Six Degrees of Separation: FromThe Turn of the Screw to A Christmas Carol

Once again it's the first Saturday of the month and time for Six Degrees of Separation. This meme is hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best. The aim is to link six books to each other from the starting point, which today is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Here is a bit of the book's description from Goodreads:

... The Turn of the Screw tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence or something else entirely? ...

I read this book ages ago, but can't be sure I'm remembering the novel or the film inspired by it. The Innocents, released in 1961, starred Deborah Kerr as the governess and I recall it was very creepy.

Another novel that made it to the screen is Susan Hill's The Woman in Black. The novel was good, but the film was very scarey with lots of heart stopping moments. I preferred the 1989 TV version over the 2012 one starring Daniel Radcliffe.

Still sticking with the gothic theme, my next link takes me to Sleepy Hollow, a film starring Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane. This film is loosely based on the short story by Washington Irvine entitled The Legend of Sleepy Hollow about the headless ghost of a Hessian soldier of the Revolutionary War who haunts the village of Sleepy Hollow.

Now I'm off to a house on the cliffs of Devon. Uneasy Freehold by Irish novelist Dorothy Macardle, released in the US in 1942 as The Uninvited, was the basis for the 1944 film The Uninvited. Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey played the leading roles of brother and sister, Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald, who purchase the house at a bargain price unaware of its paranormal associations. I saw this film a long time ago, but have yet to read the novel. My next link is also via real estate to the delightful romantic story of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R.A. Dick. This was made into a film in 1947 and starred Gene Tierny and Rex Harrison in the lead roles. Widow Lucy Muir rents a cottage in a seaside town aware of the rumours that it is haunted by the ghost of sea captain Daniel Gregg. Once again, I've seen the film but not read the book.

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde was made into a film back in 1944. The setting was World War II and starred Charles Laughton as the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville. The original short story is about an American family that come to live at Canterville Chase knowing that it is haunted. They refuse to be scared away by the ghost and their attitude causes the ghost all manner of problems. While the film was a childhood hit, it did deviate from the original story considerably. The 1996 film version, starring Patrick Stewart as the ghost, is the better adaptation.

My final link is to a novel that has many screen versions and is possibly one of the best known ghost stories around: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The miser Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his business partner, and also the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. This is one of my favourite Dickens' novels. Well, that's my chain for this month, My links have been to ghost stories made into films, from the scarey and spooky, to light-hearted hauntings, to finish off with a classic.

Next month, the starting point is a wild card - start with the book you've ended a previous chain with or if playing for the first time, start with the last book you finished reading.