The True Story of the Union Screaming House - The Uninvited

Steven Lachance writes like a high school girl trying desperately to scare her friends. Sentence tense jumps from present to past, sometimes within the same sentence, and punctuation seems sprinkled randomly through the prose. Plus, since he links his story to Ed and Lorraine Warren, the crown royalty of charlatans, you can be assured he is a fraud looking for a quick buck.

So, I've been going through today reviewing all of the paranormal books I have read over the past year or so and I'm starting to see a trend with this author. Check out his other books and you will see the same names of people rating them high. Take it a step further and you will see he is connected to all of them via social media. They are his friends. Red flag. The same people reviewing every book.

Now, as far as the "Uninvited." As a standalone book, it's the story of what allegedly happened to him and his children at their home. If you have read anything on Amityville, you have pretty much read this book already. It is a rehash of the stereotypical horrific haunting that most of us know doesn't ever really actually happen. Shoot, Amityville has been known as a hoax for years. I wouldn't be surprised if this was too considering how blown out of proportion it is.

Considering the date this supposedly happened, nobody has ever come forward claiming to experience anything in that house since.

At least with Amityville, there were other "witnesses" and actual paranormal investigators (such as the Warren's, for what THAT is worth).

The author protects this story from outsiders never allowing others to evaluate the house or question the story. He even contradicts some of his tale on an episode of The Haunting. One minute the landlord was female, the next it's a male.

I literally laughed out loud at some sections in this book. He really went out of his way in an attempt to bring a shock factor to the story. I left those sections with the thought of, "yeah, right."

It's books like this that unfortunately make me question every paranormal book I read. There are so many people out there trying to make a buck off of fabricated stories, and I imagine, I'm not too far from the truth in saying I'm sure he is doing the same.

But I can't be completely negative. If you read this as a fiction book, and haven't already been overly exposed to the same regurgitated ghost story over and over again, you will probably enjoy this. I recommend it to anyone who has never read a ghost story or paranormal book. If you have already, leave this one be.

It just sounds made up.

When I read non-fiction paranormal, I expect subtly and honesty and nothing blown out of proportion for the sake of entertainment. The paranormal is real, but nothing like this author would have you believe.

When I want to read ridiculous horror stories, I go for fiction, which is what this book is.

True non-fiction paranormal books are not like this.

Stories like the "Uninvited" always end one of two ways:

1. The storyteller ends up in jail for committing murder and blaming something supernatural (Amityville).
or
2. The storyteller is simply out for a quick buck.

I will let you decide which is the case here.

I just don't understand why the author didn't just start writing fiction. I don't understand the lying. Stuff like this simply isn't real or it would be common knowledge and all over the news. And the only time it IS all over the news is when some psycho is going to jail.

I actually feel bad for his children being brainwashed into thinking this nonsense really happened. This author, if that part is true, really could have cared less about his children's well being by allowing them to believe this happened. Sickens me.

The title of this book should have been called "The Unbelievable: The True Story of the LaChance Family Gold Digging."

Not even remotely believable. Constant attempts at shock value written on a grade school level.

I was really surprised to see this went through traditional publishing considering how amateurish the writing is.

The story is nothing that you haven't heard, seen or read before. Nothing groundbreaking here.

It is so unbelievable, it was hard to keep reading. I did some research on the author and discovered many discrepancies with his story, mostly in the form of him changing his own continuity and "facts."

He tried really hard to make this the next big thing in the ghost world, but instead it fell, really, really flat. Unoriginal and it just comes off as hokey.

Skip it.

I have an intense skepticism of stories about the paranormal. But they interest me anyway. I experienced an episode of sleep paralysis when I was a teenager that was so terrifying and bizarre that I was convinced that I had been attacked in my bed by some unseen force who was trying to rip the soul out of my body. And then I did some research and found that it is a pretty typical experience with a logical explanation. That's not to say that I dismiss every "supernatural" experience that someone tells me automatically. It just means that I know how human perception is limited, and I also know that some very famous cases of this nature have been proven to be hoaxes (Amityville, for example). There are just a lot of charlatans in this field. This book was recommended to me by a coworker, and I gave it a fair shake. My first impression was that both the writing and the editing were pretty terrible. There were a lot of typos and clichés. I'm pretty forgiving, I knew the author wasn't a professional writer, but I found myself cringing and rolling my eyes a lot. The story itself was interesting, and I certainly didn't get bored. But there was something else that bothered me, and I noticed another reviewer had mentioned this too: the lazy research. I find it really hard to believe that this man wasn't able to find ANYTHING concrete in his research on the home. And the shed that was full of the personal effects of multiple former tenants? That led nowhere? That's weird. I was curious about this "Captain John T. Cromwell" who supposedly owned the land the house was built on, and when I Googled him, the only name I could find that fit his description was Captain John T. Crowe, and his wife Mary Minerva Crowe. So, another typo, I assume? He said this "Cromwell," or Crowe, owned slaves and may have dabbled in voodoo, which I find suspect considering the guy enlisted at 18 and was a decorated officer in the Union army by the time he was 24, and by the time he returned home slaves had been emancipated in Missouri. I think it's fair to say the story about him operating in the slave trade is unlikely. He admitted that he was just sharing rumors, but if he had bothered to make the effort to research it, he would have found that allegation to be highly questionable. Impossible? Maybe not. But highly unlikely. His suspicion that the local librarian and the public records clerks at the courthouse were somehow trying to sabotage his research, I find pretty paranoid. I can tell that the guy just didn't do the work. He didn't even get Captain Crowe's name right. Okay, anyway, the s***ty research doesn't mean that his personal experiences are bunk. If the events that he claims happened did, in fact, happen that is pretty shocking. His descriptions are specific enough that "mistaken identity" isn't really a reasonable alternative. So, the book is either a lie or it isn't. I can't tell from reading it, but it's a nice story.

