Tess Of The D'Urbervilles - Comparing The Three Adaptations

Babysitter In Peril

The urban legend, the real-life cases that inspired it, and its                                influence in literature and on film

Most of us are familiar with the urban legend "The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs" or some variation (some include a creepy clown statue, which turns out to be a killer), which was made famous by films such as "When A Stranger Calls", "Halloween", etc. The urban legend apparently began circulating in the 1960s, which led the TV series, "Mostly True: Urban Legends" to state that it had no basis in fact, primarily because the whole "the calls are coming from inside the house" (now almost cliche) was very unlikely due to the fact that there tended to be only one phone line per house. However, as the documentary "Killer Legends" (2014) pointed out, there does appear to have been at least one true crime case (if not more) that probably inspired it. I won't go into too much detail about these cases, as you can find more information online and there are, understandably, some very disturbing elements. 

Janett Christman, murdered while babysitting

A few days shy of her 14th birthday, Janett Christman of Columbia, Missouri, was raped and murdered as she babysat a toddler on a cold March night in 1950. The local sheriff's department received a frantic phone call at around 10:30 pm, with a female voice screaming "Come quick!" and the line went dead. The call could not be traced back then. When the parents of the three-year-old boy Janett was tending arrived home at around 1:15 am, they came across a terrifying and grisly sight - the house showed signs of a struggle; Janett lay dead in the living room, with wounds to her head and an ironing cord around her neck. Their son had slept through the ordeal. This crime rocked the community.  A suspect, Robert Mueller, who had made unwelcome advances toward Janett in the past had asked her to babysit that same night only to learn that Janett had already made a commitment to babysit for the Romacks; Mueller was friends with Ed Romack, the father of the boy that Janett was looking after. There was quite a bit of circumstantial evidence, but Mueller passed a polygraph and was ultimately never charged with Janett's murder. A series of rapes of teenage girls and young women (some of whom were babysitters) in the area as well as the murder of college student Mary Lou Jenkins four years earlier, just a few blocks away from the Romack residence, have led many to believe that the same man was responsible for the crimes. 

Mary Lou Jenkins, murdered while home alone

Mary Lou had been staying home alone that February night in 1946, and she was raped and strangled with an ironing cord, as Janett had been. A mentally challenged black man, Floyd Cochran, who had killed his wife in a domestic dispute, was charged with Mary Lou's murder and was ultimately executed. However, with the rapes and especially the Christman murder, many people, including local Columbia historians, believe that Robert Mueller was the culprit. One of the rape victims said her assailant had been wearing a theatrical mask, and Mueller's hobby was making such masks. After Mueller left the area, the attacks and murders stopped. Mueller died in 2006. It's very heartbreaking and frustrating knowing that these young girls lost their lives in such a brutal way, the wrong man was executed and the culprit got away with his crimes. Those who survived his attacks no doubt have dealt with the trauma all their lives. 

Evelyn Hartley, abducted while babysitting

 Evelyn Hartley was one month shy of her 16th birthday when she was abducted while babysitting a 20-month-old girl. There are some striking similarities between this case and that of Janett Christman. This baffling disappearance took place in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1953. Evelyn had been asked by a professor of the local university, to replace the regular babysitter who was unavailable on the night of October 24th. Evelyn's father called to check on her several times after she failed to call home at 8:30 pm, as she had promised she would. He went to the residence where she was babysitting; the doors were locked, the lights were on, and the living room showed signs of a struggle. The house appeared to have been ransacked. Her glasses were found broken, one of her shoes was in the basement. A window in the basement was open, and the screen had been removed. There were footprints around the house; and blood, matching Evelyn's type, was found around the house and the yard. Again as in the Christman case, the toddler was asleep and unharmed. One neighbor claimed to have heard screams, and another neighbor had seen a car repeatedly driving around the neighborhood. Since Evelyn had replaced the family's regular babysitter, it was speculated that Evelyn was not the intended target. Several days into the search, clothing was found in different locations, with blood matching Evelyn's type. It was thought by some that serial killer Ed Gein was responsible for Evelyn's disappearance, however, his victims were middle-aged women and the Hartley case didn't fit his M.O. The case went cold and she is still listed as a missing person. One of the greatest sufferings comes from not knowing. How terrible that must have been for Evelyn's family and friends.

Drawing of "The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs"

As you can see, the plot device used in horror/suspense films about a killer hiding in the house and calling and tormenting the babysitter from inside was an invention of the urban legend (of course, it could happen in more recent times).  However, it is frightening to learn that real-life tragedies ultimately led to the legend's creation.

Now, let's get into the movies and books inspired by the legend. There will be SPOILERS here for the plots, so just be forewarned.

