From The Haunting of Hill House to The Lottery: Shirley Jackson’s Best Works

1. The Haunting of Hill House

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.”

If you’re a Netflix-and-chill-at-home kind of person, you’ve probably seen this title pop up on your recommended list or better, you have already watched it. The hit series takes inspiration—loosely—from Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name. The book itself has held readers in a chokehold since it first appeared in 1959. It follows four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly mansion called Hill House.

As the group settles in, lines begin to blur between the house’s haunted history and their own fragile states of mind. At the centre is Eleanor Vance, whose growing attachment to Hill House turns the story into a slow, psychological spiral—raising the question of whether the house is truly haunted or if Eleanor herself is the one unravelling.

2. The Lottery & Other Stories

“It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.”

The Lottery & Other Stories is a collection of 24 unusual, gothic, and quietly unsettling tales that might leave you with goosebumps—and maybe a slightly restless night. These stories blend subtle suspense with pitch-perfect snapshots of both the chilling and the mundane.

As the only short-story collection published during Jackson’s lifetime, it pulls back a curtain, revealing how fear, conformity, cruelty, and loneliness simmer beneath the surface of ordinary life.

3. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“We eat the year away. We eat the spring and the summer and the fall. We wait for something to grow and then we eat it.”

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is another one of those stories so creepy-good it eventually got its own Netflix adaptation. It was Shirley Jackson’s final novel—and honestly, one of her absolute best. The book follows Merricat Blackwood, a girl living with her sister Constance and their Uncle Julian in a big old house that the entire town loves to gossip about.

There’s a dark family secret hanging over everything, which starts to unravel when a long-lost cousin shows up. It’s eerie, quirky, and completely addictive—a gothic tale about isolation, loyalty, and the kind of secrets families would kill to protect.

Also read: Bram Stoker’s Dracula: The Timeless Tale That Redefined Gothic Horror

4. Dark Tales

“An odd thought crossed her mind: she would pick up the heavy glass ashtray and smash her husband over the head with it.”

Dark Tales is another one of Jackson’s short-story collections that wears ordinariness like a mask—and not a very convincing one. Everything looks normal on the surface, but it’s the kind of normal you immediately question and makes you distrust everything you see around you. Each story starts quietly, almost casually, then slowly tilts into something unsettling without you even realising when it happened.

It’s Jackson doing what she does best: proving that the scariest things don’t always lurk in the dark—sometimes they sit right in plain sight, smiling just a little too widely.

5. The Sundial

“The sight of one's own heart is degrading; people are not meant to look inward--that's why they've been give bodies, to hide their souls.”

Blend family politics and apocalyptic terror in one of the strangest, funniest, and most claustrophobic novels Jackson ever wrote, and you’ve got The Sundial. After a sudden death in the family, the eccentric Hallorans retreat into their mansion when Aunt Fanny announces she’s received a “message” that the world outside is about to end.

From there, the book becomes a darkly comic look at what happens when a bunch of self-absorbed people panic, barricade themselves inside, and fully buy into the idea that only they will survive. It’s Jackson exploring delusion, control, and the chaos that erupts when fear and ego collide—while everyone insists they’re perfectly fine.

6. The Witch

This short but unforgettable story starts completely harmless: a little boy riding a train with his mom, bored and looking for entertainment. Then a stranger sits nearby and strikes up a conversation. What begins as playful small talk suddenly twists into something dark and deeply unsettling.

It’s Jackson in pure form—taking the most ordinary moment (a train ride, a chatty kid, a friendly stranger) and flipping it into a quiet nightmare. By the end, you’re left with that classic Shirley Jackson feeling of Wait… what just happened?

Why Jackson’s Worlds Still Feel a Little Too Real

Shirley Jackson doesn’t hand us horror packed with jump scares or cheap thrills. Instead, she takes the most ordinary things—houses, train rides, polite conversations—and lets them quietly warp until you realise something is very, very wrong. Blending psychology, dark mystery, and gothic elements, her stories feel almost uncomfortably real every time you step into one.

These were just a few of her best works, each showcasing that signature Jackson twist on the gothic and the uncanny. If you want to honour her today, pick up one of her works and let yourself enjoy that delicious, slow-building chill only Jackson could deliver.

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