HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: Sinister House - Leland Hall

The most uncanny thing about my reading Sinister House (1919) is not so much the content of this fine tale of a haunted house and malevolent ghosts but my timing.  A few days after I started the book I attended a performance of the new stage thriller Paranormal Activity (conceived and directed by Felix Barrett, written by Levi Holloway) based on the series of horror movies of the same name. The play deserves a post all to itself and I will have to refrain from talking about it here. But the eerie coincidences between a supernatural novel written more than a century ago and a play only written one year ago are seriously unreal. They both begin as commentary on routine living then morph slowly into tales of malign presences infecting the living. There is even a manifestation that takes place in the novel that is exactly the same as a fleeting moment in the play I saw.  That's chillingly coincidental and mindbogglingly uncanny as far as I concerned!

Leland Hall's novel starts out so utterly mundane that he includes lectures on the real estate business, building concerns and one of the characters' disdain for developmental communities which were already a blight on American neighborhoods in 1919, at least according to Leland Hall. Then the routine of everyday life gives way to disturbing and unsettling events. The first major shift in the story happens when the narrator Pierre is visited -- during a torrential thunderstorm, no less -- by his neighbor Eric Grier who has recently moved into a ramshackle home on the outskirts of the cookie cutter development known as Forsby. He has returned from a business trip in Buffalo, walked from the train station as there were no cabs at that late hour and when he saw the light on in Pierre's house hoped to gain entry and shelter from the storm. Eric is eager to get home to his new bride Julia who he could not stop thinking of while he was away.

Immediately, there is a discussion of the difference between the two homes in the novel. Pierre's house in Forsby is wholly modern made of cement with a "granolithic walkway" leading up to the front door, equipped with modern plumbing including turn-of-the-century fad of exposed pipes and, of course, electricity. Eric's 19th century home is still trapped in the past made almost entirely of wood and stone and no modern conveniences. Gaslight and fireplaces providing heat and illumination, water is fetched from a well. Eric is beginning to behave differently and Pierre and his wife Annette notice that Julia is especially happy in the gloomy house when her husband is absent. At first Pierre cannot understand why the two young newlyweds have moved into such an eyesore of a house. Annette finds nothing at all attractive about the place neither outside nor in. But Julia seems happy and finds comfort in its old-fashioned atmosphere. Pierre, however, finds that atmosphere chilling -- literally and figuratively.

Frontispiece from the US 1st edition,
illustrations all by Haydon Jones

 

It seems a malign influence has permeated the house and is infecting Eric. One night when Pierre, his wife and three year-old son Bobbie are traveling home their car breaks down with not one but two flat tires. They are forced to seek out help and shelter from the Griers. Little Bobbie is terrified of setting foot in the house having had his fertile young imagination stimulated by some strange fairy tales his mother has told him, notably one about the Loreley. In her version the siren sings tempting songs in order to lure men to the death and she eventually eats them! Bobbie calls the Grier home the "Singing House" and does not want to go in. His mother manages to calm him until he sees Eric. Bobbie has a fit of hysterical screaming crying out: "No, mama! Get him away, get him away! Don't let him touch me. He's going to eat me!"

Annette's cousin Giles is the primary skeptic in this cast. He is certain that Eric did not just stumble upon the house in Stanton by accident as he claims. Pierre learned that the house belonged to Morgan Snart, "an eccentric old man, very religious," and his  homely daughter Huldah "who had taken to religion even more entirely than her father." Giles digs into the Snart's past and uncovers secrets about the two that belie their supposed good character and surface religious demeanor. He also finds out a bit more about Eric but is circumspect in relaying that news to everyone.  Compounding this mystery is a forbidden room that Julia insists Eric never open. It remains locked for the majority of the novel. When it is opened out of necessity terror reigns down upon everyone.

Sinister House is clearly a precursor to Shirley Jackson's pioneering haunted house novel The Haunting of Hill House published five decades later in its depiction of a malign presence in an evil house that affects one single person. Hall's novel is both prophetic and iconoclastic in that he defies the traditions of Gothic literature by making the man the object of the haunting and not the woman. In fact, both Julia and Annette are the voices of reason throughout the entire book. It is the men who suffer the most -- from fear, susceptibility, and rash judgment -- when the evil presences finally manifest themselves and carry out their wicked plans. True Julia is targeted in a frightening scene (see illustration plate at right) but it is Eric, Pierre and even Giles who are the sorriest victims suffering both physical and psychological injury more than either of the women.

QUOTES:   I say it walked; but really it moved in some half-human, half-fiendish gait, slowly yet in springs. It was the shape of a tall woman. ...as this thing passed along the wall, its insubstantial head was turned to me, so that I was subjected to a lidless stare of incredibly sinister malice.

