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This House Is Haunted
Join paranormal expert and storyteller extraordinaire Hans Holzer as he investigates the most famous, and infamous, real-life haunted houses
Perhaps no other paranormal situation captures our imagination more than a haunted house. The idea of sharing a home with the dead is unsettling for the current inhabitants, but according to professor Hans Holzer, it can be equally as upsetting to the ghost. In The House Is Haunted, Holzer explores more than eighty haunted houses—all over the United States and abroad—dissects their history, and speculates on the reasons the otherworldly inhabitants continue to stay in their earthly abodes.
Perhaps no other paranormal situation captures our imagination more than a haunted house. The idea of sharing a home with the dead is unsettling for the current inhabitants, but according to professor Hans Holzer, it can be equally as upsetting to the ghost. In The House Is Haunted, Holzer explores more than eighty haunted houses—all over the United States and abroad—dissects their history, and speculates on the reasons the otherworldly inhabitants continue to stay in their earthly abodes.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
58 people are currently reading
200 people want to read
About the author
Hans Holzer
208 books163 followersHans Holzer, whose investigations into the paranormal took him to haunted houses and other sites all over the world, wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings, and other phenomena associated with the realm he called “the other side.” Among his famous subjects was the Long Island house that inspired The Amityville Horror book and film adaptations. Holzer studied at the University of Vienna, Austria, and at Columbia University, New York, earning a master’s degree in comparative religion. He taught parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology. Holzer died in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 28, 2015
Well written Interesting topic Hard to get through because of the arrogance of the author at how wonderful he is and his field of work.
July 8, 2021
This book is long and repetitive. Who knew ghosts could be so tiresome?
There are 116 individual haunted houses featured in this book from investigations Holzer conducted over the course of four decades, from the 60s through the 90s. After just a few of these stories, you quickly begin to notice a pattern. Each story goes something like this:
1. Homeowners contact Holzer based on his celebrity appearances as a notable ghost hunter on local radio and TV shows. The homeowners have concluded that their house is haunted. They aren't significantly bothered by the ghost; it irritates them similar to the neighbor who frequently blasts heavy metal music at 3 a.m. The ghost is making noises (typically the sound of someone walking down stairs, or groans, cries, and sighs) in the evening, causing them to lose sleep.
2. Holzer claims to be busy, says he is traveling in Europe, but instructs the homeowners to record any uncanny happenings they observe. He'll respond in a couple months.
3. A couple months later, Holzer follows up and tells the homeowners that he enjoyed their haunting narrative. He’s decided their haunting is worthy of further investigation. He agrees to visit the house along with his trusted trance medium, Sybil. (Holzer isn't "mediumistic" and therefore can't communicate directly with spirits.)
4. Holzer recounts the history of the home and its distinctive layout. It's typically several decades old, is of historical importance (e.g., was once Washington's Headquarters, an inn, or a tavern), has multiple levels, and has had multiple owners. Inevitably, it's discovered that someone died in or near the house, perhaps through suicide or foul play.
5. Sybil inspects the house and uses her psychometric talents to get a sense of the spirits who are present. Just by touching things, she's able to describe unusual characters and events. She identifies the room giving off the most psychic energy, and they gather there for a seance. Local media personalities are invited to attend the seance.
6. Sybil goes into a trance, and allows the spirit to communicate through her. Holzer questions the spirit. It goes something like this:
7. After doing some research at the local historical society, Holzer and Sybil identify the spirits as Maurice and Florence Wright, who both died in 1796 several days after a tragic ice-skating accident. After the seance, the homeowners experienced no further disturbances from Maurice and Florence, although occasionally they catch a whiff of bayberry perfume that neither of them wear, which has stirred up some marital discord.
As far as the ghosts’ motivation, it’s remarkably simple: they want strangers to get out of their house. Holzer tries to tell the ghosts, “You died a long time ago. Please, move on! You’re annoying people!” Ultimately, most of the ghosts comply. Apparently, ghosts are more complacent in “real life” than in literature or the movies.
BTW, this book is listed on Amazon as being 308 pages, but it's easily three times longer than that. It's lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng. After you read the first five or six stories, you can stop there. No sense in torturing yourself.
There are 116 individual haunted houses featured in this book from investigations Holzer conducted over the course of four decades, from the 60s through the 90s. After just a few of these stories, you quickly begin to notice a pattern. Each story goes something like this:
1. Homeowners contact Holzer based on his celebrity appearances as a notable ghost hunter on local radio and TV shows. The homeowners have concluded that their house is haunted. They aren't significantly bothered by the ghost; it irritates them similar to the neighbor who frequently blasts heavy metal music at 3 a.m. The ghost is making noises (typically the sound of someone walking down stairs, or groans, cries, and sighs) in the evening, causing them to lose sleep.
2. Holzer claims to be busy, says he is traveling in Europe, but instructs the homeowners to record any uncanny happenings they observe. He'll respond in a couple months.
3. A couple months later, Holzer follows up and tells the homeowners that he enjoyed their haunting narrative. He’s decided their haunting is worthy of further investigation. He agrees to visit the house along with his trusted trance medium, Sybil. (Holzer isn't "mediumistic" and therefore can't communicate directly with spirits.)
4. Holzer recounts the history of the home and its distinctive layout. It's typically several decades old, is of historical importance (e.g., was once Washington's Headquarters, an inn, or a tavern), has multiple levels, and has had multiple owners. Inevitably, it's discovered that someone died in or near the house, perhaps through suicide or foul play.
