This is a tale of an evil house, cursed through the centuries by a man who was hanged for witchcraft, haunted by the ghosts of its sinful dead, racked by the fear of its frightened living. The blighted house controls the fates of four Pyncheons: Hepzibah, an elderly recluse; Clifford, her feebleminded brother; Phoebe, their young country cousin—and Jaffrey, a devil incarnate whose greedy quest for secret wealth is marked by murder and terrible vengeance from a restless grave . . .