The House Next Door Series

[Gene Honnette]

TheSouthern Gothic is a uniquely American expansion of the Gothic tradition. Like with its parent genre, I am by no means an expert on its character. I know by its title that it pertains to settings in the American south. But what else is it? Here are some quotes from Wikipedia to help answer that question:

The thematic material was largely a result of the culture existing in the South following the collapse of the Confederacy. It left a vacuum in both values and religion that became filled with poverty due to defeat in the Civil war and reconstruction, racism, excessive violence, and hundreds of different denominations resulting from the theological divide that separated the country over the issue of slavery.

Problems began during the construction process. The dead remains of wild animals and household pets turn up on or around the construction site. They have been brutally mauled, but there are no predatory animals in the area strong and fierce enough to cause such damage.

The house takes over the television programming. It shows Anita war movies when none are being aired by any network. It also manufacturers long distance phone calls from her son. She hears the sounds of war in the background. This is too much for her. She withdrawals and the marriage is strained. Virgina, another neighbor, married to Charles, assists the couple and looks after Anita while Buck is at work. Virgina sometimes stays behind to help even after Buck gets home. It is Colquitt who walks in on the scene that does the Sheehans in. She observes Anita in her living room sitting and staring blankly into space. Next to her, on the sofa, Virgina and Buck are having sex.. Again it is suggested that the house took over the wills of Buck and Virginia in order to destroy two families. In the wake of this, Virginia and Charles disappear on a long trip. The Sheehans move away.

All of the houses in these books have their own will. They are much more than a place for ghosts to hang out, if there are any ghosts at all. The source behind the haunting is vague and mysterious. These houses are, in a way, alive and they prey on its occupants in one way or another.

The aforementioned haunted houses are all unique in their own ways. The House Next Door stands apart from the rest in the way that it manipulates the will of its occupants and then creates these bizarre scenes for which the occupants become actors and then act out perverse, humiliating, and sometimes deadly scenes. This house is also unique in the way that it is shown from the perspective of not is current owners but the neighbors next door. These neighbors , The Kennedys , are forced into a situation where they become unwilling voyeurs of the scary strangeness that lurks next door.

The novel is told from the point of view of Colquitt "Col" Kennedy, a well-to-do middle-aged woman who lives with her husband Walter in a quiet, affluent Atlanta neighborhood. They learn from a neighbor that a contemporary home is going up on the lot next to theirs. Colquitt and Walter are dismayed at their loss of privacy and quiet, but resigned to the inevitable. They meet the architect and owners shortly after learning about the home, see the plans, and decide it is a beautiful house.

In his book Danse Macabre, noted horror author Stephen King writes at length on the novel, saying it's a contemporary ghost story with Southern Gothic roots and one of the best genre novels of the 20th century. King's extensive synopsis is supplemented by a detailed statement written by Siddons herself that reveals some of the novel's themes.

In 2006, The House Next Door was adapted into a made-for-TV movie starring Lara Flynn Boyle and Mark-Paul Gosselaar.[3] The adaptation was seen as "uninspired" by critics. It currently holds a 27% "rotten" rating on RottenTomatoes.com[4]

But the inside of the house looked nothing like the outside. The owners had started renovating the house years before, but stopped midway through when money got tight. There were no walls in the kitchen and dining room, and no flooring. Old nob-and-tube wiring hung, exposed, from the studs. One planned bathroom had barely been started, it was just exposed pipes in the wall. The basement had a dirt floor that got muddy when it rained, and the washing machine was propped on plywood in the corner.

The house next door is a symptom of and a metaphor for the larger phenomenon of suburban poverty. Americans have ready-made stereotypes for poverty in urban and rural areas, of crime-filled streets and crumbling housing projects or broken-down farmhouses and beat-up pick-up trucks. But suburban poverty, thanks to its stereotype-defying nature, is often more difficult to understand.

The suburban poor face a unique set of challenges, because suburbs simply do not have sufficient infrastructure for handling poverty. Those struggling to get by in suburban communities can have a difficult time accessing public transportation to travel to work, reliable childcare for unpredictable work schedules, or even a soup kitchen.

