How to Write About a Haunted House

         Today I'm talking about haunted houses and how many of their characteristics originated from Edgar Allan Poe's first Haunted House, "The House of Usher." I'd like to start out by mentioning that I hate scary movies. Why anyone would want to be scared on purpose is beyond me. So the only haunted house movie I can recall seeing is Disney's Monster House, and I'm sure many people would argue that that doesn't even count. But to each his own. I think if House of Usher was made into a movie, it'd definitely make it onto my "Never Want to See This" List. But if I were ever to write a story or direct a movie about a haunted house (which I never would), I'd probably do a few things the same.

 

         One would be Edgar Allan Poe's figurative language and diction. Every simile, every metaphor, every descriptive detail alludes to the dying, death, and dread that the House of Usher contains. Even before the narrator has stepped inside, he describes the frightening atmosphere around the house and we already know as the readers that nothing good is going to come once he does. At the beginning of the story, by describing the feeling as an opium addict coming down from their high, "the hideous dropping off of the veil," and Poe outlines how depressing the air encompassing the house is. "There was an iciness, a sinking, sickening of the heart," has the repetitive 'sss' sound of a hissing snake or the sizzling of burning. Both uses of figurative language indicate the horrible sorrow he is engulfed with when approaching the House of Usher. Poe's description of the feelings surrounding the house is what alerts the reader that something isn't quite right about the house. So if I were to write about a haunted house, I'd definitely try to convey what an awful place it is by using distinctively ominous word choice. I'd try to think of the creepiest things I've learned about and the most disheartening feelings I've ever felt or seen and use those to describe the almost tangible apprehension the character feels upon reaching the haunted house.

         Two is obvious. There has to be a dark setting. I'm not going to scare anyone of it's springtime in some sunny city. Poe's story begins on a, "dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year," and, "a singularly dreary tract of country," is where it's located. The house itself is dark and crumbling. In the front yard is a gray pond and the area is surrounded by dead and decaying trees (obviously Poe's portrayal is scarier.) For my story, I'd make it during the winter, so it's dark and cold outside all the time (unless you're in Houston, of course.) Maybe I'd have it set in the mountains, to emphasize how desolate it is and give the impression that nobody will come in and save the day because nobody knows where it is. A dark setting can accent a haunted house very nicely.

       The third thing Poe included n The House of Usher that should go with every other haunted house story or movie is a shuddersome background. He used incest. The Usher blood stayed in one line. That's not something you hear about in every family (lets hope not anyways.) The backstory of the house gives it a reason to be haunted. For example in Monster House (okay maybe it's not scary, but it's still a haunted house), the house was possessed by the fat lady who died in it. She thought her husband killed her on purpose, but it was actually an accident that happened while the house was being built. But anyways, it wasn't haunted just to be haunted, it was haunted because of the legacy before it, as in the House of Usher. In my story, I think I would have the grounds formerly have been somewhere where many people died. That'd be a good reason for the house to be possessed.

        My fourth aspect I'd have in my haunted house plot would be to have a reason the protagonist had to stay. Because if they don't, then they'd book it as soon as weird stuff started to happen. The narrator's reason in The House of Usher is because his childhood friend is sick and wants company to distract him from his impending death. This characterizes the narrator as caring, so now you feel that much worse for him that he has all this creepiness going on around him. If there wasn't a reason as to why he absolutely had to stay at the house, I'd spend most of the story wondering why he hadn't left and then I'd think he deserved it for being dumb enough to stay. The reason my main character would have to stay in the haunted house would be because they came right when a snowstorm hits. They heard on the radio that people need to stay indoors for the next 48 hours. Making it mandatory for the protagonist heightens the suspense of a haunted house story.

       Five: End the story with questions running through the readers' or audiences' mind. Poe makes the reader question if the House of Usher was even real in the first place! Or was it just a figment of the narrator's imagination? These are the questions people! Or that is The question, rather. This would probably be the hardest thing to incorporate into my piece. Edgar does it with such finesse. I guess you'll just have to wait and read my book or watch my movie, don't want to spoil the ending!