From Kate Plourde - Walker Evans: Interior View of Heliker/Lahotan House, Walpole, Maine, 1962

Interior View of Heliker/Lahotan House, Walpole, Maine, 1962 - Walker Evans

This photo by Walker Evans is part of a book he created called Message from the Interior. The book consists of shots of rooms that are sometimes inhabited and sometimes not, but that always have an uncanny feeling to them. There is a sense of deep sadness and loss that permeates the images.
This photograph in particular has an uneasy quality to it. There is a feeling that either something terrible is wanting to come out. That if you go down the hallway you'll meet whatever is waiting. There is no explanation provided as to why the room is empty or why all the doors are open. There is a mystery here and the viewer feels compelled to solve it, even if it leads to something unpleasant.
The light source also contributes to the uncanny nature of the image. A window seems to be providing most of the light in the foreground although there is only a suggestion of it in the actual image. Towards the back of the image, most of the interior is in shadows except for a very bright spot on the very back wall. There is no logical source of the light that can be seen and so it creates a very disorienting effect.
The way the doorways simultaneously create and opening to the next rooms and create barriers to them also serves to enhance this disorientation. What is seen and what remains hidden is what makes the image uncanny. It is haunted by the possibilities it contains.