Mike Flanagan Planted A False Memory In My Head With 1 Genius Haunting Of The Hill House Scene And I’m Not Alone

I have a false memory of a Haunting of Hill House scene in my head, and many others have experienced something similar with the Mike Flanagan Show. Most viewers were first exposed to Mike Flanagan’s ability to create compelling horror TV shows through Netflix The Haunting of Hill House. However, I missed the early hype train around the series and didn’t watch it until 2021. Only when I saw Flanagan’s Midnight mass I realized that I needed to watch everything he created.

Over the years, I’ve loved every Netflix show and movie that Mike Flanagan has helmed, including The Midnight Club. While Midnight mass Is easily my favorite Mike Flanagan show, it doesn’t beat it The Haunting of Hill HouseIt’s rewatch worth because I notice something new every time I revisit the Shirley Jackson adaptation. A few months ago, during my annual Hill House Again, I realized that I had imagined the existence of one main scene. I initially brushed off the Mandela Effect happening, but I recently realized I’m not alone.

I remember seeing a Haunting of Hill House scene that doesn’t exist

I was surprised when I discovered I imagined one scene from the show

in one of The Haunting of Hill HouseMichiel Huisman’s Steven visits Saidah Arrika Ekulona’s Mrs. Walker to look for a new story for his upcoming novel. Walker delivers a chilling but emotional monologue about how, after her husband’s death, she once saw his ghost on her bedroom ceiling. She recalled that her husband, Carl, drove into a ravine after losing control of his car during a storm. Reflecting the circumstances under which he died, his ghost is hanging upside down from the ceiling, with water and blood dripping down his hair.

Walker also mentions that the ghost’s mouth fell open. But instead of screaming, he let out the sound of a car horn because Karl was unable to blow his car horn during his accident. Although skeptical, Steven chooses to stay in Carl’s room for the night.

The last time I watched The Haunting of Hill HouseI was almost certain Steven saw the ghost when he stayed at Mrs. Walker’s home. I was waiting for the scene where the ghost appeared on the bedroom ceiling because I remembered seeing it before. But, to my surprise, the ghost never showed up, proving I had a false memory of the scene. All the while, my mind was just filling in gaps with imagined details.

The Hill House scene has instilled a similar Mandela effect in many viewers

Many viewers wondered if Mike Flanagan ever filmed the scene

I recently discovered that, like me, many viewers firmly believed that the ceiling ghost appeared in the show. A spectator opened (by Reddit) about how they were shocked when the scene was never shown in the Haunting Hill House, and many others agreed that they also recalled seeing it. This led many to wonder if Mike Flanagan had ever filmed the scene and featured it in a promo for the series before removing it from the final cut. Out of sheer curiosity, another viewer (via Flanagan film) reached out to Mike Flanagan and even asked him about it.

Mike Flanagan confirmed that he never filmed the scene and that it was only meant to be a monologue. “No, none of this was ever filmed – it’s just a monologue. Sounds like the Mandela Effect for sure,“ he said. The confirmation of the creator of the show makes the Hill House Scene even more fascinating because it highlights how powerful storytelling can sometimes create vivid memories of things that may not even be real. Just as the projections of Mrs. Walker’s grief made her become her husband’s ghost, the emotional depth of her story made viewers see the ghost through her eyes.

How Mike Flanagan’s brilliant writing made viewers conjure up a scene that doesn’t exist

Some brilliant storytelling tricks made viewers visualize the non-existent scene

One of the biggest reasons why many viewers conjured the non-existent scene is that Saidah Arrika Ekulona does an incredible job of delivering Mrs. Walker’s monologue. While Mike Flanagan’s brilliant writing makes the ghost’s description both explicit and chilling, Saidah Arrika Ekulona brings an emotional heft to it with her acting forte that forces viewers to imagine the real ghost. Much later in the opening episode, Steven notices water dripping down the bedroom ceiling and hears loud car horns from outside, which serve as solid reminders of the ghost’s description.

These reminders again prompt viewers to recall Mrs. Walker’s monologue and everything she said about her husband’s ghost. Before The Haunting of Hill House Revealing the bent-neck lady twist in episode 5, it also features a scene in which Nell sees Luke’s ghost stuck to her hotel room’s ceiling. In many ways, Luke seems similar to how Mrs. Walker described her husband’s ghost. due to the visual parallels between the two Mike Flanagan sequences The Haunting of Hill HouseViewers may have jumbled memories of the Luke scene and the description of Carl Walker’s ghost.