Hell House (novel)

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Hell House
Author	Richard Matheson
Cover artist	Lisa Pifher
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror novel
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	1971
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	288 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-312-86885-5

This article is about the 1971 novel. For other uses of the term, see Hell house (disambiguation)

Hell House is a novel by American novelist Richard Matheson, published in 1971. The novel was later turned into a film, The Legend of Hell House, starring Pamela Franklin and Roddy McDowall.

The story concerns four people - Dr. Lionel Barrett, a physicist with an interest in parapsychology, his wife Edith, and two mediums (Florence Tanner, a Spiritualist and mental medium, and Benjamin Franklin Fisher, a physical medium) - who are hired by dying millionaire Rolf Randolph Deutsch to investigate the possibility of life after death. To do so, they must enter the infamous Belasco House in Maine, widely regarded as the most haunted house in the world. The house got its name from the horrible acts of blasphemy and perversion that occurred under the silent influence and supervision of Emeric Belasco, and Fisher is the only survivor of a previous failed investigation attempt thirty years earlier. The novel combines supernatural horror with mystery as the researchers attempt to investigate the haunting of the house while their sanity is subtly undermined by its sinister supernatural influence.

During the investigation, various influences begin to play on each character's personal weakness. Hell House's potency comes from its apparent ability to corrupt those who enter its walls, before bringing about their destruction, both mental and physical.