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.

Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness

within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.

Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and

doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone

of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

-- Shirley Jackson, "The Haunting of Hill House"