Hell House: A Novel

This is the classic haunted house theme: a small group of people wish to spend the night in a house alleged to be haunted for the purpose of paranormal investigation. Matheson did not invent this theme. It seems to have begun with Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE , published 12 years earlier. One could say that Matheson's HELL HOUSE is a reinvention of Jackson's story, as if Matheson recognized the genius of the original but was frustrated that it didn't explore all its potential. HELL HOUSE, therefore, is far more graphic than Jackson's Hill House, describing intense sexual encounters with ghosts (including violent rape), possession, moving objects, mummies, defiled religious icons, trickery, strange noises, a vegetable soup of psychic phenomena, fog, bog, and all the other ghost story trappings. What it shares with THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is that four characters spend several nights in a very old haunted mansion to investigate it, some being psychic, while a couple of minor characters serve them by dropping off supplies but not staying around. From there, the stories go their separate ways. In keeping with Matheson's style, HELL HOUSE has one foot in a supernatural explanation and one foot in a quasi-scientific explanation for the phenomena. The narrative isn't as eloquent as Jackson's. Matheson has a strong command of language but he usually suppresses it, choosing to serve steak and potatoes instead of a gourmet casserole. But in so doing, he beats at the reader with scenes that chill, shock, disturb, and creep. Each character enters the house with preconceptions about what to find there. The leader, Dr. Lionel Barrett, believes that the house is just a house and there are no such things as dead souls that can possess it. He believes, rather, that people emanate an electromagnetic energy of different strengths, and that this agent can "cling" to the guts of a house long after the people have left it. He has built a career studying these energies, and intends to use a machine of his invention to cleanse the so-called HELL HOUSE of this phenomena. His wife, Edith, accompanies him. She enters the house with an open mind, not believing, nor entirely disbelieving, any particular theory, but hoping to get in and get out without seeing anyone get hurt. For other investigative teams in the house had not come out unscathed. A psychic actress, Florence, joins the team to help Barrett explore the house telepathically. She is deeply Christian but also has a strong belief in ghosts and telepathy. She believes the house is haunted by Emeric Belasco, the man who built the place and who held private parties here in which the most outlandish and horrible activities took place, and she comes to believe that it is also haunted by Emeric's son Daniel, who is trapped and controlled by his father. Fischer is the fourth member of the team, said to be the most powerful medium on record, and the only person ever to have survived Hell House without ending up institutionalized. He does not know what is going on, but he looks at the house itself as pure evil, and extremely dangerous. He is back not to take revenge on the house, but to find closure, and yet fear keeps him from using his powers to help the team until it's almost too late. One of my favorite scenes is when the ghost of Belasco shows up to greet Florence for the first time. She is not afraid of him, perfectly aware of him as he enters her room like an "invisible man." To make himself "seen" he flings the sheet off the bed so that it drapes over him tightly. Florence can then see him turn his head and seem to look at her. Very creepy. The ghost later shows up on her bed with the sheet over him so tightly that she could see his male nakedness, in order to arouse her. It gets worse from there, and her fear of him grows. The sittings are positively eerie, especially when tentacles of plasma slowly issue from the psychic's nostrils while under a spell, and explore through the room, shaping into faces or obeying commands. Dr. Barrett has a machine that he believes will drain the house of energies, and throughout much of the novel he is either waiting for it to arrive or getting it ready for use. My only complaint with this novel is that I found myself frustrated every time the characters returned to their rooms to rest. They seemed to rest a lot, and for no apparent reason. They would occasionally meet and grab a bite to eat, argue about what's going on, then return to their rooms to rest some more. I suppose there was nothing else to do. They were there to experience the house, after all. But it got old. Dr. Barrett spent so much time talking about starting the machine that I couldn't understand why they were taking so long. I kept thinking, "well, fire it up already! What are you waiting for?" While they delay, the evil of the house slowly takes its toll on each of them, attempting to claim their lives. The novel is two parts horror and one part mystery. The mystery is: what is behind the evil in this house? In the end it became a struggle for answers as much as a struggle against the hauntings. Each character develops his or her own theory about what is behind Hell House, and ultimately, each character is proven incorrect. Nobody arrives at the absolute truth until the last few pages, and that does keep the reader turning. The novel was very weakly adapted into a 1973 movie called THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE , starring Pamela Franklin (Florence), Roddy McDowall (Fischer), Clive Revill (Barrett) and Gayle Hunnicutt (Ann Barrett, renamed from Edith in the novel). Matheson himself wrote the screenplay but, due to the extraordinary limitations of the rating system at the time, they couldn't explore a fraction of the violence or graphic nature of the novel.

