The Demon of Brownsville Road: A Pittsburgh Family's Battle with Evil in Their Home

I understood what the family was going through. But it seems to me that they went through much more than necessary because of Mr. Cranmer's self centered attitude and his ambition to live up to his commitments to his church and his constituents--I wondered if he was truly motivated to serve or if he wanted the public recognition. At times his family wasn't even a close second in his priorities. He expected to be able to issue orders, especially to his wife, and see them carried out to the letter as if she was a subordinate. That made some parts difficult to read, because though his family's suffering was terrible, it seemed to me that Mr. Cranmer was more concerned with how the demonic activity impacted him and how he could fight it and beat it, rather than acknowledging the "collateral damage" endured by his loved ones while he waged "glorious war" in the name of God. The irony in that to me was that the demonic activity was attracted by the unfettered wrongs committed by self absorbed and self serving people over generations during which the home was built and occupied. The initial wrong done to a family was just the first in a long history of acts committed by an entitled few.

This book is a compelling testimony of one family’s struggle to keep their sanity and their togetherness while being battered by malicious demonic forces over a period of years. After many happy years of family life something went awry at 3406 Brownsville Road that almost destroyed them. How do you tell such a story in a believable fashion without hype that will inspire and challenge readers? I think the Cranmers have achieved their goal.Bob Cranmer offers a glimpse of what many families go through when a political figure is not around to navigate his wife and children through dangerous waters. Raising teens is tough work in our culture and parents need lots of patience and determination to guide them. When a cunning enemy lies within a house looking for ways to exploit human weaknesses and to generate distrust, the groundwork is set for self-destruction. Bob and Lesa were faced with a daunting decision: fight or flight. Their faith in God had been severely tested by the relentless attacks from unseen forces. They chose to fight the enemy with the spiritual weapons available to the Christian community. Thankfully there were gifted clergy and laity who could assist them.Several book reviews highlight the shortcomings of the authors, the tedious political backstory, the lack of suspense, etc. To my mind these issues do not detract from the credibility of the story or the crisis that the Cranmers faced. Bob made a gutsy decision to share the good, the bad and the ugly of those traumatic years with the hope that people in similar circumstances will continue the struggle for freedom from demonic oppression. The reader is forced to look at the material presented about demonic oppression (house infestation) and arrive at their own conclusions. As the saying goes, for those who do not believe in the demonic world, no explanation is satisfactory. For those who believe in such a nasty spirit world at war with us humans, no explanation is necessary. The Bible is clear enough about our struggles against the world, the flesh and the devil. The book treats all three admirably. And the victory is the important lesson to recognize and celebrate.The appendix by Adam Blai, a Catholic demonologist, gives a rare insight into Catholic understanding of the presence and power of evil spirits. The reader would be foolish to dismiss all this material as fantasy and speculation. St. Peter writes: “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8-9) Some challenging questions for the reader to ponder are: Do I believe in Satan and evil spirits? Do I believe that evil spirits can occupy a house and torment those who live there? Is moral decadence and wickedness the major cause of house haunting? Does the Christian community have the authority, wisdom, and courage to deal with these evil spirits in a decisive fashion as Jesus and the Apostles did? Good and evil are forced to coexist in this world. Christians trust in the power of God to save and deliver them from personal sin and the kingdom of darkness.

