The House of Dies Drear

Last updated
The House Of Dies Drear
The House of Dies Drear (Virginia Hamilton novel) cover.jpg
First edition
Author Virginia Hamilton
IllustratorEros Keith
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDies Drear
GenreChildren's mystery fiction
PublisherMacmillan Publishers
Publication date
1968
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover & paperback)
Pages279 pp
AwardsEdgar Award
LC Class PZ7.H1828 Ho [1]
Followed byThe Mystery of Drear House 

The House of Dies Drear is a children's mystery novel by Virginia Hamilton, with sinister goings-on in a reputedly haunted house. It was published by Macmillan in 1968 with illustrations by Eros Keith. The novel received the 1969 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. [2] The House of Dies Drear is the first book in the Dies Drear Chronicles; the second is The Mystery of Drear House (1987). [3] [4]

Contents

Setting

The story is set in Ohio, in 1968.

Summary

Thomas Small is a 13-year-old African American boy, who has moved with his family from North Carolina to Ohio. His father is a history professor who has leased the historic home of the abolitionist Dies Drear. The house has been mostly empty for years, and is riddled with hidden passageways that were used to hide escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad. An elderly caretaker, named Mr. Pluto, lives in a cave on the property, which he has converted into a home. There are rumors that the house is haunted by the ghosts of two escaped slaves who were captured and killed, and by the ghost of Dies Drear himself.

After many strange happenings in the house, Thomas and his father find a secret passage leading to a cavern full of historic artwork, tapestries, glasswork, ledgers, and carvings. The Smalls' neighbors, the Darrows, have been looking for this collection for years. Mr. Pluto and Mr. Darrow's father were both descendants of escaped slaves who had passed through Dies Drear's house and later returned. Mr. Pluto feared that the Smalls would be like the Darrows and pose a threat to the historic artifacts in the cavern, but he now sees that Mr. Small has a great appreciation for history and can be trusted with the secret.

After the Darrows are driven off, Mr. Small helps Mr. Pluto catalog the artifacts in the cavern. They agree to keep the secret, at least until the cataloging is done and the collection is ready to show to the historical society. Thomas looks forward to starting school and making friends, possibly including young Mac Darrow.

Subjects

Library of Congress Subject Headings for The House of Dies Drear are: African Americans, Mystery and detective stories, Underground Railroad, and Ohio-History. [1]

Television adaptation

The film was adapted into the 1984 television film The House of Dies Drear directed by Allan A. Goldstein. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Benson</span> American writer (1905–2002)

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Underground Railroad Freedom Center</span> Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, based on the history of the Underground Railroad. Opened in 2004, the center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levi Coffin</span> American educator and abolitionist (1798–1877)

Levi Coffin was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the "President of the Underground Railroad," estimating that three thousand fugitive slaves passed through his care. The Coffin home in Fountain City, Wayne County, Indiana, is a museum, sometimes called the Underground Railroad's "Grand Central Station".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parker (abolitionist)</span>

John P. Parker was an American abolitionist, inventor, iron moulder and industrialist. Parker, who was African American, helped hundreds of slaves to freedom in the Underground Railroad resistance movement based in Ripley, Ohio. He saved and rescued fugitive slaves for nearly fifteen years. He was one of the few black people to patent an invention before 1900. His house in Ripley has been designated a National Historic Landmark and restored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospect Place</span> Historic house in Ohio, United States

Prospect Place, also known as The Trinway Mansion and Prospect Place Estate is a 29-room mansion built by abolitionist George Willison Adams in Trinway, Ohio, just north of Dresden in 1856. Today, it is the home of the non-profit G. W. Adams Educational Center, Inc. The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Ohio Underground Railroad Association's list of Underground Railroad sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Hamilton</span> American writer of childrens books (1936–2002)

