"The house, sleepless, mad, stood on the back of the hills, enclosing darkness … And what lived inside lived there alone …. The beginning of the book is no more consistent with the spirit of the famous work of Shirley Jackson, recognized by many, including Stephen King, the most important work of horror literature of the twentieth century. The old mansion on the hill brings its inhabitants only grief. The owners refuse to live in it, the elderly couple who look after the house does not risk staying here for the night. The house is firmly established reputation of the abode of ghosts .. And then one day the silence of the house is disturbed by the noisy company of visitors. Dr. Montague, a researcher of paranormal phenomena, rents a mansion for the summer to study the phenomena occurring there. None of the visitors can even imagine what a nightmare this trip will end . The popularity of the book was consolidated by its two film adaptations - directed by Robert Wise (1963) and Jan De Bont with the participation of Steven Spielberg (1999) ..