The Haunting of Hill House: Adapting the Book for Netflix
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone
‘The Haunting of Hill House’, Shirley Jackson, page 3
Even if you have never read the book you have likely heard this opening paragraph before, possibly on a list of great openings to novels or maybe because you’ve watched the Mike Flanagan Netflix series and recognise it as the opening lines of the first episode.
Shirley Jackson was a fabulous writer who was fascinated with the idea of haunted houses and more so haunted people. Her books blur the line between supernatural occurrences and potentially mentally ill narrators who, at their core, are unreliable.
Mike Flanagan understood this vision of Hill House when he adapted it into a ten part mini-series. Even though the plot has changed slightly, the core themes and elements still remain. This is perfectly illustrated by the slight changes made to this quote for the show while keeping the meat of the quote the same.
SPOILER WARNING!
From this point forward you will find spoilers for both the book and show. If you do not wish to be spoiled please don’t read further until you have read the book or watched the Netflix series.
This is also not going to be a complete guide to comparing the two as that would take far too long and probably be very boring. This article is long enough already.
Content warnings for talk of suicide, self harm, addiction and mental illness.
Book Plot vs Series Plot
Book Plot Synopsis
In the book we follow Eleanor (Nell) Vance, a 32 year old woman who has spent the past 11 years caring for her mother who was ill and has now passed away. She is one of several guests invited by Dr John Montague to Hill House to stay and partake in a paranormal investigation at Hill House. A house built by Hugh Crain for his daughters that he designed himself. Her and Theodora are the two invited who have joined the good doctor and Luke Sanderson heir to Hill House. The House at first frightens Nell but seems to welcome her within. At least until events start to happen that seem a little odd. The events in the House ramp up until Nell is sent away by the Doctor for her own safety as the house seems fixated on her. Nell crashes her car killing herself within the grounds, seeming to only realise what is happening after the car is out of her control.
Series Plot Synopsis
In the series, we follow the Crain family in the events that occur after the youngest sister Nell committed suicide in a house her family owned and once lived in, Hill House. From the day she died right through the funeral and day beyond, the story follows the family as they flashback to the events of Hill House from their childhood and the events after that led up to this point. In the flashbacks to their summer at Hill House we discover that Hugh and Olivia Crain were looking to flip Hill House to fund their own forever home and stayed in the house with their five children while doing so. Olivia slowly descends into mental illness, killing herself and attempting to kill her young twins Nell and Luke. The story plays with the idea that the events that occurred were just a result of Olivia’s mental illness while weaving in the true story that Hill House is like a starving creature that wants to consume their family.
Character Names
You may have already noticed a few similar characters in both of these synopsis. For example Hugh Crain, the father in the Netflix series who is the architect and original owner of Hill House in the novel.
In the novel, Hugh Crain is a potentially mentally disturbed individual we don’t get much knowledge of apart from the fact he built hill house with rooms that are not square and wrote a book for his daughters warning them of the awful reality of Hell. Flanagan made Hugh Crain a more sympathetic character who was just trying to do his best to protect his family but kept tripping up as he went. It is easy to argue that the Hugh Crain of the novel is also trying to protect his children in a misinformed way but the Netflix series definitely paints a softer image of him.
We also see some other characters named in honour of the novel. Shirley is the second oldest and shown to photograph events as a documentarian of the family and their story, even if Steven is the one to write the book. Clearly Shirley is the author Shirley Jackson’s representation within the show. Nell is working with a therapist called Doctor Montague. A fun fact is that the actor playing Doctor Montague, Russ Tamblyn, played Luke in the 1963 film “The Haunting” an adaptation of Hill House that seems to have inspired Mike Flanagan(1).
Nell also marries a man named Arthur Vance. In the novel there is a brief moment of parody of the stereotypical paranormal investigator in the form of Mrs Montague who arrives with headmaster Arthur Parker to Hill House. Arthur in the book appears to in his spare time act as an assistant to Mrs Montague. That Nell’s husband is Arthur Vance is a nice way to refer back to this character while also giving Nell back her name within the novel.
