On Her Birthday: Author Shirley Jackson Remembered As A Witch

Shirley Jackson, best known as the author of The Lottery, a short story, and the novel The Haunting of Hill House, was born on this day in 1916. According to an article put together by The New Indian Express, “much like her mystery-filled stories, Jackson’s life had an eerie quality to it, too.”

If that makes you wonder just how eerie, the article doesn’t disappoint. Filled with facts culled from the 2016 biography  Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (LiveRight) by Ruth Franklin, Jackson kept a scrapbook of hate mail, sang her children to sleep with scary songs, was a practicing witch and other fun facts about a lot of people’s favorite author.

A short film based on the story can be seen below. The original short story, which is in the public domain, can be read online here.