The House (The House Next Door)

The House is the setting of Anne Rivers Siddons' psychological horror novel, The House Next Door.

A beautiful and well-crafted house, more and more tragic events happened to its various owners as the story progresses, and it became clear for the protagonist that this house is in fact, a malevolent force seeking to cause pain and misery to anyone around it.

Nature
The house never attempted to "speak" or otherwise directly communicate with anyone; however, it is clear that the house is a sentient and corrupting entity whose sole goal is to cause pain and misery around it, and nothing else. It seemed to know its owner's fears and phobias, as it voluntary disrupted the central television to torment one of its victims.

Story
The novel is told from the point of view of Colquitt "Col" Kennedy, a normal, sympathetic, and middle-aged woman who lives with her husband Walter in a quiet, affluent Atlanta neighborhood.

One day, an architect named Kim has the project to build a magnificent house in the abandoned area that was neighboring the Kennedy's house. Colquitt is dismayed at their loss of privacy and quiet, but resigned to the inevitable. Colquitt and Walter met Kim as well as the young couple of new owners - the Harralsons - shortly after learning about the home, see the plans, and decide it's a beautiful house. However, soon after its inauguration, several animals were recovered deaths inside it, before the Harralsons move into their new house. This surprised Colquitt, since it is the first time she witnesses animal murders in the area.

Soon after, the Harralsons suffered from internal quarrels, and eventually divorced. The house was then sold to the Sheehans, a middle-aged couple whose wife is mentally unstable, since her son died during the Vietnam war. One night, as the wife was about to sleep on the couch, she saw at the television a program talking about the Vietnam war; she was instantly send back into depression. When she heard about this incident, Colquitt could not believe her eyes, as this program was not broadcast by any of the television channels this evening. Some weeks later, the wife caught her husband cheating with another of Colquitt's friend, who was also engaged. As a result, she was sent to the asylum and the husband was forced to sell the house to another couple of buyers, the Greenes. This time, Colquitt began to suspect the house of being somewhat alive. In the meantime, others animals where found death nearby the haunted house.

The Greenes were a busy couple who had a little girl; the patriarch, Norman Greenes, was very hot-headed and perfectionist, and often lashed out at her daughter and wife whenever things were not going the way he intended them first. However, it seems that his abusive behavior degenerated into insanity, until the day came when he took a pistol, killed his wife and daughter, before ending his life as well.

After this tragic incident, Colquitt came to the conclusion that the house was indeed a sentient entity, that took pleasure into ruining its owners lives, and that it somewhat managed to kill animals around it, even though how did it do that was completely unknown since it couldn't move nowhere. Even worse, it seemed that house was becoming more and more powerful each time someone else was moving in, as the Harralsons were broken apart, the Sheehans were left insane, and the Greenes were dead.

After discussing with her friends, who turned paranoid and left one after another the neighborhood, Colquitt and Walter decided to act by telling to some journalists the horrendous stories that happened inside this house. The story had a resounding impact in the United States and hundreds came by to walk near the supposedly haunted house, even though it was strictly forbidden to visit it. Soon after, Colquitt and Walter also came to the conclusion that Kim was the Devil's offspring, as he never knew his father, and all of his works led to numerous tragedies, even though Kim wasn't truly responsible since he was completely unaware of that.

Some days later, Colquitt and Walter decided to put an end of the madness that ruined their lives and countless others since this house was build. They drugged and murdered Kim - by injecting him an air bubble - to prevent him from leading further architectural projects. When Colquitt was about to burn the malevolent house, she discovered her dog, brutally butschered, inside it.

Some minutes later, the flames devoured the house. What happened to Colquitt and Walter afterwards is unknown.

However, it it revealed that the house is not quite destroyed, as its plans were not destroyed, and retrieved for another project, meaning that the house will probably be rebuild in the future and extend the Devil's evil legacy.

Powers and abilities
The house has many evil powers directly inherited from the Devil. First, it has the capacity to alter some of the devices installed inside, as seen with the television when it broadcast a programm from its own.

Another of its power which is far more frightening is its capacity to kill animals, though how did the house do that is completely unknown, even at the end of the story. Perhaps her scariest power is to amplify one's defaults, insecurities and envies to the extreme, to the point of turning not only its owners, but whoever came into this house, or even live nearby it as well. This led to two broken couples, to the Greenes' death and to the extreme state of paranoia of every of its neighbors - the Kennedies included.

With each new owners, the house grew in powers, and amplified them, to the point that simple coincidences could no longer be sufficient to explain the events for Colquitt and Walter.

However, despite her vast influence on its surroudings, the house has some weak points. Namely, as a house, it cannot move anywhere; this is exploited by the Kennedies when they chose to destroy it with fire.

Trivia

 * The novel's and Needful Things’ (by Stephen King) endings are very similar, as both antagonists are seemingly destroyed, but might return in another location.
 * Colquitt first suspected the house of being haunted by a sort of ghost (such as a poltergeist or something similar), before realizing that the house itself was the problem.