The Dudley’s also take their names from the book with a more direct link between them and their characters. While Flanagan expands on these characters stories and personalities, Jackson simply has them there as the houses caretakers who provide Nell with the staple warnings of a haunted house story which she decides to ignore.
The main characters adapted from book to screen are Eleanor (Nell), Theodora and Luke. While we never see the childhoods of these characters in the book, Doctor Montague constantly refers to them as children in the way they act.
“You’re still like a pack of children,” the doctor said smiling too. “Always asking what to do today. Can’t you amuse yourselves with toys? Or with each other? I have work to do.”
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, page 141
Theodora in the series keeps the psychic ability of the Theodora in the novel with her ability to touch objects or people and determine information about them. Luke keeps his characterisation as a liar and thief from the novel though instead of doing it for no determinable reason in the Netflix series he is shown to have these traits due to his addiction.
Where the real adaptation skills come in is with the character of Nell. We have her namesake character of Eleanor Crain, but I would argue that her character was also used in the creation of Olivia. Nell in the show keeps Nell in the books unreliability as a narrator, and one of the main focuses of the show in terms of how her death impacts the family in the present. She is the Nell who is actually experiencing something supernatural. Olivia is the other main focus in how her death impacts both the family of the past and present. She takes on some of Nell’s stories from the book, her severe reaction to a cold spot in the house, her mental breakdown spiralling and represents the Nell who is causing the events and dealing with deteriorating mental health.
In splitting the character, Mike Flanagan is able to keep both interpretations of the story present. Both the idea that Nell is experiencing a mental health crisis and the idea that Hill House is actually haunted.
The House Welcoming Nell
Hill House is something ominous as an entity but it manages to make itself welcoming to those who reside within, in the novel this is focussed around Nell. Nell sleeps better within Hill House, wakes up feeling more attractive and finds herself more confident in her interactions to begin with.
It was a surprise to find that she had slept until after eight, and she thought that it was ironic that the first good night’s sleep she had had in years had come to her in Hill House.
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, page 93
The House is trying to ingratiate itself to her, something she is acutely aware of to begin with.
It’s charming, Eleanor thought, surprised at herself; she wondered if she was the first person ever to find Hill House charming and then thought, chilled, Or do they all think so, the first morning?
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, page 95
However, she is slowly lured in by the house until she truly never wants to leave it.
“Walled up alive.” Eleanor began to laugh again at their stone faces. “Walled up alive,” she said. “I want to stay here”
The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, page 240
Similarly, we see in the show the house luring in both Nell and Olivia in the Netflix series. Olivia and Hugh have bought Hill House with the intention to flip it and use the money to build their ‘forever home’ which Olivia has drawn out and has the architecture plans pretty much complete for. Later when she creates the combined plans for Hill House, she is shown that unconsciously she drew the image of the forever house over and over again within the plan.
She is unconsciously, literally fitting the forever house within Hill House.
We find out that Olivia would flash the porch light twice to call the kids home and we see the house use this when Nell returns to Hill House on the fateful night of her death. It is here we see the house pull out the big guns. Hill House appears to Nell as being as it had been as she was a child, warm and with her family all within. She is reunited with her mother and heartbreakingly Arthur with whom she dances on her way to her own death.
It is also at this point we find out the root of one of the key ways we know the house wishes to welcome Nell within it’s walls, the physical message saying to “Come Home Nell”. In the show, it is here we discover Olivia completing the message on the wall so it reads “Welcome Home Nell”.
This incident is almost an exact replication of one of the haunting incidents in the original novel. First discovered by Luke, a message has been written in red chalk on the wall which reads “Help Eleanor Come Home”
The writing was large and straggling and ought to have looked, Eleanor thought, as though it had been scribbled by bad boys on a fence…the doctor, moving his flashlight, read slowly: HELP ELEANOR COME HOME.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, pages 144–145
In both the book and the novel, Eleanor is the one to get the blame for writing it even if not directly. There is a difference here though between Theodora’s reaction in the book and her reaction in the show. In the book, it is clear she wants to blame Eleanor for writing the message, this is particularly the case when the same message written in blood appears above her bed. In the show, Theo touches the writing and is able to see Nell wasn’t the one to write it.
