Not to be confused with Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Richard
Matheson's Hell House is an entirely
different beast (and I will admit to confusing the titles more than once—I am
ashamed). While it wasn't clear if Hill
House was truly haunted or it was lonely and just
wanted a friend, there is no doubt that something's rotten in the state of Hell
House. Let's start with the name. The Belasco Mansion has such a perverted
history that it became known as Hell House. Even if the house wasn't haunted,
the history has power. When alive, Emeric Belasco filled the house with every imaginable
debauchery, and the knowledge of this history leaves an impression on those who
visit Hell House. Former residents of Hell House fell into an animalistic state
and Belasco reigned over his base kingdom as "The Roaring Giant".
Yet, Hell House is
haunted. Rather than the house itself generating the hauntings from residual
energy, visitors of the house experience violent apparitions and attacks from entities. What
struck me about these apparitions was how they chose to attack their victims.
Two men and two women are visiting Hell House. Only one of the men is directly
attacked by being locked in a steam room and is eventually killed. The other man—a physical
medium—manages to separate himself from being attacked. Both women, one a
mental medium and the other the wife of the man who dies, are attacked sexually. The medium is not only killed, but she is
also raped by a ghost and sexually assaulted multiple times leading up to the
rape. The other woman is possessed by an entity that causes her to attack both
men in the pursuit of sex and cast doubt onto her sexuality.
When reading these attacks, I was taken aback by the actions
the entities took on the women—how both women had the control over their bodies
taken from them in different ways. But after separating myself from the initial reading
and thinking about the story, I couldn't help but wonder what Matheson was
saying by only having the women be victims of sexual abuse. Maybe the
time the novel was published had an influence, but given what supposedly
happened in the house, homosexuality isn't far-fetched. The violent apparitions
were all male, yet they chose not to exhibit their power over the living men
the way they did over the women.
The only reason I don't speculate why there couldn't be a
female entity to go after the men is the ending. Turns out the paranormal
activity was all controlled by a single entity: the ghost of the Roaring Giant himself, Belasco,
who had found a way to live after death. Now, this is all fine and
dandy, but the rest of the ending I had to read it multiple times through tears
of laughter to make sure I understood correctly. Turns out ol' Belasco was no
giant. He was a tiny man with a Napoleon complex who’s motivation for
everything was to convince others he was tall. Please, if
I’m missing something about the ending, tell me. I'm at a loss for an alternate interpretation. Although at a towering 5'3", I now have a
whimsical motivation to haunt and terrorize the living.
Hell House had
elements I enjoyed. I liked the in-your-face aspect of the hauntings—Belasco wasn't a power to be dismissed. I enjoyed the constant pull between the logical and
the unexplained that carried throughout the story. Yet after gaining distance
from the story, I'm not sure if I like that only the women were the victims of violent
sexual assault. And the ending… well, it only emphasized what I've always said:
don’t mess with short people.
At 5'4", I suppose my hauntings won't be as extreme.
ReplyDeleteI was also bothered by the sexual assaults, not just because they exclusively targeted the women, but also because it was the most common sort of attack. I just got tired of it. It felt like sex was a central theme of the book... without ever being explained. As it was, I started to wonder if Matheson just wanted to write about sex.
Though Belasco encouraged complete debauchery in his cult followers, he held himself away from it, as if he was above such vile pleasures. Perhaps that is why the sexual attacks only targeted the women. Belasco had no need to delve into homosexuality. However, why was young Fischer found naked and catatonic on Hell House’s front steps? Belasco might not have enjoyed older men because they were more competition than women and younger boys.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Tanner and Dr. Barrett were the most affected. Tanner is attacked multiple times. She has the entity come into her room and pull off her sheets, the incident with the cat, and the sexual abuse from the same entity. He sustains multiple injuries: his thumb is split open, levitating things smack into him, and he gets locked in the steam room. I think these two characters had the most to prove with the house. They wanted the money and had plans for it. They came to confront the house and the house didn't back down. However, Edith and Fischer gave no real reason to come back. Edith wanted to accompany her husband and wasn't terribly concerned with the money. Fischer seemed tired of running, but once in the house, he didn't want to make waves. When he tried to connect with the house, it latched on to him and nearly killed him.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the nature of the hauntings compared to Hill House. I think this was a more entertaining read.