Jackson employs chillingly effective Gothic ghost story writing skills. Using the central symbol and setting of Hill House, she has its supernatural presences work on all the characters, with the most sensitive suffering the most.

Readers encounter poundings, scratchings, odd presences — all the paraphernalia of the ghost story, and a few others not so typical, depicted with freshness and the right touch to frighten. The house, for example, after a while seems to focus its negative energies on Eleanor. Mysterious writing such as HELP ELEANOR COME HOME appears on the walls; as the novel progresses and the whole party undergoes one harrowing event after another, Eleanor begins to identify with the house, suddenly feeling warm and comfortable as she grows increasingly suicidal.