#F CORRECTION FEED (CLICK TO SEARCH)
[1] The film's central theme involves characters hiding various secrets from guilt to identity to professional desperation.
[2] Eleanor is described as psychologically fragile and guilt-ridden, with her mental state being central to the film's psychological horror.
[3] Sources confirm Eleanor ignored her mother's knocking the night she died, creating severe guilt. She reveals this to Dr. Markway, saying she heard her mother knocking but for once ignored her.
[4] Eleanor 'stole' the shared family car from her sister to drive to Hill House, an act she initially keeps from the group.
[5] While sources confirm Eleanor experienced poltergeist activity as a child and this is why Markway invited her, there is no clear evidence she 'vehemently denies' this to the group. The poltergeist incident is documented and known to Markway.
[6] Multiple sources confirm Theodora's lesbian character was portrayed through subtext due to Hays Code censorship, with explicit content cut from the final film.
[7] Theodora is a lesbian character whose sexuality is implicit in the film but was explicit in deleted scenes. Film censors demanded limiting physical contact between Theo and Eleanor.
[8] A deleted opening scene showed Theodora breaking up with her female lover, writing 'I hate you' on a mirror in lipstick. In the film she mentions coming after a fight with her roommate.
[9] Theodora has psychic/ESP abilities and uses her knowledge of Eleanor's thoughts to taunt her, particularly when jealous about Dr. Markway.
[10] Dr. Markway is portrayed as the rational scientist but his failure to disclose his marriage creates romantic confusion.
[11] Eleanor is unaware Markway is married until Grace arrives unexpectedly. The arrival of his wife devastates Eleanor who had developed feelings for him.
[12] Markway is desperate to prove the supernatural exists, with one source noting he began his pursuit to 'tick off his practical-minded father.' His obsession blinds him to Eleanor's deteriorating mental state.
[13] Luke is the nephew of the owner and heir to Hill House, present at his aunt's insistence to protect the property rather than from genuine interest.
[14] Luke is only at Hill House because his aunt insisted a family member be present. He is characterized as skeptical and cynical, using humor to deflect.
[15] Luke is explicitly described as 'a liar' and 'a thief' in Shirley Jackson's source novel, which the summary correctly notes. However, the specific philosophical statement about cynicism being 'a way of seeing ourselves clearly and without disguise' is not documented in film sources. The characterization comes from the novel, not necessarily from dialogue in the 1963 film.
[16] The film explores the dark history of Hill House's previous occupants, including parallels to the current characters' situations.
[17] The companion to Abigail Crain was 'necking with a boy' and failed to respond when Abigail called for help, leading to her death. This parallels Eleanor's guilt about her own mother.
[18] Luke discovers a scrapbook Hugh Crain made for his daughter with Bible verses, disturbing religious imagery, and illustrations about sin and damnation, signed in Crain's own blood.
In the 1963 film *The Haunting*, the characters are defined by what they hide—from each other and from themselves. These secrets range from literal criminal acts and hidden identities to suppressed trauma and professional desperation.
### **Eleanor Lance: The Burden of Guilt**
Eleanor is the most "haunted" character, and her secrets are central to her psychological collapse.
* **Negligence in her Mother's Death:** Eleanor's primary secret is the deep guilt she carries over her mother's recent death. She was her mother's sole caregiver for 11 years, a period of isolation and resentment. She reveals (mostly through internal monologue and eventually to Theo) that she may have let her mother die by "never answering" when her mother knocked on the wall for her medicine. She tells Theo, "I just didn't hear her," but it is clear she fears she ignored the call intentionally.
* **The "Stolen" Car:** To reach Hill House, Eleanor took the family car without permission. Her sister and brother-in-law had forbidden her to use it, but she drove away in the middle of the night. She keeps this "theft" secret from the group initially, presenting herself as a woman with a "fresh start" rather than a fugitive from her own family.
* **The Poltergeist Incident:** Dr. Markway invites her because of a documented poltergeist incident from her childhood (stones rained on her house for three days). Eleanor vehemently denies this to the group, keeping her past brush with the supernatural a secret because it makes her feel "unnatural" or insane.
### **Theodora (Theo): Hidden Identity and Heartbreak**
Theodora's secrets were significantly impacted by 1960s film censorship but remain clear through subtext and deleted materials.
* **Sexual Identity:** Though never explicitly stated as per the Hays Code era, Theodora is a lesbian. Her attraction to Eleanor is her "secret" motivation for much of her behavior. She mocks Eleanor's traditionalism to hide her own vulnerability.
* **The "Roommate" Fight:** Theo mentions she is at Hill House because she had a fight with her "roommate" and needed to get away. In a deleted opening scene (and in the novel), this roommate is explicitly her girlfriend. She is essentially running away from a domestic crisis, using the investigation as an emotional refuge.
* **Invasive ESP:** While Theo is open about having psychic abilities, she keeps the full extent of what she "senses" from Eleanor to avoid scaring her—though she eventually uses this knowledge to cruelly taunt Eleanor when she becomes jealous of Dr. Markway.
### **Dr. John Markway: The Omission of the Wife**
Markway is the most "logical" character, but he maintains a facade that creates a romantic misunderstanding.
* **His Marriage:** For the first half of the film, Markway does not mention he is married. This allows the vulnerable Eleanor to develop a deep, delusional infatuation with him. The sudden arrival of his wife, **Grace**, is a shock to Eleanor and a "secret" that Markway never bothered to clarify, likely because he was too focused on his professional success.
* **Professional Desperation:** Markway presents himself as a confident scientist, but he is secretly desperate to prove the existence of the supernatural to validate his life's work to his skeptical family and colleagues. This obsession leads him to secretly overlook Eleanor's obvious mental instability until it is too late.
### **Luke Sannerson: The Mask of Cynicism**
Luke is the heir to Hill House, but his motives are less academic than he lets on.
* **The Spy for the Estate:** Luke is not interested in ghosts; he is only there because his aunt (the owner) insisted a family member be present to protect the property. He hides his true fear behind a mask of flippant, "playboy" cynicism.
* **Internal Moral Rot:** In a revealing moment, Luke admits that his cynicism is a way of "seeing ourselves clearly and without disguise." He views himself as a "liar and a thief" (a direct carry-over from the source novel) and uses the house's haunting as a joke to avoid acknowledging the heavy responsibility of inheriting such a cursed legacy.
### **The House's Secrets (Hill House History)**
The characters also uncover the secrets of the original occupants, which mirror their own:
* **The Nurse-Companion's Secret:** It is revealed that the nurse who cared for the elderly Abigail Crain was "necking with a boy" (negligent) when Abigail died—mirroring Eleanor's own secret guilt about her mother.
* **Hugh Crain's Morbid Legacy:** The characters discover a "history of education" book Hugh Crain made for his daughter, filled with horrific religious imagery intended to terrify her into staying "pure" and never leaving the house—the ultimate secret of the house's "born bad" nature.
(Note: This summary was generated by Gemini 3.0 Flash + Search)