As a huge fan of horror, and beginning a new horror reading binge, I was recommended Hell House as a cornerstone of the genre. I came at it knowing relatively little, save for my impression that I could look forward to something similar to The Haunting of Hill House or Turn of the Screw. Although I preferred the ambiguity of Henry's work, Hell House certainly edges closer to the former in terms of tone than the latter. In brief, the novel is about a house stained by the horrors committed in its brief but bloody history and the ragtag team, consisting of a physicist, two psychics, and a completely useless, "why-the-hell-did-they-bring-her" wife. Hell, the narrator tells us she narrowly avoided a mental breakdown the last time her husband left, and there weren't even ghosts involved. Bad news. As one would expect, things rapidly deteriorate for all involved, resulting in poltergeist activity, nightmare visions, evil goop, and, of course, ghost rape. Matheson, as always, is a compelling writer. His characters, albeit oftentimes stupid (perhaps hubristic is a better word), are well-crafted, and his prose is simple, and to-the-point. Hell House is strange, in that the world these characters inhabit totally, totally believes in ghosts. Or at least, it seems that way. A kitchen destroys itself around them, and instead of expressing wonderment, the SCIENTIST, of all people, blames one of the psychics for using the "energy" of the house to express her frustration. Regardless, this mentality gives the book a really odd tone that makes all the events that follow feel nightmarish and surreal. If you have ever seen Suspiria, that is the general tone that this book follows. You can almost imagine each scene being shot through strangely colored filters. The conclusion of the story, however, is where the novel seems to fall apart. Characters start behaving strangely, making odd and rash decisions that prove fatal to them and their friends. Influence of the ghost, or a rush to finish? The book truly concludes in the last fifteen pages, in a sprint that defies the methodical pacing of the 285 pages prior. Overall, it's a great read, and the influence it had on the ghost story, both cinematic and written, is clear.

