"SICK HOUSES" by Leila Taylor Is A Must Read for Horror Fans and Haunters [REVIEW]

Written By: Mary Imagination

As a horror fan, haunter, and writer, I am forever a student of the genre. My knowledge grows the more I work within the genre and actively learn about it. While listening to our favorite podcast, Reading Glasses Podcast: Episode 414 – Book Buying VS Book Reading – Different Hobbies!, Mallory O'Meara mentioned that her current read was "Sick Houses" by Leila Taylor. She described it as a nonfiction book about how fictional and real haunted houses have impacted our culture. This description immediately piqued our interest, so we instantly purchased the book and dove right in.

Official Synopsis: Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread by Leila Taylor (Feb. 11, 2025, published by Repeater):

"Explores the architecture of haunted houses, uncanny domestic spaces, and how the horror genre subverts and corrupts the sanctity of home.

Horror begins at home.

From family homes in Amityville to Gothic mansions in Los Angeles and the Unabomber's cabin, houses often capture and contain the horror that has happened within them.

Sick Houses crosses the threshold of these eerie spaces to explore how different types of architecture become vessels for terror and how these spaces, meant to shelter us, instead become the source of our deepest fears. Using film, television, and literature to explain why we are drawn to haunted and haunting places, Sick Houses is a must-read for anyone who has ever looked at a house and sensed there might be something unsettling going on inside."

(Description from the Amazon product page.)

OUR REVIEW

This book is fantastic and spoke to our passion for all things spooky, including the infamous location of many horror stories: the haunted house. Leila Taylor dug deep into locations, both fictional and real, providing psychological, sociological, anthropological, architectural, and historical insights into each type of spooky house she covers.

"This book is a catalog of houses that have gone wrong and the ways our built environment can evoke terror and dread." – Leila Taylor

We feel this book enriches our knowledge of the genre with each deep dive Taylor covers in the text. As a writer and creative, we have always felt that books are irreplaceable resources when growing in the craft. With the immense number of examples and research Taylor provides in this book, we highly recommend this read to horror storytellers (through film or literature), haunters, and all students of the genre. The amount of research done is impressive.

Learning the "why" and "what" behind what makes houses scary is an important foundation when creating terror yourself. For my haunters out there, this quote really clicked with me when Leila goes into the fundamental differences between a house and a home:

"We don't go to haunted homes on Halloween, and it's not The Haunting of Hill Home. A house is a thing made of wood, brick, drywall, and glass. A home is a state of being. A house doesn't become a home until it's claimed, occupied, until the territory has been marked, until you feel comfortable, safe, until you feel at home." – Leila Taylor

When thinking of a haunted house, the first thing that pops into mind is the classic spooky Victorian or Second Empire-style home that is so often portrayed in horror and Halloween imagery. The author puts it perfectly:

"...what was once intimidating and imposing became the architecture of Halloween decorations and Scooby-Doo cartoons." – Leila Taylor

Leila Taylor pleasantly surprised and informed us about the terror that different spaces, like condos, apartment buildings, and military bunkers or bomb shelters, can evoke. Not every example is "evil," either. Some can be "whimsical and mischievous," like the Winchester Mystery House. I loved learning the history of that infamous home. It was also a delight learning about dollhouses and witch houses.

Front of Winchester Mystery House 

FINAL WORD

So, if you are a curious horror fan, a student of the genre, or even a fear-maker, we highly recommend checking this book out. The only thing we will warn readers about, and something I wish we had known before diving in, is that when Leila takes deep dives into fictional houses and residences, she does spoil the stories, books, TV shows, and movies they originate from. So, if spoilers aren't your thing, I recommend looking at which fictional houses she covers before truly diving into this book.

We give this book 5 out of 5 stars for being a FANGTASTIC educational read on haunted houses and residences.

Alternate Cover posted by Repeater

I would like to give a special THANK YOU to author and podcaster Mallory O'Meara for introducing me to this spooktacular book.

Please let us know on our social media: What is your current Summerween read?