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Night Stalks the Mansion: A True Story of One Family's Ghostly Adventure | 
 enlarge | Authors: Constance Westbie, Harold Cameron
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $6.86
You Save: $8.09 (54%)
New (17) Used (16) from $6.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 82300
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 182
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0811732088
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.129748
EAN: 9780811732086
ASIN: 0811732088
Publication Date: May 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2005 Paperback.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
Now in paperback, this true story recounts a Philadelphia family's encounter with a supernatural presence in their eighteenth-century mansion. After experiencing footsteps at night, opening doors, strange sounds and activity that centered around the library, they investigate, unearthing the mansion's tragic past and changing their beliefs about the supernatural world. Winner of the 1977 National Writers Club Award for Nonfiction.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Great read for an evening. August 4, 2008
My only complaint about this book is that I didn't want it to end! Well-written, intriguing storyline, twists and turns. It definitely has a place in my permanent collection.
 A classic July 9, 2008
As with all books of this type, whether you believe the story or not depends upon how much credence you place in the teller. That's something you must decide for yourself. None of the reviewers, myself included, have any way of knowing whether or not Harold Cameron made up this story. However, some of us value a good tale even if we're uncertain it's a true one.
With or without suspension of disbelief, the author has an old-fashioned, naively pompous, 1950s era narrative voice that sounds charmingly antiquated in a "Father Knows Best" way. His descriptions of family life are evocative of a lost world, full of innocent assumptions that most people no longer hold. This lends the book an almost fairytale quality which makes the intrusion of something otherworldly seem chillingly out of place and sinister. Be warned that these incidents are of the "Haunting of Hill House" sort rather than the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" sort: subtle, disturbing, genuinely creepy; those who are looking for blood and gore will be disappointed.
My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that the author has mixed local legend and urban myth into his own (true) experiences without making any real distinction between the two. The stories he recounts that are not his own display typical universal themes that attach themselves to any property with a reputation for being haunted. Mr. Cameron was neither an historian nor a sociologist so his wholesale acceptance of local gossip is to be expected, and I find nothing dishonest or suggestive in those blurred lines.
If one wanted to follow up on this story and try to separate true from false, it would probably be impossible in view of the amount of time that's passed and the fact that the house is gone. As it is, the story is gracefully written and suitable for reading by the fire on a chilly fall evening when the rain is streaming down the windows and a knock at the door is best not answered.
Spooky adventure to read January 2, 2008
I loved this book - I received it as a gift and couldn't put it down as soon as I started reading it. It was a fun (and spooky) book to read and all of the "paranormal" happenings described were very realistic and believable if you have an open mind. Makes you wonder...
Good, old-fashioned haunted house story! December 20, 2007
I read this book in one sitting. It sucked me in from page one. Those reviewers who were "not creeped out enough"--this is a TRUE story about a real haunting--not a blood & guts kill-a-thon. I got the chills a few times. Love that it explains the horrible incident that happened at the mansion---who haunts it and why. In the realm of "true haunted house" books--this one is the BEST I've read so far. (they are normally fairly terribly written) This book is ESSENTIAL stormy night reading!
good story October 21, 2007
this book was easy to read , i enjoyed it very much . sad , because it was a short story . i didnt want it to end .
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