This book's frightening cover drove me to pick it up, and I quickly recognized this story from one featured on the Discovery Channel's A Haunting: Complete Seasons 1 and 2 program. While this wasn't the most frightening story featured on that show (that dubious honor goes to the episode with that little boy and his imaginary "friend" named Man), it was a memorable one, so I decided to get the "behind-the-scenes" scoop by reading LaChance's memoir. Told from his perspective (but with the help of an English teacher), this basically relayed the same story as the hour long television show (and takes about the same amount of time to read it). In place of the over-the-top reenactments, the language used added a very melodramatic flavor.

There were some glaring inaccuracies (one phrase particularly stood out that begins with: "I failed to notice that the lights had turned on" - unsure how you can tell a story that contains elements that you didn't even know about...) that broke the realistic, true-life confessional style and replaced with downright silliness.

But it was more entertaining than I thought it would be - and certainly fast-paced. But as the book shifted away from the haunted activity and into the more spiritual side, it became increasingly vague. It really required a huge suspense of disbelief. The inclusion of some thinly veiled personal digs made me laugh though - but it also made me even more curious about hearing a fuller, and more complete version. The cartoonish villainly of the landlord really needed to be investigated more, I thought - and the abrupt ending summary did not provide many answers, which left it feeling rather incomplete.

I first learned of author Steven LaChance on an episode of A Haunting and found him to be one of the most authentic and credible eyewitnesses to modern day hauntings. Having already judged his reputation from the show, I started the book with a mindset of: this guy is to be believed. Plus, I love a good ghost story. But what I appreciate more is the story behind the gathering of evidence and digging through the history of a location - which this book has in spades. It's also an exceptionally easy read - I flew through it in two days - and one I'd recommend to any enthusiast of the genre.

I was extremely put off by this nonsensical "true" haunting...I fully expect that in a story such as this, experienced by an ordinary individual, the writing will be abysmal, & so it WAS, but quite beyond that, almost nothing in the story made any sense at all. WHY did the protagonist create an overblown psychical "society" after his allegedly harrowing experiences in this house, & then not bother to give us much of what they actually did, or even express the reason for their existence beyond "observation" of what may or may not have occurred in the house? What was their purpose other than to frighten the new occupant & her family into insensibility? It also almost seems like he genuinely harrassed the next occupant, hanging about with his "sensitive" society members continually & contacting her endlessly. He makes it sound as if the occupant NEEDED his "friendship", his interpretations, his observances, etc., but if the haunted events were so HARROWING, why did she continue to occupy the place, & with a daughter & grandchildren in tow?? How much of a friend was he, actually, if he talked to her repeatedly late at night and yet, knowing what he & his "sensitives" say they knew, didn't try to help this woman or her family find another place? I got the unnerving feeling that he mainly hoped to capitalize on this book & dramatization (& he certainly duped ME into buying the book) & thus wished for her to remain in the place for as long as it took to drive her completely berserk, so he had a thrilling tale to tell. I advise those who want an informative, serious, non-attention-seeking true haunting story to look elsewhere, as I should have done. His own adventures in the house were scary enough, but he negated all of them, in my opinion, when he formed his useless psychical society & then proceeded to terrify the next occupant into hysteria, gaining monetarily from HER experience, which I began to suspect may have been exacerbated (or even completely fabricated) by the author himself. Bah, humbug! IGNORE this book, as it deserves.

I loved this book, finished it one afternoon because i couldn't put it down then slept with the light on because i was to scared to turn it off. this book is truly terrifying, i think mainly because this really could happen. i have watched the discovery channel program associated with this book and no where near touches how truly terrifying this event was for these people. i've studied demononlogy and spirituaism for over ten years and this is one of the most terrifying books i've ever picked up. also great price because i bought mine at a book store and paid almost $20 for it

Send all atheists, agnostics, skeptics, unbelievers to this haunted house!
Where is this haunted house? What is its exact address? Can the author please reveal it?

