Let's discuss "Haunting of Hill House"

[paigenumber]

I don't know what different cultures believe, but growing up my parents were very superstitious when it came to buying a house. They would research the history of the previous owners and if there was anything they considered negative, they would try to avoid the house. A big example is a divorce. The last house they bought, though, was from a widow, whose elderly husband died at home from a chronic illness. A few years after living in it, my mother developed cancer and died. It's strange, too, when someone I knew was looking for a house and I related these superstitions to her, she recalled neighbors who divorced and sold their home. Three subsequent couples in the house ended up divorcing and selling the house. She also found a "stigmatized house" and when she asked the realtor about it, she was told a man had killed his wife in the house, so the house was considered "stigmatized" and realtors avoided those houses due to concerns about future resale. So I guess the superstitious feelings are ubiquitous. I would also venture to guess that houses can become "haunted" or have a bad aura not only from catastrophic disasters but an overwhelming feeling of "badness". The things you describe, such as, strange dimensions in the house, grief at the original homecoming, bitterness within the family, several small family tragedies, etc., coud build up to create an evil environment within the house and its surroundings.

I can't remember the book well, but when did the "hauntings" start? Didn't it start with the companion? Didn't she think the younger sister was stealing? and the younger sister denied it? Perhaps the house was angry with the companion, perhaps the younger sister somehow influenced the house to have these feelings towards the companion and drove her to suicide.

The author stated that previous occupants of the house left after a few days without talking about their experiences. Could we assume that they were all hypersensitive? Why couldn't any of them have been as no-nonsense as the Professor's wife? The Professor had invited Theo and Eleanor due to their previous psychic experiences, which made them susceptible to whatever was going on in Hill House. But these other occupants, as far as we know, did not have any of these previous experiences. Why were they vulnerable and not the Professor's wife or Arthur?