A series of strange disturbances occur, mostly at night-but the pounding, rattling, strange laughter, and cold spots throughout the house and on the grounds actually excite the group. The man who built it, Hugh Crain, purposefully designed the house to be labyrinthine and disorienting, and after his wife’s death in the house’s driveway, a series of strange occurrences took hold of the place.Īs the four begin their stay at Hill House, they explore and chart the manor’s twisting depths.

Doctor Montague and Luke Sanderson soon arrive, and Doctor Montague explains that Hill House has been the site of a haunting for as long as eighty years. She soon meets Theodora and the two young women bond quickly-Eleanor is dazzled by Theodora’s beauty and wit. Nevertheless, Eleanor is hungry for an adventure, and she decides to stay rather than turn tail and head for home. Dudley, she realizes she is the first one there-and she senses a deeply malevolent energy coming from the house. As she arrives at the house and meets the caretakers, Mr. Luke Sanderson, the young man who stands to inherit Hill House from his relatives, also pledges his time for the summer-Montague’s lease states that a member of the family who owns Hill House must be present during the experiment to keep an eye on what the renters are doing to the house, as past tenants have had troubles up at the manor.Įleanor Vance steals the car she co-owns with her sister Carrie and her brother-in-law and drives over a hundred miles to Hill House, excited to finally have an adventure of her own.

The only two people to accept his invitation are Eleanor Vance, a childhood victim of poltergeist activity who has spent most of her adult life caring for her ailing mother, who has very recently passed away and Theodora, a bohemian psychic with clairvoyant capabilities who lives with a roommate in a large city. Anthropologist and parapsychologist Doctor John Montague, hoping to legitimize the field of parapsychology through groundbreaking new research, invites a carefully-selected group of psychically sensitive individuals from around the country to spend part of the summer at Hill House-a manor in the northeastern United States with a reputation for being deeply haunted.

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