Have you seen this advertisement anywhere, folks?
=========================================================================
Three-bedroom house for rent in Union. Full in-town living.
Near most schools and the city park. Perfect for families.
A full country kitchen with up-to-date amenities.
Large living and dining area with original woodwork intact.
Two bathroom with mud-room. Full basement with fruit cellar attached.
Large front porch and backyard perfect for children. The right house
at the right price for the right family. If interested, please contact.....
=========================================================================

Sound innocuous?

Contact "Mr Winters", the landowner.

You'll be screaming in less than a week!

"Mr Winters" the landowner ought to be more responsible and have his house cleansed, blessed, exorcised before renting it out again to some innocent family!

Steven LaChance narrates his personal account of being taken in by
a deceptive advertisement while looking for a place to live in with
his 3 small kids. His ideal house turned out to be a nightmare for them.
His unbelieving, rationalist mind could not explain away the barrage of
horror that awaited him. Running away helped little as the house called out
to him through another new victim-tenant, Helen.

What's that author's book tag of "f++king priest"?
I don't know what the author's beef against the Catholic Church may
be, but it is the ONLY source of solution against these things.
Understand however, that the modern Church today is staffed by Liberals,
so finding a "good" priest is very difficult. Whatever "good" may mean to
the author, being pious and holy priest is the better definition. Any
worthy Catholic priest has the means to bless the house. If any of these
Liberals and skeptics are scared, go find a Traditionalist priest!

The oddest thing about the author is that time and time again, he was
given solutions which he chose to willingly ignore. He says throughout
the book he wants help and wants to help others. How can he help others if
he don't know the means to help himself and others? How can he help others
if he won't listen and act on the answers he's being given?
God, Jesus, the Church.
These are your ark of shelters.
I don't know what it is about doubtful, atheistic modern-day culture that
makes people reject clear answers to situations like these.
Instead, LaChance resorted to a host of party clowns and ended up in a worse position than he was in. Worse, while attempting to "help" another victim,
Helen, he resorted to going around in circles.
Immitating those TV "ghost hunters" and psychic frauds didn't help LaChance.
Hastily starting a "self-help" group of his own without any knowledge of
matters worked against the author. He found a so-called "psychic" Alex (p.142)
who turns out to be a dangerous and unpredictable character 3 chapters later.
LaChance was lucky to have found John Zaffis, the renowned paranormal
researcher, nephew of the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Lucky to see the Light, finally!
Too bad lots of innocent victims had to die in the process of learning
things the hard way!

LaChance is now playing with "psychics" again and offers ghost "tours".
He places large Buddha pics on his website's banner and wallpaper of his personal website, not Jesus, despite the fact that it was Jesus and the Church that had saved him. One has to wonder if LaChance has really learnt anything out of his haunted house experiences! He seems to have forgotten to publicly thank his real Savior!

If the author or the next tenant can't find anyone to help in cases of
haunted houses, use Volume 2 of the "Roman Ritual", preferably with the
necessary scramentals and a holy priest by your side:

The Roman Ritual [Rituale Romanum]: Vol 2: Christian Burial, Exorcism, Reserved Blessings, etc [Latin/English]

Roman Rituals 3 Volume Set (Roman Ritual - 3 Volume set, Volume I, Volume II, Volume III)

The prayers listed in the Appendices of "Beware the Night" would be useful too:

Beware the Night

In May of 2001 Steven LaChance stepped from his vehicle along with his young daughter and two sons to appraise the house they sought to call home. The two-story house seemed to be appraising them as well, looking down at the family from behind two sentient oak trees.

... The right house at the right price for the right family...

For the father of three, he certainly hoped so. The spacious three -bedroom home would be a welcome respite from the cramped quarters of the past and the large yard was perfect for his growing and rambunctious boys.

"Now, you do understand the responsibility that comes with living in an old house such as this?" The eclectic landlord posed.

"Oh, yes. I understand. It's beautiful," Steven replied.

But Steven couldn't possibly understand what lay in wait for him and his family, no one could before him and no one did after. For $600 a month the historic Union house was a dream come true... a dream that quickly transformed into a living nightmare within a home owned by the dead...

The Uninvited is the harrowing true story of Steven LaChance, his family's tenure in the Union house and the triumph of a woman who would become a close friend to LaChance and an unwitting victim of the house that screamed.

As a paranormal investigator and collector of books based on first hand accounts of violent hauntings, The Uninvited is one of the most well written and informative tales of such an account put to print today. From the enigmatic history of the town of Union, Missouri to the phenomena experienced by both the author, his children and the family that would occupy the house afterwards, is nothing short of amazing.

The Uninvited and its portent will not be lost of the casual reader or student of paranormal study. From black figures stalking the darkened halls at night to the appearance of phantom wolves, psychological attacks as well as sexual assaults, this book will keep your hands glued to its pages and asking yourself whether or not you turned off that light...

