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He... vas... my... BOYFRIEND!

"I am Frau Blucher. [horses whinny] Your rooms are ready, Herr Doktor. If you will follow me, please."
Frau Blucher,note  Young Frankenstein

Ever found yourself at a huge mansion in the middle of a torrential rainstorm? Chances are the door was opened to you by a Creepy Housekeeper. This character spends much of her time walking around a large manor house cleaning, cooking, being fanatically devoted to her master, and scaring off any new female inhabitants of the house. Although she often welcomes hapless visitors, chances are they will be either murdered or scared off by the end of a terrifying night. She will be common in murder mysteries/tales of the supernatural, although often subverted for comedy.

Her male counterpart is the Crusty Caretaker. They'll often tag-team any newcomers into being properly creeped out before the hauntings start. Sometimes takes on double shifts as a Haunted House Historian to ratchet up the creepy. Contrast the sexier French Maid, as well as the more maternal and less unsettling Kindly Housekeeper.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • In Lori Lovecraft: The Dark Lady, Lori finds herself trapped in a dreamscape based on the films of a recently deceased actor. She is stalked by Ms. Cheswick, the creepy housekeeper from the film Natasha (a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Mrs Danvers from Rebecca).

    Fan Works 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In the original 13 Ghosts, the protagonist's son accuses the housekeeper of being a witch, due to her generally humorless and cruel demeanor and homely appearance. This is an in-joke for those that know the actress who portrayed her, Margaret Hamilton, played the Wicked Witch of the West.
  • Femalé (pronounced feh-MAH-leh) from the remake of Cat People is hospitable, but she has a very voodoo vibe about her and is very loyal to the owner of the house who is a werecat. She helps him avoid punishment for his crimes.
  • The Climax features a rare heroic example. Luise used to be Marcellina's maid and is now Dr. Hohner's housekeeper. She slinks around the house looking like Mrs. Danvers and spying on Dr. Hohner. However, she turns out to be on the side of the angels and is looking for proof that Hohner murdered her mistress. She helps Franz free Angela from Hohner's clutches and later saves Angela when Hohner attempts to cut her tongue out.
  • The housekeeper Miss Patricia in The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case, who is an Ignored Enamored Underling and is very keen to cast suspicion on the victim's young and pretty second wife.
  • The Devil Commands: Once she understands both what Blair is trying to do and that he might actually be capable of succeeding, Phony Psychic Mrs. Walters begins looking ahead to the wealth and power that such success could bestow upon anyone wily enough and ruthless enough to exploit it properly. Blair, in contrast, remains monomaniacally fixated upon talking to his wife, and the combination of that blinkered vision and the doctor’s native guilelessness gives Walters an opening to become the senior partner in their project. She’s the one who finds the remote New England mansion to which the pair retreat to carry on their work in isolation and secrecy. She’s the one who manages all the household affairs, engaging the scrupulously incurious Mrs. Marcy as housekeeper, interposing herself between Blair and any of the locals who might wish to see him, and intercepting all the mail either leaving or entering the house so as to prevent any communication between the doctor and his former associates— including and especially is daughter Anne.
  • Rachel, the housekeeper from Haunted Honeymoon — the film satirizes many of the Haunted House tropes, this one being no exception. She is also, as is often true, married to the film's Crusty Caretaker, Pfister.
