The Uninvited: The True Story of the Union Screaming House

First off, I admit I am no expert when it comes to the paranormal. It's just something I have had an interest in over many years. I do believe that some people have "experiences" with things "otherworldly." That being said though, I found much of what I read in Mr. LaChance's book hard to believe. The story begins in the spring of 2001 in the small town of Union, Missouri. Steven LaChance, a divorced, middle-aged man and his three children, two boys and a girl are tired of living their lives in an apartment building with nosey, rude and disruptive neighbors and are looking for something better, a house of their own. He begins the story talking about the births of his children and how his wife one day tells him she is leaving him and their children because she is just not cut out to be a mother. He also discusses the sudden death of his sister Janice whom he claimed to be very close to growing up and about a paranormal experience his daughter had after her aunt died.Steven and the kids go "house hunting" one day and happen across a white 2-story home built in the 1930s. And just their luck, it is up for rent! The owner of the house is an elderly man named Mr. Winters whom Steven describes as an eccentric who wears a wig he cannot keep fitted properly on his head. Mr. Winters gives them a tour of the house which has a large basement and root cellar area. Upon inspection of the basement Mr. Winters notes to Steven that there is a "butcher shower" in a corner of the room. He explains that back in the day the farmers would come in and shower down in the basement to avoid tracking blood and dirt upstairs after slaughtering hogs.As it turns out the house is at an affordable rate for Steven and after turning in an application and waiting about a week he hears back from Mr. Winters and is told that he and the children have been selected to rent the house. The day before moving in Steven goes back to the house to meet with Mr. Winters one more time and to "check the place over" again and receive the keys. Mr. Winters insists they meet at the house and be out before dark. It is kind of strange that during the inspection Mr. Winters happens to ask Steven if he believes in ghosts. Steven answers no and more or less shrugs the question off.So, Steven and the kids move in and nothing happens for a few days. Without going into too much detail, some of the things that happen are that Steven begins to have nightmares about the butcher shower, seeing a man washing blood off of himself down in the basement. His son, Matthew sees a "monster" in the basement while going down to retrieve a water hose. Matthew also claims an "evil clown" chased him down the hallway when he was going to use the bathroom. Footsteps are heard, especially upstairs and the sound of screaming. A "black shadow man" is also seen. Doors slam shut and are unable to be opened. A bad stench often erupts. People who walk down the street will stop before passing their house and cross to the other side of the street. However, Steven never bothers to ask why or ask any of the neighbors if they know why. The family flees the house many times to run to Steven's parent's home a short distance away. When they return the lights are always on in the house. At the request of his mother, Steven finally calls Mr. Winters and asks him if the house is haunted. Of course Mr. Winters denies knowing anything about the house being haunted. He does, however, offer to send a priest over to the house to bless the house. Steven declines the offer and soon after he and his family move out and find a "nonhaunted" home to move into this time. Steven tells Mr. Winters to never to rent the house out to people who have children because of the danger he felt his children were in during the hauntings.A few years after Steven leaves another family moves in, Helen and Charlie March and their teenage daughter Kelly. Steven is shocked as he was told the house had been turned into dog kennels. Steven drops by one day to talk to Helen about the house and to ask if she has experienced anything strange and he relates his and his family's experiences. Helen and her daughter have both had experiences with the ghostly/demonic phenomonan as well. Helen's husband, Charlie believes simply that if they leave the ghosts alone the problem will go away. Charlie often works nights and is not privy to the experiences his wife and daughter have in the house until he sees an apparition in the bedroom one night himself. Claiming they can't afford to move, the March family stays on in the house while Steven tries to get help for them from various paranormal groups, psychics, mediums, etc. Kelly begins to cut herself due to the stress of living in a haunted house and is hospitalized. Meanwhile Helen becomes more and more oppressed by the evil in the house and threatens to kill Charlie whom she believes is cheating on her. Steven is constantly in and out of the house once more trying to help the family.Well, I have probably already given too much of the book away so I will stop with any more details. I have to ask myself if people who write these types of stories get "ideas" from the works of other authors who write on the paranormal. I am not saying Mr. LaChance is lying but maybe stretching the truth a bit here. The lights coming on in the house by themselves, the dark shadow man. The evil clown reminds me a bit of the character "Pennywise" in Stephen King's story titled "It." They all seem to fit a common theme. As for the March family citing that they could not afford to move, it makes no sense. Again, many times in many books on haunted houses we read that the renters/owners cannot "afford" to leave even though they are going through much personal distress and even physical harm. You would think that if a person's life were in danger and especially the lives of their child/children were at stake, no matter what it cost or what it took they would leave the house! Heck, even if it meant going to a homeless shelter for a little while. What is more important, your life or the rent on the house? Seems a "no-brainer" to me. As for Mr. LaChance, I'm sure the stress of raising three young children on his own plus having a job that often took him out of town and away from his family for days at a time could cause anyone nightmares!I think the book is worth reading for entertainment value but I personally find much of it hard to believe and too many things in the story just too similar to other books I have read on similar subjects. I would recommend buying the book used at a lower price or renting it at the library. As I said in my title, "Take it with a grain of salt."ADDENDUM: As a side note, the landlord character "Mr. Winters" was in actuality a woman. On the TV program "A Haunting" (Discovery Channel) an episode was aired about this same story called "Fear House" and the landlord was a female. Mr. LaChance made a comment on another reviewer's post that he had to change the landlord in the book to a man because the publisher's made him do this. Other than that, no explanation for that "little change." Was it to protect the landlord's identity? Kind of hard to understand. Pretty common to change a person's name to protect identity but the sex of the person too?

