If you came across a mysterious set of stairs in the middle of a forest, would you climb them? Doing so might not be such a good idea, as a group of friends are quick to discover in Chuck Wendig’s latest horror novel, The Staircase in the Woods, which came out last month. This is some of the most chilling horror I’ve read so far this year, and it takes a truly unique approach to the concept of a haunted house.
On a weekend camping trip in high school, five friends stumbled upon a staircase strangely out of place in the middle of the woods. Matty walked up the stairs . . . and never came back down. Owen, Lor, Hamish, and Nick have spent the next two decades trying to move on and, in the process, have drifted apart, their friendship unable to handle the weight of the guilt and unanswered questions that haunt them from that night. Then Nick sends out a message: he’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to gather his friends together one last time. But when they arrive, Nick reveals the real reason he’s reunited them: He has found a new staircase in the woods, and he wants them all to climb up. Could they really find Matty after all of these years? There’s only one way to find out. Up the stairs they go . . . and emerge into the hallway of a mysterious house. There are no windows or doors to the outside world, only a shifting labyrinth of rooms that all seem to be haunted by death, violence, and dark secrets. As the four friends explore room after room, the house starts to get inside their heads, bringing out their very worst thoughts. The friends will have to relearn how to rely on each other and confront their own inner demons if they want to escape with their lives, let alone find out what happened to Matty all of those years ago.
Typically, we think of houses haunted by the spirits of dead people, but could a person be haunted by the spirit of a house? Wendig cleverly inverts the idea of a haunted house by suggesting that it is the structure of the house, itself, that perpetuates a haunting. A house can become infused with the energy of the people and events within their walls and be haunted by those memories. This reminds me of the “stone tape” theory of residual hauntings, a philosophy among some psychic researchers who understand ghostly apparitions to actually be psychic impressions left on the environment that can be replayed like a cassette tape. But the house in The Staircase in the Woods does not merely replay past events. Instead, the house itself seems to have developed a consciousness—and it’s out for blood. The strange dimension that these friends find themselves trapped in is a conglomeration of multiple “bad houses”—a Frankensteined mish-mash of rooms that have seen murder, abuse, self-harm, and other horrors. This bad energy has seeped into its walls, and it continually seeks out new victims that it can infect with this violent mindset. In order to return to their lives and their loved ones, Owen, Lor, Hamish, and Nick have to not only escape from this labyrinth of rooms but also from the spiral of dark thoughts it raises in their heads.
But the part I found most interesting about this book is that random staircases in the middle of the woods are a real phenomenon! There are some logical reasons for this—they are usually the remains of a full house that has crumbled and been reclaimed by nature, but stairs are built to be extra sturdy and architecturally sound. Plus, they can be built out of extra hardy materials like stone. But these logical explanations don’t stop them from being creepy and mysterious and inspiring dozens of forums, Reddit threads, blogs, and YouTube videos. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Chuck Wendig describes his own experience encountering one such set of stairs while he was drafting this story. He extolls the virtues of getting lost—both out in nature and in the recesses of your own mind and imagination. Which sounds like excellent writerly advice, especially since it led to the creation of this spectacular book. But one thing’s for certain: if you do encounter a real staircase out in the woods, you shouldn’t climb up it . . .
The Staircase in the Woods is not only a brilliant haunted house story but also an emotionally moving examination of friendship, guilt, and the courage it takes to face your own darkest demons. You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process with this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Once you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!