12. The Haunting of Hill House

As I was reading this, I stumbled upon a passage that mentioned The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I probably would have just read right over this because I wasn't familiar with the book, but the following passage from that book caught my attention. Ben Mears quoted:

pg. 127

"'And whatever walked there , walked alone.' You asked what my book was about. Essentially, it's about the recurrent power of evil."

I looked up a summary of The Haunting of Hill House online and read through it to get a feel for how it related to 'Salem's Lot and the Marsten House. The Hill House was set in a small town just like 'Salem's Lot and, SURPRISE, it was reported to be haunted. On a more serious note, however, I looked further into what Ben Mears was referring to when he was talking about the recurrent power of evil.

Like Ben Mears in 'Salem's Lot, Dr. Montague in The Haunting of Hill House was very interested in the supernatural and took interest in the Hill House. Similarly, Ben Mears took interest in the Marsten House because of his supernatural experience as a young boy. Ben Mears came back to 'Salem's lot for explanations, just like Dr. Montague went to the Hill House to investigate. From what I understand, anything that entered the Hill House became haunted. It was a symbol of evil. In some cases, people thought it was evil in the raw form. 'Salem's Lot also creates the idea that the Marsten House is evil. At one point in the book, the house is described as a "dark idol" sitting on the hill.

When Ben Mears spoke of the recurrent power of evil, I think that he was referring to Hubert Marsten himself. Anything that lived in that house, including Hubert Marsten, was evil. It seems to me that Ben Mears was looking at the death of the Glick boys and connecting that with the Marsten House. He suggested in a way that Hubert Marsten was coming back as an evil force through the Marsten House and wreaking havoc on the small town of 'Salem's Lot.