You know, I wanted to like this book so badly, especially at the beginning, but by the end I was ready for the story to be over for sure. Let me say that I am an avid reader of all things true hauntings and ghosts. I am a paranormal investigator as well, going on 9 years now. So I have read and watched a lot of paranormal literature and shows. Some have been good. Some have been bad. Some have been really bad. I am a hard reader to please as well. It takes a lot for me to give your book a 5 star rating on Amazon. And just because I might rate something with 3 or 4 stars doesn't mean that I disliked the book at all necessarily, it just means that your book did not WoW me. But this read was a different read. Now I am the kind of person that will have four or five books going at the same time. As long as I'm able to keep things separated in my head, I will keep a decent amount of titles in my forefront. I bought this book in late 2017, and started to read this book a few months later. Well, today is September 1st, 2022 and I 'finished' this book after a long, very struggling at times, and crazy 5 years! This is not like me at all. I started the book and read it pretty often for 2 or 3 days and got through some chapters. But after a while, I had to take a break, and I eventually moved on to other books. It sat in my drawer for like 2 years, and I just couldn't bring myself to read more of it. I found it more of a potential chore, rather than entertainment or education. But I'm not one to give up very easily on a book. So after 2 years, I finally said, okay, I'm gonna finish this damn book. But the book kept dragging on about Bob and a lot of it was central Bob territory, what about Bob?, ALL about Bob and his family and the worst of his life and family and career and the demons in the Brownsville property. Now, I'm not saying that the house wasn't haunted, but I am saying that he was blaming a lot of things on the demons or spirits that he thought was in his house. And while demons can affect your life both inward and outward I'm not sure all of Bob's problems or because of a haunting or possession. Also some of the things that he talks about that happened inside of the house sounds a little like, no a lot like, the Amityville horror house. Now you may have your own personal opinion about that house and that book, and that's fine, you are entitled to that. But I just get the feeling that this book may have been written for profit and not based on a completely truthful outline of events. This is just my opinion. A lot of the reviews mention how Bob seems very self-centered and even narcissistic at times. I would agree with this, however it could just me his writing style and how he tells a story. Maybe the thoughts and memories just didn't mold together very well in his head and the book suffered because of that. Idk. Could be. What I do know is for me, it was a very hard book to get through especially for someone that enjoys reading about true crime and true hauntings and true paranormal subjects. It was really hard to buy everything that was happening in his story. I like to help people that are suffering with a haunting in their personal homes and residents. But I also know that unfortunately some clients have not been totally truthful with me and my team when we go to investigate their home. A lot of times they have embellished stories that are exaggerated. They look for attention. Not validation. That being said, I love to help people that genuinely want our help. You have to be careful in this field, people will take advantage of you. And you don't get into 'ghost hunting' for the money, let me tell you, unless you are on the Discovery Channel that is and have your own show. But a lot of that is made for entertainment, not the real side of paranormal investigating. It's pretty boring stuff, really, if you want to brutal truth. That's why you have to be passionate about this craft. You have to want it for the right reasons. Because it takes a lot of work and dedication, and there's no room for BS. Well, I kind of went on a rant there, didn't I?! Sorry bout that. Maybe it's because I've never had a book take me so long to finish. And I'm giving it 2 Stars, not 1, because if his story is true and told accurately, then maybe he's just not a great writer. Idk. But we'll give him the shadow of the doubt and say that he was doing the best he could at telling his story. It just wasn't a story for me, I guess. But based on some other reviews throughout the years, I'm not the only one that feels this way about the book and the author. It's not like it's a long book either. It's a 7 hour audiobook (unabridged), so it shouldn't take me that long to finish. But it did seem like almost every page was a struggle to get through. I'm not a hater, I promise. And I'm glad I finished this book finally. This is one of those books that I might not recommend to my friends. It was just told the wrong way, I guess. I hope this helps.

If You Have Any Doubts There Aren’t Any Demons Roaming The World? You Won’t After Reading This Book,Once I Started Reading This Book I Couldn’t Put It Down! I Read It in 3 Days! Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Have wanted to read this for ages. Glad I grabbed a bargain. I read this book in 3 days on and off. I enjoyed the writers pace and ease of reading. I do have my own opinions on these kind of stories. It worked to some extent. Have a read. Form your own opinions.

This book is more like a biography than a ghost story. It focuses more on Bob Cramners life and finding god, than it does on the title. This is one of the more expensive books I have brought and I do not think it is worth the money to be honest. It rambles on and on and does not focus on the title much.Do not waste your money because if you are looking for a good read about a haunting, this is not it.

The first 5 chapter's bored me to tears ,they were more about his political career then the demonic .I'm glad I don't stop reading because come chapter 6 this book is amazing, going into so much detail . I would have given this book 5 stars but the first 5chapter's let the book down

I picked this up after hearing the author on a podcast. It's well written and a fascinating story. It's not the usual book of the genre that attempts to scare, instead, this has a really positive message that resonates with my own experiences of paranormal phenomenon.

Very good personal story but very repetative and although a remarkable family the story was very real but lacked the page turning kind of excitement and was almost a little too biblical more then anything else