“The Housemaid” (post 3) by Freida McFadden: Who messes up the Winchester home at night?

The protagonist says, “I’m starting to get stressed because, as usual, the entire house was a mess when I woke up this morning. I don’t know how this house gets so messy. Is Nina’s medication treating some sort of disorder where she gets up in the middle of the night and makes a mess in the house? Is that a thing?” (1, p. 82).

Yes, in multiple personality: not necessarily making a mess, but doing unremembered, out-of-character things, at night:

“MPD patients frequently have the experience of waking up in the morning and finding evidence that they were busy during the night, although they do not remember anything. They may find drawings, notes, poems, relocated furniture…or other evidence that they have been up and busy. If this is a common life experience for a patient, there is an excellent chance that he or she has MPD” (2, p. 81).

In short, Mrs. Winchester, whose regular, daytime personality, is very neat, may have a messy, alternate personality, who comes out at night.

1. Freida McFadden. The Housemaid. New York, Grand Central/Hachette, 2022.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.