The ectoplasmic sh!t hits the fan in Richard Matheson’s brooding tale of paranormal phenomena and sexual repression. Set in the 1970s, Hell House begins as a wealthy octogenarian (with apparently too much money and too little time left) hires expert parapsychologist Dr. Lionel Barrett to answer the metaphysical question of life after death, promising Barrett and his fellow investigators each $100,000 to bring him the answer. As if proving survival post-death wasn’t tricky enough, the hapless team is dispatched to the long abandoned Belasco House somewhere in rural Maine, a decadent manor that fell into disrepute after a dark period of drug addiction, alcoholism, debauchery, with just a dash of cannibalism—all of which occurred there under the silent influence of Emeric Belasco. Armed with troves of scientific equipment and an orange cat, the good doctor, his insecure wife Edith, and two spiritual mediums named Florence and Fischer arrive to discover this creepy estate possesses all the amenities ranging from an icky tarn to a death-defying steam room. Things go horribly awry, the spooks come out, and this ragtag group soon finds their sanity being subtly undermined by the malevolent forces housed within. It’s pretty clear why this deserted manor was been dubbed "Hell House" by the good townsfolk. As Barrett and the others resolve to rid Belasco House of its evil affliction, they soon learn that the ghosts here won’t go down—at least not without one hell of a fight. I had high hopes for Hell House, which had glowing endorsements from such auspicious writers as Stephen King. Alas, save for a couple of gripping moments, the book was so-so at best. Matheson’s writing here is pedestrian, repetitive, and wrought with awkward adverbs. The narrative plods at a leaden pace. The fright elements are familiar by today’s standards (I realize the book was published in the 1970s, but so was ‘Salem Lot and The Shining—both of which continue to stand the test of time). Although the ending was unpredictable and rather fitting, it still felt anticlimactic and maybe even a little contrived. The characters are banal, their motives one-dimensional, and the reader is given little as to their lives outside of Hell House. Dr. Barrett is overly arrogant and his attempts at explaining the nature of ghostly phenomena through the lens of cold, scientific logic bridges on nonsensical techno-babble; Edith is meek and repressed; and Florence is stubborn and overeager to prove she’s correct about the source of the haunting, even at the expense of her own life. Of the quartet, Benjamin Franklin Fischer was perhaps the only likeable character. In addition to the characters' lack of depth, I found myself occasionally frustrated by both their strange behaviors and their rash decisions, some of which proved fatal. As I was reading Hell House, I had a hard time not drawing comparisons between this tale and Shirley Jackson’s seminal novel, The Haunting of Hill House (1959). While the plots of both stories surround four ghost seekers probing a notoriously unfriendly pile with only a single vowel to distinguish the two—Hill House v. Hell House—the more notable similarities are found in the principal protagonists. There’s little doubt that Matheson took some of the key traits and identities of Jackson’s players and injected them into his own. On the other hand, Matheson’s horrors are openly exposed while Jackson’s are implied and more frightening for that very reason. Moreover, Matheson's prose doesn’t even come close to reaching the poetry of Jackson's elegantly woven web of words. (Simply read the first paragraph of Hill House and you’ll see what I mean.) The story is so steeped in darkly twisted, depraved eroticism that some might argue there’s more sexual content going on here than horror. It’s true, there’s plenty of flesh on display and sexuality certainly plays a chief role in the backstories of both the characters and the Belasco House. I won’t mince words—there were times when I sensed the book was lewdly indulging in sex, much like a titillated teenager (unlike William Peter Blatley’s The Exorcist, which handles similar adult themes but with greater sophistication). But if you ask me, lurid sex actually sets the book apart from other forays into the haunted house genre. While I had no objection to Matheson’s depiction of spirit possession coupled with sexual kinks (hash-tag ghost sex), which have their place in books like these; however, readers may find the sexualization and brutal abuse of the female characters gratuitous at times. Despite being given high marks, I’m afraid Hell House doesn’t live up to its advance billing. Sure, there’s some memorable stuff found in the pages of this cinematic novel (which was later adapted into a 1973 film for which Matheson wrote the screenplay), and it’s a both beguiling feat for its time as well as a respectable contribution to the development of the modern horror genre. But is Belasco House the “Mount Everest of haunted houses”? Meh, let’s just go with K2 and call it a day, shall we? Unfortunately, the book suffers from poor characterization and stilted writing, but I’d still recommend this novel to all you Matheson appreciators or lovers of the haunted house plot…though I can’t promise you’ll like it.

An oldie but goodie. I read this years ago and loved it, now that I'm older I still love it. Such a great read and still scary. If you like scary reads then this book is a must. It keeps you turning page after page, the characters are so real. Definitely a keeper in my library.