Neither Nell in the show nor Eleanor in the book is able to truly leave Hill House, even when this connection turns fatal.
The Deaths of Hill House
In the book, we discover that before our intrepid paranormal investigators have even considered stepping foot in Hill House it is known for its bad luck and at least one suicide. Hugh Crain’s wife died on the way to see the house for the first time, his two daughters became estranged of each other quarrelling over the ownership of Hill House, Crain’s second wife died from a fall with unknown details of how or why and his third from an unspecified illness. The older sister lived alone in the house employing a companion to whom she left Hill House in it’s entirety, this poor companion was hounded by the younger sister and eventually committed suicide by hanging herself from the turret of the tower. It is this tower that contains a narrow iron staircase and railing with a balcony where Eleanor later attempts to throw herself off while sleepwalking. Ultimately, Eleanor dies in the book by crashing her car into a tree seemingly possessed by some insanity either of mortal means or through the paranormal powers of the house itself.
Hill House is a place of tragedy and death, it has scarred its reputation beyond repair and no matter what you believe, it could be said to be haunted by the stories of those who had come before and the impact those stories have on the houses current inhabitants.
The show takes some of these elements and builds upon them. Olivia Crain does indeed die of a fall, it is a suicide but Hugh Crain covers most of the gory details up and tries to keep her respected in death. Nell doesn’t die in a car crash, though her ghost does nearly cause one (I’ll talk about this more in the next article I write about building tension). Instead she suffers the same fate as the poor companion mixed with the sleepwalking episode of Eleanor in the book. Nell hangs herself from the iron railing of the tower staircase, an act that she does under the influence of the house and without realising until the last fatal second what is going on. She could even be said to have been pushed by the ghost of Olivia to whom she turns to, to help her as she desperately clings onto the railing before she plummets down.
The aforementioned sleepwalking sequence is one of the most iconic parts of the book and is beautifully interpreted in the show in both Olivia and Nell. Olivia has sleepwalking episodes, ones that are dangerous not only to herself but to her family as well. The line blurs throughout the series between actions done while sleepwalking, actions done knowingly and actions done while in some kind of limbo between the sleeping and waking world.
In the novel, during this final climactic event, before Eleanor’s dismissal from Hill House and subsequent death, Eleanor runs through the halls of Hill House and dream waltzes with an invisible partner who she imagines to be Hugh Crain as she climbs up the narrow railing. With Olivia in the show we have a great scene of Hugh chasing her through the house while she sleepwalks during the storm seemingly able to teleport from place to place. We also see the parallels in Nell with her dream last waltz with Arthur before she finds herself too at the iron railing of the tower.
While the Eleanor of the book is initially able to be saved by Dr Montague, Luke and Theodora; Nell has no such help as she reaches her final moments in Hill House. However, she does get saved from death once before on the night her mother ultimately through herself from the same railing only to end up dying in Hill House regardless. A parallel with book Eleanor who is saved from one terrible fate only to literally crash and burn into another.
The ghosts of the show Hill House also reflect some of the tales told in the book. Mrs Hill who died in the house after a long and prolonged illness mirrors the older Crain sister who kept on a companion. The tall man ghost or William Hill bricked himself up in the walls of the house slowly dying from within. This is a reference to the fact Mrs Montague, the comic relief, talks about all the nuns walled in alive she’s spoken to. Poppy recites a rhyme that Luke in the novel sings to Nell and Theo
The first was young Miss Grattan,
She tried not to let him in;
He stabbed her with a corn knife,
That’s how his crimes begin.
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson, page 219
Mike Flanagan uses the ghosts of the house as ways of getting these references in while keeping a coherent narrative around the Crain family.