Even as the numbers of suburban poor climb, awareness of their existence is minimal. The suburbs still conjure images straight from a 1950s sitcom, complete with soccer moms, family dinners around a table, and perfectly manicured lawns. And while these things still exist in the suburbs, it is shockingly easy to ignore the rising tide of poverty there.

The suburban poor themselves may help to exacerbate to these stereotypes by hiding behind them. Looking presentable and fitting in are made easier by hand-me-downs and thrift stores that sell nice clothes for cheap. Poor suburban children may be able to attend highly-rated suburban schools alongside the children of affluent families, their classmates and teachers none the wiser. And once proud middle-class citizens, now unable to pay for rent or food, may struggle with guilt or shame and opt not to share their stories or even seek out help.

The new legislation includes many of the stealth benefit cuts that conservatives have been pushing for years. It calls for increasing the retirement age from 66 to 69. Even a one-year increase in the retirement age is equivalent to a 7 percent cut in benefits for all retirees, so raising the full retirement age to 69 would cost millions of Americans thousands of dollars in benefits. It would also have a disproportionate impact on low-income workers, who get a larger share of their income from Social Security.

But just as public policy played a role in growing the racial wealth divide, it can play a role in shrinking it. An important first step would be to conduct a government-wide audit, launched by an executive order from the next president, to understand the role current federal policies play in perpetuating (or closing) the racial wealth divide.

The lot in front of us was recently sold. We know that the new owners have submitted plans to the city for constructing a house. We have no idea yet as to when the construction might begin. But we are getting a LOT of booking inquiries for our high season here, February thru April.

And we are curious as to what we should do. Since we don't know yet about their consturction dates, do we need to do anything yet? Once we know, can we offer a discount to anyone that might be affected by the noise, but with the caveat they accept the noise? Of course we would also offer the option for them to just cancel, regardless of the normal cancellation policy. One of the big selling points about our home, is that it is very quiet and peaceful here. So we know for sure that some people would not want to book, knowing about the (possibility of) daily noise. Others might not care as much. We are a bit afraid that we might lose most of our first season of renting, after such a spectacular start.

You could message them with notice of the likely noise levels e.g there may be machinery on the site, scaffolding construction, hammering etc. anf how far away it is and during what times of the day. I'd offer a discount so that if they accept it they are buying in to the situation.

HI Steve, if they accept a discount with the caveat that there will be construction noise, then I don't see how they can request a refund at the end. I spoke with a VRBO rep who said that if the renters had accepted the discount, and the condition of the noise, then VRBO would not allow them a refund, nor allow the credit card company to rescind the payment.

I had someone build next door (area of absolute peace and quiet normally) for 12 months, they have finished now. It wasn't a big problem really though I had feared it would be. There was no noise on weekends which is perfect, my most expensive days. Check if yours will go on during weekends. The worst was pre-construction, as the plumbing etc was going in. There was a lot of shouting and swearing and loud loud radios playing. I had to go and tell them to pipe down on several occasions and it helped even if they saw me as a total nanna. I told my guests that they start it up again, call me and I will be there. Once the walls were up and that was superquick, the site is visually gone and the noise is kept to behind walls. Not a problem really. I found that it is not the construction noise as such which is bad, it is the ridiculous shouting and unwanted radio that causes the disturbance.

Start a dialogue with the builder/owner. Ask for working times. Check the legal noise times. Tell any guests which may be affected, it won't be that many. If guests are sightseeing during the day, builders might have packed up by the time the guests return home.

HI there, I'm very new to the Airbnb community, just 11 bookings under my belt so far. I am in Australia in a new suburb, my house is listed as spectacular new home in a new estate. Problem is that people are attracted to airbnbing a new house but.... there a still a few vacant land spaces in he new estate. low and behold, the owner of a vacant plot started building a couple of days ago. I'm just shy of making the super host status, i have many forward bookings at good prices to reduce my mortgage. I have informed my future guests that there will be construction over the next 16-20 weeks but I still have some major dates available eg: september school holidays/ festivals available. Do I just hope for the best or majorly discount in the hope that guests will book and put up with some noise. Thanks for any help, Elissa

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