Wow. Once Matheson gets his hooks in, there’s no escape. “Hell House,” while not a transformative experience, was certainly a gripping one. The characters in the book refer to the titular house as ‘the Everest of haunted houses.’ That sentiment is equally true for this novel as it pertains to haunted house stories. I don’t normally go in for straight-up horror, but this was absolutely worth the price of admission: it is a fantastic book. Unrelenting pace. Sympathetic characters with disparate backgrounds and conflicting motivations. A different approach to the science vs. supernatural debate. An interesting (novel, haha) sectional structure, where the ‘chapters’ are marked by time of day rather than conventional numbering or titles. Full disclosure: this book does contain sex scenes and overt references to sex and sexual activity. That should come as no surprise to readers of the genre, in general. Also worth mentioning in this regard: the book was written ~1970. The sexual revolution was, if not still in full swing (haha), still radically reshaping notions of sex and sexuality. While “Hell House” does contain shocking (at times, explicit) scenes, I’m not entirely convinced those scenes exist explicitly for shock value. Instead, they seem mostly in line with tropes that are now considered genre-standard. Recommended for: fans of horror (especially haunted house stories, I would suspect); those drawn to tales of the supernatural; those who relish incredibly well paced stories; readers who want to be quickly immersed in a setting and remain engrossed as long as possible; anyone looking for a scare or some classic creepiness. If you enjoyed Matheson’s other contributions to horror, or books like “Our Lady of Darkness,” which have their basis in late 19th/early 20th century influences, spend some time with “Hell House.” Edit: typos. Thar be plenty, yar. “A flickering in her eyes revealed the change, like the evanescent shimmer of sunlight across a cloud-darkened landscape. Instantly she was herself again; but not emerging from amnesia. It was, instead, a sudden, brutal surfacing to self, with total memory of every vileness she’d been forced to utter.” “Fischer nodded. “Belasco formed a club he called Les Aphrodites. Every night-later, two and three times a day-they’d hold a meeting; what Belasco called his Sinposium. Having all partaken of drugs and aphrodisiacs, they’d sit around that table in the great hall talking about sex until everyone was what Belasco referred to as ‘lubricous.’ Then an orgy would commence.” “Psi phenomena abound in realms of credulity.” “It was silent for a while. Then Edith’s legs retracted as Florence began to sing in a soft, melodious voice: “ ‘The world hath felt a quickening breath from heaven’s eternal shore. And souls, triumphant over death, return to earth once more.’ “ Something about the sound of her muted singing in the darkness made Edith’s flesh crawl.” “Fischer tottered on his knees, across his face the dazed expression of a man who’d just been bayoneted in the stomach. He tried to hold himself erect but couldn’t. With a choking noise, he fell, landing on his side and drawing up his legs, bending forward at the neck until he had contracted to a fetal pose, eyes closed, body shivering uncontrollably. He felt the rug against his cheek. Nearby, he heard the pop and crackle of the fire. And it seemed as though someone were standing over him, someone who regarded him with cold, sadistic pleasure, gloating at the sight of his ravaged form, the helpless dissolution of his will.”

In 1919 Emeric Belasco built a large house and set out to create a haven for depravities of all kinds. Dozens of people stayed there and engaged in orgies, drug addiction, murder, cannibalism, and more. Things grew steadily worse until 1929 when family members of some of the denizens broke into the house only to find everyone dead. Everyone but Belasco, who was never found. Since then, anyone entering Belasco House has met with disaster. After a group of parapschologists enter the house in 1940 and nearly all are killed or driven insane, the house is boarded up closed to the world for 30 years. Now, it is 1970 and a dying millionaire has offered $100,000 each to three experts if they will spend a week in the place now known as Hell House and give him proof as to whether or not there is life after death. Dr. Lionel Barrett is a physicist who believes paranormal activity is the result of electromagnetic radiation. He believes science can explain the happenings in the house as well as cure them. His wife Edith accompanies and assists him. Florence Tanner is a medium who believes she can communicate with the dead and empathically come to an understanding of what needs to be done to release the spirits she believes are trapped in the house. Finally, there is Ben Fischer, the lone survivor of the 1940 mission. He was a 15-year-old psychic prodigy then and barely escaped with his life. Now, at 45, he just wants to survive the week and collect his money. In many respects, Hell House is a classic haunted house story. We take four people and drop them into an isolated old mansion with an evil history, inexplicable events, voices, objects moving, etc. The longer they stay, the more the danger becomes apparent. They struggle for survival against the house, but also start to turn on each other. At the same time, there is a very scientific feel to much of the book, mainly due to Barrett and his determination to approach the process of investigating using rigorous methodology. Even in one scene involving a séance, there are elaborate precautions described to ensure that the medium is unable to cheat in any way. Character development is very strong throughout the story and each of the four takes a turn in the spotlight. Dr. Barrett is the most authoritative and is somewhat of a paternal figure in the group. Tanner is his polar opposite as she is all about believing in the spirit world and having faith in her abilities as a medium. Edith is emotionally and sexually repressed and lacks any identity away from her husband. Fischer starts off extremely frightened because of what happened the first time he came to the house, but grows the most during the story as he struggles to confront the evil that he's hidden from for the past 30 years. Hell House is a must-read for any fan of haunted house stories. It is partly a horror novel and partly an exposition on parapsychology itself. There are a number of scenes that involve some fairly graphic descriptions of sexual situations, so those who are offended by such material might want to skip this book. Anyone else looking for a good tale, or an interesting character study would do well to give Hell House a try.

