This Saturday session will take a look at the works of Shirley Jackson, focusing primarily on several short stories and the book The Haunting of Hill House. Horror Host Lex Wilson will discuss the significance of haunted houses in the stories while analyzing underlying themes of familial estrangement, isolation, and terror.

We will also discuss the role of haunted houses in American horror generally and talk through several prominent haunted horror tales, even discussing allegedly real haunted homes! This discussion will situate Jackson’s work within a larger context of American horror, analyzing our traditional narratives of fear and how they reflect the racially charged anxieties of contemporary society.