From fear and despair witness first hand the transformation of one man, a loving father of three to a warrior willing to risk his own sanity and emotional wellbeing to wade back into the murky waters of the goings on at the Union house in order to save more than one life...

Arguably one of the most terrifying books written about one of the most vicious hauntings in modern history, The Uninvited is as much about spiritual redemption and responsibility for your fellow man as it is about the evil whose roots burrow deep into the earth beneath the cellar of the Union house...

However, if such "fiction" does not sway you, there is a three-bedroom house freshly painted for rent in Union, Missouri some fifty miles south-west of St. Louis.

...A "lovely home, just full of historic charm."

It is a home most suitable for children.

The elderly landlord will make that clear before you ever sign the lease.

The story contained in this book is so completely ridiculous that I don't think anyone who actually believes in it does so because they're convinced it's the truth, but because they have some personal agenda to justify it with, probably religion. If what happened in this house is real, it only proves the validity of your faith--in this case, Christianity, as it is the use of Christian methods of attack that eventually healed those involved.

What is the story? A man and his kids view a house being rented out by a sketchy old man who, from the first pages he is introduced in, oozes creepiness. The man decides to rent the house, and over the next few months he and his children are terrorized by an entity that can apparently adapt itself to the individual fears of the occupants and present itself as the thing they fear the most. If you fear clowns, it will appear in the stairwell as a clown, etc. The phenomena gets worse, eventually culminating in the family hearing screams within the house and the father seeing a ghostly figure enter the living room and stand before him as if challenging him to do something about it. The man wises up and gets out of the house. These events make up the first part of the story.

Now before I go on, let's step back and look at this for a second. The man and his children clearly know something is up in their new home as they each experience frightening phenomena, yet one passage mentions he and the kids leaving after a scary episode to stay with the man's parents in order to calm down, and when they eventually return to the house, they act as if everything is fine again. The author says they just needed to spend some time away from it. That is not how kids' minds work. Show me one kid who sees an evil clown chasing him in the stairwell that will go back to the place it happened without completely losing it. You would not get any kid to even traverse that stairwell again without being petrified with fear, and to say otherwise is denying the nature of children. The fact that the kids seemed okay with going back to the house after these terrifying events makes me suspect fabrication because it denies the way we all know kids behave. You're not going to convince a child to return to a place where something like that happened, much less be okay with it after spending a night at grandpa and grandma's.

Moving on: the man posts his experience on the Internet and in time is put in contact with the current renter of the home, a woman staying there with a teenage daughter, no less, and the new renter is eager to talk to the man about his experiences because she, too, is having them. This is where the story gets so insane that it insulted my intelligence to even be asked to accept it. Over the next few months of their contact, the new renter and the man stay in constant contact, and she experiences escalating paranormal phenomena that includes rape by a ghost. The woman is never in denial about the fact that it is the HOUSE that is the problem, yet does she consider leaving? No. Why? Because apparently finances are more important than paranormal RAPE, and they can't afford it at the moment. Are you freaking KIDDING me? Are all the renters of this house mentally challenged?

The man eventually puts together a paranormal investigation team and the woman allows them to conduct experiments within the house. Eventually, tons of paranormal investigation groups are allowed inside the house over a period of months, apparently all giving different reports about what or who causes the disturbances. One night, a group of local church women are invited to witness an investigation and they manage to capture an image of a voodoo ceremony taking place in the back yard. The image is conveniently left out of the book.

Meanwhile, rather than getting out like any sane person would, the woman remains in the house despite completely unacceptable living conditions. Her teenage daughter stands at the foot of their bed at night and the woman is so afraid of her that she starts locking the bedroom door at night. She has thoughts of killing her husband and suspects her daughter wants to kill them as well. She sees apparitions in the room at night. The daughter sees dead babies hanging in the trees. None of this is anything a normal person would put up with, much less agree to coexist with in their own home. The emotional strain would be too great to make any consideration about money relevant in their decision to leave, yet somehow we're asked to believe this woman and her family simply endure it.

That's not to say that she doesn't eventually decide to move, but given what she's already been through, you might ask what was finally so awful that she had no choice but to leave the home. So, what was it? The author saw a demon dog and chased it into an alley where he had a face-off with it. He went back and told the woman it was time to leave, and shockingly she agrees. So let's put these two things on a scale of seriousness here: rape vs. demon dog. Hmmmmmm. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Eventually, the woman becomes possessed and tries to kill her husband, but no mention is made of her being arrested for attempted murder, nor does it seem the husband even bothered calling the cops on her after she attacked him with a knife and he ran off on foot for his life. No mention is made of any legal repercussions regarding this incident.

The finale asks us to believe that the creepy old man who rented the house to them was not only aware of the house's reputation, but was actively "feeding" it children by only approving potential renters who had families. This is implied by an email the man sends to the author where he basically rubs it in his face that a new family has moved into the house and he can already hear the children screaming. How conveniently over-the-top.

