The Screaming Staircase

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Parts 4-5

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Discussion Questions

Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “The Ghost”

Foreword Summary

In the foreword of The Screaming Staircase, Jonathan Stroud details his inspiration for the series, his determination to write a unique ghost story, and his thrilling experiences on the set of the Netflix series. Stroud explains that every story he writes begins with a scene that he then expands upon; in this case, the story begins with a boy and girl approaching a haunted house. Stroud notes how traditional British ghost stories often feature ghosts as having “great powers of terror over the living” (viii) and giving the humans little chance to survive. In a deliberate contrast of this trope, Stroud expresses his desire to create a story about well-equipped, talented children who possess strong interpersonal bonds and the determination to deal competently with ghosts on their own. Stroud excitedly describes how the Netflix series brings his characters and the Lockwood home (35 Portland Row) to life.

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Lucy Carlyle narrates her experiences as an investigator and hunter of ghosts alongside business owner and fellow ghost hunter Anthony Lockwood. Up until this time, they have been successfully interacting with ghosts but have been much less successful in driving spirits away or laying them to rest. Lucy humorously recounts how one such ghost, upon being driven out of one place, simply took up residence in another nearby location instead. Back in the present moment, they approach a house and knock on the door, and Lucy warns Lockwood not to mock the clients or speculate too openly about “who killed who, how, or when” (4). Lockwood observes a faint glow in the yard and believes it to indicate the death of a small animal, and Lucy notices someone inside the house. A middle-aged woman named Susan Martin appears behind them and apologizes for the delay. She studies Lucy and Lockwood intently and comments on how young they seem, to which they reply they are both skilled and licensed; in fact, their status as children enables them to see ghosts. Lucy and Lockwood were called in by Susan’s mother, Mrs. Hope, who is being haunted by her recently deceased husband.

Lucy and Lockwood enter the house as Mrs. Martin leaves. Lucy enumerates and observes the key rules of ghost hunting: Never hesitate when entering a haunted place, avoid turning on any lights due to how electricity affects psychic abilities, and make sure to have a light-up watch. Hallways are a place of particularly high activity, as they connect the rooms of the house, and it is there that Lucy hears a tapping sound. Lockwood sees a massive glow of residual energy on the stairs where Mrs. Hope’s husband died. Suddenly, Lucy hears a loud bang and feels as if something heavy lands on her. She believes it to be Mr. Hope falling as he died and pulls a rapier from her belt in panic. She and Lockwood realize that they are in for an eventful night.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

All three members of Lockwood & Co., Anthony, Lucy, and George, agree that tea is an essential item to pack for nights spent in haunted houses, for it helps to distract them and keep them calm as they wait in dark houses for spiritual presences to manifest. On this night, Lucy and Lockwood sit in the kitchen and drink tea by the light of an oil lamp as they inspect the tools on their utility belts. Lockwood reads Mrs. Hope’s notes, which indicate that their life had been fairly ghost-free before moving here. Knowing that England has been experiencing a recent surge in ghost activity, Lockwood does not believe Mrs. Hope’s claim. As they discuss the particulars of Mr. Hope’s death on the staircase, Lucy wonders if Mrs. Hope may have murdered him, but Lockwood believes that the ghost is haunting her for a different reason, for Mrs. Hope reported to George that she saw a moving shape and felt as if someone were searching unsuccessfully for her. The children realize that Mr. Hope’s spirit has a purpose, which classifies him as a Type Two. They decide to look around the house.

Lucy and Lockwood search the downstairs rooms and find nothing besides a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Hope together, in which the couple seems happy and innocent enough. As they go up the stairs, the temperature drops, and Lucy begins to hear tapping that gets louder as they ascend. The tapping stops when they reach the top, and Lucy notices a sign that reads “Home Sweet Home” (21), reminiscent of a simpler time before ghosts roamed every corner. There are three doors at the top of the stairs, and the second contains a disorganized study. The room is extremely cold, and both Lucy and Lockwood feel a sudden sense of sluggishness. They decide it must be the room that houses the “Source” of the haunting—the object linking the ghost to the physical world (23). Lucy sets up a circle of iron shavings as protection while Lockwood checks the other rooms. Lucy goes downstairs to get more iron, and upon ascending the stairs again, she finds the spirit of a girl standing in front of her.

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Lucy stares at the girl, feeling completely paralyzed and in a state of total emotional numbness. This phenomenon is known as “ghost-lock” (27) and occurs when a Type Two spirit decides to target a human. Lucy is experienced and fights through the paralysis, reaching for her utility belt as she observes the spirit, which appears to be about 18. Lucy calls to Lockwood, who has just realized that the disturbances in the house may be caused by some other factor. Lucy dryly agrees, and Lockwood reluctantly joins Lucy upstairs and sees the spirit. He warns Lucy to remain calm. The girl says she is “lost and cold… AND DEAD” (32) and suddenly sends a force of wind at Lucy, who stumbles backward, drops her rapier, and almost falls down the stairs before Lockwood slices through the shadowy wind with his iron blade. The ghost vanishes into the study, and Lockwood guesses that this spirit must have caused Mr. Hope’s death on the staircase.

Lockwood and Lucy use a manual for ghost hunting called the Fittes Manual, and in this moment, Lucy remembers its lessons in order to release the anger she feels in the aftermath of the incident. (This action is necessary because holding onto such strong emotion will only feed the ghost’s energy.) Lockwood suggests they should leave if Lucy isn’t up to the challenge of a murder victim’s spirit, and Lucy criticizes Lockwood for forgetting a key tool: the iron chains. She remains determined to see the task through. The ghost vanishes into a wall that leads to the chimney, and Lucy sets up a semicircle of iron shavings around the wall for safety. They step inside the semicircle and stare at the wall in front of them, preparing to break it open. Lockwood reasons that the ghost is haunting the house due to a connection to something inside the wall.

Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary

In Chapter 4, the narration takes a detour to explain that the rampant invasion of spirits into the living world, a phenomenon known simply as “the Problem” (39), inspired the rise of several ghost-hunting groups in London. The first two, Fittes and Rotwell, laid the foundation for the work. Lockwood and Co. engages in various services, including prevention and sales, but primarily focuses on finding the Source of any given haunting. The Source is an item or place to which a spirit is deeply connected. Nobody is yet certain whether Sources are gateways to some ethereal plane or the sources of the spirits themselves, but Lucy notes that the answer to this question is irrelevant in the matter of ghost hunting.

Back in the present moment, Lucy and Lockwood start breaking through the wall with crowbars until Lucy starts hearing the same banging that occurred earlier. Lockwood taunts the ghost (also referred to as a Visitor), criticizing the spirit’s lack of creativity. Lucy rummages through her bag to find the right tool for handling the Source and decides on a silver chain-link netting. The ghost appears behind Lucy, just across the iron line, and wind starts howling through the house as Lockwood finally breaks through the last section of wall. Although expecting something of the sort, they are nonetheless shocked by the sight of the girl’s body and lurch backward, stepping beyond the safety of the iron line. The ghost approaches Lockwood. Lucy tosses a cannister of Greek Fire (a magnesium firebomb) at the ghost, causing it to vanish and engulfing the room in flames. Lockwood distracts the ghost while Lucy finds a golden necklace around the girl’s body, feeling immense pity for her. She seals the body off with the iron netting. In that instant, the ghost vanishes, and Lucy takes the necklace before following Lockwood out the window to escape the burning house. She is struck from behind by an unknown force, and both she and Lockwood tumble to the ground.

Part 1 Analysis

At the beginning of The Screaming Staircase, Stroud opts to postpone introductions and explanations and instead jumps straight into a tense, action-filled scene. Lucy has recently joined Lockwood & Co. and been on a few missions with them, most of which were unsuccessful. Her narration immediately informs the reader that she and Lockwood are still figuring out how to execute ghost-hunting strategies without constantly making mistakes. Her descriptions are rife with sarcasm and dry wit as she explains their foibles, saying, “In a variety of ingenious ways, we succeeded in messing them all up. There, I’ve admitted it! Not a single one of those early cases ended as neatly as we’d wished” (3). This statement also serves to illustrate Lucy’s pride and reluctance to admit her failures, as well as her resolution to keep striving for improvement. Indeed, her pride sometimes causes conflict or leads the crew toward danger, and this night proves to be no exception. In a gaffe that reveals his relative “rookie status” in the field of ghost hunting, Lockwood forgets an essential tool for their safety: the iron chains. Adding to this complication, Lucy’s insistence on investigating the unexpected ghost despite their lack of preparation puts them both in danger and causes serious damage to their client’s house, a difficulty that will lead to major complications as the story progresses. Still, Lockwood considers Lucy’s pride and vigor to be essential traits for a ghost hunter and tolerates her mistakes as she develops her skills. Increasing their skills in the art of ghost hunting and in Navigating Complex Friendships thus become central aspects of Lucy and Lockwood’s character development both in the novel and in the larger series.

In this initial action-packed scene, Stroud succeeds in creating a setting that captures all the chief stereotypes of the typical haunted house. The atmosphere is appropriately chilling, and the story’s action is liberally sprinkled with imagery designed to emphasize the contrast between light and dark. This trend can be observed in the “trails of mist and twisting moonbeams” (8) and in the brooding atmosphere of the houses they visit, all of which serves to invoke a sense of foreboding and intrigue as the story progresses. Similarly, the children’s vigil inside the house is lit only by their flashlights and an oil lantern, and this modest illumination amidst the dark unknowns of the house serves as a tiny source of comfort and a symbol of the children’s resolve to fight against the spirits of the night. Stroud also uses vivid imagery to describe the ghost’s appearance in detail, stating, “The dress and her limbs and her long fair hair all shone with dim, pale other-light, as if lit by something far away” (28). Between the emotional terror that Lucy often experiences, the haunted setting, and the sudden manifestation of the spirit itself, the novel achieves early success in creating a memorably dramatic effect. Also implicit in the scene is a collective homage to the common themes of many Victorian-era ghost stories, as evidenced by Stroud’s whimsical inclusion of objects like iron chains and rapiers.

Although Stroud keeps explicit exposition to a minimum, the flaws of each character are apparent early on and soon become key issues that each character must overcome in order to succeed in solving the Combe Carey Hall mysteries and survive. For example, Lockwood has a haphazard approach that often leads to danger or missing equipment, and his fondness for mocking clients or pretending to be a ghost to scare them often results in lost business. Yet despite these setbacks, Lockwood’s optimism is perhaps his most important trait, for it allows him to keep his head held high through the most trying of circumstances. By contrast, Lucy’s major flaws include her pride, her tendency to keep secrets, and her occasionally selfish behavior. She first exhibits these tendencies when she secretly takes the necklace from Annabel’s body without telling Lockwood or considering whether the necklace might be the Source of the ghost’s haunting. Although this tactical error causes Lockwood’s trust in her to be temporarily shaken, his optimism allows him to eventually see past Lucy’s mistakes to their possible benefits, and thus he relies on sublimation to turn sour experiences into positive ones. In many ways, the friendship between Lockwood and Lucy flourishes because of the lessons they learn from their mistakes and their mutual willingness to forgive and move on.