I was not expecting this story to be as good as it was. Surprisingly impressed with the level of details and psychological aspects.

It'll pass the time if you're into this kind of thing. The sequel is not as good.

The introductory chapters are slow, then the reports of paranormal activity become interesting with more intense and frequent phenomena than in the typical haunting story. But then the story breaks down. This isn't your typical haunting story with a few mild events. The events reported are not only extreme in scope but extreme in number. Unfortunately, for all that, they are completely without any corrobative evidence. Why no evidence? Not for any lack of frequency or opportunity. The author supposedly went on to found a paranormal investigative society, and had (after he moved out and a new tenant moved in) hordes of investigators visiting the house constantly. He reports of electric shocks, transformers constantly blowing, bangs loud enough to set neighbors dogs barking, stains on carpets, and contantly forming apparitions, sounds, objects moving, etc. seem to imply plenty of opportunity. But he still gives not one jot of evidence. He reports on a rambled, jumbled history of everything from Indians to Civil war events, apparently implying the area has lots of reasons for it to be haunted but nothing that makes any sense or connection with the house. And as to the house phenomena itself, the book provides no photographs (though he speaks of taking them), no EMPS, no EVPS recordings, no neighbors' testimony, no documents from the local power company as to the blowing transformers. No documented reports from any other paranormal investigative societies. Nothing.Rather telling, towards the end of the story, he reports what seems like an obvious possession. He recounts several attempted murders and suicides on the part of the afflicted person. He reports they're consulting a priest. Bt no one thinks perhaps the woman involved might benefit from an exorcism. If the case were really investigated by the church and this priest, the behavior he reports is so extreme it seems like that option would have had to have been considered. Yet the priest and church doesn't get that involved. The reason given for the lack of that escalation in aide seemed as lame as the lack of any evidence. Which implies that the events reported by the author were perhaps blown up for the purposes of the story.Where I finally lost any belief, however, was that report of how, also the near end of the tale, when his friend is continuing to show signs of a murderous possession, and he supposedly has been through several years of terror from this haunting, he talks about preparations for celebrating Halloween. How his he and his children and his friends, though desperate and confused by the events in the house and what has happened to the people in it, and apparently so scarred by their experiences -- are not so surfeit of gore to avoid planning a real Halloween bash. First by watching gory DVDS with his kids. Then by him taking his paranormal group on a little jaunt down Zombie Road. There they are supposedly joined by several more paranormal apparitions. They take more photos of them, while the semi-possessed friend -- whom he brought along -- decends further into showing more signs of possession. All part of the Halloween fun. Right.Now honestly, anyone who was struggling with the unbelievable events in this book is going to lose their audience when they try to convince it of their supposedly desperate terror and horror on one hand by these reported attacks of the paranormal. And then relate their going home and blithely making plans for courting a fake Halloween version of the paranormal. If any of the events in this story were true, the last thing they'd want to be watching was bloody videos, or sauntering down Zombie Lane looking for some fake scares. Why bother when they have the real thing in the house?But along with their recounting of experiences with real paranormally influenced (according to the author) attempted bloody murder, against the author and various family members, the author reports how his family and friends want to celebrate Halloween by watching videos of the fake version. That juxtaposition of reality - that on the one hand they are frantic to solve the problem and save their friend who is on the verge of madness -- and on the other hand, they all go out for a Halloween scare and take her along - was where the story really jumped the shark for me. It made the real interest of the author clear. After losing his job, (and he never talks of getting another) and he founds this paranormal society, he doesn't get back involved in the house out of concern for his friend or because he fell into it and had to solve this problem. He's doing it because he is attracted to the whole paranormal thing. The story is less of a potentially true account of a family's relucant experience with a true haunting to more of an afficionado seeking out this stuff to make a quick buck or get some thrills. The idea that he'd turn from experiences of attempted murder and real hauntings to watching gory DVDs of haunting and seeking out fake Halloween spots to celebrate the holiday just isn't believable. Believe people who had a true and serious experiences of the paranormal wouldn't do such a lame thing.So ... as a fictional account -- the writing is poor. If you want to real a well written novelization of a supposedly true and more believable haunting that doesn't go overboard, try Night Stalks the Mansion.As a investigative report of a haunted house, there's no evidence other than anecdotal, and much of that is too wild to believe.I'd give it 2 1/2 stars.

Very good read for those with an interest in this subject. Goes in good detail of those affected by these type of hauntings and how the recovering process afterwards is just as important. Also the understanding of the only way you can fight evil is with and through God himself.

Well was disappointed parts very repetitious and I felt we just never got to conclude what was happening. Unlike previous books I have read this was not good. It did not have any substance to it. Only bits were explained and I felt so much I needed answers to at the end I was left with a big ???????

I have read possibly hundreds of books of this genre. This was by far one of the very best I have read. The style and pace of the book were perfect. My advice would be.....dont read it in the dark !!

a corker of a book -i read lot true hauntings/spooky stuff was frightning, interesting ,terrifing in parts when think of it.one to buy

A page turner, from beginning to end. Highly recommended.Enjoyable, scarey, exciting. Couldn't put down until I had finished it.