Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
I love a good haunted house story, and this one was pretty decent. It had the semblance of a plot, which is often lacking in these kinds of books. What I liked most was that once the homeowner meets Enoch (a really old dude who had been the caretaker of the mansion for years), he learns how the mansion's past ties in with the current ghostly happenings. That's why I liked [b:A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of the Allen House|13238691|A Haunted Love Story The Ghosts of the Allen House|Mark Spencer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347402269s/13238691.jpg|18437001] so much; you get to find out the history of the house, and I think that makes the story a lot more meaningful.
My favorite scene from the book was when the homeowner and his son explore an abandoned crypt on the property (!). I'm so fascinated by old places that have been abandoned and neglected (graveyards, hospitals, etc.), I was really jealous that they got to do this. Actually going into the crypt would have required pretty steely nerves, though; the coffins had disintegrated, so there were human remains and other funerary detritus scattered around the floor of the crypt. The stupid son actually took a handle from one of the coffins, and I was like: "Dude! That's, like, rule number one of any final resting place: you don't take stuff away!" When we went to Bachelor's Grove last summer, people had left actual money and other items of value on some of the graves, but there was no way I was going to take anything. Partly out of respect for the deceased, and partly because that just seems like bad karma. Anyway. The other scary thing about the crypt scene was that there was no oxygen in the underground space, which they almost found out too late. It's a good thing for me to remember if I ever get the guts to explore any abandoned locations.
Finally, I just wish there had been photos of the house, both interior and exterior. There are a few photos online of the outside of the house, and the cover image shows the outside of the house. But there are no pictures of the inside, and the mansion burned down in the 80's, I think -- so there's no way to get a good visual picture of the place. At any rate, if I were to make a booklist of good true haunting books, this one would probably make it on there.
My favorite scene from the book was when the homeowner and his son explore an abandoned crypt on the property (!). I'm so fascinated by old places that have been abandoned and neglected (graveyards, hospitals, etc.), I was really jealous that they got to do this. Actually going into the crypt would have required pretty steely nerves, though; the coffins had disintegrated, so there were human remains and other funerary detritus scattered around the floor of the crypt. The stupid son actually took a handle from one of the coffins, and I was like: "Dude! That's, like, rule number one of any final resting place: you don't take stuff away!" When we went to Bachelor's Grove last summer, people had left actual money and other items of value on some of the graves, but there was no way I was going to take anything. Partly out of respect for the deceased, and partly because that just seems like bad karma. Anyway. The other scary thing about the crypt scene was that there was no oxygen in the underground space, which they almost found out too late. It's a good thing for me to remember if I ever get the guts to explore any abandoned locations.
Finally, I just wish there had been photos of the house, both interior and exterior. There are a few photos online of the outside of the house, and the cover image shows the outside of the house. But there are no pictures of the inside, and the mansion burned down in the 80's, I think -- so there's no way to get a good visual picture of the place. At any rate, if I were to make a booklist of good true haunting books, this one would probably make it on there.
Not crazy or scary but it's a good story by a lovely man.