The supernatural cannot be explained by logic or reasoning, nor can it be studied by science, for the intangible force that controls the supernatural cannot be measured or controlled by the intellect. Shirley Jackson expressed “interest in superstition and the supernatural” as a child; her interest in the occult led Jackson to become a practicing witch, Lenemaja Friedman Professor of English Literature confirms this in her book Shirley Jackson (Friedman 19). Jackson's critics believed that his stories were the work of a twisted mind, which is why "Jackson downplayed the only real-life parallel to his fiction – his personal study and practice of witchcraft" in order to debunk critics' assessment of his mind as brought to light by Charles Avinger in his essay Shirley Jackson Identities & Issues in Literature (Avinger). Shirley Jackson's interest in superstitions and delving into the supernatural influenced the writing of "Home", We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House. The village people in "Home" have a superstitious belief that Sanderson Road is haunted when it rains. Ethel Sloan and her husband Jim Sloan have just purchased the old Sanderson house; When Ethel tells the shop assistant and the grocer that she drove along the Sanderson Road to the village in the rain, they try to warn her of a mysterious danger associated with the road. The villagers' superstitions do not allow them to tell Ethel exactly why the Sanderson Road should not be traveled in the rain; the clerk and grocer only deduce that they avoid traveling on the Sanderson Road during the storm, making Ethel believe that the road is not being traveled due to its rough condition. The people of the village believe in ghosts...... middle of paper ...... to the point of asking a family friend to leave their home for criticizing her husband's work believing that he was "cursing" the possibility of selling it to the New Yorker (Friedman 33). According to Stanley Edgar Hyman in Hall's book Shirley Jackson, Jackson was "the only contemporary writer who [was] a practicing amateur witch," her interest in the black arts giving her superstitious inclinations and a window into the supernatural (Hall 104). Jackson sought to downplay her involvement in the practice of the occult so as not to discredit her sensibilities as a writer amidst her criticism. Superstitions and the supernatural influenced the context of “Home, We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House.” Jackson's ability to intertwine the spirit realm with nature allowed her to create characters with realities detached from the world they live in.