Best known for the 1948 New Yorker story 'The Lottery', American author Shirley Jackson's plots are woven around the horrifying uncertainties of day-to-day life. Netflix's 'The Haunting of Hill House' is a modern reimagining of the author's novel of the same name.
The horror and mystery writer, who was born in California in 1916, would have turned 102 today, had she not died of heart failure at the age of 48.
But did you know that Jackson foresaw her own death? Yes, much like her mystery-filled stories, Jackson's life had an eerie quality to it, too.
Here are a few such haunting facts about the author's life:
1. She was a practising witch: Jackson did extensive research on witchcraft and the occult and eventually started studying it. She read tarot cards and the jacket copy of her first novel read 'perhaps the only contemporary writer who is a practising amateur witch'.
2. She put her kids to sleep with chilling songs: Jackson found regular bedtime songs boring and put her children to sleep with songs like 'The Grattan Murders'. The song included stabbing and death and appears in 'The Haunting of Hill House'.
3. She kept a scrapbook of hate mail: When 'The Lottery' was first published, Jackson and The New Yorker received an overwhelming response, in the form of more than 300 -- mostly unkind -- letters.
4. Strained relationships with mother and husband: The author had disturbingly turbulent relationships with her mother -- who never approved of her career or other life decisions -- as well as her husband, literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Jackson was bothered by Hyman's overt infidelity and wrote a furious letter to him but never sent it.
5. She named her moods: Jackson kept multiple diaries, each with their own style and voice. She also named her moods, giving them distinct personas. 'Irish' was the happiest mood and there was also Harlequin, Villon, and Pan.
These facts appear in Jackson's biography 'Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life' by Ruth Franklin.