A door creaks shut, unexpectedly; a footstep is heard on the stair; a face seen at the window. The haunted house is a staple of gothic writing, television and film, but what is it about this humble setting that holds such a fascination?
For many, it is the sense of the unheimlich or the uncanny – the homely and the strange brought into contact. The home, we would like to think, should be a place of safety, of sanctuary from the world and domestic harmony. When this space is made strange, made unfamiliar somehow, terror ensues.