The Hauntings of the House
A haunting is not very successful unless the occupants of the house experience paranormal events that leave them shaken and concerned. In the book there are a few key hauntings that occur and which the show attempts to replicate.
The first supernatural occurrence is the sensory hauntings. In the book, Nell feels cold in the house and says a foul smell comes from the library room in the tower. She also experiences a strong cold spot that the rest of the housemates also feel at a point outside the nursery which seems to be the centre of the paranormal events, at least at first. The show has Theo comment on feeling cold all the time, Luke mention that certain rooms have an odd smell and even have a specific cold spot which both Olivia and Theo experience in one of the downstairs rooms.
It isn’t a one to one replication but is exactly the sort of adaptation that makes this show so brilliant. We have these little moments that build up the suspense and introduce the viewer to the worrying possibilities within the house before hitting you with the big guns. They are there for those who have read the book to notice and appreciate but aren’t ham-fisted in, in order to make the two match.
Flanagan does this beautifully with the other hauntings as well. In the book there is one joined experience of Theodora and Eleanor where they experience banging on the walls of the house getting closer and shaking the room.
It started again, as though it had been listening, waiting to hear their voices and what they said to identify them, to know how well prepared they were against it, waiting to hear if they were afraid. So suddenly that Eleanor leaped back against the bed and Theodora gasped and. cried out, iron crash came against their door, and both of them lifted their eyes in horror, because the hammering was against the upper edge of the door, higher than either of them could reach, higher than Luke or the doctor could reach, and the sickening, degrading cold came in waves from whatever was outside the door.
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson, page 129
The show has an almost identical event with Theodora and Shirley right down to Theo’s indignant “What” when she first enters Shirley’s bedroom. While the book has Eleanor question Theodora in her bedroom, and show Theo is much more harsh in that way only siblings can be in moments of annoyance, both suggest that the start of the banging sounded like their neighbour pounding on the wall between their rooms in order to get their attention.
The show does some excellent work in getting the terror of this moment across with the two girls huddling on the bed clinging to each other. Something Eleanor and Theodora of the book are doing during this occurrence. They also show the walls shaking as the book describes
…Eleanor and Theodora saw the wood of the door trample and shake, and the door move against its hinges
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson, page 131
In the book this instance of haunting is missed by Luke and Dr Montague as they chase a spectral dog that appeared inside the house, something that is referenced heavily in the show by the kids hearing dogs barking at night and them seeing the figure of a massive black dog when separated from their parents during the storm. In the show, it seems that only Theodora and Shirley experience the incident with their father only being alerted by their screams of distress.
The second haunting that is near identically recreated is infamous for the spine-chilling terror a single quote can instil in a reader. While sharing a room, Eleanor and Theodora listen terrified to noises coming from the room that once was Theodora’s in the night while clutching hands in the dark. Eleanor grounds herself in the steady squeezing of her hand in Theodora’s until she can’t take it any more shouting for the voices to go away and not hurt her. The full haunting takes place between pages 160 and 163 of the novel, but it ends both the haunting and chapter with Eleanor realising Theodora is still in her bed some distance away and the line
‘God God – whose hand was I holding?’
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson, page 163
Even rereading this line multiple times while writing this article, it has never failed to send shivers down my spine and truly stands the test of time as a moment of truly inspirational horror writing.
In the show, we start off episode 3 with someone entering Theo’s room while she is sleeping and crawls into bed behind Theodora. Theo assumes it is Nell who is known to go into her siblings rooms and beds in order to gain comfort from a bad dream. She speaks to Nell asking if she had a nightmare before complaining that she’s squeezing too tight. When she gets no response Theo turns around in her bed and finds there is no one there remarking to herself “whose hand was I holding?”
Again we don’t get a 1 to 1 adaptation exactly as Shirley Jackson writes it, instead we get an interpretation that works with the narrative Mike Flanagan is following while paying tribute to the novel not only as a reference but also capturing that innate terror for a new generation and in a format some consider more accessible.
