Setting

Möring handles setting details symbolically in an effort to create a supernatural atmosphere in this ghost story. As Nathan and Nina approach, the “house looked like the head of a giant,” sitting “on top of a densely wooded hill in the middle of the countryside, a hill straight out of some dark fairy tale.” While Nathan tells her the story of their family, weaving in fairy tales and ghost stories, he claims, “Around us the darkness bowed over the glow of the flames and it was as if we were sitting in a cave: the storyteller and the last member of his tribe, waiting until the fire, and finally they, too, turned to ashes.” In this way, Nathan links the ghost stories of the past to the one they are living in the present.

The sense of danger the two feel in the house is heightened...