What happened to Horace and Clara Dudley’s daughter in The Haunting of Hill House? Details explored

The Haunting of Hill House, directed by Mike Flanagan and an adaptation of a Shirley Jackson novel, doesn't just scare us with its countless number of spirits living in the walls of the house, but rather it also breaks your heart with the tragedies that you get to see as the hit Netflix show goes on.

One of the most gut-wrenching reveals in the show is about a small child named Abigail Dudley, the daughter of Horace and Clara Dudley. For most of the story, she seems like nothing more than Luke Crain's imaginary friend, but once the truth has been revealed, it probably is scarier than any jump scare.

In fact, Abigail was not imaginary but real. She was just a child, and her death inside the walls of Hill House is just one of the darkest turns that The Haunting of Hill House ends up taking.

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Abigail from The Haunting of Hill House wasn’t a ghost at all; she was real

When we first hear Luke talk about Abigail in The Haunting of Hill House, it is easy to disregard her as another one of his scary visions, like the tall hat man. After all, the show constantly plays with the audience's sense and mind of what is real and what is supernatural.

However, the shock comes when we learn that Abigail was not Luke's imagination but the secret daughter of the house's caretakers: Horace and Clara Dudley.

The Dudleys kept Abigail hidden away from the outside world. Clara, especially, feared that if their daughter went off too far, she might be taken away from them, and behold, that is in fact what happens.

Now, coming back, this explains why none of the Crains, apart from Luke, ever saw her. To the rest of the family, Abigail was Luke's "imaginary" friend. But in truth, she was a little girl who longed to have a friend. Her pale skin, her quiet manner, and her wanting to connect with Luke all reflected a life spent behind closed doors.

The reveal that Abigail was real changes how we look back at those earlier episodes. What seemed like the spirit of a little girl was actually a human connection, and one that would tragically not last that long.

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The Red Room tea party

The scariest room in The Haunting of Hill House was the Red Room. The house's "heart," or maybe its "stomach," as Nell later calls it, becomes the setting for Abigail's death. On the Crain family's last night in Hill House, Olivia Crain, already slipping deep into the house's grip, brings her twins, Nell and Luke, to a tea party inside the red room. Abigail joins them, thrilled and excited to be included for once.

But the tea Olivia serves is spiked with poison. In a twisted state, Olivia believes she is saving the children by keeping them in the house forever. Hugh soon arrives in time to snatch Nell and Luke away, but Abigail is not so lucky. She drinks the poisoned tea and falls down, lying right there on the floor, dead.

This scene is brutal because Abigail's story had already been so sad once we got to understand her completely. She spent her short life hidden from the outside world, sneaking out only for a few moments of joy with Luke. And when she finally got her chance to feel like she was part of something, it ended with her death at the hands of a mother who thought she was protecting her own kids.

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Why did the Dudleys beg to keep Hill House standing?

After Abigail's death in The Haunting of Hill House, the heartbreak shifts to her parents, Horace and Clara Dudley. When they find out what happened, they don't scream or plot revenge against Olivia. Instead, they just ask Hugh for something unexpected and completely out of the box, i.e., to keep Hill House standing. Their reason is one that still haunts.

Abigail's spirit is now tied to the house, and leaving it intact means they can still visit her whenever they like. This request leads to one of the show's most memorable deals. Hugh wants to burn Hill House, but the Dudleys convince him not to. In return, they promise to keep the secrecy about Olivia being the one to actually murder Abigail.

Their words say it all: The house is filled with "precious things," and Abigail's spirit is one of them. Years later, we get to see a full circle moment when Horace carries Clara's dying body into Hill House so she can die in the house and be reunited with her daughter.

It is a devastating reminder that for the Dudleys, Hill House is not just a place of horror like it is for the Crains. It is the only place where they can still hold on to their daughter, even in death.

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Abigail Dudley's story in The Haunting of Hill House is one of the most perfect examples of how the show plays around with supernatural horror, while letting the audience feel the emotional punches just as well.

Abigail wasn't a ghost haunting Luke, but a real girl hidden from the world, just in need of connection. Her death in The Haunting of Hill House during Olivia's poisoned tea party in the Red Room forever bound her spirit to the house.

For Horace and Clara Dudley, Hill House became both a prison and a haven, which was the only place where their family could remain together. Her story to this date is one of the show's most heartbreaking twists that no one really saw coming.

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