  • This trope is parodied in the otherwise straight ghost movie The Haunting (1963). The housekeeper, Mrs. Dudley, has already given Nell a speech implying all sorts of nastiness about the house, and when she does an encore for latecomer Theo, Nell "helpfully" finishes parts of her monologue for her:
    Mrs. Dudley: I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at six. Breakfast is ready at nine. I don't stay after dinner. Not after it begins to get dark. We live in town, nine miles, so there won't be anyone around if you need help...
    Nell: We couldn't even hear you.
    Mrs. Dudley: No one could. No one lives any nearer than town...
    Nell: No one will come any nearer than that.
    Mrs. Dudley: In the night...
    Nell: In the dark.
  • The original House on Haunted Hill has Mrs. Slides. She's blind and gives quite a fright to poor Nora. And the audience is too, if her first appearance doesn't make them jump.
  • In King of the Zombies, Tahama the cook is a wizened old crone who makes vaguely threatening pronouncements and cackles a lot. She is also the high priestess of Dr. Sangre's voodoo cult.
  • Averted in Murder by Death. The housekeeper Yetta is new to the household, is deaf-mute and is never seen by, well, anyone (Jamesir Bensonmum, the butler who welcomes her, is blind) until she points out Bensonmum's body. It turns out she's Lionel Twain, the host, in disguise and he arranged the entire, murder-free, evening.
  • Necronomicon: Lena in "The Cold". She is the housekeeper to Dr. Madden, in love with him although he his cold to her, and aids him in his murders and blasphemous experiments with a slavish devotion. She later transfers her loyalty to Emily.
  • In The Others (2001), Grace hires three new servants to help her care for the children, but they seem to already know more about the whole situation than they let on. This leads to a double twist: the servants are all ghosts, but then again the Stewart family are as well.
  • Played for Laughs in The Pacifier, the children love their creepy Transylvanian maid Helga even though she scares the hell out of Shane and has a very dreary personality. When Helga slips on cooking oil Seth and Zoe placed on the stairs (which was actually intended for Shane), she quits her job in a rage. Shane tries to stop Helga, eventually blocking the front door to prevent her from leaving, but she leaps and bites his shoulder, before leaving out the front door and boarding a taxi.
  • Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940). She is creepy in herself, with a deathlike appearance, and in her devotion to the memory of Rebecca such that she doesn't wash the clothes of Rebecca's scent and goes to her room every day. And spoofed in The Time Of Their Lives (1946) when the guests at a restored plantation meet the creepy housekeeper and one remarks "Didn't I see you in Rebecca?"
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show gave usnote  Magenta, a cross between this trope and the French Maid.
  • Mrs. Monteith in Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear is the housekeeper of Drearcliffe House and tends to the needs of The Good Comrades. She is the one who grimly delivers the envelopes containing the oranges pips to those who are marked to die. Dour and taciturn, she could easily be Mrs. Danvers' sister.
  • Frau Blucher (horses whinny) from Young Frankenstein: Every time someone says her name, horses neigh and there is lightning. Although, despite playing to every creepy film trope the filmmakers could trot out, she's more misguided than malicious, and gets to share in the happy ending.
  • In an homage to Young Frankenstein, in The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, every time creepy caretaker Madame Varcolac's name is mentioned, a werewolf howls. "Varcolac", by the way, is a wolf-like evil spirit in Greek and Slavic folklore.

