Fan theories abound on TikTok ― not all of them verified, or even probable.
But recently, ghostwriter @glittering_ghostwriter had her The Haunting of Hill House theory confirmed by none other then the director of the show himself, Mike Flanagan.
She created a video explaining why she thought Hugh, the patriarch of the Crain family who occupied Hill House in the Netflix show, was the only one not to get a clearly-assigned version of the Red Room in the building.
“He actually did have his own version,” the creator argued ― “and you can see it.”
What was it?
“The point of the Red Room is to consume members of the house, right?” the TikToker said.
“The Red Room is there to relax them, so that the house can watch who they really are,” she explained. For some characters (like Theo, who gets a dance room), this is easy to spot.
“But when you think of Hugh, he’s never relaxed in Hill House,” she points out. “Hill House is only a means to an end for him ― he’s trying to rebuild his house so they can sell it, and they can finally settle down in their ‘forever house.’”
So, while others’ Red Room may offer them a hobby, for Hugh it won’t look like that. “he’s not gonna take up a hobby at Hill House ― he’s gonna get this job done,” the ghostwriter reasoned.
“So what does the house do? It gives him more tasks ― and it makes the Red Room impossibly locked so that he cannot get in it... Trying to break into this room and spending time doing that, that is Hugh’s Red Room,” she suggests.
Director Mike Flanagan confirmed the theory
Tagging the director of the show, one commenter asked, ”@Mike Flannagan can you confirm or deny this please? It’s really great if true.”
“Confirmed!” the show’s creator said beneath the request.
Naturally, the fan who created the video was happy to read the confirmation.
“Omg... thank you so much lmao I’m a huge fan,” she responded to Mike.
The stuff of fandom dreams...
You can watch The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix.