10 Small Details You Only Notice Rewatching The Haunting Of Hill House

6. Luke Foreshadows Nell’s Death With A Drawing In Episode 1

Haunting Of Hill House Spooky Pooky
Netflix

Who can forget the pant-sh*ttingly scary moment at the end of episode one of The Haunting of Hill House? Steve comes home and finds Nell in the corner of his apartment, not speaking; he chats idly to her and walks around. The audience gets one heck of a jump-scare when Steve turns around, though, as he finds himself face-to-face with his sister, who is white-eyed and screaming. What Steve is seeing isn't really Nell, but rather her ghost, as she had just died in Hill House.

With this in mind, upon second viewing, you will likely take greater notice of a seemingly innocuous crayon drawing of Luke’s during a flashback in the same episode. Early into episode one, we see Luke scribbling away at drawing of strange figures that he claims to have seen around the house. One such drawing is of a person, mouth agape, in the midst of an apparent scream – just like Nell when she appears to Steve.

This foreshadowing is particularly clever; later in the series, Nell expresses how “time is like rain, snow, and confetti, and that it falls all around us.” So as a kid, Luke had a vision of his sister's eventual death. Morbid… and kind of cool.

Contributor
Contributor

Dan is a writer and actor originally from South Australia who now lives in a constant state of anxiety... and Los Angeles. Whether writing about movies, watching movies, or binging the Great British Bake-off, Dan approaches any endeavour with a steely resolve which is rivalled only by his ability to lie about his strengths. For professional inquiries, call Melissa Cropley - Dan's mum; she wishes he would call more often and you'd really be doing him a favour.