Cecilia Back

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the first hand account of a woman who's house is haunted. Built in the late 19th century it is inhabited by the family and 4 ghosts. The ghosts are Dr. McBride for which the house is named, a Victorian lady and two children (a boy and a girl). The author tells of when they first moved into the house and the ghosts made themselves known by hiding tools and other assorted objects of the tradespeople working on renovations. There are stories of the children ghosts tugging on peoples clothes as well as climbing into bed with the adults. The children like to play with the author's children's toys making them talk, even with no batteries in them. One of the fun ones of this nature was 4 furbies in 4 different rooms all talking to each other, one of which didn't even have any batteries in it. The ghost of Dr. McBride is one of the adult ghosts and he makes his presence known by stomping around the house and on the stairs as well as cigar smoke. The Victorian lady ghost is there apparently looking for her missing child that disappeared from the fort across the street from the house. Nothing really scary in the book and is an easy read. Some things in the book lead you to wonder if the author isn't embellishing it some or remembrance isn't leading her slightly astray but certainly doesn't detract from the book. Good all over if you want to read a first person book about a haunted house.… (altro)

In the spirit of Halloween I have a yearly ritual where I read as many ghosts and paranormal books as possible in the month of October. I get a kick out of discovering new authors and rereading some old classics. This book is like many other books that describes a family's personal encounter with a ghost. The family purchases a home that seems almost too good to be true and realizes rather quickly that the home is not what they wanted. The author is recounting a first hand experience of her personal encounters with the entity and paints a picture of daily terror. She describes furniture being moved, seeing full apparitions, finding ghost children in her house, and living in perpetual fear of non-living beings.

I really struggled with this book and made a genuine attempt at liking it. I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but honestly do not believe this is a true recollection of a haunting. I say this since many of her situations border on the outlandish and unrealistic. An example is her and her husband hearing ghosts parties late at night that would last until the early hours of the morning. Children appearing and disappearing before her eyes. The author also states that she is able to communicate with the spirits and feels that at times she was able to have an almost normal conversation with them. I personally believe that the author believes she has had some profound experiences, but I just cannot accept the story as true. I say her book is filled with heavy embellishments and creative exaggerations. I feel it is more fiction than fact and believe the book's title should state that it is based off a true encounter. I feel that the title is somewhat misleading and not accurate. If you like ghost stories in general than I would check this book out at the local library, but other than that I cannot recommend this book. Unless some editing is done it is really not worth the time.… (altro)

I'm a sucker for ghost stories, so I was eager to read this book. The author details her experiences in the "McBride House," which is a house built by Dr. McBride in the 1800s at Fort Gibson. The house, the author says, is haunted by four ghosts - a young boy, a young girl, a woman, and Dr. McBride himself.

The writing style is what really bogged down this book. The conversations are horribly stilted; no one really talks that way. I found myself having to slug through the book, hoping that it would become more readable and enjoyable as I progressed. It didn't. At the hands of someone who was talented in prose, this could have been an interesting book. As it is, it's quite boring.… (altro)