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HORROR!
Ghosts and Haunted Houses

 

FIC GIRARDI
Madeleine’s Ghost
Robert Girardi
This intricate plot revolves around Ned Conti, a graduate student of French history, and the paranormal phenomena that have begun to occur in his New York apartment. As his home becomes more threatening, Ned decides he must face his own past and return to New Orleans , the city he had fled ten years before, where he will discover the link between this world and the next.

FIC JACKSON
The Haunting
Shirley Jackson
Dr. John Montague, a scientist fascinated with supernatural events, has decided to conduct a unique experiment involving Hill House, a notoriously haunted estate in New England . He invites the heir to Hill House Luke, headstrong Theo, and shy, lonely Eleanor, who had experienced paranormal events as a child. Soon the house has mesmerizing effects on her, and the subtle, psychological isolation of Eleanor imparts a chilling horror to the remaining occupants of the house.

PBK JAMES
CASS FIC JAMES
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
This deliberate, psychologically complex horror tale begins with the arrival of a new governess at a remote country estate, where she has been hired to take charge of two young orphans. The peaceful beginnings of her new position soon give way to disturbing visions of two ghosts roaming the estate. As she notices strange behavior in her two charges, she begins to believe the ghosts may be controlling the minds of the children.

FIC JAMES
Possession
Peter James
Strange happenings make Alex Hightower think Fabian, her 20-year-old son recently killed in an auto accident, is trying to make contact with her. Shaken, she investigates her son’s life and finds out he was not the person she thought him to be, but rather an angry possible murderer. A séance only confirms her fears that Fabian’s angry spirit is trying to return with her help, and violent consequences result from their battle of wills as Alex battles Fabian’s desire to possess her soul.

FIC SAUL
Black Creek Crossing
John Saul
Occupants of the house at Black Creek Crossing have been dying strange and violent deaths since the seventeenth century, when the wife and daughter of the house’s original owner were burned at the stake for witchcraft. After 14-year-old Angel’s family moves in to the possibly haunted house, she and her friend Seth discover an ancient book of spells that may have belonged to the accused witches. The spirits in the house begin to subtly shape Angel’s life without her knowledge, but is their interference changing her life for good or ill?

FIC SIDDONS
CASS FIC SIDDONS
The House Next Door
Anne Rivers Siddons
Walter and Colquitt Kennedy love their peaceful life in an Atlanta suburb, until the empty lot next to their home is sold to a young couple who intend to build their home on the property. The new house seems to bring misfortune to its owners, and soon a new couple moves in. As the string of homeowners destroyed by the house grows, the Kennedy’s grow obsessed with discovering the secret of the house’s evil.

FIC SIMMONS
A Winter Haunting
Dan Simmons
Returning to the Illinois town in which he grew up, Dale Stewart tries to pick up the pieces of his disastrous love life and career. He chooses to spend the winter in the abandoned farmhouse that was once home to his best friend, mysteriously killed 41 years before, and is drawn into the mystery as cryptic messages and strange lights alert him to a presence in the house.

FIC STRAUB
Ghost Story
Peter Struab
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” What would happen if someone from your past came back to exact retribution? Fifty years ago, four men accidentally killed a young woman and decided to cover up their crime, vowing to go on with their lives and never again speak of that horrible night. Now the four men responsible regularly meet to tell ghost stories, but honor their vow not to bring up their crime, until one of their number suddenly dies, and the others begin experiencing haunting dreams predicting their own deaths. Has their victim come for her revenge at last?

FIC WOOD
The Basement
Bari Wood
New England aristocrat Myra Ludens is terrified of her basement, the unhallowed burial site of a seventeenth-century accused witch. Myra can sense the evil rising from the basement, and even remodeling the house doesn’t help. An exorcism finally seems to bring her peace of mind, but when bizarre accidents start befalling many of the townspeople who are disliked by Myra , she wonders if the ghost seeks revenge on the town or if more sinister forces are at work.

MYS GRABIEN
The Weaver and the Factory Maid
Deborah Grabien
Receiving an 18 th century English home as payment for a job seems like a dream come true for house restorer and folk musician Ringan Laine, and he takes up residence without delay. He soon finds out his new barn and cottage are haunted by the spirits of two young lovers murdered in 1817 who need Ringan’s help to lay their spirits to rest.

PBK KING
The Shining
Stephen King
Jack Torrance sees his new position as winter caretaker of Colorado ’s Overlook Hotel as a new start and a chance to work on writing his novel. He moves with his wife and son Danny, whose telepathy and ability to see the future allow him to see the spirits that haunt the Overlook. As snow plunges the family into greater isolation, Danny’s frightening visions escalate and the hotel’s spirits try to lay claim to the family.

SF CARD
Homebody
Orson Scott Card
After losing his daughter in a car wreck, Don Lark buries himself in restoring a long-neglected Southern mansion, but when he unearths an old tunnel in the cellar, he stirs up the demons of the house's tragic past. His unusual neighbors tell him to cease his restoration project and even the squatter living in the house begs him to leave well enough alone, but soon they must work together to prevent the evils of the past from taking over their lives.

 

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