Hell House was written by Richard Matheson, published in 1971. The author also wrote the movie. Both stories center on a very haunted old mansion. Years ago a group of people went to the house to investigate; all were killed or driven mad except one person. Now, the house is about to be examined again, this time by a small cast of characters. Lionel Barrett and his wife, Edith, are attending the gathering. Lionel has developed a machine he believes can clear all the spirits from the house, making it usable once more. He is going to test his miracle machine during this visit. Joining the couple are just two other people. Florence Tanner, a medium and Fischer, another medium and the only person to survive the last visit to Hell House. The story moves quickly and is filled with atmosphere. If you've seen the movie, don't hesitate to read the book. While you'll certainly recognize the story line, there are some notable differences, like a lake close to the house, where people tend to drown. In addition, the novel is much more sexual than the movie, not in a vulgar or overdone way. While I doubt this book would give you nightmares, it is still a spooky but fun read. You know how books will sometimes advertise other titles by the same author in the back of the book? Well, Hell House has that page and I was shocked. Probably the most shocked I was throughout the whole experience! Talk about being a versatile writer, Richard Matheson also wrote the stories and screenplays for.... Duel (one of hubby's favorites)...I am Legend, he also wrote...wait for it....nah I can't tell you. Okay I will, the author of Hell House, the iconic haunted house movie (and book) wrote the novel and movie Somewhere In Time. You know the time travel, love story with Christopher Reeve. Now that is someone who can write anything!

Hell House is quite simply an outstanding horror novel. The pace is brisk, and the style does not seem dated. Matheson wrote several episodes of the old Twilight Zone show, and this novel has that disturbing kind of feel to it. To me, it far surpasses anything by Stephen King, John Saul, or Peter Straub. Matheson's prose is crisp yet detailed, and his plotting is very effective. In my opinion, gothic horror should be terrifying, and while that is always going to be a subjective quality, Hell House does not disappoint. Even the most jaded horror fan will find Matheson's depictions of potergeist activity creepy. But what sets Hell House apart from other stories in the genre is that it explores both psychological and the supernatural explanations for the haunting of Belasco's mansion, making it not only scary, but also thought provoking. A few words of warning, though. While most readers of horror are not likely to be offended by blasephemy, Matheson's malevolent ghost indulges in some of some of the most darkly depraved actions one can imagine, subjecting the female medium, Florence Tanner, to what has to be one of the most bizarre rape scenes ever imagined involving a large crucified Christ sporting an enormous wooden phallus. Nevertheless, such things are in keeping with Emeric Belasco's character as the most evil man in early twentieth century America. In fact, he seems almost like a fictional rendering of Aleister Crowley, and his mansion is similar to Crowley's own "anti-monestary" the Abbey of Thelema. Crowley and his followers lived lives spent not on laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure, growing so self-indulgent that Mussolini's government forced the group to leave Sicily in 1923; Matheson's anti-hero carries such hedonistic pleasure to sadistic extremes. All of this, of course, makes for fascinating reading, but I can imagine that some folks would find it offensive. Also, if you purchase the Kindle edition, be aware that the text is a VERY poor scan of the original text. Consequently, mistakes such as "Fie" for "He" and "nov/" for "now" abound. Most of them can be deciphered with some effort, and all of them are confusing and inexcusable. Nevertheless, Hell House is the best horror novel I've read in a long time, and it comes with my highest recommendation.

Bestens!

This was a great story that had you gripped from the start. The characters you grew to feel their sorrow and fright with each page turn. Each character has a unique way about them, bringing even more intrigue into the fold. A haunted house is bad enough but this one is most extreme. It enjoys toying with you as an individual or as a group, whilst your asleep or awake. No one is safe in this house and no one has beaten it in many many years. If you do happen to go the, you will be lucky to leave alive or with all your faculties intact. Nicely paced and an easy read. Recommended.

I love Richard Matheson, and this book is a must-have. The story is simply amazing, I read it all in a rush. The atmosphere is creepy and the characters are really interesting. To any italian reader: I'm italian and i read it easily. Sometimes you may have to check some words, but it's still a good and enjoyable reading.

Lots of action and suspense, with some genuinely creepy moments. The characters are interesting each with their own agendas. I recommend.

This has to be a classic horror story. Dark and unpleasant throughout it sets the benchmark of tales from beyond the grave.