There is a long tradition in Western culture, both learned and folkloric, that identifies particular locations as the haunts of evil spirits.  This paper explores an important strand of this tradition associated with Protestant Christianity.  The reformers of the sixteenth and seventeenth century insisted that ghosts did not exist, but emphasised instead the constant and deadly activity of the Devil.  They located this activity primarily inside the human mind.  Accordingly, Protestant thinkers rejected the popular belief that spirits were attached to physical places.  Nonetheless, they argued that Satan sometimes chose lonely and desolate environments as his hunting grounds, citing the biblical example of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  Such locations appealed to the ancient enemy because they stripped his potential victims of the protection of Christian society, thereby exposing them to the full power of demonic temptation. 

This paper draws on both early modern and contemporary sources to elucidate this distinctive nexus of ideas.  This not only illuminates a fascinating intellectual tradition, but also provides a lens through which to read some classic works of horror fiction.  In this spirit, the paper concludes with an analysis of Stephen King’s The Shining (1977), a novel that in many ways exemplifies the themes of Protestant demonology.