Ghosts: Home Is Where the Horror Is

Ghost stories are everywhere. But why do they all look the same? In this episode, Neil breaks down the unspoken rules that govern every haunted house story you've ever encountered — from Shirley Jackson to Poltergeist to your mate's cousin's thing that happened that one time.

Because the ghost is rarely the most frightening thing in the building.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898)

The Amityville Horror — Jay Anson (1977) / film dir. Stuart Rosenberg (1979)

Poltergeist — dir. Tobe Hooper (1982)

The Haunting — dir. Robert Wise (1963)

The Conjuring 2 — dir. James Wan (2016)

Sinister — dir. Scott Derrickson (2012)

The Haunting of Hill House series — Mike Flanagan, Netflix (2018)

Night Swim — dir. Bryce McGuire (2024)

Host — dir. Rob Savage (2020)

Unfriended — dir. Levan Gabriadze (2014)

The Enfield Poltergeist (1977) — Guy Lyon Playfair, This House Is Haunted (1980)

Cock Lane and Common-Sense — Andrew Lang (1894)

Derek Acorah / Kreed Kafer incident — Most Haunted, Living TV

THE COMPANION PIECES

Essay: Scratching Fanny — the first haunting to go viral - therulespodcast.substack.com/

Fiction: How to Gay — the companion short story - therulespodcast.substack.com/

The Rules is an independent podcast from Pegasus Podcasts. New episodes drop weekly. If you liked this one, the best thing you can do is tell someone.