***SPOILERS BELOW***
If you haven't watched the show, you should probably stop reading. Go watch the show and come back! I'm going to speak in general terms, but some of what I write below could spoil parts of the show if you are particularly clever. :-)
Okay, one of the more mind-bending aspects of the story, is the suggestion that time does not matter. As living beings, we experience time in a linear fashion. But what if linear time is an illusion, and in fact means very little? What if a spirit that survives the death of the physical body drifts from moment to moment, jumping through time, and experiencing moments with little regard for linear time? What if someone dead was actually haunting an earlier (living) version of himself or herself?
There is another "haunt" in the story that has a very odd appearance. It is suggested that this odd appearance has its origins in how the spirit viewed himself when he was alive. This is sort of an interesting take on Psi theory, where we see spirits with our mind rather than our physical eyes. In which case, "seeing" a spirit is actually a communication from the spirit to the mind of the living of how they look. The interesting part here, is that in the show, a spirit looks a certain way, to be the opposite of some insecurity or flaw he felt while he was alive. Like an over-compensation, influencing how the spirit communicates what he looks like to the living.
In the dialogue of the show, there are a lot of interesting thoughts on the nature of ghosts, and what they can represent. It really is a rather intelligent script.
Anyhow, "The Haunting of Hill House" is first and foremost entertainment. But, like all good entertainment, it provides us with some interesting things to think about.
Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations
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