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| “ | With a little boy here. And a little boy there. Here a boy, there a boy, everywhere a boy, boy. Hello, Danny. I've been waiting for you. We've all been waiting for you! | „ |
| ~ Lorraine telling Danny about the Overlook Hotel awaiting his arrival as she strangles him. |
Lorraine Massey is a supporting antagonist in Stephen King's novel The Shining, as well as its film and miniseries adaptations.
She was portrayed by Lia Beldam and the late Billie Gibson in the film and Cynthia Garris in the television series of the same name.
Biography[]
Novel continuity[]
Background[]
Lorraine died in the hotel around the 70s. Back than, Lorraine was an unattractive 60 year old woman married to a very wealthy lawyer, described by Watson as trying vainly to look young, including poorly dying her hair bright red, she had brought a boytoy, only about 17 at most. Though he put on airs, the teenage boy clearly was creeped out by the aging woman's advances.
One night when Lorraine passed out from drinking, the boy went downstairs and said he'd go out with her Porsche to pick up some stomach medicine. Hours later, the boy never came back and though Ulman offered to call the police for Lorraine, she turned him down, later that night she went upstairs where she took a thirty sleeping pills with alchohol in the tub and committed suicide.
After talking it over with Mr. Massey, her death was ultimately framed as a heart attack and her porsche was found abandoned in a burger joint than returned to her husband.
After her death, she continues to haunt the Overlook Hotel, seemingly becoming one of the strongest poltergeists there, as her room is the most feared. Her ghost was first seen a day after her demise, the maid, Delores Vickery was cleaning room 237 (217 in the novel) when she saw Lorraine's smiling and bloated corpse in the tub and gave out a huge shriek, when Ulman couldn't find the ghost, he fired Delores.
Main story[]
Danny is first warned about not entering room 217 by Halloran, whom says its a particularly dangerous area of the house where the evil spirits of the house are particularly active. Early during his stay at Overlook, Danny encounters a fire extinguisher near room 217 whose hose moved like a snake, frightened, Danny ran, but when he looked back the fire extinguisher was normal.
A week later, Danny came by room 217 with the key, after checking the fire extinguisher to see it was normal and remembering Halloran's words that the spirits in the Overlook were just illusions that couldn't actually hurt him, Danny cautiously entered room 217. Danny wandered into the bathroom where he couldn't help pulling back the turn, discovering the rotten corpse of an old woman grinning evilly at him.
Lorraine's decomposing body raised from the tub and started slowly lumbering towards Danny, still smiling sinisterly as Danny desperately tried to open the door out of the room, suddenly Danny remembered Halloran's advice that the ghosts couldn't hurt him, calmed down and turned back to face Lorraine. Unfortunately for Danny, far from being unable to hurt him, Lorraine could touch him and even started strangling him.
Thankfully Danny was able to escape, but when he returned to his parents, Wendy believed that Jack had abused Danny and the two began fighting, leading Jack to go to the Golden Room where he meets Lloyd the bartender whom convinces him to start drinking again.
It is later explained that the reason Lorraine could hurt Danny and not Halloran was due to Danny's shine empowering the Overlook and thus making it more deadly.
Film Continuity[]
The Shining[]
In the movie, Danny Torrance visited room 237, despite being warned not to by Halloran, after a ball rolled to him from its open doors, whilst the events aren't shown, its implied that Lorraine tried to strangle him. When Danny arrives, bruised and beaten, to the living room, Wendy is shocked to see this and believes that his father, Jack, abused him and screams at her husband. A confused and upset Jack later goes downstairs to brood in the Overlook's pub, the golden room, where he meets up with the ghost of Lloyd the bartender whom offers free drinks and convinces Jack to start drinking alcohol again.
Later, he claimed a "crazy woman" tried to strangle him. His father Jack then leaves the Golden Room in search of what his son claimed to have confronted earlier.
Jack cautiously enters Room 237 and hears noises coming from the bathroom. Instead, he finds Lorraine as a young, beautiful woman taking a bath and watches lustfully. Lorraine then sees what she views as an opportunity of sorts and pulls back the shower curtain. After standing up and stepping slowly out of the bath, she approaches Jack, completely naked. She then seductively runs her hands from his chest up to his neck with a lingering glance. The two approach each other and enter into a passionate kiss. During the kiss, however, Jack catches a glimpse of their reflection in the mirror and sees the woman is actually an elderly woman — a walking, rotting corpse with rotten, sagging skin. Having resumed the form of her reflection, Lorraine cackles evilly with the deception unveiled and chases Jack out of her room, reaching for him with her arms stretched out, while Danny (using the Shining in his bedroom) foresees Lorraine's corpse rising out of the bathtub hauntingly by itself. As Jack manages to escape room 237, he locks the door and runs away horrified, while Lorraine remains in her room, cackling.
Doctor Sleep[]
Lorraine kept haunting young Danny after he moved to Florida with his mother following his ordeal at the Overlook, until Danny managed to trap her inside a lockbox in his mind after receiving guidance from Dick Halloran's spirit.
In the film adaptation, Lorraine is released by an adult Danny along with the other Overlook spirits to kill Rose the Hat. The spirits attack Danny right after that, but don't make much use of him before the hotel is destroyed in a fire previously caused by him. Lorraine later tries haunting Danny's protege Abra Stone, but the young girl is more than ready to face her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the film adaptation, Lorraine seduces Jack with a kiss, then morphs into a rotting corpse of an old woman. In the television miniseries, Jack only catches a glimpse of her rotting corpse in the bathtub and runs away. In the book, Lorraine only appears in the form of a grotesque and bloated corpse of an old woman.
- Despite her minor role in the film, Lorraine's actions of getting Jack blamed for attacking Danny and seducing him away from Wendy played a key part in getting Jack under the thrall of the Overlook.
- In the film adaptation, she doesn't speak a word; she just cackles. In the television series adaptation, she often says, "Here a boy, there a boy, everywhere a pretty little boy!"
- She makes a brief cameo appearance in The Shining level in the 2018 film Ready Player One.
- Loraine is often confused with a young and attractive woman that Danny reads the thoughts, revealing that she'd like to get into the pants of a handsome BellBoy, confusing Danny whom wonders why she doesn't get pants of her own.
- It is implied in the live action series that Lorraine's ghost may be a child molester; she sings about the attractiveness of young boys and when Wendy finds Danny after she attacked him, there is a lipstick mark on his face. This would be consistent with Lorraine's boy toy in the book being described as 17 or younger.
