Spooky Season

 No live organism can continue for long to exist safely under conditions of absolute reality....The Haunting of Hill House. "Shirley Jackson"

I love Halloween and haunted houses. My favorite movie is based on the Shirley Jackson novel "The Haunting of Hill House." 1963 version. There is a 1990's remake I believe but you can safely skip that one. Back when I was a little kid I was watching this black and white movie on TV. 

Even larks and Katydids are supposed by some to dream. ..Shirley Jackson

Lost in my own childish daydreams I didn't realize my mother had walked out of the room. All of a sudden I notice some spooky music coming from the TV.

Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against it's hills, holding darkness within...Shirley Jackson

In Spooky  black and white I see an adult lady talking to statues and pretending to dance in some garden or court of an old house. But, OMG! That statue moved and she's thinking and her thoughts are loud and scared and 😱

It had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more...Shirley Jackson

I looked around. Where did mother go? I think the smart thing to do now is run out of the den. But, I'd have to run right past the TV. Better to wait for the next commercial.

Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, and whatever walked there. Walked alone...The Haunting of Hill House "Shirley Jackson."

But, that commercial break couldn't break the spell. I stayed and cringed and was scared of every sound and every creak. I saw staircases where a governess hung herself. An old lady who first came to the house as a newborn but grew old and died banging her cane on the walls.

Two young women participating in a psychic experiment over a weekend at the house. Hearing banging on the wall. The one from the statue moving in the garden thinking in her head "why are you squeezing my hand also hard?"  Finally yelling out loud for her roommate to "Let Go Of My Hand" then it's gone and she hears the roommates voice clear across the room in the dark. "I've not been holding your hand!" 😰😱

Then you hear the lady talking in her own head again "Oh God. God. What was holding my hand? 😰😧

My little boy self was terrified. I never forgot that movie. Many years later I bought it on DVD. Restored and remastered and it still works! Glorious and scary. Black and white and paranoid. 

Horror movie buffs have often wondered and debated if the ghosts were real or psychological. Shirley Jackson passed at the young age of 48. But, a writer on the movie said he had always thought they were psychological. 

So he asked Shirley Jackson back then if the ghosts were supposed to be real. She said "they are real."

My 8 year old self could have told him that. 👻

Happy Halloween Season! 🎃👻