Haunted houses aren’t just gimmicky attractions meant to spook children and skittish adults. No, macabre manors and scary shindigs have also captivated us in literature for quite a long time. It seems that no matter how many years pass—and how many cautionary tales we hear—someone is always willing to live in that creepy house down the road. Fortunately for us, that means we get new twisted tales to tempt us each year.
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We had to ask: what was the first haunted house story? Step inside and join us as we try to answer that question. Once we get settled in, we’ll also take a look at other examples of fantastic haunted house stories that have been written throughout the years.
What is the first haunted house story?
As is often the case, it is probably impossible to say who came up with the very first haunted house story because it was likely never written down. However, there are a few old spooky stories we do know about.
Most sources credit Roman writer Pliny the Younger with the earliest haunted house story that survives today. In a letter he wrote during the first century, Pliny recounted the story of a house in Athens haunted by a ghostly old man with rattling chains. A philosopher named Athenodorus buys the abandoned house and manages to get rid of the ghost.
Another early example of a haunted house story can be found in One Thousand and One Nights story “Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House of Baghdad.” In the story, Ali braves a house haunted by a jinn. As it turns out, the jinn owes Ali money—no, seriously.
Fast forward to the 1700s, and we get another important story, The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. Often considered the first Gothic novel, this story takes place in a cursed castle full of ghosts and nightmares.
Speaking of important novels, it is also worth mentioning Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. The novel itself doesn’t have any ghosts haunting houses, but Shelley found herself in a spooky place that inspired it. As the story goes, Shelley was staying in the villa of Lord Byron during a stormy season. This spooky (but rather boring) atmosphere prompted Lord Byron to challenge everyone present to come up with a terrifying ghost story. Shelley had writer’s block at first, but a ghastly nightmare at Byron’s creepy villa inspired her to later write her famous tale.
Other famous haunted house stories
Now that we survived some early examples, let’s look at more bone-chilling tales of haunted houses that have spooked us through the years:
- “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) by Edgar Allen Poe
- “Chronicles of Wolfert’s Roost” (1855) by Washington Irving
- “The Haunted House” (1859) by Charles Dickens and other writers
- The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James
- The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
- Hell House (1971) by Richard Matheson
- Burnt Offerings (1976) by Robert Marasco
- The Amityville Horror (1977) by Jay Anson
- The Shining (1977) by Stephen King
- The House Next Door (1978) by Anne Rivers Siddons
- The Graveyard Apartment (1993) by Mariko Koike
- House of Leaves (2000) by Mark Z. Danielewski
- The Good House (2003) by Tananarive Due
- “Adela’s House” (2017) by Mariana Enríquez
- Kill Creek (2017) by Scott Thomas
- The Invited (2019) by Jennifer McMahon
- Nothing But Blackened Teeth (2021) by Cassandra Khaw
Elements of a haunted house story
It goes without saying that every haunted house story tells a unique story about sur-real estate that no sane person would want to visit. That being said, there are several recurring themes that often appear time and again in many haunted house stories.
The house
Well, obviously, you can’t have a haunted house story without a haunted house. Alternatively, any haunted or cursed location will do, such as a mansion, castle, hotel, hospital, apartment building, etc.
But the house is often more than just a spooky place. The haunted locale is often depicted as its own character in the story. Frequently, the house is personified and described as if it is a villain or a beast hunting for prey. It is common for the haunted house itself to be framed as the antagonist. In a haunted house story, the house may act as a malevolent force that is actively trying to lure people and harm them.
Even if the haunted house is just the setting in a story, it might still be described as a disturbing place that has a sinister aura about it. Authors will often take advantage of detailed descriptions of the house to establish a haunting atmosphere and set the tone of the story.
Is it a ghost, ghoul, wraith, or revenant haunting you? Beware the difference! Learn it here.
Death
Death is often a central theme of haunted house stories. Frequently, the haunted house has been the setting of gruesome or mysterious deaths prior to the start of the story. Usually, former occupants of the house were victims of murder or were inexplicably driven to commit murder. Cryptic tales of death in the house may have become local legend, causing the wise to stay far away from it. Alternatively, an unjust or horrible death may have cursed the house. One more common possibility is that the house’s construction disturbed or angered the dead, who use the house to enact vengeance on the living.
If none of this is true, the house may instead house beings that want to inflict death on others. Which brings us to…
Ghosts
It is very common for ghosts, spirits, phantoms, or other ghastly members of the undead to inhabit the haunted house. If the house itself is antagonistic, the ghosts may be the cause or may be the tools that the house uses to harm our protagonist. The ghosts may be prior victims of the house and serve as a warning to others foolish enough to enter the house. Demons are also popular dwellers in haunted houses
Often, the ghosts and the hauntings are important to the story. Plot points may center around characters who must remove the ghosts or suffer their torment. If the house itself isn’t the antagonist, then the ghosts are more than likely going to be. The mysterious or nightmarish circumstances behind the source of the house’s haunting often add to the atmosphere of the story.
It is also common for the house itself to be essentially a ghost or otherworldly force that hates all of humanity. The protagonist may have to lift a curse, exorcize ghosts, or even destroy the entire house to finally make it out—if they don’t become another victim, of course.
The new tenants
In many haunted house stories, the protagonists are the newest tenants that experience the joy of living in a haunted house. Often, these people are either blissfully ignorant of how dangerous the house is or, more likely, they foolishly ignore warnings and red flags about the house. The protagonists are often young, inexperienced people who are too stubborn or naive to heed warnings. There may be a specific reason why they can’t or don’t leave the house, but their naivety and curiosity often drives them to do things they really shouldn’t.
Opening lines and atmospheric samples
In many haunted house stories, the first lines set the stage for the terrible things to come. This dreadful atmosphere continues and is reinforced as the story goes on. If you dare, check out some of these openers and atmospheric samples from some spooky haunted house stories:
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
Check out these timeless and tantalizing hooks from novels for more inspiration.
The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
George and Kathy Lutz moved into 112 Ocean Avenue on December 18. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror.
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
If we find that all of our efforts have failed and someone buys the house, we shall set fire to it and burn it down. We will do this at night, before it is occupied. In another time they would have plowed the charred earth and sowed it with salt. If it should come to that, I do not think we will be punished. I do not think we will be alive long enough.
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Words cannot paint the horror of the Princess’s situation. Alone in so dismal a place, her mind imprinted with all the terrible events of the day, hopeless of escaping, expecting every moment the arrival of Manfred, and far from tranquil on knowing she was within reach of somebody, she knew not whom, who for some cause seemed concealed thereabouts; all these thoughts crowded on her distracted mind, and she was ready to sink under her apprehensions. She addressed herself to every saint in heaven, and inwardly implored their assistance. For a considerable time she remained in an agony of despair.