The dialogue is also painful to read and takes some suspension of disbelief to accept because it is so trite and corny. The man and his children talk like characters out of Full House. Everything has a fake "Brady Bunch" feel to it, whereby they express their feelings, concerns, and thoughts to one another in eloquent back-to-school special-type dialogue that reeks of cheese. No one talks like this. The teenagers on Dawson's Creek had more realistic dialogue. It's the icing on the cake for what is already a ridiculous tale.

Read it as fiction, and even then, only if you're really bored.

I expected a lot more from this book after reading the description. HOwever, there are many holes left in this story of a haunting. One is a history of the Union HOuse. "It was built in the 1930's" is about all the history we get about it...no historical view of who lived there, who they were, what events transpired to make the home so disturbed.

Secondly - the author never once approached his neighbors in the account to ask them of their impressions of the house - despite watching them cross the street each time they passed the Union HOuse. He lived in it for a few days with his kids and then left (understandably from his accounts of happenings in the home), but never once tried to dig into WHY the place was as it was, and what his neighbors knew...

A spooky read, but I've read far more convincing accounts of the paranormal that research the history of their locations that explain why the place may be disturbed...other than "a vortex in the basement"

Entertaining - yes. Convincing - not 100%.

SpiritRane: Read this some yrs ago and found it was a Spooky read for around Halloween. It was not quite what I thought it was going to be and it was hard to believe in spots but it sent a few chills up my spine. I live in my Childhood Home which is Haunted so I really can not say if half of what went on here was true or not because people look at me like I am nuts when I tell them some of the stuff that goes on in my house. But I give the benefit of doubt to the Family. Like I said it is a good read for a fright night.

LaChance/Laura Long-Helbig in this chilling "true" story tell of LaChance's struggle as a single father struggling to pick up the pieces of his and his children's lives once their mom walks out. LaChance finds himself lured into the perfect house at the seeminly perfect price. That is until he finds the price is his and his children's souls!

The story seems a typical "ghost story" in some ways until LaChance has to face a choice of whether to walk away from the truth he knows about the house he had by then left or to take on the burden of doing the right thing by another person who eventually comes to live in the haunted house.

At this point the story becomes a story of friendship despite all odds and of belief despite all doubts.

I was so enthralled by this story I read it in a single sitting - not wanting to stop till I knew the end. This story is one to haunt home renters and buyers alike as they go out to rent or buy their next home. What if that place that seemed like such a deal was really such a trap?

I loved how LaChance didn't paint over the darkness of the struggles with his faith or how he reacted at times when he found himself facing things few could ever imagine. I will be show casing this book for review-in our newsletter for the Seattle Metaphysical Library in October 2008. This is a book to make one wonder - did I really leave that light on??

Lady Zombie Journal Review

Steven Lachance was this nice guy who ran in to a crap load of some case of what I like to call crap luck (This is putting it mildly).Here this poor guy thought he was coming home to his bestfriend/wife and 3 kids.Home to his happy and content life. Only to find her ,his wife packed and ready to leave. When she told him ,I'm sorry Steven .Its not you ,its me. I told you that I didnt want to be a mother. Here this heartless woman leaves this man heart broken,to raise there 3 kids alone. And drains his account and says that she hasnt paid the rent in 6 months and the lights will be off by tomorrow . Just heart wrenching !! So steve picks the pieces up from his life and quicly puts them back togther . (For the childrens sake) He finds them this home in Union Missouri . Only to find it haunted by demons.
5 stars

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I collect books in this genre. This book was well written and scary. I don't scare easily if really ever. But the images prtrayed in this book were haunting in a very creepy way.

Great job. I am sorry for the authors obvious distress and at times desperate attempt at getting help. However it makes a great read for the rest of us.

If you are just starting out in this genre or a well read in this genre.... this is the one to go with.

Happy Halloween.

First of all, as someone interested in the paranormal for most of my life, I must say that this is a frightening story indeed. However a few things bothered me. This first thing may be small, but I am a stickler for consistency. The eccentric landlord was an old woman in the author's account of his experience when he posted it online. In the book, the landlord is an eccentric old man. Is it a man or a woman?

I looked up this home in some of my most haunted places in America books but none of them contain even a mention of this house. I googled The Screaming House in Union, Missouri among other variations, and the only information that came up was connected to the author and his book or show. DOesn't anyone else know about this? Former tenants who left so fast that their personal belongings had been left there? How about some impartial witnesses outside the author's circle of family & friends? Amazingly, there is absolutely no local lure, like the people that walked on the other side of the road from the house. Did any neighbors hear the loud banging and the screams? Did any neighbors see or hear the hooded dark creatire or the wolf creature? Were the police ever called in to witness any of these phenomena?

