The ending of Netflix’s horrifying Haunting of Hill House was originally A LOT darker

*Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for The Haunting of Hill House*

People are still recovering from Netflix’s terrifyingly good series, The Haunting of Hill House.

It was packed full of unexpected twists and turns …

But it turns out the original ending of the show was supposed to be MUCH darker than the one we got.

*Warning: The following contains spoilers for the finale of The Haunting of Hill House*

In the final episode of Hill House we find that the four Crain siblings have made it safely out of the haunted ghost-filled nightmare house they grew up in.

We also discover that the mysterious Red Room is the "stomach" and centre of evil for the building - and while it seemed the door always remained locked, it had actually been open to them all, secretly changing its appearance for everyone in the house in an attempt to devour them.

Yikes!

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In fact, after escaping the Red Room thanks to the ghost of their sister Nell, the siblings all find their own happily ever after. Steve reunites with his wife, Shirley makes up with her husband, Theo marries her girlfriend and Luke celebrates is his 2-year milestone of being sober.

But director Mike Flanagan explained to The Hollywood Reporter that instead of this fairy tale ending, there was actually supposed to be yet another scary twist, but it was changed at the last minute after he "felt guilty" about how cruel it would have been.

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"We toyed with the idea for a little while that over that monologue, over the image of the family together, we would put the Red Room window in the background." Flanagan said "For a while, that was the plan. Maybe they never really got out of that room."

In each scene in which the Red Room appears features a distinctive window …

Eep!

We’re definitely glad the Red Room window didn't feature and that there was a happy ending to this horrifying tale!