Sinister House

by Leland Hall, Haydon Jones

A classic American 'haunted house' story, Leland Hall's novel was published in 1919.Pierre and Annette know there's something suspicious about their neighbours Eric and Julia. Why have they decided to begin their married life in an oppressive old house in woods? And are the marks on Julia's body really the work of her apparently devoted husband? When Pierre has a ghostly experience whilst visiting the house, he realises that the horror that threatens his new friends is not an earthly one - and that they must work together to stop it before Julia's life is forfeit.

Genres: Horror, Gothic, Ghosts, Fiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1919

Reviews

[Samichtime · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s good, and aptly titled! Little has changed in the haunted house formula, but I like that this story’s firmly planted in 1919. There’s even a guy described as “hatless” - an adjective which has been lost to time. 🕵️‍♂️

It was a recommendation by none other than HP Lovecraft! (Supernatural Horror in Literature). He’s not my favorite author, but this was a solid pick! 😎

[Estott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good one. Starts out a bit clunky, but once the story gets going the atmosphere gets creepy and nasty. Only thing that knocked this down a bit for me are bits of humor which were probably intended to be ironic contrast but just seem jarring.

[Mark Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House will likely enjoy this 1919 novel. In fact given a number of similarities, it’s hard not to think that Jackson might have read the book.

Without giving too much away, I think I can say that for Jackson, the psychological was always at the heart of horror whatever other effects might be occurring, and that’s where Sinister House really stands out above many similar haunted house tales.

Jackson’s book is so great precisely because of the ways it goes beyond being a haunted house story to being a genuine tragedy of history and the shortcomings of human behavior. Sinister House is ultimately just an entertaining novel that doesn’t go as far in its understanding of human motivation, but it is certainly the character and psychological elements that make it most gripping. Some chapters are really very scary because of the psychological dynamics involved.

The story starts well, and just when I thought it might be slowing down too much, things really picked up and went farther than I expected. The style doesn’t have Jackson’s virtuosic flair, yet it’s solid and precise.

As an unexpected side bonus, Sinister House also features a very early depiction of a planned U.S. suburban community, Forsby, set in no exact location but appearing like it might be in New York near the Hudson or in nearby Connecticut. The story is set just before WWI, and it’s interesting to see the concept of an American suburb from the perspective of 1919.; in some senses this book is as much a precursor to the movie Poltergeist as it is to The Haunting of Hill House.

Not quite a lost masterpiece, Sinister House still seems to me more effective than many books not only of its kind, but in the history of supernatural fiction more broadly.

Lastly, I’m very excited to have discovered the Black Heath Gothic, Sensation and Supernatural Reprint Series, which is bringing back into print many mostly forgotten and yet quite significant American and British tales from about 1880-1920. They’re available in extremely cheap ebook editions, and they are often texts so obscure that even Project Gutenberg doesn’t have them. The cheap ebooks are also carefully formatted, very much unlike some cheap ebook editions. I’ve read a few Black Heath books in the past, but their catalog is now significantly expanded.

[Erica Merle · Rating 5 out of 5]

For being written in the direct aftermath of WWI, Sinister House runs with the idea of a "haunted person" in an engrossing way that was ahead of it's time for when it was written-- the character writing is incredibly tight as is the way the various personalities interact and clash. The character writing can also keep you engrossed over the times it tends to drag, though if you already love turn of the century/1910's weird fiction, you're used to there being some drag to longer stories. The focus on the psychology of the characters, plus themes of toxic masculinity, religious trauma and the power of catharsis make Sinister House stand head and shoulders above most ghostly horror that was being written at the time. At a time when psychologists were just barely beginning to stuggle with PTSD, and men were expected to simply go back to their lives and forget, Hall reminds his readers that trauma can come into men's lives from anywhere, and that sometimes it takes stubborn compassion from other men to help them face their demons--literally and figuratively-- before they destroy everything they love.

[Vultural · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hall, Leland - Sinister House

Pierre and Annette flee the grime and soot perils of Gotham for upstate New York. Small, rural Forsby. Fresh air and a wholesome setting to raise their children.
Neighbors and friends Eric and Julia live near enough in a run down dwelling that has seen better days. Julia had fallen in love with it at first sight, despite the flaws.
So much for domestic bliss.
The decaying house shelters a malignant spirit, bent on inflicting harm, then escalating.
Published in 1914, following the Great War, the narrative dawdles along. No flappers, no Roaring Twenties tempo here. The look and outlook of characters seem to presage a Norman Rockwell painting.
While the supernatural elements are dangerous, there are simply not enough of those forces. Instead, Hall fills the book with the kitchen sink dramas of Annette & Pierre & Eric & Julia.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars: A somewhat old fashioned haunted house tale (written in 1919) narrated by a husband who with his wife has recently moved into what sounds like the 1920's version of Levittown, and befriends a couple who instead have bought a gloomy old house nearby. It's a compact, short novel that doesn't cheat you out of the ghosts you were expecting and I thought it was okay, although not in the same league with classics like The Uninvited (by Dorothy Macardle), The Elementals (Michael McDowell) or Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson.)

[Boris Cesnik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the story relies on very original premises and may be ahead of its time in terms of ambience and the clever use of some horror narrative elements, it does not result in a captivating book and does not provide much pleasure in terms of chills and thrills.
If I were to imagine this story being written and set in the mid/late 19th century, with all the sensational literary spookiness of a suburban gothic novel, I would have enjoyed the story from start to finish with a set mind.

[kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

awesome little horror story and had some really nice illustrations throughout

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts slowly but gradually things become more sinister, the old house occupied by a young happily married couple. A wife who seems to become ill when her husband is home but gets better when he goes away.
A short horror story, with a good twist on what is going on in the house