I wish the author could have included some photos. Especially when he went back to help the other tenant and put his own fear aside to help her. He spent countless more hours in the house after he moved out and even worked with paranormal researchers - but he did not offer any photos and as far as I can see, did not try to set up a video camera to capture any of these strange creatures.

I applaud the author for getting his kids out of there as soon as he did. He seems like a very good father, and his vulnerability and honesty made him a likeable storyteller. I do believe there was something there, but demonic hauntings need to be dealt with differently than your benign can't-seem-to-cross-to-the-other-side spirits. I thought it was exceedingly dangerous for the author to go back to the house to help the next tenant, even if his intentions were good. Demons like this can attach themselves and go right with you.

I also do not think it was entirely responsible of the author to imply that a person who does not go to church or does not believe in Christianity is more susceptible to be the victim of a demonic haunting. Based on my understanding, it is more a circumstantial event, usually based on something that happened on the property itself in the past as I thought he was getting into as he dug into the history of the location a bit.
The one thing that made me most skeptical however was HOW COULD THE NEW TENANT POSSIBLY STAY AS LONG AS SHE DID?? She too had kids to be responsible for. The brutality of the events - biting, sexual abuse, and extreme dangerous situations, causing eventual possession (and/or mental illness, however you interpret what happened to Helen), would have driven anyone out in days, or weeks, like the author and his family. To stay and endure that sort of haunting for years, and have it destroy your entire family right before your very eyes, is beyond crazy. NO matter how much they "couldn't afford" to move, in my opinion, that family couldn't afford NOT to.

So it was a very intriguing and scary book - but more collaboration with impartial witnesses, as well as possibly some photos or video, would bolster the credibility factor a lot. Three stars.

Being from Missouri the "Show Me" state, I was drawn to this book right away, which is the only reason I paid so much for an electronic download, but it is a good book. I was scared, which is difficult to do for me. I do recommend this one.

I have always enjoyed true ghost stories. I read all the ones that I can get my hands on and this one was one of the best. It comes from the person that experianced the most and also told more than just his story. The author even wrote about people that rented the house after them and their stories. Actually that is the best part of the book. If you like scary and real then this is the book for you.
A single parent with 3 children move into their dream home only to find that it is haunted and also has a vortex that compounds the trouble. I immediately liked the family and it bothered me that they were so scared and abused by the unknown. The father (author) brings you into his world so very well that it makes you feel as if you know them or they could live next door to you. I could not put it down and when I did I could not wait to pick it up again. If you like true horror stories then this is one for you. You wont regret getting it.

I have been reading books on true hauntings for many years and have amassed quite a collection. I have to say this is the scariest one I've read since "In A Dark Place" (The novel behind the discovery channel special and upcoming movie "A Haunting in Connecticut.")
The book's story is well-told and is also inspiring in its own way. Don't get me wrong though, this book will scare your pants off. After one night of reading it before bedtime, I vowed I would not do that again as I kept hearing every bump and creak in the house. Even the book cover was frightening enough that I always laid it face down. haha. If you want to be scared by a true paranormal story, this is it!

The first two thirds of this book was very interesting for someone like me who's interested in paranormal phenomena. I got a creepy vibe about the relationship between the dad and his daughter, like there was too much of her trying to step in for her absent mother. Those bits could have been left out, but I looked past them, since this family had been through some obvious emotional trauma before even moving into the haunted house.

What got me was by the time Steven and Helen had so many people in and out of the house that got such interesting results, and Helen really started losing touch with reality, that no one thought to get her out of there. It felt like things were purposely strung out for dramatic effect. Once she started cussing around like the girl from the Exorcist movies, I was too overcome by cliches to take things seriously after that. It stops being scary and quickly crosses the line over to stupid. Combine this with the lack of any other evidence about this house, I have a hard time believing that this book isn't in the same vein as many of the recent cases of fraudulent memoirs.

Was the house haunted or possessed? Why aren't there other accounts by other people about this house available? Where is this Mr. White? There's just too many holes to recommend this book to anyone.

BOOK REVIEW by Miss Teddy Skyler. [...]
THE UNIVITED
By Steven A. LaChance
With Laura Long-Helbig

Before I read this book I had heard it was Terms of Endearment meets Poltergeist. That is a fairly close assessment. It is clear that Mr. LaChance opened his heart when he sat at his computer to write. You clearly see his sincerity and his nature in its reading.

The Preface, which people often skip is not to be missed. It sets the stage for what is to come. It is reminiscent of the campfire stories you hear as a child. and will have you questioning what you think you know. Mr. LaChance writes as if he is speaking sincerely to your soul. The Preface alone draws you in. Skeptics beware! This is a Skeptics story, the story of a haunted survivor.