The Cup of Stars
There are quite a few direct quotes from the novel that make it into the show, however it is the cup of stars that stuck with me from my first reading and hit at a part of me I didn’t fully understand until years later. I’ll probably go into this more with my article on Hill House and mental health issues but I suffer severe anxiety and depression, chronic eye pain and am currently on the waiting list for neurodivergence with likely undiagnosed autism. I have been the quirky girl all my life, too adult like as a kid, to child like as an adult. It would take my second round of therapy to begin to unpack why this cup of stars became such a strong point for me from the novel.
This is an almost throwaway moment from the novel that happens in the very first chapter of Hill House as Eleanor drives to the aforementioned location. It likely would have been cut if not for a small reference back to it that highlights how unreliable Eleanor is as a narrator. In the novel, Eleanor is having lunch when she sees a family and a little girl refusing to drink her milk because she wants her cup of stars. A little cup with stars at the bottom which the child can see while drinking the milk. Her mother explains this to the waitress before asking her daughter to please drink a little of the milk from the glass put before her. Eleanor mentally tries to tell the little girl not to do so.
Don’t do it, Eleanor told the little girl, insist upon your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don’t do it
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson, page 21
It hit me, like a shard of ice to the heart first time I read it. That loss of childhood innocence and the tragedy of being made to conform all in one small quote. The pain felt by Eleanor who feels she has lost some of that innocence herself alongside her years caring for her mother. It pulled up for me memories of being told by adults everything would be fine if I just acted like the other kids did.
It is a quote that has so much meaning to me and importance, and it must have had an impact on Mike Flanagan as well as he made sure to have Eleanor’s thoughts quoted directly by Mrs Dudley to child Nell. Something that humanised Mrs Dudley greatly while also having a lasting impact on Nell who we see has a blue mug covered in stars as an adult.
This is a small reference, but it is one that fans of the book and show have clung to with cups of stars available from crafters in the form of mugs, cups, pins, artwork and more. I think it is the inclusion of this one reference which is truly the reason I will always praise the adaptation of Hill House by Mike Flanagan. It’s a favourite quote that haunts my inner child just as the ghosts haunt Hill House.
Wrapping Up
There are probably a hundred other references I’ve missed or not found the space to include in this article. If you want a really good examination of the book itself I highly recommend the “On the Road With Penguin Classics” episode I mention in my bibliography which has been a great resource for helping me forward in properly comparing areas of adaptation. There are a million other articles and videos that can show you more of the direct parallels, but this is more a personal look at the sections that really stood out to me and make this adaptation so dear to my heart. I also want to thank you for reading this far, if you like my work consider sending me a tip on my kofi https://ko-fi.com/leannegallacher. If there is something you think I missed feel free to leave a comment. My next article is 27 May and will be about how Mike Flanagan builds the tension in the Netflix adaptation.
Footnotes
- Mike Flanagan’s Tumblr, ask about Dr Montague, https://www.tumblr.com/flanaganfilm/740421720059559936/hi-mike-i-was-rewatching-the-haunting-of-hill
Bibliography
- ‘The Haunting of Hill House’, Shirley Jackson, ISBN-13:978–0141191447, kindle edition
- ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Netflix Limited Series, Director Mike Flanagan, Released 12 October 2018, 10 episodes, Writers: Shirley Jackson, Mike Flanagan, Meredith Averill, Jeff Howard, Charise Castro Smith, Rebecca Klingel, Scott Kosar, Liz Phang
- Mike Flanagan’s Tumblr https://flanaganfilm.tumblr.com/
- ‘Let Me Tell You’, Shirley Jackson, ISBN: 978–0–241–19820–9, paperback, 9th edition
- ‘On the Road with Penguin Classics: Episode The Haunting of Hill House with Ruth Franklin’, Podcast, aired: 31 October 2023, Host: Henry Eliot, produced by Penguin Random House UK
