Rating: 
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This is one you can't put down!! Mr. La Chance gives a detailed account about the location and what his family bravely went through. This one is a keeper.
Rating: 
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First off, I admit I am no expert when it comes to the paranormal. It's just something I have had an interest in over many years. I do believe that some people have "experiences" with things "otherworldly." That being said though, I found much of what I read in Mr. LaChance's book hard to believe. The story begins in the spring of 2001 in the small town of Union, Missouri. Steven LaChance, a divorced, middle-aged man and his three children, two boys and a girl are tired of living their lives in an apartment building with nosey, rude and disruptive neighbors and are looking for something better, a house of their own. He begins the story talking about the births of his children and how his wife one day tells him she is leaving him and their children because she is just not cut out to be a mother. He also discusses the sudden death of his sister Janice whom he claimed to be very close to growing up and about a paranormal experience his daughter had after her aunt died.
Steven and the kids go "house hunting" one day and happen across a white 2-story home built in the 1930s. And just their luck, it is up for rent! The owner of the house is an elderly man named Mr. Winters whom Steven describes as an eccentric who wears a wig he cannot keep fitted properly on his head. Mr. Winters gives them a tour of the house which has a large basement and root cellar area. Upon inspection of the basement Mr. Winters notes to Steven that there is a "butcher shower" in a corner of the room. He explains that back in the day the farmers would come in and shower down in the basement to avoid tracking blood and dirt upstairs after slaughtering hogs.
As it turns out the house is at an affordable rate for Steven and after turning in an application and waiting about a week he hears back from Mr. Winters and is told that he and the children have been selected to rent the house. The day before moving in Steven goes back to the house to meet with Mr. Winters one more time and to "check the place over" again and receive the keys. Mr. Winters insists they meet at the house and be out before dark. It is kind of strange that during the inspection Mr. Winters happens to ask Steven if he believes in ghosts. Steven answers no and more or less shrugs the question off.
So, Steven and the kids move in and nothing happens for a few days. Without going into too much detail, some of the things that happen are that Steven begins to have nightmares about the butcher shower, seeing a man washing blood off of himself down in the basement. His son, Matthew sees a "monster" in the basement while going down to retrieve a water hose. Matthew also claims an "evil clown" chased him down the hallway when he was going to use the bathroom. Footsteps are heard, especially upstairs and the sound of screaming. A "black shadow man" is also seen. Doors slam shut and are unable to be opened. A bad stench often erupts. People who walk down the street will stop before passing their house and cross to the other side of the street. However, Steven never bothers to ask why or ask any of the neighbors if they know why. The family flees the house many times to run to Steven's parent's home a short distance away. When they return the lights are always on in the house. At the request of his mother, Steven finally calls Mr. Winters and asks him if the house is haunted. Of course Mr. Winters denies knowing anything about the house being haunted. He does, however, offer to send a priest over to the house to bless the house. Steven declines the offer and soon after he and his family move out and find a "nonhaunted" home to move into this time. Steven tells Mr. Winters to never to rent the house out to people who have children because of the danger he felt his children were in during the hauntings.
A few years after Steven leaves another family moves in, Helen and Charlie March and their teenage daughter Kelly. Steven is shocked as he was told the house had been turned into dog kennels. Steven drops by one day to talk to Helen about the house and to ask if she has experienced anything strange and he relates his and his family's experiences. Helen and her daughter have both had experiences with the ghostly/demonic phenomonan as well. Helen's husband, Charlie believes simply that if they leave the ghosts alone the problem will go away. Charlie often works nights and is not privy to the experiences his wife and daughter have in the house until he sees an apparition in the bedroom one night himself. Claiming they can't afford to move, the March family stays on in the house while Steven tries to get help for them from various paranormal groups, psychics, mediums, etc. Kelly begins to cut herself due to the stress of living in a haunted house and is hospitalized. Meanwhile Helen becomes more and more oppressed by the evil in the house and threatens to kill Charlie whom she believes is cheating on her. Steven is constantly in and out of the house once more trying to help the family.
Well, I have probably already given too much of the book away so I will stop with any more details. I have to ask myself if people who write these types of stories get "ideas" from the works of other authors who write on the paranormal. I am not saying Mr. LaChance is lying but maybe stretching the truth a bit here. The lights coming on in the house by themselves, the dark shadow man. The evil clown reminds me a bit of the character "Pennywise" in Stephen King's story titled "It." They all seem to fit a common theme. As for the March family citing that they could not afford to move, it makes no sense. Again, many times in many books on haunted houses we read that the renters/owners cannot "afford" to leave even though they are going through much personal distress and even physical harm. You would think that if a person's life were in danger and especially the lives of their child/children were at stake, no matter what it cost or what it took they would leave the house! Heck, even if it meant going to a homeless shelter for a little while. What is more important, your life or the rent on the house? Seems a "no-brainer" to me. As for Mr. LaChance, I'm sure the stress of raising three young children on his own plus having a job that often took him out of town and away from his family for days at a time could cause anyone nightmares!
I think the book is worth reading for entertainment value but I personally find much of it hard to believe and too many things in the story just too similar to other books I have read on similar subjects. I would recommend buying the book used at a lower price or renting it at the library. As I said in my title, "Take it with a grain of salt."
ADDENDUM: As a side note, the landlord character "Mr. Winters" was in actuality a woman. On the TV program "A Haunting" (Discovery Channel) an episode was aired about this same story called "Fear House" and the landlord was a female. Mr. LaChance made a comment on another reviewer's post that he had to change the landlord in the book to a man because the publisher's made him do this. Other than that, no explanation for that "little change." Was it to protect the landlord's identity? Kind of hard to understand. Pretty common to change a person's name to protect identity but the sex of the person too?
Rating: -
First off, i do not want to diminish what i'm sure the author experienced in that house. Yes, i'm sure it was horrible, scarring, traumatizing and ultimately spiritually lifting. My gripe with this story is that the author is clearly NOT a writer and the book is full of repitition, characters that appear and then quickly disappear not unlike ghosts themselves, and an overall quality that just felt amateurish.
As for the demonic presence, well, from his descriptions that is just par for the course concerning demonic infestations. The darkness, the illusions, the stench, the way they prey on human fears. There are thousands of books availabe in this day and age concerning the supernatural. Many of them take the "I don't know what the hell that is" approach, and many other books explore the foundational meaning of metaphysics and the Hows and Whys regarding evil spirits that visit humans.
Lastly, i just don't understand clearly why the woman Helen and her husband stayed in a haunted house. The author credits it to them "feeling that it was their duty" so that no one else would move in. But then he spends page after page lamenting their situation and describing how Helen goes a little more insane each day. Well, MOVE OUT OF THE DEMONIC HAUNTED HOUSE!!!
For anyone wanting a scarier read, i would recommend The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism.
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I received this book as a gift for my birthday on Tuesday and on Saturday I had already finished it and given it back to the gift-giver as a MUST READ! I am a HUGE Ghost Hunters fan and love all things [...] so this book was on my must read list. It was an incredible story and an extremely easy read, I never wanted to put it down! I recommend it to anyone with an interest in house hauntings!
Rating: 
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I read this book in no time and it was kinda like watching Amityville Horror in my mind! Whenever I read an autobiographical book, i expect moments of TMI, but this wasn't too filled with unnecessary details like many. It didn't blow my socks off so I have to give it a 4 star but I still did really like it.
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