[An earlier version of this article appeared on IGN Jan 28, 2019]
By Aaron Sagers
The house is a textbook definition of a haunted mansion. Drafty with long, dark hallways, dank basements, a dumb waiter, a sealed-off room, and ancient furniture, the structure appears -- as Shirley Jackson described it in her 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House -- as “a house arrogant and hating, never off guard.” Slightly off-center, with right angles that are a “fraction of a degree off in one direction or another,” Hill House could be described as the embodiment of evil.
Meanwhile, the young Crain family, the Hill House occupants from last year’s hit Netflix adaptation, are at the mercy of horrifying phenomena that haunts them, both during their time in the building, and for years after as ghosts seek to lure them back.
And for a pair of real-life, professional spirit seekers, the series about literal and figurative ghosts (which landed on multiple “best of 2018” lists) is not simply a compelling installment of paranormal pop culture, it is a fictional case study from a day at the office – if that office is a haunted house.