The Hearse

Jane Hardy, a schoolteacher in San Francisco, suffers a nervous breakdown after her divorce and the simultaneous death of her mother. To emotionally recover, she decides to spend the summer in the rural town of Blackford, occupying a house left to her by her late aunt, Rebecca. The plan is to seek quiet, healing distance from her past.

Upon arriving in Blackford, Jane is given keys to the house by Walter Pritchard, a local attorney who asserts that Jane’s mother promised to leave the property to him. He hints that probate will eventually place the house in Jane’s name, but the process is slow and resented by the locals. Jane senses she’s being watched as she settles in Rebecca’s house.

Shortly after moving in, Jane begins seeing apparitions of her aunt Rebecca and a ghostly black hearse that pulls into the driveway before vanishing. The town’s residents reply with evasive, uneasy remarks, and Pritchard seems deliberately slow about the house transfer. The combination of visions and delays leaves Jane on edge.

Jane discovers a trunk in the attic filled with Rebecca’s mementos, including a diary that recalls her life as a minister’s wife. The diary hints at Rebecca’s entanglement with dark forces and the town’s lurid rumors. The discoveries deepen Jane’s sense that the past in Blackford still exerts a grip on the present.

To repair the house, Jane hires Paul, the hardware store owner’s son, and he begins work on the property. As they work together, they uncover more of Rebecca’s belongings and the house’s hidden history. Jane’s trust in the situation wavers as strange happenings escalate.

Late one night, Jane crashes her car on the way home and is given a ride by Tom Sullivan, a mysterious man in a vintage black car. Tom pays for a tow truck and returns the following night with her car. A tentative bond forms as Tom proves to be a steady, if enigmatic, presence in her life.

Jane accepts Tom’s invitation to go boating on a nearby lake, and the outing develops into a budding romance. The serene excursion offers Jane a moment of calm amid the unsettling events at the house. Tom’s warmth contrasts with the town’s ominous atmosphere.

Late in the story, more lines from Rebecca’s diary reveal she was indoctrinated by her boyfriend, Robert, a Satan-worshipper. Jane has a vivid nightmare in which the hearse takes her away while her aunt watches from the house and Jane imagines her own funeral. These revelations and dreams intensify the sense that the past is intruding on the present.

After the house is probated to Jane, Pritchard confirms that Rebecca worshipped Satan and that the hearse driver, along with Rebecca’s body and coffin, disappeared after the crash. Since that event, locals have been haunted by the image of the hearse. Jane begins to fear the weight of Rebecca’s legacy on her own life.

Jane’s romance with Tom deepens; after a date, she invites him into her home and they become intimate. Paul, who is attracted to Jane as well, reacts with jealousy, complicating the triangle and the already fragile household. The tension grows as the supernatural disturbances continue.

One night, Tom fails to arrive for a date and drunken Pritchard vandalizes the home, forcing Jane to flee in terror. Paul arrives shortly after to leave flowers for Jane, but is attacked by an unseen assailant. The sense of danger tightens its grip on Blackford.

Jane goes to Tom’s house and finds it abandoned and dilapidated, with a framed antique photo of a young Rebecca inside the frame with Tom. Behind the home she discovers a gravestone inscribed 'Robert Thomas Sullivan,' linking Tom to Rebecca’s past. Terrified, Jane returns to her own home to pack her belongings.

Back at her home, Jane discovers Pritchard’s corpse hanging in the shower, followed by Paul’s corpse in the bathroom. The murders shatter any sense of safety and raise the supernatural stakes surrounding the house. Jane understands that she may be trapped in a deadly history tied to Rebecca’s house.

Tom reveals his love for Jane and explains that Rebecca was too weak to fulfill her pact; he begins to cast a spell to secure eternal life for Jane. Reverend Winston interrupts with an exorcism to save her, turning the confrontation into a desperate showdown. The pursuit ends when Tom drives the hearse after Jane, but it crashes off a cliff and explodes.

An apparition of Rebecca appears in the window as the house grows dark, signaling that the haunting persists even after the crash. The final image leaves Jane’s fate open and the town’s curse unresolved. The house seems to breathe with the memory of Rebecca as the scene fades.