The Spookiness of Stairs.

I’m not easily spooked these days by anything I read in a book or see in a film. I didn’t even find The Exorcist remotely spooky, even though received critical opinion insists that it’s the scariest film ever made. I actually found it a little tedious.

But there’s a scene in The Turn of the Screw which even I found a touch scary. The governess is walking along a landing in the half light of early morning when she sees the apparition of Peter Quint coming up the stairs as she approaches the top of them. They both stop and stare at one another, until the apparition turns and walks back into the darkness lower down. It’s written in simpler prose than James usually uses, and it’s most effective.

And then I remembered that I wrote a post once about the Japanese horror film The Grudge in which I commented that stairs appear to be significant in Japanese horror stories. I also remembered the time when I fell asleep on the sofa in my living room, the back of which faces the bottom of the stairs. Unlike more modern houses, they lead off the living room instead of a separate hallway. As I woke up I had the strongest impression that someone was standing close to the bottom of them and looking down at me over the back of the sofa. I’ve never slept on the sofa since. If I need a few hours sleep now – like the night before I have to be up indecently early for an operation – I get them sitting in my armchair which has its back to a wall and gives a good view of the stairs.

And, of course, there’s that famous old rhyme which has several versions, the one I remember being:

As I was walking up the stair 

I met a man who wasn’t there 

He wasn’t there again today

I wish, I wish he’d go away

And now I’m not exactly sure how I should close this post, except to say that I’m about to climb my own stairs because I need the bathroom. I expect I’ll manage it well enough.