The Haunting of Hill House characters

Also known as Nell

Appears from the start

A thirty-two-year-old woman who spent much of her adult life nursing her demanding mother and has since lived unhappily with her sister's family. Lonely, imaginative, and eager for a home of her own, Eleanor accepts an invitation to join a study at Hill House and takes the shared family car without permission to make the journey.

Appears from the start

An anthropologist interested in alleged supernatural phenomena. Dr. Montague rents Hill House for the summer and selects assistants whose past experiences suggest unusual sensitivity, hoping to observe the house under controlled conditions and produce a serious scholarly account.

Also known as Theo

Appears from the start

A confident, stylish young woman invited to Hill House after demonstrating apparent extrasensory perception in a laboratory test. She is quick-witted, socially perceptive, and far more experienced than Eleanor at turning intimacy and conflict into a game.

Appears from the start

The young heir to Hill House, sent by its owner to represent the family during Dr. Montague's tenancy. Luke has a reputation for dishonesty and idleness but meets the others with charm, humor, and an interest in the experiment.

First appears in chapter 2

Hill House's severe housekeeper, who prepares meals and cleans but refuses to remain anywhere near the property after dark. She repeats the household schedule in fixed phrases and offers the guests neither reassurance nor companionship.

First appears in chapter 2

The caretaker who controls the gate to Hill House. Suspicious of visitors and reluctant to admit Eleanor, he lives away from the property and, like his wife, will not stay there at night.

First appears in chapter 3

The wealthy man who built Hill House decades earlier. The house's troubled history begins with Crain's design, the deaths and misfortunes surrounding his family, and the isolated upbringing of his two daughters.

First appears in chapter 7

Dr. Montague's wife, who arrives late in the investigation with firm spiritualist convictions and little interest in her husband's cautious methods. She expects direct communication with whatever inhabits Hill House and brings her own plan for obtaining it.

First appears in chapter 7

A school headmaster and Mrs. Montague's companion in psychic research. He comes equipped with confidence, practical supplies, and a readiness to spend the night confronting the house according to Mrs. Montague's theories.