Poe and the Haunted House

All scary stories have concepts and characteristics they share that make readers feel scared and afraid. For example, in The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allen Poe uses a dark setting, a personified house, a lonely character, someone rising from the dead, and the element of mystery regarding the speaker's state of mind. All of these are elements that I would use in my own haunted house story.

First, I would copy the dark, eerie setting that any person would get the chills from reading. Starting from line one this darkness is seen when he states, "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year." This is one of many examples of the dark and dreary setting of the house of Usher.

Second, I would use the personification of the house like Poe. The house of Usher is haunted, and this can be seen when Madeline is ill, dead, and then comes back to life. Also the house was described to have a fissure going from top to bottom that in the end led to the destruction and collapse of this haunted house. The house is therefore not only visually collapsing, but the people inside it are dying too. 

Third, I would use the sense of loneliness throughout my own story. Like in haunted house movies today where the characters get separated in the house; Poe uses Roderick as the lonely character. Roderick is the last surviving line of the Usher family after his sister and lover Madeline dies. This sense of loneliness adds to the ominous tone of the story. 

Fourth, I would have someone or something rise from the dead like Madeline did in The Fall of the House of Usher. When a character comes back from the dead the whole story seems to change. Further, it adds to the suspense of the story and may really scare the reader. I believe that copying this idea would not only scare the reader, but it would also connect the being back to the haunted house.

Fifth, I would add to the mystery of the whole story with an ending leaving the reader unsure of the whole story to begin with. Poe did this seamlessly by having the house fall apart at the end and then having the reader question the sanity of the speaker or the possibility it was all just a dream. The use of this technique would enhance my story and leave the reader with questions and uncertainties.

Finally, two things I would do differently however would be I would set a specific time on when the events were supposed to be occurring as well as I would add more characters to my story to extend the length of my story. By setting a time on the story the reader would know when it is happening and what the setting was like, but they would not know where exactly the events were unfolding. Also the use of more characters would allow for more depth, and I could possibly add in a character who would betray all the other ones.

In conclusion, a few of the haunted house elements I would copy from Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher would be an eerie setting, a personified haunted house, a lonely character, someone rising from the grave, and an ending that leaves the reader questioning if anything actually ever happened.