The story begins as a typical small town story complete with all the trappings of a typical small town life. Childhood dreams of escape give way to marriage, birth, death and divorce. This story is about a single father of young children doing what all single parents do after divorce. They struggle to provide stability to the now rocky foundation of their children's lives, they work to overcome the pain and put their lives back in order. Sometimes it's a very long road. And when you see a light at the end of a tunnel you grab it and think that now, finally, you are on the right track. In this case, it was an ad:

Three bedroom house for rent in Union, Missouri. Full in town living. Near most schools and the city park. Perfect for families. A full country kitchen with up to date amenities. Large living and dining area with original woodwork intact. Two bathrooms with mud room. Full basement with fruit cellar attached. Large front porch and backyard perfect for children. The right house, at the right price, for the right family.

Finally, the break they have been wishing for, a house, with a yard, individual rooms and room enough for everyone to have their own space, a real home. The nightmare started the same day they first stepped foot onto the property. What happens to Mr. LaChance, his children and anyone unfortunate enough to come in contact with the house that is "perfect for children" is nothing short of out and out war . Steven states that hind site is 20/20 and he should have known better, but that was when he was blissfully ignorant of the world of demons, and demonic possession. Once you start The UNIVITED will find yourself amazed at the strength and character of the oldest child, Lydia.

I could not even finish this book. It progressed so slowly, was so redundant, and honestly very cheesy and poorly written. I found a lot of it hard to believe. I hated how there were SO many lines trying to sort of create suspense and anticipation by saying things like "it was the last good night we'd have in a while" or "if only we knew how complicated our lives would get." It just didn't work for me and really just annoyed me. I also thought it was annoying how often the author suggests if you don't follow religion you're more susceptible to these hauntings. I would have much preferred to read a story that focuses more on the actual events that took place instead of what seemed to be a sales pitch for God and religion.

uthor and his kids move into house in Union, Missouri where the lights turn on by themselves, they see and hear the groans and screaming of demons and sleep ruining nightmares are a nightly fixture. Guy moves out shortly after, but then he learns another tenant has moved in with similar results, so he tries to save her from the house with the help of psychics, priests and paranormal researchers.

Pros: A bit scary, short chapters. You'll probably enjoy this if you liked Amityville Horror.

Cons: True story? I believe not, as this would probably not be the only tale about it and extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence. Not scary enough for my tastes. Writing is simplistic. Seems like an unoriginal Amityville Horror /Poltergeist knock-off. He does some research on the house's background and doesn't cite his sources. Ending is unsatisfying.

The Uninvited is not a story you will soon forget. The author paints a vivid picture of his family's terror after moving in to their Union Missouri home. If you are searching for a book that is chilling and memorable this is it.

Harrowing for a divorced parent. Anyone who has to find a place to live in a hurry wants a secure environment to ground the family and bring some stability. You get a sense of just how horrible the haunting was for the children at a time like that. Well written.

An awesome read. I bought the book because I know the author personally. I read the book because I knew his story and wanted more details. I loved it, because it was so easy to get lost in the story.

These aren't typically the type of books that I go for, but I was so into it that I couldn't put it down. My laundry didn't get done, dinner didn't get cooked and my weekend was consumed by the book. I lent it to my Mother after I finished it, and she had nightmares while the book was in her house, before she even started reading it.

I've read a few of the negative comments that say it doesn't seem true. I can tell you that it is in fact a true story. I actually met the author shortly before he moved his family out of the Screaming House. In the days that I spent with him after he moved out, it was very clear that he was still haunted by it.

I first saw this story on the Discovery Channel's series "A Haunting" in the episode titled "Fear House" which originally aired 10/5/06. This was an extremely scary story, so if you ever have the opportunity to view it in reruns or on the internet, you shouldn't miss it.

Familiar with the area Mr. LaChance writes about, as well as the very house in question. Is it really haunted? Not sure. It has definitely been lived in and no one has run from it screaming, so there's that. I just find it incredibly hard to believe the events really played out as described in the book. If you take it as fiction and with a gigantic grain of salt, then it's not a terrible book.

This book started out strong but it kind of dwindled down from there. I understand that true hauntings are difficult to write about effectively because, being real-life experiences, they often lack the classic points of plot and content that keep a reader engaged in a fictional story. By the ending of this one, I was just a little nonplussed, though and some of the latter details revealed by some of the eyewitnesses seemed - to me - rather cliche, indicating that the accounts were informed by numerous horror movies. This ratchets up the skepticism and I think that, in this kind of book, the last thing you want to feel at the end is MORE SKEPTICAL than when you began the read.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, what with all the great reviews it received. I was SO disappointed. It is just so hard to believe most of this story. Perhaps in the hands of a better writer...??
I don't know. Everything from the weird and wacky landlord to the wolves with the yellow eyes out in the street to the baby hanging in the tree just doesn't ring true to me.

