The Vine: October 22, 2010
A somewhat Halloween-themed Ask The Readers today. Speaking of Halloween, don’t forget to 1) vote in the remaining N Candy AA II flights, and 2) show off your scary fund-raising prowess (geddit?) with a donation to the TN Fall Classic.
I’m looking for a book I read when I was in my early teens, round about the mid-nineties. I remember a lot of details (or, it seems like a lot to me) but have zero clue as to the title or author.
It’s a mystery/ghost story. A girl goes to visit her aunt for the summer in the country and uncovers a murder mystery from when her aunt was a little girl. There is a blonde ghost living in the house who is trying to tell the girl about/protect the girl from something. In one scene, the ghost stops a bookcase from falling on the girl in the basement.
The aunt is angry about her niece’s stories, and it turns out that when the aunt was a little girl, this blonde girl lived with them (adopted?), and I don’t recall why, but the girl was murdered by the aunt’s father and buried in the woods, and the mother (the aunt’s mom) saw it all happen, and the aunt never found out the truth/why her friend left. At one point, the main girl sees a picture of the back of a blonde girl and dark-haired little girl (the aunt) taped inside a cabinet in the kitchen, and asks the aunt if it’s her, and the aunt lies, saying she cut it from a magazine.
I still think about this book, and would love to read it again, if I can find it! Thanks!
Sorry for ruining the ending, there
*****
Hi Sars,
I have a question to ask the readers. There was this book I read, a pulp-fiction type of horror novel, they type that was probably only ever available in paperback. A friend loaned it to me in probably 1983 or 1984 (maybe as late as 1985?) and it was terrifying (at least to my 4th- or 5th-grade mind — it definitely was NOT a YA book).
It was about a little girl (orphaned, I think) in Salem, MA (witch connection) who I think was possessed by the spirit of one of the girls or women put to death in Salem during the witch hunt. I think the spirit was really mad about being put to death, and vowed to get revenge by killing either random people in Salem, or maybe the descendants of the judges? One part I remember vividly was she killed this lady (stepmother, maybe? someone who was just trying to help her) with her mind, and the book described in graphic detail how the capillaries in the lady’s eyes turned red and swelled and finally exploded. That part really stuck with me, partly because I didn’t know what a capillary was at that point, and it really freaked me out when I looked it up in the dictionary.
I think it had a one-word title, possibly with “The,” like “The Happening” or “The Presence” or something. Sorry if I’ve given anyone nightmares. I would love to find this book and re-read it to see if it’s as freaky as I remember.
Thanks,
My mom would have killed me if she’d known what I was reading
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
The first book really sounds like the type of book written by Betty Ren Wright, I read two book by this author and they are very similar mysteries with twist endings. Both of the books I read have a niece going to live with an aunt or an uncle and there are ghost sightings and such.
The first one sounds like the Dollhouse Murders, but I don’t think that’s it. But I am pretty sure the Dollhouse Murders is written by Betty Ren Wright, so I’m guessing Elisa is on the right track.
It’s actually not the “Dollhouse Murders” because that is one of the two I read, LOL. It’s also not “Christina’s Ghost”. Who knew Betty Ren Wright wrote SO MANY YA mysteries?! I had no clue until I googled her just now.
I think the first one sounds like Mary Downing Hahh’s The Doll in the Garden or Wait Till Helen Comes, but I’m not positive. They both feature moving to a new house and a blonde ghost, though.
I think the Betty Ren Wright suggestions may be on the right track for #1. The review on the Amazon Page for A Ghost in the House sounds pretty close.
http://amzn.to/a5g0Bi
Oh, wow, Betty Ren Wright sure did write a lot of mysteries. I distinctly remember “Ghosts Beneath Our Feet,” which is also not the one you’re looking for either, I don’t think – that one involves a collapsed mine, or something, but wow. Here’s a list of titles – maybe one will ring a bell?
The Dollhouse Murders was one of the first “chapter books” I can remember reading. Loved me some Betty Ren Wright! That’s what I thought of when I first read the description too, though obviously that’s not it. Hmm…
For the second one: hah, MY mom was kind of my DEALER for horror schlock. Questionable parenting, perhaps–but bless her heart, she never, ever censored my reading material.
Anyway. This sounds so, SO much like something in John Saul’s wheelhouse, to me–the dates, coastal-town creepiness, vengeful spirits, “The Something” titles. I’m rummaging around on Amazon, but enough of his stuff has been re-re-released over 40 years that nothing seems an exact match. Maybe one of those descriptions will ring a bell for you, though?
Hey! The question about the blonde ghost is mine. I checked the Betty Ren Wright list, but I didn’t see any that are quite it. But it WAS a trip down memory lane! I loved Dollhouse Murders, of course, and Christina’s Ghost was another one I remember.
It’s also not Mary Downing Hahh’s. Hmmm. This one is tough, but I know the truth is out there…
Nevermind! Strike my above comment! It IS a Betty Ren Wright book! I saw it on the Amazon list, it’s The Ghosts of Mercy Manor! The description is right on. Wow, you guys are GOOD! Thanks so much!
The first one definitely isn’t “Wait Til Helen Comes”–and I only know that because I read it as a child and it scared the bejebus out of me.
Wow, I had no idea the author of “Christina’s Ghost” wrote so many books! I want to read them all now. That book was a favorite 20 years ago.