I finally had a chance to read a book that has been on my Kindle for years, A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of the Allen House by Mark Spencer.
Here’s the book’s description:
A Haunted Love Story is two tales in one: a modern family’s attempt to embrace their strange, spirit-inhabited home and a vintage love affair kept secret for six decades. When Mark Spencer bought the beautiful old Allen House in Monticello, Arkansas, he knew that it was famously haunted. According to ghost lore, the troubled spirit of Ladell Allen, who mysteriously committed suicide in the master bedroom in 1948, still roamed the historic mansion. Yet Mark remained skeptical–until he and his family began witnessing faceless phantoms, a doppelganger spirit, and other paranormal phenomena. Ensuing ghost investigations offered convincing evidence that six spirits, including Ladell, inhabited their home. But the most shocking event occurred the day Mark followed a strange urge to explore the attic and found, crammed under a floorboard, secret love letters that touchingly depict Ladell Allen’s forbidden, heart-searing romance–and shed light on her tragic end.
So how was it?
I found myself unable to put it down.
The way Spencer described his family’s coming to own the Allen House, and then how they learned to live with the odd paranormal activity, was fascinating and fun. I loved that his wife, Rebecca, was so determined to live in the house. It was its looks, not the ghosts, that intrigued her on first site. It wasn’t even for sale, but she wasn’t shy about asking the owner to sell. It took them over two years to make that happen, but they did.
And then to learn about the former inhabitants, some of whom are now believed to be the spirits still occupying the home…wow. There was a lot of research that went into their life there, which Spencer parlayed brilliantly and eloquently into this book.
He even really humanized the ghost, Ladell, thought to have committed suicide in the house. The letters really shed light on why Ladell likely took her own life, which made for one very haunting love story indeed. It’s a story that will forever stick with me, that’s for sure.
The writing was such a great blend of personal experiences mixed with history. The writer in me admired the hints he’d drop about further details to come. Suspenseful teasers that didn’t disappoint once I got to the info!
Famously haunted?
The only thing I struggled with is he kept referring to the house as “famously” haunted. Maybe it was famous in Arkansas, but before this book, I’d never heard of the Allen House. Certainly not in the same context as the Whaley House, the Lizzie Borden House, the LaLaurie Mansion, the Lemp Mansion, or the Villisca Axe Murder house, even though it apparently found itself on a list with other such famously haunted houses in 2010. (If my memory serves right. As of the time of this post, I couldn’t find the passage where it said what list it had been included on and the year that list was published.)
However, that doesn’t say much. It’s not like I’ve heard of every single haunted place out there. This one just didn’t ring a bell with any of the ones I consider famous.
But once I had a chance to Google the Allen House, I quickly discerned now it’s become much more recognized beyond Arkansas. Popular ghost hunting TV shows have either been there or have expressed interest in filming there. It even has its own website and Facebook page:
Allen House Website: http://www.allenhousemonticello.com/Welcome.html
Allen House FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/theallenhousemonticello/
Whether it’s a famous haunted house or not really doesn’t matter. What matters is this book was exceptionally well-written and handled the entire subject matter with great respect. Definitely worthy of 5 out of 5 skulls!
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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