Haunted: The Incredible True Story of a Canadian Family's Experience Living in a Haunted House

Rating:
Summary: So Good I Read It Twice
Review: I got this book as a housewarming gift for my brother and his wife who were claiming to hear 'bumps in the night', and worse, after moving into their fixer-upper. It was originally bought to be a gag-gift from his skeptical sibling but I glanced through it before giving it to them and once I started to read this story I couldn't put the book down. In fact I read it twice before I finally handed it over to them.

My sister-in-law thanked me for getting them the book and said it helped knowing they weren't the only people to have weird experiences like that in an old haunted house.

Personally I've never had an unusual, or paranormal, encounter and never thought much about spirits or hauntings one way or the other before. But after listening to the stories of my brother's newly purchased old house I am now intrigued. I know my brother and his wife are honest people and if they claim to have seen and heard ghosts I believe them. I also believed the story told in "Haunted" because a lot of it seemed so similar to my own family members' experiences, especially how the majority of the spirits seemed to be children and how they interact with them.

If you live in your own haunted house or know someone who does this book will really be something that you can relate to.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but could be a lot better
Review: I love a good ghost story, and this book tells a good one.
This story is about a Canadian family that bought a beautiful old Victorian house that they decided to fix up. The cover of the book makes it sound as if this is an incredible occurrence that was arranged by forces from beyond, because the family had just built a new house. In fact, the family used to live in this neighborhood and loved it, and used to have a Victorian house that they previously renovated, and they loved that, too. Therefore, I don't feel the move was prompted by the house ghosts. I won't ruin the story, but the author did some investigations and has some theories about who her ghosts might have been in life, but the dates and descriptions of the ghosts don't all add up. She describes a ghost standing on the lawn looking at a certain tree, but then never investigates the land around the tree. When digging to put in a pool in the back yard, some items were found and these items were photographed. However, when the author talks about ghostly instances that are really incredible, such as a rosebush growing out of nowhere in a very short time and sprouting a rose in the middle of winter, there is no picture of the ghostly event, even though it would have been easy to get a camera and take a picture of the flower. I found a few of the passages to be frightening, but I felt a lot of the details of physical incidents were not backed up when they could have been easily documented.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, easy read!
Review: I loved this book! It is well organized and thought out and conveys a creepy feeling without totally freaking out the reader. The story is about a Canadian family living in a haunted house that they bought and renovated. The story moves along smoothly getting creepier all the time and the author does an excellent job of conveying the confusion and self doubt triggered by supernatural events. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Story
Review: I realize not everyone believes in spirits and no amount of proof, written or otherwise, will be enough to convince a skeptic. But, I do believe, even more so now, and I think this was a very compelling story.

I borrowed a copy of this book from my cousin and liked it so much I decided to purchase a copy of my own. I'm kind of surprised that a couple of the reviewers on this site seem to be troubled with what they feel is a lack of photographic evidence within the book. That thought never even entered my mind when I read "Haunted". I assume it would have been impossible to include photographic proof for every incident mentioned. It's probably the editors instead of the author who determined exactly what got included, but regardless of who chose them, I thought the photos that were in the book only added to the story. I do agree with another reviewer that it would have been interesting to see the shots mentioned that were taken at a party and in the son's bedroom, but they were well described in the book and I can see why photos of that nature might have been impossible to include without violating the family's privacy altogether by showing the interior of their home and pictures of their family and friends. And besides, with all the computer software programs such as Photoshop that are now available to edit and alter photographs I guess anyone could come up with as many ghost photos as they wanted to create, but that wouldn't necesarily mean they were real.

In my opinion this book was told in an honest and credible manner and I really thought it was good.

Rating:
Summary: I really thought it was good
Review: I thought this was one of the best "ghost" stories I have read (and I've read a lot of them). In my opinion, it was told in a very straight forward and entertaining manner. I would highly recommend this book; especially for anyone, like myself, who has had similar experiences in a haunted house.

Rating:
Summary: This is a good read
Review: I've never been a big believer in the paranormal, but I found this story to be very convincing and told in an entertaining way. It held my attention from the first page.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent perspective into the paranormal
Review: Interested in all things paranormal, I had goosebumps when I went through the chapters of the book. My family had also had a history of living in haunted houses before, and some of the accounts described in the book were very similar. It is very hard to believe when you have never experienced it. It is somewhat sad to know that ghosts make their presence known as a cry for help. I finished the book in less than two days, it was so compellng!

Rating:
Summary: A fun tale of the supernatural
Review: Ms Williams' book Haunted is charming and well written. For one thing it has a beginning, middle and end, which this type of book sometimes doesn't . The writer also has a good sense of character, and an excellent sense of narrative. Each of the chapters seems like a short story, complete in itself, while the collection gives the reader the complete tale of the house and its history. Those expecting a blood chilling, creepy tale, however, will be disappointed, since the ghosts tend to be pranksters rather than monsters. My favorite prank is the explosive beer. In fact, I found the author's disconcertion over the haunting somewhat surprising since most of the activity in the house was hardly more challenging than a generally well behaved child's pranks. The phenomenon generally restrained its activity on command as an obedient child might, and some of the occurrences were more designed to please and delight than to upset the family. The tale of the rose bush was quite charming.

A fun tale of the supernatural.

Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyable
Review: This book was quite fun to read. I had it finished in only two days because I wanted to see how everything turned out for this family in the end. I felt like I got to know these people and enjoyed reading about their life in that remarkable house. The fact that it is a true story makes it even more interesting.

Rating:
Summary: I thought this book was great!
Review: This book was so good I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the supernatural, or just wants to read a really great story. It takes place in an old Victorian house. A couple and their kids move into it, fix it up, and soon start having really amazing experiences. I don't want to give away too much in my review, but not only do they actually see, hear and feel the ghosts, they also have other amazing things happen. If you are a skeptic to begin with, this story may cause you to reconsider what you believe. If you already believe in the supernatural you will really enjoy this book.
I also live in an old house and have had some strange experiences so I know how confusing and scary it can be. The events in "Haunted: The Incredible True Story of a Canadian Family's Experience Living in a Haunted House" were described so well there is no doubt in my mind that this really did happen, and I think it really is an "incredible true story".