Virginia Esther Hamilton was an American children's books author. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great (1974), for which she won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Newbery Medal in 1975. Her works were celebrated for exploring the African-American experience, what she called "Liberation Literature."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crenshaw House (Gallatin County, Illinois)</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Crenshaw House is an historic former residence and alleged haunted house located in Equality Township, Gallatin County, Illinois. The house was constructed in the 1830s. It was the main residence of John Crenshaw, his wife, and their five children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Crenshaw</span> American slave trader (1797–1871)

John Hart Crenshaw was an American landowner, salt maker, kidnapper and slave trader, based out of Gallatin County, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burkle Estate</span>

The Burkle Estate is a historic home at 826 North Second Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It is also known as the Slavehaven. Although disputed by some historians, the Burkle Estate is claimed to have been part of the Underground Railroad- a secret network of way stations to help slaves escape to freedom in the northern states. The house was constructed in 1849 by a German immigrant by the name of Jacob Burkle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levi Coffin House</span> Historic house in Indiana, United States

The Coffin House is a National Historic Landmark located in the present-day town of Fountain City in Wayne County, Indiana. The two-story, eight room, brick home was constructed circa 1838–39 in the Federal style. The Coffin home became known as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad because of its location where three of the escape routes to the North converged and the number of fleeing slaves who passed through it.

Africa is an unincorporated community located in Orange Township of southern Delaware County, Ohio, United States, by Alum Creek.

<i>The Raven</i> (1915 film) 1915 film (biography of Edgar Allan Poe) directed by Charles Brabin

The Raven is a stylized silent 1915 American biographical film of Edgar Allan Poe starring Henry B. Walthall as Poe. The film was written and directed by Charles Brabin from a 1904 play and 1909 novel by George C. Hazelton.

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Solar System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground Railroad in Indiana</span>

The Underground Railroad in Indiana was part of a larger, unofficial, and loosely-connected network of groups and individuals who aided and facilitated the escape of runaway slaves from the southern United States. The network in Indiana gradually evolved in the 1830s and 1840s, reached its peak during the 1850s, and continued until slavery was abolished throughout the United States at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It is not known how many fugitive slaves escaped through Indiana on their journey to Michigan and Canada. An unknown number of Indiana's abolitionists, anti-slavery advocates, and people of color, as well as Quakers and other religious groups illegally operated stations along the network. Some of the network's operatives have been identified, including Levi Coffin, the best-known of Indiana's Underground Railroad leaders. In addition to shelter, network agents provided food, guidance, and, in some cases, transportation to aid the runaways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reportedly haunted locations in Washington, D.C.</span>

Being the site of military battles, deadly duels, assassinations, untimely deaths, and other associated tragedies, there are a number of reportedly haunted locations in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowry House (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The Lowry House is a historic home in Huntsville, Alabama. It was built circa 1850 by John Tate Lowry, a merchant with the firm of Lowry, Hamilton and Company. Elements of an earlier Lowry family log house, built circa 1809, that stood on the site were incorporated into the new construction.

George DeBaptiste was a prominent African-American conductor on the Underground Railroad in southern Indiana and Detroit, Michigan. Born free in Virginia, he moved as a young man to the free state of Indiana. In 1840, he served as valet and then White House steward for US President William Henry Harrison, who was from that state. In the 1830s and 1840s DeBaptiste was an active conductor on the underground railroad in Madison, Indiana. Located along the Ohio River across from Kentucky, a slave state, this town was a destination for refugee slaves seeking escape from slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elijah Anderson (Underground Railroad)</span> Underground Railroad conductor

Elijah Anderson was a free Black man and leading conductor of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). According to other abolitionist such as Rush R. Sloane, Anderson assisted at least 1,000 slaves to gain freedom.

References

  1. 1 2 The House of Dies Drear. Macmillan. 1968. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  2. "Awards". The Edgars Database. Archived from the original on 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  3. Hamilton, Virginia (1987). The Mystery of Drear House. Scholastic.
  4. Hamilton, Virginia. The Dies Drear Chronicles. Goodreads.
  5. "The House of Dies Drear (TV Movie 1984) - IMDb". IMDb .