, so the noise isn't metallic. However, the connection is clear if we have into account the reactions both pair of characters have, which is exactly the same.

Theo and Shirley Crain, scene in episode 2.

Another of the supernatural facts, and where we find the clearest connection between both versions, is the message on the walls reclaiming Eleanor. The words may change a bit, but it's essentially the same thing. Here we see how this event is presented on the series: 

The message in the wall, written in red chalk, in episode 5.

In the novel, the messages were "HELP ELEANOR COME HOME" and "HELP ELEANOR COME HOME ELEANOR."

The last one, and maybe the least similar between one and the other but similar anyway is the one of the storm. The parallelism is found in that the house seems to be falling apart due to the strength of the tempest and one of the characters acting somehow weird: Eleanor in the novel, and Olivia (the mother) in the series. Even if the characters involved are not the same, we get the certainty that the house is doing something to them, and that it is not going to end well. 

Hugh Crain going after Olivia, who seems possessed, wandering around the house the night of the storm, in chapter 6.

Wait, what does that stain look like? From episode 7.

What is really interesting is how Shirley Jackson gets the reader to be indirectly acquainted with her sources, which are very much present in the series too - some even extended. The writer mentions some real haunted houses, but I'll have into account only two: Ballechin House is famous for its ghostly dogs (something present in both formats) and for loud bangs on the walls (something that as we have seen both versions share); and Borley Rectory is known for having the ghosts of a nun called Helen who was walled up alive. Now you remember, right? Well, in the book, nobody finds a cadaver of someone walled up alive, but when Dr Montague's wife (who has a short but intense appearance in the story) does a session with planchette (our old friend the ouija), she gets a message of a spirit kindly letting her know that some girl called Helen (or Helena, or whatever, as she says) was walled up alive in Hill House, and also that there is a ghost of a nun probably having a walk around the house. Then, at the end of the novel, Eleanor makes clear that she wants to stay in the house no matter what by repeating the words "Walled up alive" (in chapter 10). Nevertheless, none of this happens in the series, as you might have realised if you have seen it. What is common here is that Hugh Crain accidentally found a corpse behind the basement floor (the basement, always the basement). There might be no Helen nor a nun, but there's a corpse of some man who was walled up alive. The man was William Hill, by the way, and he appears to have walled himself alive (why would he do that? We'll never know). 

Now, what seems to be essential in every ghost story? Yeah, that's right - ghosts. And the Netflix production have tons of them. Actually, there are more than the ones you have seen with a naked eye: if you look really, really close, you might see ghosts hidden in the corners, below the frame-doors, or even between the steps of a stair, like in this case: 

Can you see a face behind the stairs? From episode 3.

Our dear Nell (aka Bent-Neck Lady) making one of her stellar appearances in episode 10.

But let's focus on the ones you are intended to see. Probably the reveal of the identity of the Bent-Neck Lady blew your mind. The fact that Eleanor had been seeing herself dead all those years is pretty shocking, and a really good plot-twist. How was this presented in the novel?, you may ask. Well, sorry to disappoint, but there is no Bent-Neck Lady in the novel. It's not just that we don't get one of the best revelations of the entire story - it's that there are no ghosts at all. Not even Poppy, who seems to be the cause for absolutely everything (that was even said by Mike Flanagan to explain why the house is so evil: it's because the house had inherited the insanity of its previous owners, Poppy and William, who met in an asylum). Then, what writes in red chalk and hits the walls and scares the poor four protagonists? Good question. The answer is that the house itself causes it. As I have explained in the beginning, Hill House is not just the setting for the action, but one of the main characters in the story. Apparently, in a more visual version, the fact that there were no ghosts at all wouldn't work, so they were added. 

And so many ghosts were added indeed, in episode 10.

And some other little details make a recall to the book. One that may pass unnoticed is that of the cup of stars: little Nell finds a beautiful - and fragile - cup of stars, and she asks Mrs Dudley whether she can keep it. The few sentences Mrs Dudley uttered as the answer for that innocent request may resemble to something said by Eleanor Vance in the novel when, in her way to Hill House, she stops at a country restaurant and sees a little girl crying for her cup of stars: "Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again." Curiously enough, we get a glimpse of an adult Eleanor in the series drinking from a cup with a stars pattern. 

Little and adult Eleanor with her cup of stars, in episode 5.

Lastly, the famous Red Room does not exist in the written version. This means that the finale is totally different from the one presented in the original version of the work, but given the fact that not even the characters are the same, it's comprehensible. In my opinion, the Red Room finale has way more impact on the spectator, but that goes with each one's taste. The revealing that all the family members had been trying to get into the room so hard and that they had been actually spending much of their time in it is the second great plot-twist of the series, and it gives the feeling of a great ending (together with all the other dramatic parts, which somehow ensures a bittersweet sensation for the conclusion). It also allow us to get the sense that the story is closed, that everything is explained (with the exception of some questions like who are all those other ghosts, for example), something that we don't feel in the novel, with so many unanswered questions. In comparison, the novel has a plainer finale, but as I already said, the plot is also plainer, so this is also understandable. 

In conclusion, the only thing that is exactly the same in both versions of The Haunting of Hill House is the title, and little more. Still, that doesn't mean that the adaptation is worse or better - it's simply different, and even if I declare myself more a fan of the series than of the book, I believe that the director of the series didn't intend to improve the story of the original version, but to create a whole new story around Hill House while doing a beautiful tribute to Jackson's work. It is clear that he had read the novel, and that he had made some research about it too. And I'm sure that he will do something similar - and I hope as good - in the second season: The Haunting of Bly Manor, based on the Gothic classic The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. 

What do you think? Have you read the book? If you haven't, read it! And if you have, which version have you liked more? Did you notice all these little connections? Comment below if you have seen something else that I may have missed!