The Ghosts on 87th Lane: A True Story | 
| Author: M.l. Woelm
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 209399
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0738710318
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.10977665
EAN: 9780738710310
ASIN: 0738710318
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
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Book Description
Once upon a time, my house was haunted. It still is. I began recording my experiences, hoping to one day share them. I kept waiting for the incidents to stop, so I'd have a logical conclusion to my book. So far, that hasn't happened. It may never happen. I'd like to get my story told before I become a ghost myself. The True Story of a Haunting Beginning in 1968 and spanning four decades, this true story chronicles the hair-raising experiences that nearly drove an ordinary housewife and mother to the breaking point. Not every haunted house is an old Victorian mansion, as the author and her family discovered when they bought a modest house in the suburbs. Even a post-war starter home can be a dwelling place for earthbound spirits?especially if it holds a tragic secret from the past. Eerie feelings of being watched, disembodied sobs, mysterious scratches appearing on her throat, and a child's voice crying, "Mommy!" convinced M. L. Woelm that she was sharing her home with ghosts. This is her story.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Very enjoyable true-life haunting account July 12, 2008
If you have a passion for true-life ghost stories (as I do), I highly recommend this book. The author has a tale of a 30+ years haunting to tell that is truly creepy. And she tells it in most readable style. She has an engaging, self-aware, humorous writing style that really draws the reader into her both head and into her emotions, which makes the events she recounts seem very immediate even though some of them happened a long time ago.
In recent years, I've read many books like this one (many self-published; this one is not, and it shows), and the vast majority of them are frustrating reads, not only because they are often poorly written and loaded with grammatical and typographical errors, but because they provide minimal details/history about the victims of the hauntings under discussion. But I'm always curious (okay, nosy) about the back stories of the people involved in these hauntings, so I really appreciated the depth with which the author treated her family interactions regarding the hauntings, especially her husband's stubborn silence.
I also appreciated that this was a real BOOK -- not just a sliver of a book with wide margins and huge type, as so many of these types of books are -- and that it didn't stint on describing even repetitive events, because the author's response to these wasn't always the same as the years progressed.
After finishing the book, I did still have some questions (for instance, did her husband stop working nights in 1980 or 1982? She cited both years for that -- and what happened to her cat, Murray?), So I do think this book would have benefited from more careful editing. But that is just a minor complaint. Overall, this book is well worth reading.
 Skeptical about the author's honesty, and way too long June 27, 2008
I love true ghost stories and am not a skeptic about the paranormal, however I have a hard time believing this particular author. Many of the experiences that she writes about, such as the tapping sounds or misplaced items, have very logical explanations. More to the point though, I find her character somewhat questionable and wonder if she is exaggerating the less logical experiences (i.e. items being thrown) - or even making them up entirely!
My reason for thinking this is that it is noted at many times in the book that other people have little faith in her as a person - friends stopped being friends with her for little reason, both her father-in-law and mother-in-law stated did not like her and gave her a good chewing out, etc. In my experience, people close to you, such as friends and family, do not just drop you unless you give them just cause for doing so. But we need not speculate about why people dislike her, because the author provides us with her own reasons not to believe her story.
In the best example I found, she begins the story of her encounters with Echo Bodine by stating that she has written a letter to Echo about her hauntings. This letter goes ignored for some time until Echo finally contacts the author, because Echo is eager to use the letter in a forthcoming book. The author says she'll think about it, and later on writes that she is concerned there will be legal implications if both Echo and the author try to publish books using the same material (by publishing it first, Echo would gain copyright rights to the information). Then, on pages, Mrs. Woelm writes of one of her first phone conversations with Echo Bodine. She states that she "casually mentions" to Echo that she wants to get rid of her ghost, but adds that she "wasn't hinting that [Echo] should take on the task." Echo responds that she no longer rids home of ghosts, so the author asks for a recommendation for someone who could. Echo pauses a minute and then says she'll do it. The author feigns surprise - claiming she was "speechless, and "didn't expect that response at all."
Yet, on the next day (page 147), the author reports back to her friend/co-worker Nancy about her conversation with Echo. In this report, she crows that she used Nancy's "negotiating techniques," and "Echo decided she'd do her ghost-busting thing in exchange for the use of my letter." What?!? On page 146, the author makes it clear that Echo volunteers to "ghost bust" and that the author had nothing to do with Echo making this decision. But on page 147, we find the author admitting that she twisted Echo's arm to get her to perform the ghost bust!
It is clear from this exchange that this author lies, and also indicates that the author may be manipulative. There are other places in the book that the author trips up and catches herself in a lie, but I will leave you to find them yourself (here's a hint: re-read her descriptions of the neck scratches she receives; they go from "deep" to "fine" and "kitten-like"). Through these blatant lies and over-exaggerations, we can clearly see that this author should be handled with a bit of skepticism. After all, if she's willing to lie about her treatment of Echo - how do we not know the whole book is a lie?
 Very different opinion March 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book because of the readers' reviews. I was sorely disapointed. Not that I wish to be unkind, but I found the author's style to be boring and without depth. The book droned on and on and wasn't the least bit scary. I had a hard time believing what I was reading and lost interest very early on.
great book February 23, 2008
so true , very frighting story you will never beleive until you read it which i recomend strongly
A fun book February 8, 2008
An entertaining book and a fun read. It's written as though she's telling the story rather than writing it. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next! I bought it on a whim, and I'm glad I did.
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