    Literature 
  • Nettie from the short story Bargain with the Wind by Sharon Shinn might qualify. Unusually, she is the narrator, and she turns out to be an immortal earth spirit charged with protecting the masters of the house.
  • Goblins in the Castle: Downplayed with Hulda. She always yells (because of her bad hearing), and uses her mutilated finger (which is missing its last joint) to scare William into behaving, claiming that Granny Pinchbottom will bite off the end of his finger too if he doesn't keep out of the sweet jar. She's also not the best at keeping the castle clean, as evidenced by her letting the laundry sit for months and not bothering to dust the castle for even longer (William notes that he likes to write his name in the dust, and the only signatures that are gone are those that have been covered with new dust). But she's really harmless, and a good cook. She's also genuinely worried about the Baron when he falls into an enchanted sleep in Goblins on the Prowl.
  • The housekeeper at the mansion the Impress and party escape to in Dave Duncan's A Handful Of Men sequel quartet (A Man Of His Word is the first quartet). The housekeeper talks to the ghosts and interprets and furthers their prophecies.
  • Averted in Jane Eyre, where Mrs. Fairfax is the most normal and wholesome person around creepy Thornfield Manor.
  • Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper in Ruth Rendell's A Judgement in Stone, is mildly creepy and off-putting, but that's probably just because she's desperately keeping a secret (her illiteracy) which will eventually drive her to murder the entire family. (And that's not even a spoiler: the book begins with the sentence "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write." The ensuing novel is an exploration of the hundred tiny threads that lead to the murders, such as that she can't read a note written by the daughter and comes to believe that whatever's written on it is making fun of her.)
  • The title character in Roald Dahl's short story "The Landlady" says that she has stuffed all her dead pets herself. Apparently, she has done so to her previous guests as well and is about to do so to the young man who stays in her house.
  • Of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mrs. Macready is the housekeeper for the Professor. When she first meets the children and they ask if it's her she says "Afraid so." When they get to the house all she does is tell them what they're not allowed to do.
  • In Northanger Abbey, while they are on their way to the titular location, Henry teases Catherine by telling her (among other things) that they employ a Creepy Housekeeper named Dorothy. This is one of the stock Gothic tropes that he (and, by extension, Jane Austen herself) is parodying with his outlandish narrative about what Catherine will find at Northanger.
  • Rivers of London features Molly, maid, cook, and housekeeper for the Folly. Looks like an attractive maid at first glance but at second glance moves too quickly and quietly for comfort, will not or cannot speak, and covers her mouth when she laughs or smiles to hide way too many teeth.
  • Also averted with the pleasant, helpful, long-suffering Mrs. Hudson. Though it might be supposed that her neighbors think she's a bit nutty for putting up with her eccentric tenant.
  • Point Horror had Mrs Ferdinand in Unleashed's The Bogle. A grouchy and strict old woman with a Scare 'Em Straight philosophy. She creeps out Peter and Morag so much they suspect she murdered her previous employer. On investigation they find his body in one of the many nooks and crannies in the house. Mrs Ferdinand's reaction to this discovery is to burst into tears and even thank them for solving the mystery. When the Bogle enters the picture she begins to soften, taking pity on the afflicted Johnny and later on Morag when she falls victim. On seeing both of them suffer she realises her philosophy has done more harm than good and morphs into a Kindly Housekeeper, even supporting the local witch in getting rid of the Bogle despite her strong Christian beliefs.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Addams Family: Frankenstein-esque Lurch. "You Rang?" Though he's hardly the scariest member of the family. Heck, he's the LEAST scary. Except for Wednesday in the original series, who is really sweet; she just likes headless dolls and spiders.
  • Mrs. Bale from As Time Goes By: Subverted, since she is secretly quite nice, just extremely strange. Lionel does, however, make a Mrs. Danvers joke at her expense. As is revealed in the wedding episode, she also has a secret crush on Rocky, her employer.
  • Dead Man's Gun: Not exactly evil, but in "Black Widow" Sanford Hogan has a crabby elderly housekeeper who is not shy about vocalizing her dislike for her master's new wife Tanya. Tanya arranges for her to take a fatal Staircase Tumble to clear the way for her own plan.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Mrs Pritchard in the serial "Ghost Light". She turns out to be the lady of the house, brainwashed into serving the main villain Josiah Smith.
    • And the Expanded Universe has Satthralope, housekeeper of Lungbarrow back on Gallifrey. She's married to the house and spends most of her time sitting in her room spying on the house's inhabitants via the mirrors.
  • Marge Longacre in the episode "Scarecrow" of Friday the 13th: The Series. The episode wastes no time in revealing either her villainy or creepy insanity, with much of the suspense stemming from when the heroes Micki and Ryan will finally figure out what all her big-eyed looks, strange turns of phrase, and husky, low voice mean. (The fact her first meeting with them had her turn on a dime from the usual rural suspicion and resentment of city outsiders to welcoming them to stay at her inn should have been a clue.) Still, her switch from calmly knitting and smiling in satisfaction as the titular scarecrow chases a screaming Micki in another room, to wildly attacking with a pair of scissors, is disturbingly effective.
  • Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural run afoul of one in the episode "Hammer of the Gods". Said housekeeper is first shown killing a man, and then confirms his credentials with inexplicably disappearing, preparing other people for food, and cutting Sam to collect a blood sample without ever being seen. It is eventually revealed that he's the Roman god, Mercury. He's also hardly the worst thing in that hotel.
  • Shakespeare & Hathaway - Private Investigators: Deirdre, Alban's housekeeper and cook in "Die We Must", looks like Mrs Danvers, runs the house with a rod of iron, and keeps referring to Lu and Frank as 'unbidden intruders', Lu forgives her because she is an excellent baker.
  • That Mitchell and Webb Look has David Mitchell doing a hilarious spot-on version of Mrs. Danvers playing this trope to Rebecca herself, comparing her disdainfully to the second Mrs. De Winter!

