Tag: hauntedhouse

Sexually Charged Haunts: A Look at Hell House and The Long Shadows of October

Reviews of Hell House by Richard Matheson and The Long Shadows of October by Kristopher Triana

Perhaps it’s because I recently read the book and watched the film version of Hell House that I drew so many comparisons to The Long Shadows of October, but nevertheless, here we are.

The premise of Hell House is simple – Rolf Rudolph Deutsch wants proof that there is life after death and sends a small group of experts into the Mount Everest of haunted houses – the Belasco House. They are given unlimited funds and a week in which to prove that ghosts do, in fact, exist. Dr. Barrett, a physicist, and his wife, Edith, are joined by two mediums, Florence Tanner and Benjamin Fischer. Benjamin is the only living, sane survivor from a past investigation of the Belasco House. The book follows them on their week through hell as they attempt to communicate with Belasco.

Hell House has it all – ghosts, possessions, a weird sex cult, a “Bastard Bog” where unwanted children of the sex cult were drowned, a chapel – complete with one giant-sized Jesus with an erection, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

For the most part, I enjoyed Hell House up until the very end. The great reveal felt extraordinarily weak and didn’t make a whole lot of sense; Especially given all of the history and deviance of the Belasco house that we were privy to. It brought the overall enjoyment of the book down a bit for me.

Likewise, the premise of The Long Shadows of October is simple – Joe Grant and Danny Knox are looking for some quick cash so that they can get Joe’s little brother, Robbie, laid. When the opportunity to housesit Snowden Manor for $500 a week falls into their laps, they jump at the chance. Old Mrs. Snowden even tells them they can have friends over, just so long as they stay at the house as much as possible over the two weeks that she’ll be gone. Things start getting weird the first night the guys invite girls over – Maxine, Danny’s girlfriend, and Kayla, Joe’s new girl. It’s almost as if the house wants the girls out of it.

While The Long Shadows of October has some similar elements to Hell House – ghosts, possessions, and sex; It also brings a host of well-formed elements that make sense to the story – wraiths, witchcraft, sex magic, and a succubus. All of which build a cohesive story that leads to a thrilling conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Shadows of October. It’s a solid haunted house story with enough of an edge to separate it and elevate it over others in the genre. I’ve seen it faulted for its lack of character development, but here’s the thing – it’s not really a story about the characters, it’s a story about the house and what’s in it. The one character who needs to be strong and well-rounded is and the others are exactly what they need to be.

If you’re looking for a sexually charged haunted house novel or looking for a little ghost-on-human sex, look no further than these two novels. While both are strong contenders, The Long Shadows of October comes out ahead for me.

In A Dark Place

The “true” story behind The Haunting in Connecticut by Ray Garton

4/5 Star Review

I’m wrapping up reviews for books read in the last week of April and you know what that means – we are halfway to Halloween! Over on the Spine Breakers YouTube channel, Sue and Megan have been hosting Halfaweenathon 2020. You can find the the original video and the reading challenges here.

I read In A Dark Place for challenge #3 – Read a book that involves something supernatural.

I am endlessly fascinated with the supernatural and the paranormal. It’s something that I would like to believe in, but thus far have not experienced anything that could not be rationally explained. I love reading “true” tales of hauntings, but they are all read with a grain of salt. In A Dark Place was no exception to this. More on this in a bit.

In the 1980s, The Snedekers oldest son was undergoing daily cancer treatments and the family needed to move closer to the city in order to better care for him. With limited income, there was only one home that they found and could afford that satisfied both the needed location and space for their family of six – a former funeral home. The parents opted not to share that fact with the kids and spent their next year or so in utter denial of all of the weird goings-on around the home. Their eldest son was the most affected and often blamed for the spooky occurrences. The situation reached its boiling point once their son was no longer in the home and the Snedekers could no longer lie to themselves about the presence of evil. Enter the Warrens and eventual exorcism of the home.

This book has it all – strange sounds, disembodied voices, shadow figures, weird lights, footsteps, phantom touches, disappearing items, vibrating beds, the evil spirits of necrophiliacs, and demonic anal rape. Oh, yes – what kind of possessed house would this be if you weren’t being anally raped by a demonic presence?!

This book is an absolute blast – when you read it as fiction. It stands on its own as a pretty great haunted house novel. Ray Garton is a fantastic writer and his story shines. If you read it as a true story, well, there are many plot holes and inconsistencies to be found. Garton himself found them and questioned the Snedekers who never seemed to be able to keep their stories straight. He approached the Warrens about the questionable events and was told by Ed to, “…make it up and make it scary. That’s why we hired you.” I highly recommend reading the interview that Ray Garton did with Damned Connecticut about his experience writing this book. You can find it here.

Whether or not you believe the validity of this story or in the Warrens ability to assist in these cases – it is a fun ride. Garton wrote a wicked fun haunted house story that can be enjoyed whether it is true or not. Recommended read!

In the Shadow of Spindrift House

A novella of cosmic horror by Mira Grant

4/5 Star Review

Have you ever wondered what an episode of Scooby Doo would look like if it was written by H.P. Lovecraft? Minus all of the racism and bigotry, of course? Well, look no further because that’s exactly what Mira Grant has done with this tightly written novella.

Our protagonist, Harlowe Upton-Jones, was raised by her paternal grandparents and foster family after her mother and father were murdered by a mysterious cult. During her formulative teen years, Harlowe, her foster brother, Kevin, and their two best friends, Addison and Andy, started solving mysteries in town and became rather well-known around the Chicago area. The problem? Teenagers don’t stay teenagers forever and the real world has real costs, like liability insurance, and there is not a lot of money in mystery solving. While the rest of the group is ready to move on from their former fame, Harlowe is still trying to keep the band together and proposes one last case: The Mystery of Spendrift House. A seemingly unsolvable mystery with a big payout.

In the Shadow of Spindrift House is a fun mix of cosmic horror, haunted house shenanigans, mystery, and unrequited love. It’s a big story for a small book. Grant makes it work, but I would be a liar if I said I didn’t want more of this tale – it would have made an excellent full-length novel.

One of my favorite things about Spindrift House is the atmosphere that surrounds it. Grant writes it as if it were another character in the story. The house is a living, breathing being and the foggy, wet New England air is the cloak that it wraps itself in. It’s just perfect!

In the Shadow of Spindrift House was published as a deluxe edition hardcover from Subterranean Press as well as an affordable ebook edition.