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Houses of Horror
Houses of Horror by Richard Winer
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Richard Winer
13 books3 followersRichard Winer is an American author of non-fiction books dealing mainly with the supernatural or the paranormal. He is best known for his work on the Bermuda Triangle: The Devil's Triangle (1974, Bantam Books), The Devil's Triangle 2 (Bantam Books 1975), and From The Devil's Triangle to The Devil's Jaw (Bantam Books 1977). He also completed a TV film documentary on the Devil's Triangle
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 29, 2021
Having read the first and second haunted house books by this author, I decided to go for the plunge and read the third. I was interested in seeing if there would be a large difference in the tone of this book, since the first two were co-written with another author, while this one was covered by Richard Winer alone.
The length is definitely less than the other two books, and I was able to get through it much quicker, but for the most part the tone remains the same, which leads me to believe Winer wrote most of the previous two novels. Not only is this one shorter, but often the chapters are broken up by classic poetry on the subject of death or the afterlife. I'm not much of a poetry fan, so maybe I wasn't the right audience, but I didn't think they added much to the collection.
There was one thing that disappointed me. At one point the author said he caught the image of a spectral woman holding two babies on an infared color slide, but it wasn't included in the section of photographs in the book. Maybe because the infared color slide wouldn't translate well to a black and white reproduction in a trade paperback, but still I wished I could see what he captured!
I was pretty amused that two of the stories were from Maine, my home state. I enjoyed reading those legends and then doing some online research on them. Maybe I'll even go to those two locations myself and see what there is to see!
The length is definitely less than the other two books, and I was able to get through it much quicker, but for the most part the tone remains the same, which leads me to believe Winer wrote most of the previous two novels. Not only is this one shorter, but often the chapters are broken up by classic poetry on the subject of death or the afterlife. I'm not much of a poetry fan, so maybe I wasn't the right audience, but I didn't think they added much to the collection.
There was one thing that disappointed me. At one point the author said he caught the image of a spectral woman holding two babies on an infared color slide, but it wasn't included in the section of photographs in the book. Maybe because the infared color slide wouldn't translate well to a black and white reproduction in a trade paperback, but still I wished I could see what he captured!
I was pretty amused that two of the stories were from Maine, my home state. I enjoyed reading those legends and then doing some online research on them. Maybe I'll even go to those two locations myself and see what there is to see!
January 12, 2014
Interesting collection of reported "real life" haunted house accounts. Not anything astoundingly original, here, though it was mildly amusing to read in Mike Enslin's (John Cusak/"1408") interior narrative voice...
May 25, 2024
A SURVEY OF A NUMBER OF WELL-KNOWN “HAUNTED” PLACES
Author Richard Winer wrote of the Myrtles Plantation, “No less than four people had been murdered in that room, and the infra-red film picked up something to do with one of those deaths. Has a trace of energy from one of those murder victims remained in that room down through the years?” (Pg. 25)
After Harry Houdini’s death, he recounts, “Houdini’s widow had established a standing offer in the amount of ten thousand dollars to anyone who would bring her a true message from her husband… on February 8, 1928, the press received a rumor that Houdini had returned from the dead and given his secret code to Arthur Ford, a clairaudient medium (hearer of the dead). Ford was pastor of Manhattan’s First Spiritualist Church… Ford’s spiritual guide… informed him that a woman verified as Houdini’s mother wanted to speak. Supposedly, Mrs. Weiss’s spirit said that ever since she died, her son had wanted to hear one message from her. ‘Only his wife knows the word. No one else in the world knows it. The word is “forgive.” Beatrice (Bess) Houdini announced that ‘forgive’ was the first message offered to her that ‘had any appearance of truth.’” (Pg. 53-54)
He notes, “I first heard of the Vineyard House from the well-known California psychic Sylvia Brown[e]. She had been called in to probe the house on several occasions and had declared it to the one of the most haunted houses that she had ever seen. ‘There are definitely five ghosts there,’ said Sylvia, ‘a woman who chained her husband to the wall, her husband, two young men seventeen and twenty years old, and a perpetually dying old man.’” (Pg. 71)
He states, “Although many Lincolnian scholars have denied it, there is proof that Abraham Lincoln not only believed in psychic phenomena, but actually sat in on séances in the White House. The President had always been interested, and at times involved, in mysticism, and spiritualism. Psychics were frequently to the White House. Several of them gave warnings of the dark shadow that hung over Lincoln’s life. He strongly believed in life after death. The death of his eleven-year-old son, Willie, was the severest trauma of his life… In spite of his strong belief in life after death, Lincoln was more obsessed with his son’s body than with his spirit. Some mediums theorized that because Willie’s spirit refused to believe that he had died, it remained near his body.” (Pg. 92-93)
People wanting “popular-level” descriptions of various “haunted houses” may be interested in this book.
