Chapter 1 Summary

Dr. John Montague is a doctor of philosophy with an undergraduate degree in anthropology. He uses his title scrupulously and hopes that his education will lend credibility to his most passionate interest, the study of supernatural manifestations. His entire life he has been searching for a bona fide haunted house. Thus, when he finds a candidate as promising as Hill House, he is willing to invest a substantial sum of money in renting out the house for three months. Dr. Montague intends to borrow the methodology of the brave nineteenth-century ghost hunters by actually living in the haunted house and documenting his experiences. In order to do this, he will need to take on assistants. Dr. Montague pours through the literature of psychic societies and parapsychological reports. Over time he assembles a list of a dozen names and to each person on the...