Harold Cameron

This was not a story that was over the top...let's make a movie and make a zillion dollars, like The Amityville Horror and some others, and there wasn't anything really "super scary"... although if I had experienced any of what occurred for any given length of time, you can bet your last dollar that I wouldn't have stayed...not for 2 minutes, much less for 2 years. During this family's stay they said they experienced hearing footsteps in the house, while at night they heard what sounded like a man walking up the gravel driveway, they saw and heard doors opening, doorknobs moving ...and odors in their bedroom that ranged from pleasurably mild to absolutely putrid. When family visited there were some other ghostly things going on as well. Mr. Cameron did begin to investigate the history of the house and learned a few interesting things. How much of it was true and how much of it was tales that got added on to each time they were told is anybody's guess. One thing he should have known to start with is that NOBODY rents you a 17-room historical mansion out of the goodness of their heart. At one point during their time there, an elderly black man, Enoch, had been living in their barn. I found this rather odd and wondered if they didn't ever venture out on the property. Apparently, the man had previously worked in the mansion when he was young. Harold Cameron befriends and hires him to help his wife Dorothy around the house. Eventually with much prodding, Harold gets the man to tell him the history of the property. I found this part interesting. A tragic and sad past certainly would explain why these spirits might remain, if there is actually anything to this and you really believe. Personally, I found the book to be interesting. I grew up on ghost stories. My Irish grandmother believed this was real to the bottom of her Irish soul. Something about the family's reaction through the entire ordeal was strange and "off", for lack of a better word. They were entirely too calm and accepting about the entire thing. Actually, their reactions to most of what happened, ghostly or not, was rather odd. Sometimes it seemed that the story itself would go completely off topic. At the end, there was a note...an update, about what has happened to the mansion and the property over the years. That was very interesting also. If you like ghost stories, this one will keep you entertained. I started this in December and found that I did better with it to read it in sections, so I am just now finishing it. I wanted to give the book and the authors a fair evaluation and that took more "pondering" than usual.… (altro)