Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151672 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Synopsis
This is the true story of the haunting and successful exorcism of a house in Brooklyn, USA. The text tells of shadowy figures, balls of lights and the terror of two young daughters, one of whom watched the blankets from her bed being pulled off and neatly folded by ghostly hands.

Customer Reviews

Left unfinished...?
Elaine says at the end of this book that she is unsure of certain things - which i will not give away - and i must say, it`s very difficult to believe the way this story `ends.` Elaine`s `caring` brother took an absolute age finding someone to help rid the house of `spirits` and i couldn`t help wondering what his problem was. Then he turns round and says he actually PERSONALLY KNOWS a medium who can help ! So what has he been waiting all these months for ? .....you ask yourself !
A lot of strange things going on in this book - apart from the ghostly happenings - elaine never misses a chance to have a dig at her ex husband, which i thought was hilarious every time she did it !
For me this story felt unfinished - and elaine kind of says the same thing at the end.

Grave's End
Like a previous reviewer I too have a library of this type of book, and I would also highly recommend this one. It's a heartfelt story of the experiences of one family and how living in a haunted home affected them. The haunting escalates from globes of light to violent attacks on the family. Very well written and keeps the reader engaged from the beginning to the all too soon end. If you enjoy this one, you'll probably enjoy The Myrtles too. Well worth a read.

A Brooklyn Ghost Story
Over the years I have read enough ghost books to fill a small library, most of which are the familiar collections of several stories written by one author. Many of these writers are old pros and have a very polished writing style; sometimes a little too polished and detached in fact. Elaine Mercado is a new writer and sometimes it shows, but her candor and vulnerability is a refreshing change for the fans of this type of book. It is also nice to hear the story from the point of view of the person who experienced the haunting rather than a third party interviewer.

The story begins as the author and her husband purchase a new home and move in. Almost from the outset the family begins to feel as if they are being watched and things escalate from there. All of the family is effected but the author and her eldest daughter seem to get the brunt of the storm. A storm that only intensifies as time goes on. To add to the problem, this is a family that does not particularly believe in any form of life after death and so they must also deal with what is happening in relation to their beliefs. After finally coming to terms with this conundrum they begin to seek help and find it in the form of famous Parapsychologist Hans Holzer. Dr. Holzer is very familiar to anyone who is partial to this type of book and I have several of his books in my own library. In many ways this is like one of Dr. Holzer's books except with a much more detailed description of the haunting before Holzer arrives on the scene. This is a ghost story that portrays in detail the haunting much more so than the investigation. I like it!

This is a book that you will read very quickly because the author does a very nice job of making you wonder what is going to happen next. She makes the reader feel as if they know this family personally so that you will want to find out how things turn out. It does occasionally show through that this is the author's first book but not often and the story flows very smoothly. Mrs. Mercado does have a tendency to engage in a little too much psycho-babble which slows the book down a little in places but I can easily live with this in order to get this kind of first person account of a haunting. It is often said that the Devil is in the details and there are plenty of details here. I like that also.

I know the author doesn't want to have another first person account to write about but maybe she will find herself drawn to write about other people's experiences. I think that there is much potential here.