Sick Houses

Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread

By: Leila Taylor

Narrated by: Ren

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.

©2025 Leila Taylor (P)2025 Repeater Books

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As an avid fan of the macabre and paranormal, I was genuinely excited about this book. It seemed like it would check all the boxes for a horror enthusiast like me. However, it ultimately fell short in one key area: it doesn’t truly connect architecture and the paranormal in any meaningful way.

To be fair, the disconnect may have been due to my own expectations. I had envisioned a book that would delve into the physical spaces labeled as "sick houses," exploring how their architecture might psychologically or physically affect those who inhabit them. I hoped the author would examine how location, structure, or even proximity could contribute to a sense of unease—or how writers and directors portray these spaces as inherently horrific.

Instead, the book takes a meandering journey through various horror films, using them to loosely illustrate concepts, while weaving in personal reflections on the author’s socio-political and psychological views on home ownership. These autobiographical vignettes often felt distracting and disconnected from the subject I was hoping to explore.

I came in expecting architectural and psychological insights—real terminology, real analysis—but what I got was mostly atmosphere and mood, with little substance. Disappointing, especially given the book’s academic tone.