Some houses are born bad. Dr. John Markway is conducting research in the field of the supernatural, and he gets permission from Mrs. Sanderson to join her nephew, Luke, in her inherited home,...

Some houses are born bad. Dr. John Markway is conducting research in the field of the supernatural, and he gets permission from Mrs. Sanderson to join her nephew, Luke, in her inherited home, Hill House, which has claimed the lives of its owners in bizarre accidents. Dr. Markway requests several people who have had experience with the supernatural to come to help him conduct his research, but in the end, only two accompany them: Theodora, who has extra sensory perception, and Eleanor Lance, who once had an experience with a poltergeist years ago and, after taking care of her mother for years until her death, has lately been living with her sister. But as the researches investigate into the dark legacy of Hill House, complete with doors closing by themselves and banging on the walls late in the night, Eleanor finds herself being drawn further into the haunted home -- and the house wants Eleanor to join the ghostly inhabitants inside its walls.