    Music 

    Theatre 
  • The Cat and the Canary has "Mammy" Pleasant, a voodoo woman from the West Indies. For twenty years after Cyrus West's death, she tended his Old, Dark House with her "friends from the shadow world" to keep her company.

    Theme Parks 
  • Subverted in The Haunted Mansion, as the unnamed Groundskeeper that guests encounter at the beginning of the Graveyard scene is just as spooked by the ghosts as (presumably) you are. You'd think that he'd be used to it by now. note  Also subverted or straight in that the Cast Members running the ride are dressed as members of the Mansion's service staff, and depending on their disposition, can be creepy or quite cheery.
  • Played straight in The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the same reason as the above Haunted Mansion; the Cast Members running the ride are dressed as the Hotel's bellhops, elevator attendants, and so on. In a moment of Never Trust a Trailer, most ads show the Cast Members as ghoulish looking, gray-skinned bellhops with white eyes. Whether this was an Aborted Arc or never intended to happen is not quite clear (it would be monumentally expensive and difficult to teach every Cast Member who works on the ride to do the makeup themselves, to the level of having them essentially be performers and running a ride).

    Video Games 
  • In RPG Maker horror game GU-L, Kaske immediately has a bad feeling about Azumi, the blue-haired housekeeper that welcomes his school group into her master’s mansion with a creepy stare.
  • Daniella from Haunting Ground. And she's like that before attempting to kill you with a shard of glass/fire poker.
  • Martha from Rule of Rose gives a distinctly creepy, unfriendly first impression, and the orphans in the Rose Garden Orphanage believe she's a witch. Subverted as it is revealed in the epilogue that she was the only definitely sane and well-meaning person in the house despite her unpleasant demeanour, and her attempts to contact the police about the strange happenings were implied to have gotten her killed.
  • The Sims and 3 take this to another level with the buyable maid Bonehilda. She is a skeleton who performs much of the same functions as a maid. While she doesn't actively try to scare Sims, they will sometimes run in terror from her. Additionally, if you already have hired a maid and the maid sees Bonehilda, she will quit.
  • Corin Wickes of Zenless Zone Zero comes off as this to new employers, thanks to her perpetually anxious, nervous, and scared demeanor, alongside the giant circular saw on a stick she carries around with her at all times. Subverted, however, because, like all the other employees of Victoria Housekeeping Co., she's an amazing maid while also capable of violently taking on the extradimensional threat of the Hollow.

    Visual Novels 
  • The Maid in The House in Fata Morgana is extremely enigmatic and creepy and is implied several times to be the witch Morgana who haunts the mansion. She's eventually revealed to be the main heroine and love interest.

    Western Animation 
  • Consuela for Family Guy. Although she is (rarely) found working in a mansion, she is pretty creepy. If you don't think she belongs here, you're going to have to get her to leave yourself.
    "No, no... I stay... I clean."
  • An episode of The Flintstones has Fred inheriting a mansion from a distant relative but, if something happens to him, the fortune will go to the very creepy (and apparently homicidal) butler, cook, and gardener. Hilarity Ensues.

BLUCHER!note 

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