Books which teach etiquette of the drawing room had better put in a special clause to warn students against behaving before their hosts as if they were seeing the hideous family specter pass along the wall of the dwelling in which they are being entertained.

There's nothing like a familiar unpleasant job to keep the mind from brooding. 

Giles: "Dead men rise up never --read even your poets.  Ghosts breed in the living. That's where we'll catch them."

Truly I believe that the past was dead to [Eric]. By force of his will to live he had made it as if it had never been. He denied it to himself. And if he denied it to himself, it was no lie for him to deny it to others.

It doesn't do any good at all to say "Boo!" at the past if you're afraid of it.

THINGS I LEARNED:  Pierre talks about his intolerance for lack of modern utilities at the Grier house. He mentions one of his pet peeves is the presence of cannel coal in so many country homes and how he much prefers gaslight. Cannel coal, also called  candle coal and oil shale, was used in the 19th century for its bright and steady flame. Because it burned longer than wood it was a preferred choice for home fireplaces. Its compact dense structure also made it an easily carved material for sculpture, ornaments and jewelry.

Pierre comforts an injured Giles in the finale and describes himself as "kneeling like a Mussulman beside him in the gloom." He's not talking about an apple sauce brand or a misspelling of a he-man here. Mussulman is an archaic term for anyone of the Islam faith. We use the word Muslim now.

THE AUTHOR:  Leland Hall (1883-1957) was born and raised in Massachusetts. I was unable to locate a newspaper obituary online to share other biographical info. According to his gravestone shown in a photo at Find A Grave he was born in Malden and was laid to rest there alongside one of his relatives. Based on the dates this is most likely his father. Anyone with info on Hall is welcome to email more info or comment below. I can't even verify any other books he may have written. I'm curious about his work, if any more exists.

EASY TO FIND? Copies of the original edition are few and far between.  I found only two copies, priced rather steeply, of the US edition (Houghton & Mifflin, 1919) offered for sale online. It was first reprinted in hardcover in the 1970s by the private publisher Bookfinger in a limited edition of about 500 copies. Some if those turn up frequently for sale at affordable prices. Finally, there is a comparatively cheaper reprint in a paperback omnibus (Hippocampus Press, 2008) that is still out there in the used book market and available brand new from the publisher. In addition to Sinister House you get another classic haunted house novel in that two-fer reprint:  Cold Harbor by Francis Brett Young. 

Death Goes Native - Max Long

THE STORY:  Hastings Hoyt is eager to escape his "murder jinx" after his adventures recorded in the first two books by Max Long. In Death Goes Native (1941), the final mystery in Long's trilogy, Hoyt sets sail to the remote, nearly inaccessible Valley of Waimaka, a little visited Eden away from Big Island. When he arrives he is surprised to find a colony of 12 mainlanders who have set up a private village and have "gone native" dressing in Hawaiian clothes, taking up Hawaiian art of weaving, and eating almost exclusively native foods. When one of the colony is found murdered on Hoyt's boat with a weapon that has Hoyt's initials on it he covers up evidence before reporting the death. then when he brings the self-proclaimed leader of the village to the boat they discover a thoroughly cleaned up crime scene and no sign of the body.

THE CHARACTERS:  Hastings Hoyt usually acts as the Watson to Long's series detective plantation cop Komako Koa.  While he does narrate, like a true Watson, he is usually much in the background. In Death Goes Native, however, he takes center stage as it appears someone is exploiting his presence on Waimaka. He is seen as an intruder and scapegoat rather than a humble visitor.  Several crimes occur, not just the murder of the playwright who was killed on his boat and then mysteriously disposed of.  Each time Hoyt is implicated in some way - initials on weapons, being the last person to see someone alive.  He has no luck and is seemingly at the mercy of someone who clearly want shim blamed and arrested for all the deaths and crimes.  Almost miraculously Komako shows up just in time to take over before policemen from Big Island can arrive to begin an official murder investigation. The suspects are numerous and all of them seem to be have some kind of secret they are harboring.

Bronson Delmar  - first victim of murder. A playwright who has bragged about his current manuscript recently completed while living on the island. The plot deals with crime and his inspiration for some of the characters comes from recent headlines

Bessie Delmar - The playwright's wife and co-writer of the play. When her husband dies she show little grief and is more worried about the location of the manuscript and getting proper credit for the plot. A notebook with newspaper clippings that serve as inspiration for the play's story turns up among Bessie's belongings and gives Komako a major clue as to the motivation of the killer

Elaine - being cared for by the local physician. She is suffering from amnesia and does not even know her name. Her caretakers gave her the name of Elaine. On two nights she is seen sleepwalking and talking about someone named Peter.  

