Twenty-five years after the publication of House of Horrors, Ewan Holt's infamous book, his daughter, Maggie Holt, a house restorer, remains skeptical of its claims. She views the book as a complete fabrication, a shadow that has haunted her life. However, following Ewan's death, Maggie learns she has inherited Baneberry Hall, the very house from the book, a revelation that plunges her into a quest to uncover the truth behind her family's past.
Chapter 1: Maggie's Inheritance
Maggie meets with Arthur Rosenfeld, her father's estate lawyer, grappling with the legacy of House of Horrors. She has no memory of the twenty days her family spent at Baneberry Hall and believes the stories of ghosts and "Mister Shadow" are lies her father created for fame and fortune, a core element of the theme of Truth vs. Fiction and the Unreliability of Narrative.
The lawyer reveals that Ewan secretly retained ownership of Baneberry Hall for twenty-five years. Maggie is stunned to learn that she has now inherited the property. This revelation is compounded by the memory of her father's dying words: “It’s not safe there. Not for you.” The contradiction between his warning and his secret ownership of the house deepens the mystery surrounding her family's past. The lawyer hands her the keys, and Maggie is left grappling with the weight of this unexpected inheritance and the realization that her father's secrets were even deeper than she imagined. The house itself becomes a symbol of the Family Secrets and Their Consequences that have shaped her entire life.
House of Horrors, May 20: The Tour
This chapter, taken from Ewan Holt's book House of Horrors, recounts the Holt family's first visit to Baneberry Hall. Ewan, his wife Jess Holt, and five-year-old Maggie are shown the property by a Realtor named Janie June Jones. The house is imposing and neglected, but offered at a suspiciously low price. Janie June reveals the estate's dark history: it was built by the wealthy Garson family and was the site of a recent tragedy. The previous owners, the Carver family, lived there for less than a year before the father, Curtis Carver, committed a murder-suicide, killing his young daughter and then himself.
Despite this grim history, Ewan is captivated by the house's character and potential. Jess is far more hesitant, worried that the house's tragic past will "seep into our lives somehow," introducing the theme of The Past Haunting the Present. During the tour, they notice strange occurrences, such as a massive chandelier swaying on its own and later turning on by itself. They see portraits of the original owner, William Garson, and his daughter, Indigo Garson, who died at sixteen. Maggie finds William Garson's portrait "scary." Ewan, desperate for a change of scenery and a place to inspire his writing, convinces a reluctant Jess that they can overcome the house's past and make it their dream home. They decide to buy it.
Chapter 2: A Mother's Confession
Maggie meets her mother, Jess, for lunch. Now living in Palm Springs, Jess appears uncomfortable discussing the past. Maggie confronts her directly, demanding to know why Ewan kept Baneberry Hall a secret and what really happened there. Cornered, Jess offers a confession: she claims the entire book was a lie. She explains that Ewan, struggling with writer's block and unable to sell a fictional novel, conceived a plan to write a "true" horror story. They would live in a house with a tragic history, fabricate a haunting, flee in the night, and report it to the police to create an authentic-seeming narrative. Jess claims she went along with it because she loved Ewan and hated Baneberry Hall anyway.
This confession seems to confirm everything Maggie has always believed. Jess explains that the guilt and the pressure of maintaining the lie eventually led to her and Ewan's divorce. However, Maggie's relief is short-lived. As lunch ends, Jess makes a surprising offer: she and her new husband will buy Baneberry Hall from Maggie at full market value, adding, "You won’t even need to set foot inside Baneberry Hall." This warning, so similar to Ewan's, makes Maggie instantly suspicious. She realizes her mother is still hiding something and that this "confession" is likely just another layer of deception. Determined to uncover the real story, Maggie resolves to go to Baneberry Hall herself, breaking the promise she makes to her mother that she will stay away.
House of Horrors, June 25: The Closing
Ewan and Jess close on Baneberry Hall and drive to their new home. On the way, Jess makes Ewan promise that he will let the house's past—specifically the Carver murder-suicide—remain in the past. She doesn't want him investigating it like a journalist, fearing its darkness will affect their family. Ewan agrees, wanting only to focus on their future. When they arrive, the front gate is open, and they are greeted by the caretaker, Walt Hibbets. Hibbs makes a cryptic comment, noting that the Carvers "weren't prepared for the place," hinting that there is more to the house's story than just the murder-suicide.
Ewan dismisses the comment, but it plants a seed of doubt. He and Jess drive up to the house, and he is struck again by its grandeur. He carries Jess over the threshold in a romantic gesture they never had at their wedding. Inside, they find the grand chandelier is once again lit, despite no one being in the house. Forgetting the strange wiring for a moment, they are filled with excitement for their new life, unaware of the "waking nightmare" that Ewan's narrative promises is about to unfold. The chapter builds suspense by contrasting the family's hope for the future with the ominous warnings from both Jess and the caretaker.
Chapter 3: Arrival at Baneberry Hall
Maggie drives to Bartleby, Vermont, arriving at Baneberry Hall at dusk. At the gate, she is confronted by a man who introduces himself as Dane Hibbets, the grandson of the original caretaker from the book. Dane reveals another shocking secret: Ewan Holt returned to Baneberry Hall every year on July 15th—the anniversary of the night they fled—to spend one night alone in the house. This new information deepens Maggie's confusion and strengthens her resolve to find answers. She hires Dane, a contractor, to help her renovate the house for sale.
Inside, Maggie finds the house dusty but well-kept, not the dilapidated ruin she expected. As she explores, she is struck by the complete absence of personal memories; her only knowledge of the layout comes from her father's book. She finds a strange, cryptic note with the single word "WHERE??" written on it. Suddenly, she hears a creak from the adjoining Indigo Room and sees a pale blur move past the doorway. An elderly woman emerges from the shadows and grabs her, calling her "Petra." The scene establishes the novel's blend of Supernatural vs. Psychological Horror, as Maggie is confronted with a real, physical threat that feels like a ghostly apparition.
House of Horrors, June 26: Day 1
The Holts' first full day at Baneberry Hall is marked by unsettling events. They meet the housekeeper, Marta Carver, who is actually named Elsa Ditmer in the text. (This appears to be a typo in the provided text, as Marta Carver was the victim's wife. The housekeeper is Elsa Ditmer). Elsa Ditmer, a local woman whose family has worked at the estate for generations, helps them unpack. She gives Ewan more gruesome details about the Carver tragedy: Curtis smothered his daughter, Katie, with a pillow before asphyxiating himself in the study.
Elsa's two daughters, sixteen-year-old Petra Ditmer and six-year-old Hannah, arrive to play with Maggie. While unpacking, a bell connected to the Indigo Room begins ringing on its own. Ewan investigates and finds the room empty, but a snake slithers out of the fireplace. He catches it and throws it outside, but the superstitious Elsa is deeply disturbed, telling him a snake in the house is a sign of bad luck and that he should "break a few more plates." The incident is the first concrete, seemingly paranormal event that Ewan documents after moving in.
Chapter 4: The Chief and the Ghost Tourists
The old woman is identified as Elsa Ditmer, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Her daughter, Hannah, and the local police chief, Tess Alcott, arrive. Hannah is cold toward Maggie, revealing that her older sister, Petra, disappeared twenty-five years ago—right around the time the Holts fled Baneberry Hall. After Hannah takes her mother home, Maggie speaks with Chief Alcott, who turns out to be the same rookie cop who took Ewan's original statement. Alcott dismisses the haunting as a "long con" designed to sell a book but admits that the Holts seemed genuinely terrified that night. She also mentions that for years, the house attracted "ghost tourists" who would try to break in.
During their conversation, Maggie experiences her first genuine, personal memory of the house: painting the kitchen wall with her father, who told her to make a handprint so she would "always be part of this place." The memory is a breakthrough, proving her past isn't a total blank slate, but it's tinged with the sadness of her father's subsequent deception. After Chief Alcott leaves, Maggie returns to the parlor and makes a disturbing discovery: the antique silver letter opener she had seen on the desk is now missing.
House of Horrors, June 27: Day 2
The family's second night is filled with strange noises—doors opening, drawers slamming—that Ewan and Jess both experience in what they try to dismiss as shared dreams. The next day, Maggie claims a girl was in her bedroom and disappeared into the large, ornate armoire. Ewan finds the armoire empty and assumes Maggie is lying for attention. However, Elsa Ditmer warns him that "sensitive" children like Maggie and the late Katie Carver can "sense things" others miss and that it might be wise to believe her.
That night, the noises return. Ewan lies awake, and his concern for Maggie prompts him to check on her. As he approaches her room, he sees the door, which had been left open, swing shut on its own with a soft click. Peeking inside, he finds Maggie sound asleep. He then looks toward the armoire where Maggie claimed the girl had hidden. Both of its heavy wooden doors are now standing wide open. The event is impossible to explain away logically and marks a turning point for Ewan, shifting his perspective from skepticism toward a growing fear that something is truly wrong with the house.
Chapter 5: The Figure in the Woods
Maggie decides to sleep in her childhood bedroom. She is shocked to find that the armoire from her father's book has been boarded shut with two-by-fours. Prying them open, she finds her old childhood dresses hanging inside. A further search reveals that all of her family's belongings—clothes, toys, even her mother's wedding dress—were left behind exactly as her parents had claimed in interviews. This discovery proves that at least one major part of their story was true, forcing Maggie to question what else might be real. The fact that they abandoned everything suggests their flight was driven by genuine terror, not a calculated hoax.
That night, as Maggie lies in bed listening to the sounds of the old house, she hears a twig snap outside. Looking out the window, she sees a dark, human-like figure standing at the edge of the woods, motionless, simply watching the house. Recalling Chief Alcott's warning about trespassers, she runs outside to confront the intruder, but the figure is gone. The incident leaves her shaken, realizing she is not as alone or as safe at Baneberry Hall as she had thought.
House of Horrors, June 28: Day 3
Ewan decides to turn the third-floor study—the room where Curtis Carver died—into his office. While cleaning it out, he discovers a Polaroid camera and a stack of photos. The pictures are a series of dated self-portraits taken by Curtis Carver in the days leading up to the murder-suicide. They chronicle his horrifying physical and psychological deterioration, his eyes growing more vacant and his appearance more haggard with each passing day.
Disturbed, Ewan uses the camera to take a picture of Jess and Maggie playing in the backyard near the woods. When the photo develops, he is horrified to see a shadowy, human-shaped figure standing among the trees, watching his family. At that exact moment, he hears Jess and Maggie scream. He races outside to find Maggie has fallen and cut her cheek. Looking at the spot where she fell, he makes a final, shocking discovery: the "rock" she tripped on is not a rock at all, but the top of a partially buried gravestone bearing the name of the man who built the house: WILLIAM GARSON.
Character Development
- Maggie Holt: From a cynical skeptic, Maggie transforms into an active investigator, driven to uncover the family secrets surrounding Baneberry Hall. The discovery of her father's secret visits and her first returning memory challenge her reality, forcing her to confront a more complex truth.
- Ewan Holt: He is viewed through conflicting lenses: a hopeful father in his book versus a dishonest man in Maggie's present-day narrative. His secret annual visits add a layer of obsession and mystery.
- Jess Holt: She is a voice of caution in Ewan's narrative and guarded in the present, perpetuating lies to keep Maggie away from the house, suggesting she is motivated by fear.
Themes & Symbols
- Truth vs. Fiction and the Unreliability of Narrative: The story is told through Maggie's investigation and Ewan's "true account," forcing the reader to question everything. Jess's "confession" reinforces the idea that truth is subjective.
- Family Secrets and Their Consequences: The Holt family is built on secrets, isolating Maggie and destroying her parents' marriage. Baneberry Hall embodies these secrets, full of hidden histories and buried truths.
- The Past Haunting the Present: Maggie is haunted by her father's book, and Baneberry Hall is haunted by its history. Events from Ewan's narrative mirror Maggie's discoveries, creating a sense that the past is repeating itself.
- Baneberry Hall: The house is a character and a symbol, representing the source of fame, trauma, and secrets. It is a source of inspiration for Ewan, fear for Jess, and the key to Maggie's identity.
- The Armoire: The armoire symbolizes hidden fears and repressed memories. It is boarded up in the present, representing an attempt to seal away the past, but Maggie's act of prying it open signals her intent to bring those secrets into the light.
Key Quotes
“It’s not safe there. Not for you.”
Ewan's dying words to Maggie are cryptic and unsettling. They contradict his decision to secretly keep Baneberry Hall, suggesting a hidden danger he wants to protect her from, yet cannot fully explain. This warning propels Maggie's investigation, making her question everything she thought she knew about her father and the house.
Significance
These chapters establish the novel's dual-narrative structure and central mystery. The tension between Maggie's skepticism and Ewan's account creates a compelling conflict. The revelations dismantle Maggie's beliefs, setting her on a collision course with a dangerous past.