Book · 1959
The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson
Four strangers spend the summer in a house built wrong on purpose, and one of them stops being sure which noises are real.
What does Reddit think of The Haunting of Hill House?
Seven years of mentions, split close to evenly between r/suggestmeabook and r/horrorlit, and three of the eight excerpts here land on the exact same scene: Eleanor waking to find she was alone in bed, screaming 'Whose hand was I holding?' (↑362, ↑353, ↑326). Three separate threads naming that scene independently matters more than any total mention count. r/suggestmeabook slots the book into company with The Shining, The Yellow Wallpaper, and We Need to Talk About Kevin, a canon-list appearance with no argument attached (↑692). r/horrorlit does more of the actual work: one reply pairs it with We Have Always Lived in the Castle and calls both protagonists 'incredibly written' (↑281), and another traces the scare to specific reading conditions, a teenager, a creaking farmhouse, reading it at night (↑279). Nothing displayed here pushes back on any of this. Whether that reflects the book's actual reception or just what got upvoted in these threads is a separate question.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · "Whose hand was I holding?" as the book's signature scare
- · Canon placement alongside The Shining and The Yellow Wallpaper
- · Reading conditions shaping how the scare lands
- · Pairing with We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Common praise
- + The line 'Whose hand was I holding?' gets cited independently by name across three separate threads as the moment that stuck (↑362, ↑353, ↑326).
- + r/horrorlit calls both Eleanor and the lead of We Have Always Lived in the Castle 'incredibly written' in the same reply (↑281).
- + One reader traces the scare directly to reading it as a teenager at night in a creaking farmhouse, crediting the book with actually working as intended (↑279).
Common criticism
- − Every displayed excerpt here is enthusiastic; no critical read of the book made it into this sample, so detractors aren't represented.
- − The r/suggestmeabook appearance (↑692) is a bare title drop next to The Shining and We Need to Talk About Kevin, with no argument for why it belongs there.
- − Three of eight excerpts repeat the same single scene, so this sample says more about one standout moment than about the book as a whole.
Who it's for
Want the scene everyone quotes before you commit to the whole book? It's the 'Whose hand was I holding?' moment, and r/horrorlit brings it up unprompted across separate threads (↑362, ↑353, ↑326). Building a haunted-house reading list next to The Shining and The Yellow Wallpaper? r/suggestmeabook already put it there (↑692). Liked We Have Always Lived in the Castle? r/horrorlit pairs the two directly and rates both leads as 'incredibly written' (↑281). Reading conditions apparently matter here: the strongest personal account in this sample comes from someone who read it as a teenager, at night, in a farmhouse that creaked (↑279), so maybe don't read it somewhere too comfortable.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
- r/suggestmeabook 2,786
- r/horrorlit 1,769
- r/booksuggestions 1,042
- r/Fantasy 167
- r/TrueLit 53
- r/printSF 23
- r/YAlit 22
- r/RomanceBooks 16
Which Reddit comments matter for The Haunting of Hill House?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“"Who's hand was I holding?" - Eleanor Vance, *The Haunting of Hill House* Still sends an icy shiver down my spine.
“In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House: the scene where Eleanor and Theodora are in the bed and the entity is banging on the door. When Eleanor realizes she is alone in the bed and screams, "Whose hand was I holding?" it scared the bejeesus out of me.
“Good God - whose hand was I holding? - The Haunting of Hill House
“I'm sure they're mentioned here all the time so apologies, but We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson both fit the bill. Both protagonists are incredibly written, I adore them.
“Difficult because it's the book that triggers terror in your imagination. The Haunting of Hill House did that for me but I read it when I was a teen, at night, in a rural old farmhouse that creaked.
“Haunting of hill house. Ghost bunnies are still the scariest thing I’ve ever read.
“We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson... also The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, but I feel like the first book really fits the bill. If you haven't explored her books yet, enjoy! She is one of my all- time favs.
“Haunting of Hill House is this book. I very much recommend reading the classic then watching the modernized remake on Netflix. Maybe the opposite order would be good too. But I went in that order and it was so satisfying.
“The Haunting of Hill House can be read as the main character's descent into madness. Ditto We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Both excellent.
“I think that *The Haunting of Hill House* by Shirley Jackson is well known for having an incredible opening paragraph.
“The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Just a brilliant literary horror novel.
“I fully expected {{The Haunting of Hill House}} to be a relatively straightforward, though masterfully done, haunted house horror novel. Instead, I was surprised to discover that it takes a very deep psychological dive into its main character and has a lot to say about loneliness and relationships (…
“The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson has, perhaps the best opening paragraph of all time: ***No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself agains…
“The haunting of hill house by Shirley Jackson (nothing at all like the netflix show). So beautifully written and more along the lines of a psychological horror.
“Hunt For The Skinwalker is based on true accounts. Scared the pants off me. I even avoided reading it too late into the night. Very very creepy stuff. I love anything by Shirley Jackson. Creepy ghost stuff mixed with a lot of psychological confusion and torment. I really enjoyed "The Haunting of H…
Convinced? Pick up The Haunting of Hill House
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
The Haunting of Hill House — frequently asked
What is the most quoted scene from The Haunting of Hill House on Reddit?+
Eleanor's line 'Whose hand was I holding?' after she realizes she's alone in bed. It shows up independently across three separate r/horrorlit threads in this sample (↑362, ↑353, ↑326), each crediting it with genuinely scaring the commenter, not just being a famous quote to drop.
Does Reddit compare The Haunting of Hill House to other Shirley Jackson books?+
Yes. r/horrorlit pairs it directly with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, calling both protagonists 'incredibly written' (↑281). A separate reply frames Jackson's short story collections as a companion read for anyone who liked Hill House (↑303).
Is The Haunting of Hill House considered horror-canon on Reddit?+
One r/suggestmeabook list places it alongside The Shining, The Yellow Wallpaper, and We Need to Talk About Kevin with no further comment (↑692), reflexive canon placement more than an argued case. r/horrorlit's excerpts do more of the actual defending, mostly by pointing to the 'Whose hand was I holding?' scene.
Is The Haunting of Hill House actually scary, according to Reddit?+
The displayed excerpts say yes, repeatedly. Three separate commenters single out the same scene as something that 'sends an icy shiver' or 'scared the bejeesus' out of them (↑362, ↑353), and a fourth credits the book with delivering real terror when read as a teenager at night (↑279). No critical account made it into this sample.