Grave's End

I first read this book back in 2006 or '07, as a rental from the library. It's now 2022 and I still enjoy re-reading it.Elaine writes her story of enduring a haunted home in a very relatable way. While recounting her various experiences, it feels as though I'm hearing it from a friend. Along with her paranormal phenomenon, she speaks of her marriage and her relationships with her daughters, which again brings a strong sense of relatability.The story itself is a very authentic account of living in a haunted house and experience of paranormal phenomena. The story is told in a believable manner; she retells her experience, without unnecessary hype or exaggeration, and yet the story remains interesting. I truly believe the account is real. There's a strong sense of earnestness. It's not written in a sensationalized style, nor is it written in a way that would terrify the reader, but rather in a way that shares and informs.If you have a curiosity about hauntings, a deep interest in the supernatural, or if you've experienced something yourself that you struggle to rationalize, read this book.

The author is such a hatable person, she outs her daughters in constant danger because she refuses to believe what she's enduring at night. She refuses to believe her teenage daughter who goes thru the same ordeal over &over. She then gets angry at her husband when he doesn't believe her. The husband has been attacked but he refuses to believe it's paranormal. The ONLY intelligent person that's encountered this is the young teen daughter. We hear non stop that Elaine/author is feeling watched. They see little brown colored 2-3feet tall "things". Yet..guess what?. Yep!. Elaine refuses to think ghosts or paranormal /hauntings. Why?. Cause then she will have to believe its real,thst her &her family are not insane. Oh yeah,this book..smdh! Elaine gets divorced &is happy redecorates home. Now believes it was all from hostiloty of bad marraige. Continues to put kids at risk. Continues to reiterate her house renovations,along wuth being watched. Contantly tells herself any happenings reported by kids are for attention. She wants to be insane,she wants her kids to be insane instead of accepting the truth. Even thobshe took paranormal college course when first moving into home. Finds possible decayed body distintegrated coffin in garage, doesnt tell police. Just reburies it!. One silly thing after another.DON'T WASTE YOUR TEN DOLLARS..

Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado****Grave's End was definitely not what I was expecting, but in this case, that was actually a good thing. So much of the time anything that is labeled as a "True" story has so much embellishment weaved into it that the thread of actual truth becomes lost in the author's desire to make the book more interesting.There have been a lot of reviews on this book where the reviewer said they were disappointed with the overall book because the author kept repeating herself and talking about the same events over and over again. I disagree. I found that what made this book chilling was that the author stuck to events that were plausible and kept building the suspense to the very end by describing the heightening terror she and her family had experienced.I find it entertaining that people are tearing apart this author for the fact that she did not move out of the house. It is clearly explained that she felt stuck in the situation she was in and it even gives reasons why. Maybe there are things that you think you would have done differently if you were in her shoes, but none of us were. It's so easy to sit back and judge someone without ever having to share their experience and be faced with the choices they were.There may have been some spots within the crafting of this book that I thought could have been written a little more clearly, but for a first book, I thought the author did a really good job.I am not sure what I believe when it comes to the paranormal side of life. I think we all suspect there is something more to this world than we see, but talking about it tends to make you uncomfortable. I applaud this author for sharing her story as she recalls it and not adding Hollywood theatrics to get the job done.Any book, true or not that can make me doubt if I want to go to bed after reading it must have done its job and done it well. I encourage you to give it a read and see if it has the same effect on you.

If you are newly interested in the paranormal but are undecided which ghost story to chose from due to the large volume of books written on the subject, then this one would be a great start. It is not a horror story which would scare the pants off of you. I don't like to use the word 'ghost' as it has a connotation to it of ghosts being 'out to get you' like in a bloody, gory Hollywood movie. But now that we have become better informed about life after life by people who have a gift of communicating with spirits, I prefer to call ghosts what they actually are...spirits, entities, supernatural beings, and paranormal phenomenon.This true story begins with a family buying an old house.The author is a woman with a family and for many years they all experienced paranormal activity which invades their lives, their sleep, and even the people they would invite into their home.Once the author comes to terms with the stresses and anxiety of what too much paranormal activity this family has been subjected to, she reaches out to professionals. They include Dr. Hans Holzer (Supernatural Parapsychologist) and a Medium (who communicates with dead spirits). They willingly come into the home and communicate with the spirits to find the real causes of the hauntings.This book is great for beginners who might be afraid of ghost stories.Again, if this topic is new but of interest to you, instead of starting out with a scary ghost story, start with this one. I think it would weigh a lot better on you than a story involving demonic spirits and fictional ghost stories. The truth is always better told.

Elaine says at the end of this book that she is unsure of certain things - which i will not give away - and i must say, it`s very difficult to believe the way this story `ends.` Elaine`s `caring` brother took an absolute age finding someone to help rid the house of `spirits` and i couldn`t help wondering what his problem was. Then he turns round and says he actually PERSONALLY KNOWS a medium who can help ! So what has he been waiting all these months for ? .....you ask yourself !A lot of strange things going on in this book - apart from the ghostly happenings - elaine never misses a chance to have a dig at her ex husband, which i thought was hilarious every time she did it !For me this story felt unfinished - and elaine kind of says the same thing at the end.

This is something that you can not buy in any shop as it is an American import, but thanks to Amazon, I am able to read it. I ordered it on the Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday. Great service. The book is just what you want from a ghost story and the best thing is, that it is all true. Just do not read it too close to lights out.

It wasnt exactly what I expected it to be in terms of the experiences but its well written and worth reading for anyone whos interested in the subject

Wife loves these silly ghost stories. Can't say much more, if you like this sort of stuff you'll love this.

This kept mt me the edge of my seat it was so good a few of my friends borrowed it.A happy ending for every one.