5. Sybil inspects the house and uses her psychometric talents to get a sense of the spirits who are present. Just by touching things, she's able to describe unusual characters and events. She identifies the room giving off the most psychic energy, and they gather there for a seance. Local media personalities are invited to attend the seance.
6. Sybil goes into a trance, and allows the spirit to communicate through her. Holzer questions the spirit. It goes something like this:
"Who are you?" (Holzer)
"You think I'm dead," the spirit said through Sybil.
"I've come to help you."
"Go away."
"Are you a man or a woman?"
"What do I sound like, idiot?"
"A man, I'm guessing. What is your name?"
"Some people call me Maurice."
"Is that your name?"
"'Cause I speak of the pompatus of love."
"Is that your real name? What is your surname?"
"It doesn't matter. You think I'm dead."
"Tell me your name, and then I'll find out whether you're dead."
"Just let me sleep."
"Is anything troubling you?"
"Who are you?"
"Again, I'm a friend. I'm here to help you."
"I don't have any friends. Everyone thinks I'm dead. They walk right through me."
"Tell me what happened to you."
"They took me away. I was doing perfectly fine, just a minor cold, but they threw me in a box and took me away."
"They buried you?"
"Duh."
"Where did they bury you?"
"Under ground."
"But where?"
"Florence—“
"Italy?"
"Florence, please tell this man to shut up. I'm tired of listening to him."
"Is Florence your wife?"
"Yes."
"Did you and your wife live here alone?"
"No, we had children."
"How many?"
"Two."
"What were their names?"
"Philip. But he ran off with the baker's son."
"And the other one?"
"Francis."
"Did he run off too?"
"'Course not. The baker had only one son."
"What happened to him?"
"I told you. He ran off with Philip."
"No, I meant your other son, Francis."
"Oh. Francis died."
"What did he die of?"
"Cholera. No, typhus. I forget. It's been a while. Sorry, gotta go. Florence is calling."
7. After doing some research at the local historical society, Holzer and Sybil identify the spirits as Maurice and Florence Wright, who both died in 1796 several days after a tragic ice-skating accident. After the seance, the homeowners experienced no further disturbances from Maurice and Florence, although occasionally they catch a whiff of bayberry perfume that neither of them wear, which has stirred up some marital discord.
As far as the ghosts’ motivation, it’s remarkably simple: they want strangers to get out of their house. Holzer tries to tell the ghosts, “You died a long time ago. Please, move on! You’re annoying people!” Ultimately, most of the ghosts comply. Apparently, ghosts are more complacent in “real life” than in literature or the movies.
BTW, this book is listed on Amazon as being 308 pages, but it's easily three times longer than that. It's lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng. After you read the first five or six stories, you can stop there. No sense in torturing yourself.
August 10, 2022
Book was interesting. Got it on a ebook. Lots of spelling mistakes.
September 23, 2013
Book review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...
This House is Haunted: True Encounters with the World Beyond tells us the adventures of paranormal investigator Hans Holzer and he visits haunted houses and gives detailed accounts of his experiences there. Hans Holzer is a firm believer in mediums, so he brings along a medium on each of his visits, and then compares what the medium experiences with historical records, and the experiences of people living in the haunted house. He has a compelling writing style, but in my opinion, the book is simply too long. Halfway through, I wanted it to end. The book is nothing more than a case-by-case rundown of all Holzer’s haunted house cases, and it gets kind of boring at the halfway mark. At the end, I was glad the book was done.
Holzer was a pioneer in paranormal research. He brought along video equipment, wrote down notes during interviews, cross-checked with historical facts, and used psychics to conduct paranormal research. His methods were thought-through and he tried to use scientific methods whenever he could. I was a bit dissapointed to see how much he relied on psychics, but to each their own. Some of the cases were very similar, and by the end I had trouble keeping them apart. The photographs were the most interesting parts of the book for me, even if it was mostly orbs, and I’m not a huge believer in orbs.
The book was detailed and fluently written, and it intrigued me because most of the cases described were from the sixties, when paranormal investigation was in its baby shoes.
This House is Haunted: True Encounters with the World Beyond tells us the adventures of paranormal investigator Hans Holzer and he visits haunted houses and gives detailed accounts of his experiences there. Hans Holzer is a firm believer in mediums, so he brings along a medium on each of his visits, and then compares what the medium experiences with historical records, and the experiences of people living in the haunted house. He has a compelling writing style, but in my opinion, the book is simply too long. Halfway through, I wanted it to end. The book is nothing more than a case-by-case rundown of all Holzer’s haunted house cases, and it gets kind of boring at the halfway mark. At the end, I was glad the book was done.
Holzer was a pioneer in paranormal research. He brought along video equipment, wrote down notes during interviews, cross-checked with historical facts, and used psychics to conduct paranormal research. His methods were thought-through and he tried to use scientific methods whenever he could. I was a bit dissapointed to see how much he relied on psychics, but to each their own. Some of the cases were very similar, and by the end I had trouble keeping them apart. The photographs were the most interesting parts of the book for me, even if it was mostly orbs, and I’m not a huge believer in orbs.
The book was detailed and fluently written, and it intrigued me because most of the cases described were from the sixties, when paranormal investigation was in its baby shoes.
July 10, 2013
This book was extraordinary and filled with thorough research by the author. He took us to each haunting and gave us not only the history of the place but also exactly what went on if a seance was held. I really felt I was there beside him and he was explaining it all to me.
I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to all those who love real ghost stories and hauntings. I also recommend to read more of Hans Holzer books. You won't be disappointed.
I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to all those who love real ghost stories and hauntings. I also recommend to read more of Hans Holzer books. You won't be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews