Dr. John Montague’s true passion is “the analysis of supernatural manifestations” (3); he hopes his degree in anthropology will lend him “an air of respectability” (3). He rents Hill House for three months with the hope of publishing a “definitive work on the causes and effects of psychic disturbances” (3).

After a meticulous narrowing-down of candidates to accompany him, two women join him. The first is Eleanor Vance, a 32-year-old woman who was the caretaker of her unloving mother and who has never recovered from years of loneliness and despair. Dr. Montague selects her because as a child, she seemed to have been connected to a sudden, inexplicable onslaught of rocks falling onto her house. The second is Theodora, whose world is “one of delight and soft colors” (5) and who has some psychic powers. Also accompanying them is Luke Sanderson, a “liar” and a “thief” (5) who is the nephew of the owner of Hill House.

Before leaving for Hill House, Eleanor has an argument with her sister and brother-in-law, with whom she lives, over whether she will take the car she helped pay for.