History Main / HauntedHeroine

* Grace from ''Film/TheOthers'' (Subverted with a twist: [[spoiler:the haunted heroine and her children ''are'' [[TomatoInTheMirror the ghosts]]]])

* Subverted in ''TheGhostAndMrsMuir'', where the heroine is a young widowed mother who might just be imagining the hearty sea captain's ghost out of romantic yearning, but the ghost himself is utterly benign and the heroine can matter-of-factly tell him not to reveal himself to her daughter as she's much too young for ghosts.

* The unnamed narrator of ''The Yellow Wallpaper'' keeps seeing movement in the wallpaper -- and this is supposed to be the result of her medical treatment.

* ''Film/{{House}}'' played this entirely by the book, except in two ways - it was a comedy, and the protagonist was a dude, played by William Katt. Still, he was trying to rescue his disappeared child, there was some implication that it was all in his head (although it turned out that it wasn't), and it all centred around trauma in his past (specifically, TheVietnamWar).

* Laura from ''El Orfanato'', also known as ''TheOrphanage''.
* ''TheWatcherInTheWoods'', an atypical (suspenseful) Disney movie from 1980.

* Any version of ''TheRing'' has this character as the protagonist except for the book, which has a Haunted ''Hero''.
* Katie in ''ParanormalActivity''.

* Grace from ''The Others'' (Subverted with a twist: [[spoiler:the HauntedHeroine and her children ''are'' [[TomatoInTheMirror the ghosts]]]])
* Yoshimi and Dahlia from ''Dark Water'', both the 2002 Japanese original and the 2005 American remake, respectively.

* ''House'' played this entirely by the book, except in two ways - it was a comedy, and the protagonist was a dude, played by William Katt. Still, he was trying to rescue his disappeared child, there was some implication that it was all in his head (although it turned out that it wasn't), and it all centred around trauma in his past (specifically, TheVietnamWar).

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* Ellie of ''OneHundredYardStare'' fits this trope rather nicely.

* Eleanor Vance of Shirley Jackson's ''TheHauntingOfHillHouse'', both the book and the 1963 movie.

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* Laura from ''El Orfanato'', also known as ''TheOrphanage''
* ''TheWatcherInTheWoods'', an atypical (suspensful) Disney movie from 1980.
* ''Film/{{House}}'' played this entirely by the book, except in two ways - it was a comedy, and the protagonist was a dude, played by William Katt. Still, he was trying to rescue his disappeared child, there was some implication that it was all in his head (although it turned out that it wasn't), and it all centred around trauma in his past (specifically, TheVietnamWar).

* Angela in ''TheGoodHouse''. She moves into her grandmother's haunted house, but people don't believe her suspicions of supernatural activity until it's too late...

* Any version of ''TheRing'' has this character as the protagonist.

The originator of this trope is Henry James' ''TheTurnOfTheScrew'', in which a governess becomes convinced that her dead predecessor and her lover have somehow come back from beyond the grave to mess with the kids. This famous and influential story set the tone for a slew of SupernaturalFiction ever since that tries to imply it might be All in Their Minds. All this while still having a lot of fun with the ghosts.

* ''TheTurnOfTheScrew'', of course. As well as ''The Innocents'', the 1961 film version with Deborah Kerr.

This character continually pops up in films involving ghosts or supernatural characters. She moves into HauntedHeadquarters without any GenreSavvy idea of what's in store for her. She seems attractive, capable and altogether normal until...the strange noises from the attic keep waking her up. Or that [[CreepyHousekeeper weird housekeeper]] keeps making [[ArcWords cryptic comments]]. Or her kid starts going on about some ImaginaryFriend who [[NotSoImaginaryFriend might not be so imaginary after all]]. The Haunted Heroine typically comes equipped with a kid (or younger sibling) that is inevitably the first one to notice the supernatural goings-on, possibly because kids are supposed to have more imagination. It won't take long however, before the woman realizes she's being haunted.

Compare and contrast with SupernaturalProofFather.

* Mildly subverted in ''TheGhostAndMrsMuir'', where the heroine is a young widowed mother who might just be imagining the hearty sea captain's ghost out of romantic yearning, but the ghost himself is utterly benign and the heroine can matter-of-factly tell him not to reveal himself to her daughter as she's much too young for ghosts.

This character continually pops up in films involving ghosts or supernatural characters. She moves into HauntedHeadquarters without any GenreSavvy idea of what's in store for her. She seems attractive, capable and altogether normal until...the strange noises from the attic keep waking her up. Or that [[CreepyHousekeeper weird housekeeper]] keeps making [[ArcWords cryptic comments]]. Or her kid starts going on about some ImaginaryFriend who might not be so imaginary after all. The Haunted Heroine typically comes equipped with a kid (or younger sibling) that is inevitably the first one to notice the supernatural goings-on, possibly because kids are supposed to have more imagination. It won't take long however, before the woman realizes she's being haunted.

* Eleanor Vance of Shirley Jackson's ''TheHauntingOfHillHouse'', both the book and the 1963 movie. (Even to some degree in the [[AdaptationDecay remake]].)

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The originator of this trope is Henry James' ''The Turn of the Screw'', in which a governess becomes convinced that her dead predecessor and her lover have somehow come back from beyond the grave to mess with the kids. This famous and influential story set the tone for a slew of supernatural fiction ever since that tries to imply it might be All in Their Minds. All this while still having a lot of fun with the ghosts.

* Grace from ''The Others'' (Subverted with a twist: [[spoiler:the HauntedHeroine and her children ''are'' [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie the ghosts]]]])

* Grace from ''The Others'' (Subverted with a twist.)