6 big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor

There are a few big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor

The second installment of Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting horror mystery series may have included more romance, wit, and demonic dolls, but it also left audiences with a few more unfilled plotholes and there are six big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The twisted dark drama kicked off with ghostly gusto—Dani, the nanny, moves into a charming but creepy old manor to take care of two charming but also slightly creepy children, Flora and Miles. It doesn’t take long for the manor’s, and the children’s, true natures to reveal themselves. Flora’s dolls move on their own, strange-looking figures follow Dani around the house at night, and Miles’s temper becomes increasingly volatile. When a 10-year-old starts demanding wine, it’s probably not hormones that are raging inside him.

Not surprisingly, and in true Flanagan form, almost everyone in The Haunting of Bly Manor is haunted by something or someone. Dani is followed by the ghost of her dead fiance and her own guilt at causing his death, housekeeper Hannah is haunted by her own murder via Miles, Flora is haunted by pretty much every ghost she’s made a doll for in her dollhouse, Miles is haunted—and at times possessed—by the family’s former valet Peter Quinn, and Uncle Henry is haunted by the absolute worst version of himself. Plus, everyone is on the ghost of Viola’s to-kill list.

It’s quite the party and, to be fair, most of the horrific happenings at the manor are explained—a rightly pissed-off Viola cast a curse on the manor and once she’s “taken care of” or, in other words, absorbed into Dani, the curse is lifted and there are no more ghosts. At least, that’s the abridged version.

Many classic gaelic ghost stories aren’t too hung up on the details and take liberties for the sake of the bigger message and, in this case, that’s love’s unending and unfailing reach, be it toxic or true. And that might be all well and good if this story were told by word of mouth over a fire. But, as a Netflix series, there are some questions we just can’t leave unanswered. There are a few big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor and we have to ask them, even if their only fate is to become faceless details in the end.

How were Flora’s dolls connected?

This is perhaps one of the most important big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor that just won’t stop gnawing at our brain. Flora, the youngest of the two children at Bly goes to all this trouble to craft these dolls—that look exactly like everyone both dead and alive at Bly—which also appear to take life and move on their own, and it’s never explained how these dolls are connected to these spirits, nor why Flora even felt prompted to create the dolls in the first place.

It’s possible the dolls were just moved by the faceless ghost boy who befriended Flora as a way to warn the children when Viola was approaching, but that doesn’t explain how Viola’s doll was sitting up on its own after being tossed down the laundry shoot.

What was with the story of the cobbler?

This was Miles’s shining moment, winning the award for Wingrave children’s “most terrifying.” During story hour at Bly, Flora, and Miles first present a comical, sweet story about a little cat named Tails, spouting off witty rhymes like a children’s book and wraps up the unthreatening story with the cat taking a nap. It’s harmless, it’s funny. And then Miles takes the stage and scares us half to death.

The eldest Wingrave child breaks into a monstrous monologue about a cobbler that abandons the toys it made, comes back to find the dolls have forgotten he made them and, as punishment to the toys, the cobbler tortures his creations by pulling on their strings. It’s disturbing, to say the least, and seems to parallel the faceless creatures coming to life at Bly, and the numerous dolls in the basement and in the attic.

But, like Flora’s dolls come to life, it’s never explained and is one of the big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Why did Peter Quinn not return to happy memories?

There might be an explanation for the cobbler story hidden in this next question. Unlike all the others who experience memory jumping or “dream hopping” at Bly, Peter Quinn is the only one who returns over and over again to a bad memory that he’s anxious to leave.

In the memory, Peter hints at the traumatic events of his childhood, though it’s never explicitly stated what kind of abuse he underwent as a child, only that he was tormented by his father and neglected by his mother, who knew about the abuse and did nothing. In his dream hop, Peter confronts his mother and asks her why he’s tucked away in a memory he considers “hell.” Quite frankly, it’s a question we’d like answered ourselves. Though the cobbler story could have been Peter, in the body of Miles, making an analogy for his own trauma and abuse.

How was Hannah able to function as normal after her death?

Other than Viola, Hannah was the only dead individual at Bly able to still talk and interact with the living as if nothing had changed. Hannah, tragically, is murdered by Peter in the body of Miles who pushes her down a well. The housekeeper, understandably, is so traumatized by her own death, and that she died at the physical hands of an otherwise innocent Miles, that she creates her own reality by dreaming so earnestly that she’s alive, that she appears alive to others.

However, while other ghosts at Bly are able to reveal themselves to the living, they are never able to touch them or move objects. Except of course for Viola, who’s a serial choker and can’t seem to stop murdering people.

There is a point where it seems like Peter was able to briefly touch Ms. Jessel in a moment of desperation and anger. Perhaps Hannah was constantly that level of desperate.

Why did Viola not kill the children’s parents?

Speaking of Viola going on killing sprees, another one of the big questions we still have after The Haunting of Bly Manor is why did the Lady of the Lake never murder Miles or Flora’s parents? She was certainly walking around, and we doubt Flora and Miles had convinced their parents to stay in their rooms all night.

On top of that, Mr. and Mrs. Wingrave were sleeping in Viola’s bed. If that’s not a motive for murder, according to Viola, then what is? Apparently, there was nothing Mr. and Mrs. Wingrave did that ticked off the former lady of the manor enough to cut off their air supply.

It’s possible Viola was honoring the sanctity of marriage. We all know she held that in high regard when she was alive. But ghost Viola couldn’t tell two children apart, so we doubt that.

Why did the children forget about the happenings of Bly Manor?

In the last episode in the series, while Dani and Jamie are out to lunch with Owen, years after the incidents at Bly, Owen reveals that the children have completely forgotten about the horrors of the manor. It’s as if the events involving Viola never happened. The children have even forgotten about Dani and Hannah for the most part, only remembering that they spent “perfectly splendid” summers at Bly.

This could be the result of Viola’s curse lifted but, if that’s the case, why wouldn’t Owen or Jamie also have forgotten the events. What’s more, this seems to have been a slow change, as the children still knew who Dani was the morning after the curse was lifted. There seems to be something special about Flora and Miles, and the story never really addresses what that is, leaving us all to wonder about the children’s missing memories as if it were a dream we even made up.

What other questions did you have after watching The Haunting of Bly Manor? Let us know in the comments below!

The Haunting of Bly Manor is available to stream on Netflix.