'The Haunting of Bly Manor' Preview: Is Netflix's Henry James adaptation inspired by The Lady of the Lake?
The wonderful thing about horror, especially the supernatural kind, is that anything is possible. Revving up the terrifying machine that is Henry James' 1970s novella 'The Turn of the Screw', 'The Haunting of Hill House' creator Mike Flanagan is all set to present us with his second installment of the Netflix original, titled 'The Haunting of Bly Manor'. The story follows an American woman, Dani (Victoria Pedretti), who moves to the UK to take up a job as a governess in the titular manor but soon starts being plagued by horrors beyond the extremely precocious kids she is nannying. And while the action takes place all the way across the pond, something seems too similar to a Texan urban legend called 'The Lady of the Lake'.
There is no spoiling the plot of the Netflix series' second season as anybody familiar with James' work knows the story in full detail, and any genre-fanatic is probably aware of the many on-screen adaptations of the story. But Flanagan and Netflix make a brilliant team when it comes to the Haunting saga as was established with the debut season which pretty much revolutionized the TV horror genre. And given the trailer of the second season, the same awe and fear are about to be evoked out of the audience.
Speaking of the trailer, there's one particular scene that sees a woman come out of a lake. Compared to bodies buried within the property bounds, creepy flesh-like face masks, and a basement filled with dolls, this might not earn the same rise out of viewers, but here's the catch: the woman, whose face appears above the water just till her nose, is dead. With her eyes vacant and hollow and skin pale from decomposition to hint at the worst, she is most likely the element of supernatural horror in the story, and the deceased ex-nanny of the two kids Dani is taking care of.
This, however, also bears a strong resemblance to the Texan urban legend, originated in Dallas. Called the Lady of the White Rock Lake, there's a legend of a spirit roaming the premises who is believed to be a member of the local Cox family, buried in the family cemetery situated at the turning of the lake. The oldest note of the entity dates back to the '40s when the Texas Folklore Society’s publication 'Backwoods To Border' came out in 1943. A couple was parked along the lake when a young lady tapped against their car window. Dressed in sheer white and drenched from head to toe, the girl requested for a ride, claiming their family boat had overturned. The rest made out okay, but she was stranded and requested them for a ride home.
Careful she didn't get them wet too, the girl hopped into what was then known as the 'rumble seat' and gave them a home address about 10 minutes away, on the other side of the town. When the couple arrived at the destination, they looked back to see the lady disappeared with nothing but a puddle of water on her seat. When they approached the door of the house they had driven to, an old, distraught man informed them this was the third time someone had knocked his door claiming the same since his daughter's death from drowning mid-sailing in White Rock Lake, three weeks ago.
The second recount of the incident occurred outside a Dallas store called Neiman-Marcus, as mentioned in Frank X Tolbert’s 1953 book 'Neiman Marcus, Texas: The Story of The Proud Dallas Store'. A similar lady dressed in sheer white and drenched all over requested a couple to drive her to somewhere in an area called Gaston Avenue. Without asking the specifics of her condition, they drove her to the address and were greeted by a poodle in the backseat upon arriving. When they knocked at the house, a man informed them his daughter had drowned from a fall off the many piers in the same lake, a few years ago. She wore nothing but dresses from the store.
Whether she was a member of the Cox family, or a socialite who fell off the pier, or just an Oak Cliff girl who died in a sailing accident is unknown. The whole bride dressed in white, haunting a water body has also been a horror genre trope for a while now, so all of this could just be a publicity stunt or a figment of people's imagination. Of course, finding the Lady of the Lake all the way in an eerie manor in the UK sounds improbable, but is there anything spirits can't do?
In James' original story, the governess feels an eerie presence every time she hangs out with Flora playing by the lake built within the same property, where the ghost appears in Blue Manor's trailer. Without spoiling too much, there's a high chance this lake has something to do with the ex-nanny Miss Jessel's death and James was just probably inspired by the Texan urban legend.
'The Haunting of Bly Manor' premieres on Friday, October 9, only on Netflix.