Richard Peck's "Are You In The House Alone?" (published in 1976, later made into a TV movie in 1978), dealt with a  teenage girl who is being stalked and harassed, at home, at school, and at her regular babysitting job. She keeps it to herself, unsure how to deal with it or if anything could be done about it. It results in a sexual assault by her best friend's boyfriend, the son of the most prominent and wealthy family in town. The second half focuses on the aftermath, how she deals with her trauma. As in the legend, the protagonist, Gail, receives phone calls, at home and while babysitting, as well as anonymous, sexually explicit notes. It's frustrating to read how Gail suffers in silence, fearing that she's losing her mind or that some faceless stranger always knows where she is, every moment of the day and night. 

The TV movie did a decent job at creating the feeling of terror and isolation that Gail experiences and the performances are all excellent. It suffers from its (acknowledged) unfair bias toward sexual assault victims, as did the book. Gail discovers that her stalker is someone known to her and he was closer to her than she thought.   

In 1989, R.L. Stine penned the young adult book, "The Babysitter", the first of a quartet. It follows Jenny Jeffers, an overly-imaginative teenager who takes a babysitting job for the Hagens, who live in a rather creepy Victorian house. She adores the little boy, Donny but finds the house uncomfortable. It gets worse when she receives phone calls from someone whispering, "Hi, Babes. Are you all alone? Don't worry. Company's coming." There had been a series of attacks on babysitters, which makes Jenny even more frightened. There are some interesting twists as Jenny tries to figure out who is tormenting her - the suspicious-looking neighbor who always seems to be sneaking around, the new boy at school, who has taken an interest in her - and let's just say, the person out to get her is much closer than she thinks. Poor Jenny is subjected to further ordeals in the next three books, as is her cousin Debra. (There has been talk of these books being adapted into TV movies).

"Babysitter's Nightmare" by Kate Daniels is a lesser-known young adult suspense book, about a teenager who finds herself the prime suspect when families she has babysat for all experience robberies. The story takes an even darker turn when Alice's replacement babysitter is murdered during yet another robbery. Alice tries desperately to convince the police and her parents of her innocence, and she can't help but wonder who is behind the crimes. She finds herself in danger as she tries to find out the truth. 

There was a sequel, which I have not read, but it's fair to say that stories of babysitters in peril is very popular among young adult readers.

The 1971 British horror film, "Fright" starring Susan George and Ian Bannen, is one of the earliest examples of the babysitter in peril trope on film that I'm aware of. A college student is terrorized by the mentally disturbed (and dangerous) ex-husband of her employer. It becomes a nightmare in which she must save herself and the child. She even tries to convince him that she is in love with him, in order to keep her and her charge alive.

While the cult Canadian horror film "Black Christmas" (1974) took some inspiration from the legend, in terms of a killer living in the attic of a sorority house, killing and then calling to torment the heroine, most of the film was inspired by the crimes of Canadian serial killer, Wayne Bodin, known as "The Vampire Rapist". He murdered four women, three of which over the 1969 - 1970 holiday season in Montreal, Quebec. Boden later died in prison. 

The original title for John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978) was "The Babysitter Murders". Michael Myers stalks and kills teenage girls and anyone else who happens to be around. He killed his sister as a young boy and had escaped from a mental asylum; he returns to his hometown in Haddonfield on Halloween night and begins a reign of terror. The film generated several sequels and remakes and it remains a favorite among many horror fans. 

Fred Walton's "When A Stranger Calls" (1979), and his earlier short film, "The Sitter" (1977), are the films that clearly took the most inspiration from the urban legend. A teenage babysitter is tormented in a dark house, by a man over the phone who asks, "Have you checked the children?" A made-for-TV sequel, "When A Stranger Calls Back" (1993) followed and had an interesting twist, of a babysitter being terrorized by a man outside the house. The first 10 to 15 minutes of both films are absolutely terrifying. 

In 2006, Screen Gems released a remake, which basically took the first 15 minutes of the original, and stretched out the story to approximately 87 minutes, by adding backstory for the babysitter and the drama of her best friend kissing her boyfriend and adding red herrings and jump scares. As the film was rated PG-13, the violence was restrained and it looked a little too clean and smooth. The house is in the middle of nowhere, which takes away the plausibility of how the killer knew the babysitter would be at the location, especially since she was retained at the last minute. Nothing is revealed about the stranger, and the amount of false scares becomes tedious. The film received mixed reviews, which may be the reason why the planned sequel was shelved. 

So, yes, the urban legend has inspired many people and has some basis in fact. It's a frightening concept that works very well for entertainment but has a terrifying and tragic reality as well. Lives have been lost in situations that were too similar not to have had an influence in the stories we have told, read, or seen.