Dr. Latham - While caring for Elaine Dr Latham has fallen in love with her. He fears if she recovers her memory and she learns about her life --possibly she is married -- that he will lose her. And who is Peter?  It's not him. His first name is .

Mrs. Latham - The doctor's imperious mother who seems almost a peripheral character. Until she has a private conversation with Komako and Hoyt about her suspicons of their so-called village leader...

Mr. Budd - the village chief, so to speak. He organized the colony and seems to be in charge of everything. Why did he want to set up this private idyll far away form the mainland? Is he hiding from his past? 

Turva Massic - Hoyt is struck by Turva's exotic appearance despite the long scar that runs down the side of her face. Of all the people she seems to be transforming into a true native. Her fascination with weaving keeps her occupied. But she is wary of Hoyt who she thinks has a dangerous side. 

Mary & Henry - two Hawaiians who act as servants for the villagers.  They are in love and also become key witnesses 

Mokino - another Hawaiian and Mary's father. He is the kahuna of the area, a shaman of sorts, who spends much of his time taking care of a shark that visits the lagoon near a local swimming spot. Komako tells Hoyt that the shark is a reincarnation of a dead boy and thus Mokino treats the shark as if it is his own child, feeding it and making sure no one molests the creature.

The Wests - Josephine and Thornton, married couple having some domestic difficulty. Thornton, am musician and composer, spends too much time working on a symphony. Josephine feels ignored and so she has been flirting with some of the men -- one of them being Delmar.

Herb - the manager/handyman of the village. Though most of his duties are confined to repair work Herb has taken it upon himself to micromanage the activities of the villagers. For instance, he rings a bell to remind everyone that its time for exercise and swimming. Needless to say many of the villagers find this laughable and many ignore his schedules and regulations.

Inscription with Max Long's signature
"with Aloha Nui Oe"is his greeting

INNOVATIONS:  More than the other two mystery novels Long wrote with Komako Koa and Hasting Hoyt Death Goes Native is the most accomplished and satisfying as a detective novel. He does well with trying to plant clues. More importantly he improves in building suspense in this final novel by focusing the story on the "wrong man" motif so familiar to crime novel devotees. With Hoyt discovering the crime and then foolishly covering up the crime the reader is eager to see how he will get out of the mess Hoyt creates for himself. When the body vanishes he and Komako must then re-examine the crime scene to figure out what was done with the corpse. Hoyt fears that is was fed to the roaming shark, but Komako tells him that is unlikely. This is when we learn the truth of the shark and why it is revered and cared for by Mokino. 

Long seems to have modeled this mystery novel on those of his contemporaries making use of other familiar conventions such as crimes in the past and impersonation. The play the Delmars wrote is the Macguffin of the piece - everyone wants to find it, especially Koa and Hoyt. They believe it will reveal the motive for all the murders. But has it been destroyed? If so, how will they expose the killer who they are sure is one of the villagers pretending to be someone else? Impostors will turn up over the course of the novel and more than one character will have a secret exposed. Long also dares to flaunt some of the assumed rules of detective fiction by having multiple villains having a hand in the various crimes other than murder. The plot is filled with incident as well as some intriguing insight into Hawaiian culture and superstition. These aspects are blended well into the story rather than being didactic intrusions as in the case of the volcano lectures in The Lava Flow Murders (1940), the second of the Komako Koa books.

THE AUTHOR:  Max Freedom Long (1890 - 1971) was born in Colorado and then moved to California where he was raised, schooled and eventually graduated from Los Angeles State Normal School with an associates degree.  In 1917 he moved to Hawaii and taught school there for several years.  While living and working in Hawaii Long became fascinated with local culture, folklore and what he called Hawaiian magic. These would lead to his developing a philosophy he called Huna. In the 1930s he left Hawaii and set up home again in California. By August 1941 he was living in Laguna Beach based on an inscription I have in my copy of Death Goes Native.

He wrote three detective novels with Komako Koa. I am surmising that the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941, four months after the publication of his third novel, put an end to his writing anymore mystery novels set in Hawaii. Long is better known for his books on Huna, his personal philosophy that incorporates Hawaiian "magic" and culture into a kind of New Age worldview. Three of these Huna books are apparently still in print while his detective novels have been basically forgotten.

FOR SALE!  I've listed all three copies of Komako Koa mystery novels and they are currently available for purchase. Click here. This morning I checked and already The Lava Flow Murders is sold, but the other two are still eager for someone to purchase them.  Happy hunting! 

Komako Koa Trilogy
Murder Between Dark and Dark (1939)
The Lava Flow Murders (1940)
Death Goes Native (1941)