Author Richard Winer wrote of the Myrtles Plantation, “No less than four people had been murdered in that room, and the infra-red film picked up something to do with one of those deaths. Has a trace of energy from one of those murder victims remained in that room down through the years?” (Pg. 25)
After Harry Houdini’s death, he recounts, “Houdini’s widow had established a standing offer in the amount of ten thousand dollars to anyone who would bring her a true message from her husband… on February 8, 1928, the press received a rumor that Houdini had returned from the dead and given his secret code to Arthur Ford, a clairaudient medium (hearer of the dead). Ford was pastor of Manhattan’s First Spiritualist Church… Ford’s spiritual guide… informed him that a woman verified as Houdini’s mother wanted to speak. Supposedly, Mrs. Weiss’s spirit said that ever since she died, her son had wanted to hear one message from her. ‘Only his wife knows the word. No one else in the world knows it. The word is “forgive.” Beatrice (Bess) Houdini announced that ‘forgive’ was the first message offered to her that ‘had any appearance of truth.’” (Pg. 53-54)
He notes, “I first heard of the Vineyard House from the well-known California psychic Sylvia Brown[e]. She had been called in to probe the house on several occasions and had declared it to the one of the most haunted houses that she had ever seen. ‘There are definitely five ghosts there,’ said Sylvia, ‘a woman who chained her husband to the wall, her husband, two young men seventeen and twenty years old, and a perpetually dying old man.’” (Pg. 71)
He states, “Although many Lincolnian scholars have denied it, there is proof that Abraham Lincoln not only believed in psychic phenomena, but actually sat in on séances in the White House. The President had always been interested, and at times involved, in mysticism, and spiritualism. Psychics were frequently to the White House. Several of them gave warnings of the dark shadow that hung over Lincoln’s life. He strongly believed in life after death. The death of his eleven-year-old son, Willie, was the severest trauma of his life… In spite of his strong belief in life after death, Lincoln was more obsessed with his son’s body than with his spirit. Some mediums theorized that because Willie’s spirit refused to believe that he had died, it remained near his body.” (Pg. 92-93)
People wanting “popular-level” descriptions of various “haunted houses” may be interested in this book.
May 14, 2023
Gosh, this was his best book so far. Great cover and great everything in 20 chapters. Starting with a strange murder case and how it was solved to The Mystery of the Mystery of Edwin Drood (absolutely amazing, never heard the story of Thomas P James before), to the Myrtles (the ghost with the green turban) to the ghost doll (a life size doll made after a dead girl, now the death doll). Is Houdini still with us? So much inside into Houdini's life and his curse (also reference to Mina, Marge, Stinson Crandon, the Witch of Beacon Hill, who'd paint her breasts with phosphorescent powder...), Lincoln and his ghostly apparition, the ghosts of Wolf House (Jack London)... the author assembled a fantastic set of stories here you don't want to miss. Am really enthusiastic about the eerie and uncanny material to be found here. The book is from 1983 but I can highly recommend it to any present time reader. What a thriller!
October 29, 2025
Copyright 1983. This is 20 ghost stories, some of famous people.
I actually Googled the first story, cause it seemed incredible to me. The Voice From The Grave is an actual thing that happened. The killer was given 14 years in prison (he only served 4).
Graveyards & the Undead chapter has a story about Nancy Hanks & how she was impregnated by her employer. He pawned her off on a traveler to Illinois (Tom Lincoln) & the resulting baby was Abraham. Hmmmm.... Not quite true.
There's another chapter on President Lincoln which I've heard some of the stories before.
A chapter on Harry Houdini which doesn't paint him in a good light.
Lots of good scares!
I actually Googled the first story, cause it seemed incredible to me. The Voice From The Grave is an actual thing that happened. The killer was given 14 years in prison (he only served 4).
Graveyards & the Undead chapter has a story about Nancy Hanks & how she was impregnated by her employer. He pawned her off on a traveler to Illinois (Tom Lincoln) & the resulting baby was Abraham. Hmmmm.... Not quite true.
There's another chapter on President Lincoln which I've heard some of the stories before.
A chapter on Harry Houdini which doesn't paint him in a good light.
Lots of good scares!
June 29, 2023
A excellent book of true ghost stories. I got this book at Christmas in 1980s, I love true ghost stories with historical information. You almost feel being in the action when you read them. Now I know the truth about Houdini also.
January 28, 2019
A terrific little book of reportedly true ghost stories. I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews