Julie Harris and The Haunting of Hill House

One of my favorite movie scenes.
Claire Bloom and Julie Harris

The actress Julie Harris died yesterday at age 87.

I will always remember her best for her performance as Eleanor Vance, in one of my favorite stories, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The book was written in 1959 and has become the most famous haunted house story of the 20th Century. No blog about scary books would be complete without discussing it!

The first movie adaption of this book came out in 1963. Julie Harris played the main character, Eleanor Vance, who comes to Hill House for a vacation. Yes, that's correct. A vacation, a holiday from home. You might be thinking, Is this lady nuts?! Well, actually, maybe.

Eleanor is told in her letter from Dr. Markway about the house and the experiment, but I don't think Eleanor gets it at first. She just sees this as a chance to get away--away from her past life of caring for her mother who is now dead, away from her unreasonable sister who has filled in their mother's shoes as another person who imprisons Eleanor in a life of drudgery. Eleanor is so reclusive and shy that I have often wondered how she dared break free, even with the promise of somewhere to go. The movie doesn't include the book's description of Eleanor's visit to the small coffeehouse in the depressing town near Hill House. I think this experience shows that Eleanor is more determined to get away than we might expect because I would probably have wanted to run back home myself after being stared at by those odd villagers.

At Hill House, Eleanor meets some interesting personalities. Dr. John Markway, the scientific parapsychologist, seems friendly and organized, if not a little naive about what a truly haunted house will do to sensitive people like Eleanor. Theo seems to be everything that Eleanor would like to be: sophisticated, independent, beautiful, talented, self-assured. Luke Sanderson is the heir to Hill House and is quite mercenary about the whole visit. And who can forget the Dudleys, especially the efficient and charming Mrs. Dudley:

Rosalie Crutchley as the creepy Mrs. Dudley

"I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at 6. I clear up in the morning. I have breakfast for you at 9. I don't wait on people. I don't stay after I set out the dinner, not after it begins to get dark. I leave before the dark....We live over in town, miles away.... So there won't be anyone around if you need help....We couldn't hear you. In the night.... No one could.... No one lives any nearer than town. No one will come any nearer than that.... In the night. In the dark."

Well, we have only arrived and we're not scared yet, right?

Quite soon we get into the haunting and everything you could want in a good haunting happens: spooky noises, walls that move, disembodied voices, phantom animals, mysterious writing on the wall, magically appearing blood stains, noxious smells. Add to that the extremely creepy past history lesson that Dr. Markway gives to his new students and it is no wonder this story scares most people. We do have some lighter moments, with Mrs. Dudley's rather comical insistence on adhering to a schedule, Eleanor and Theo painting their toe nails, dancing in the conservatory, and delicious meals in the dining room. But these moments only help prevent us from dying from fright.

Julie Harris as Eleanor Vance

I think Julie Harris does a good job of playing Eleanor as a rather mixed-up psychological mess. We are not really certain how much of what is going on is in her mind or not. Obviously it is not ALL in her mind, since we know in the movie and the book that the others see and hear things that are disturbing and frightening. Eleanor, the young woman who felt that she doesn't belong anywhere, begins to feel at home in Hill House not long after her initial repulsion of the invitation on the wall of "Help Eleanor come home". Something snaps inside her when she sees her own name on the wall of Hill House, and she (and we) begin to wonder, what does this mean? I certainly never thought Eleanor would willingly go back to her sister's home, the only home she had, once she had found the strength to leave at last. But where would she go after her time at Hill House? Maybe Hill House itself has found the answer.

There is another movie adaptation based on this book. The Haunting with Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson came out in 1999. Despite the excellent cast, I feel that the screenwriters were too free with their adaptation, including too many story changes. I hate cheap tricks in scary movies, and this one is full of them. Shirley Jackson and her phenomenal book deserved better.

I first read this story in high school and was suitably scared silly. I think I read this story and see the Julie Harris version of the movie at least once a year. I have inflicted it on others--family, friends, and library patrons. It is often quoted, especially the reference to "whatever walked there, walked alone." It is a high bar to clear when evaluating or writing other haunted house stories. Nobody who likes horror stories should miss this book, and nobody who likes horror movies should miss Julie Harris's movie performance.

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson

Last night I reread "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, a short story that I had read many years ago. Shirley Jackson, in my opinion, is the Queen of Modern Horror. Her book, The Haunting of Hill House, is one of my favorite ghost stories. She manages to make somewhat ordinary incidents turn into situations fraught with terror.

"The Lottery" is no exception. Most people today think of lotteries as happy occasions when some lucky person has won a lot of money. The dictionary.com definition of "lottery" is a gambling game or method of raising money, in which large members of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes, any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance, or any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance. Prizes are usually involved. That sounds nice and fun, doesn't it? But there is an ancient tradition of casting lots or drawing straws to decide something or who will do something unpleasant. You might like to read this Wikipedia article on Sortition, the process of and reasons for casting lots. The article goes into the advantages and disadvantages. This process is often seen as the most fair without discrimination among participants, but Mrs. Hutchinson brings up fairness several times.

What struck me about this story in reading it again was the lack of any obvious horror element until the very end, when she sprung it on me full-force. It was a quick blast and left me shocked and stunned. Up until the very end, I had no inkling of what was to come. I didn't remember, from my earlier reading of the story, how absolutely ordinary the people were or how casual they acted about the event of the lottery. These are good neighbors, friendly and considerate of each other, people I'd like to know. The lottery is lumped together with the other "square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween party" run by civic leader, Mr. Summers. I could be attending any ordinary village celebration or meeting.

Are there hints of what is to come? Well, the children gathering rocks in a pile might give us a clue; however, I know a lot of kids who like to collect rocks, so I'm not surprised by their gatherings. Despite the neighborhood block party atmosphere, I don't feel like there is a lot of mingling, and the conversations among villagers seem quite subdued. They just seem to be waiting for the meeting to start. When Mr. Summers asks for assistance in stabilizing the big black box, there is "hesitation" before somebody comes forward to help. Is there a reluctance to touch the box? Mrs. Hutchinson is definitely unhappy that she is late, but I get unhappy, too, if I am late for an important meeting. And clearly, Mrs. Hutchinson is upset about her family being drawn in the lottery and is questioning the fairness of the process. What is the prize for this lottery anyway? It must be something that people don't really want, but if that is the case, why weren't they acting more upset and nervous in the beginning?

What we are lacking in this story is the WHY of it all. Obviously the black box is quite old and the ritual of the lottery has been happening for some time. But why? What is the history and the purpose of the event? Do the people in the story even know why they are doing it? Is the tradition lost in time and they just continue it as a part of their culture? I was a little disturbed at the beginning (only because I had read the story before and remembered the ending) that these lotteries seem to be a common occurrence, not just in this community but in others, as well.  Shirley doesn't explain and I have wondered about the back story, but maybe I am kept in the dark on purpose to make me connect more with the villagers, who might also be in the dark about the history of the event. It's just something that takes place once a year that everybody is supposed to participate in. But the event is brutal and savage and totally unexplained and unexplainable. Of course, those features make it more horrible, along with the fact that these people, who are so civil and jovial towards each other one moment, can suddenly commit this act towards one of their own. I would like to know more about the why of it all. Wouldn't you? Or would that only spoil the horror of the story if we knew more?

Here are some past book covers which I found interesting. Sometimes I really wonder about the designers of book covers. Do they ever READ the story first before they do the cover. I  often think not. The first cover on the left shows us an inkling of the story, with the stones, but I'm not sure what to make of the young woman. Is she dancing? She also could be described as being in a cruxifix form, making me think of sacrifices. Perhaps this cover is the closest to giving me a clue into the story's topic, but only after reading it do I get it.

The cover on the right seems to be a woman dressed in a nice suit with an old-fashioned handbag. Is she going to a ladies' social? Maybe the ladies in the story could be dressed like this. I would not know what this story is about from that picture. Maybe the woman on the cover won the lottery and keeps her winning ticket in her purse until she can cash it in. 

The middle cover is my favorite, mainly because it is just strange and very 1950s sexy Sci Fi. What does a lady with her dress falling off have to do with this story? Mrs. Hutchinson seemed to be an ordinary housewife and probably would not have worn this outfit to the town meeting. The title of The Lottery seems to have a subtitle, too: "The Adventures of a Demon Lover".This is actually another of Shirley Jackson's short stories, not a subtitle. It adds another enticing promise, though--adventures with demon lovers. Hmm. I also don't know what the little black prehistoric figures around the central figure signify. The woman does look horrified, though. Maybe she is shocked to find that her new boyfriend is a demon. I would be, too! I wonder if Shirley liked this cover? Maybe she thought it was rather funny, it's so obviously wrong for the story.

As horror stories go, however, this is one that should not be missed. It makes us think of so many issues: community, families, traditions, and what we would be willing to do to each other.