Why the Victorian mansion is a horror icon
The Gilded Age left a legacy of decay on the American landscape.
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Haunted houses are often depicted with similar features: decaying woodwork, steep angles, and Gothic-looking towers and turrets. The model for this trope is the Victorian mansion, once a symbol of affluence and taste during the Gilded Age – a period of American history marked by political corruption and severe income inequality.
After World War I, these houses were seen as extravagant and antiquated, and were abandoned. Their sinister relationship to the troubling end of the Victorian Era in America eventually led to their depiction as haunted and ghostly in both fine art and pop culture, and is now an unspoken symbol of dread.
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@Vox
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Victorian mansions aren’t the only backdrops for the horrific and macabre — check out our video on the dollhouses of death that revolutionized forensic science forever: http://bit.ly/2Tb56ui
@thecc378
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
That jump scare!!!!!!!!!
@augustin.lry16
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
tres interressante mais le jeu du dinausore est mieux
@G.RobertMoore-dk4sz
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
1:24 "it was the McMansion of its time"
Hey, now how could you make such a ridiculous comparison…🤔…that, come to think of it is ridiculously apropo.
@cocojo242
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Love these houses, they are beautiful works of art and I love to live in one.
@RanaZuhair-i2w
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
watchin this after wednesday, gothic architecture looks wayyy better.
@tonybarde2572
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Let’s not forget during Victorian times, Spiritualism and communication with the dead was a thing so I think this influenced the image of a Victorian House as Haunted
@NPC-Gamer
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
More specifically a Second Empire Victorian.
The mansard roof is what does it
@zachberman9785
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Only Vox could make this about so called social issues.
@HBRERANDOM-k6t
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Find the hidden cake ahh vids
@jamesslick4790
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I grew up in an 1870s Second Empire house, although not a "mansion" (My bedroom was on the top floor in the Mansard roof). Therefore these houses are not "creepy to me. My current house is a little newer: 1893!
@jamesslick4790
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
"The House by the Railroad" would have been from the mid 1870s, (it's a "Second Empire")Making it about 50 years old when the painting was made. Weird to think that a current painting would have to depict a house from the 1970s!
@UnderNoObligation
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Also in the Victorian portrayals you will find gaudy wallpaper everywhere.
@marvinhaines9297
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
This video makes me so angry. I am a historic preservationist and architectural historian, and I would never call Late Victorian houses "ungainly" or "bloated." I had to stop watching after he gave these descriptions. Also, how dare you call "Victorian" a style. There are easily about fifteen distinct architectural styles associated with the period. Freak off, know-it-all! You clearly have not researched this topic.
@Kawayoporu
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
So that's why commenters are not happy to have a jump scare at 4:50.
@ejwiwoow2osnB
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
This is also myth
@underthesun-ml4mu
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Imagine placing one of those Victorian houses in Southern California. It'll be an eyesore next to the Arco gas stations
@9852323
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I want to live in one so bad..
@beafraidofinsectattack
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Bro really tried to jumpscare us 😢
Amazing video! very informative, moar pls 😊
@teahousezenmaster
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
sooo. they were the mcmansions of their time
@annacarter6559
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Because of jealousy
@monsterkillerxzx8766
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Citizen Kane was released 1941 and strongly uses the victorian mansion and haunted house trope.
@ummno9504
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Would love to live in a mini Victorian spooky house. A new twist on a classic house style.
@domcolliermusic6390
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
how wrong could you be
@thomasdinan9667
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I grew up in a Victorian house, adored every board in it. For me, it was magic! This style evoked mystery.
@RhodesianFur
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I actually quite enjoy these houses, in fact I think that I would like one
@beverlylooper3927
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
The Victorian's were probably as morbid as we are now , that's pretty much where the gothic novel comes from.
@aLavenderLady
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Carson Mansion was showcased a lot here, I live across the bay from the town where it resides
@campbellphoenix7662
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Just like that, you end the montage of horror movie clips with a jumpscare from Pennywise.
@Yiran
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Just put some lights on for Victoria's sake
@Matgunman
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
The jump scare cheapens the video's overall effect.
@asahearts1
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
No mention of the Carson mansion smh.
@Thanos_Kyriakopoulos
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I think it's more than historical facts that made those homes creepy, their architecture itself is dark and depressing. Because Victoria was a widow and mourned Prince Albert,and the Victorian age was a wave of conservatism, fear against the revolutions that preceded, and nostalgia for the pre industrial era which was all about myths and legends, so its architecture reflects that. Too much medieval looking decoration but small windows, many closed spaces with little light, basically a house that looks like a monastery or a medieval castle without being one. It's no wonder they're scary.
@reweylavilles1124
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Actually, I would like myself to build and live in a gothic victorian mansion
@TravisJones812
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I think the commentary is haunted with 20th century socialism. Large Victorian homes became associated with death over a century ago due to the discovery of the germ theory of disease. Suddenly germs were everywhere, and child mortality was due to microscopic bugs so people needed houses small enough to clean regularly which lacked dark, musty areas.
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