The Wingraves Theory That Has The Haunting Of Bly Manor Fans Buzzing
The sequel to The Haunting of Hill House may not have as many hidden ghosts as its spiritual predecessor, but it's proven an equally fecund source of intriguing fan theories.
Horror fans were greeted this Holiday season by an intriguing second entry in the Netflix anthology series begun with 2018's Hill House. The new season, entitled The Haunting of Bly Manor, adapts another classic work of American gothic fiction, the creepy Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw.
As in James' Screw, Bly Manor follows two siblings who are relocated to live with their uncle in a country estate after a tragic accident leaves them orphaned. In the source material, that accident is a car crash, but Bly Manor updates this inciting incident to a plane crash. This fact is never quite revealed on the show, but Henry Wingrave actor Henry Thomas admitted as much in response to a direct message from a fan.
After praising his work on Bly Manor, Redditor u/2ndr8 snuck in a critical question, "We're not meant to know how the Wingrave parents died, right? I know there's a few hints, but there's no straight answer."
Amazingly, Thomas replied without any equivocation, "They died in a plane crash." This admission set the fandom abuzz with some pretty interesting theories about the crash that set this whole creepy story in motion.
Fans think the Wingraves were in a historical plane crash
After the series debuted on Netflix in October, the cause of the Wingraves' deaths was a matter of principal concern among the fans. Theories ranged from murder-suicide to the almost-too-on-the-nose "horrific train crash." After Thomas confirmed that a tragic plane crash was, in fact, to blame, fans turned their speculative attention to what crash it might have been.
See, unlike simple car crashes, massive commercial plane crashes tend to become global news. If the writers of Bly Manor were striving for a high degree of verisimilitude in their work, they might actually try to make their story dovetail with an actual plane crash. According to Cheat Sheet, fans think that's exactly what happened.
As the theory goes, the Wingraves were likely passengers on Air India Flight 182, a 1985 flight that went down after a bombing attack perpetrated by a terrorist group. If that's the case, it certainly makes sense that the Wingraves bodies couldn't be recovered — an important plot point from the series. The timing and geography certainly works, and the facts line up a little bit too perfectly ...
Quick, somebody slide into Henry Thomas' DMs demanding answers!