Eleanor Vance Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• Eleanor receives a letter from a Dr. Montague asking her to join him at Hill House for some paranormal sleuthing. With her invalid mother dead and nothing else going for her, she writes back that she's coming.
• Eleanor's sister doesn't think that's wise, partly because she's worried for Eleanor, but mostly because she'll need the car.
• Eleanor hijacks the car, anyway, and sets off for Hill House.
• While on the road, Eleanor imagines how grand her life will be from now on. She imagines all sorts of scenarios in which she lives in different houses, owning different objects.
• Eleanor loathes Hill House at first, but it starts to grow on her. The arrival of the free-spirited Theodora really brightens her day.
• Then Eleanor meets Luke and Dr. Montague. The group hits it off fabulously thanks to an excellent meal and some superb brandy.
• Dr. Montague gives Eleanor and company a history lesson on Hill House. Short version: people died; Hill House is bad.
• The next day, the group explores the House. Eleanor is particularly fearful of the library.
• That night, the haunts haunt through the haunted house. Eleanor and Theodora are kept awake thanks to some ghostly door knocking.
• Despite the harrowing evening, Eleanor is still stoked to be at Hill House.
• Eleanor enters a love-hate relationship with the other ghostbusters and Hill House. Sometimes she feels like an intricate part of the group, but at other times she feels isolated and alone.
• Eleanor eventually gathers the nerve to ask to move in with Theodora. Theodora rejects her, hard core.
• After the rejection, Eleanor's psyche sinks further and further into Hill House and grows more distant from the others.
• One night, Eleanor dances through the halls like a ghost, pounding on the others' doors. Then she enters the library and climbs the precarious iron stairway. Luke rescues her.
• After that hullabaloo, Dr. Montague decides Eleanor must leave Hill House for her own protection.
• Eleanor leaves but then decides she'd rather stay. She drives her car straight into a big tree, killing herself and perhaps ensuring that her soul will remain in Hill House forever and ever.