What is so hard to fathom as well, and what another reviewer mentioned is why would Helen, the second tenant of the "screaming house" stay for heaven's sake? If all these horrifying events were really taking place, would anyone in their right mind stay? Most people would run and they wouldn't care to where as long as they could get away from the place. Not having the money to move is a lame reason when the husband has what sounds like a good job. If I awoke to find myself having a conversation with a black hooded entity, I would get the hell out as soon as possible. Wouldn't you??!

I tried to find the "screaming house" on the web and I also couldn't find any pictures or info on it. If it was so infamous in the neighborhood that everyone who walked by it would cross the street as they passed it, wouldn't there be some pictures, info, etc??? It just led me back to the author's cheesy website.

Not recommended.

Even with a co-author who's supposedly an English instructor at the college level, Mr. LaChance's written story of his encounters with the Union House, are so badly related that this book is a lousy read. There was no real narrative, making the book read like an outline, or a list, that had generic verbs (often not the correct tense) jammed in to make thought points into sentence form.

I was drawn to this book after viewing the episode of "A Haunting" that featured Mr. LaChance's story. I was excited to read the unfiltered, un-dramatized version of the story. It was great to get the real details, but the writing was so poor, I can't give this book more than one star.

My only reason for reading this book is because Steven and share a bond as witness, victim, experiencer and conquerers of evil. We both had our stories on "A Haunting" as well. The Uninvited is a very disturbing account of what happened to Steven and his family. Some of the events he describes rang very familiar to me to say the least. I certainly pray that Steven and his family will never experience anything like that again. Since I became a Born-Again Christian, I don't read on this topic and I don't watch horror movies either. However, Steven is a good man and I read it because he's my friend. May GOD Bless Steven and his family.

Bill Bean

Even with a co-author who's supposedly an English instructor at the college level, Mr. LaChance's written story of his encounters with the Union House, are so badly related that this book is a lousy read. There was no real narrative, making the book read like an outline, or a list, that had generic verbs (often not the correct tense) jammed in to make thought points into sentence form.

I was drawn to this book after viewing the episode of "A Haunting" that featured Mr. LaChance's story. I was excited to read the unfiltered, un-dramatized version of the story. It was great to get the real details, but the writing was so poor, I can't give this book more than one star.

My only reason for reading this book is because Steven and share a bond as witness, victim, experiencer and conquerers of evil. We both had our stories on "A Haunting" as well. The Uninvited is a very disturbing account of what happened to Steven and his family. Some of the events he describes rang very familiar to me to say the least. I certainly pray that Steven and his family will never experience anything like that again. Since I became a Born-Again Christian, I don't read on this topic and I don't watch horror movies either. However, Steven is a good man and I read it because he's my friend. May GOD Bless Steven and his family.

Bill Bean

Steven truely is a great writer. I was so impressed with not only what they went through in this house ,but him as a person.As far as his personal life and what this man endured,he`s a wonderful, amazing Father . Kudo`s to you Steven for all you did for your children as a single Father .This story of this haunted house is one of the scariest I`ve heard of .It`s amazing they got out alive .Thank you Steven. .

The story of the Uninvited is something that does and can happen with any place or home. I am a demonologist and a paranromal investigator and we see cases as bad or even worse sometimes. This is a great book and suggest it for everyone to read.
Katie Boyd
Author of Devils & Demonology In the 21st Century

Having seen the episode of "A Haunting" about this house and its inhabitants, I was interested to read the book. The story itself (believable or not) is quite spine-tingling, but this book suffers greatly from poor prose, which devolves into over-wrought, overly dramatic, hyperbole.

This book is way better than the Haunting story on Discovery. The person that owns the house is a minion of Satan. [...]. An arsonist needs to find this place. God bless the family for their nightmare.

I must say I am definitely disappointed in this book I was expecting more. But as I got further into it the book seemed more fiction than fact. The major problems are that in the author's first account of the house he states the landlord is an old woman in the book it is an old man. Major problem. The other problem is that I can't find any information on this house anywhere other than here. Also the author states that numerous groups came in ot this house and ttok photos and evp's yet I can't find them anywhere on the net. Not even on the author's website or his paranormal affiliates.
In this day and age if a place is that haunted it would be on the net. The writing itself is sinmplistic and the part in the middle about chasing a wolf demon down the street was ridicoulis. No neighbors are mentioned or any one affiliated with this house. If all this was going on other's would know about it. There is no verification.
It also feels that the woman Helen was suffering from Alzheimers not a possession plus with no last name you can't verify the stabbing on her husband. Police report would be nice. Plus the book jumps to a place called Zombie road. If this woman was possesed why would you take her there? It looks liek Zombie road was put in as a teaser for the author's next book.
It seems to me that the author was a down on his look single father and bailed himself out by writing this "factual book". I will not buy anything by this author as it seems like pure fiction.

Creepy and entertaining at times. Hokey and poorly written at other times. But entirely unbelievable throughout. With the all the easily attainable technology that exists today, how can there be no photographic evidence included in this book? But credibility issues aside, it's not a bad read for a rainy day.