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The World's Most Haunted House: The True Story Of The Bridgeport Poltergeist On Lindley Street (2014)

by William J. Hall(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1601633378 (ISBN13: 9781601633378)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

New Page Books

review 1: I read this on the recommendation of a friend and former coworker. A group of us were at dinner talking about ghosts, a subject that often comes up if I spend enough time with other Yankees. He told us a chilling tale about his daughter and wife seeing a ghost in an old house they were housesitting and cleaning. Then he went on to cite a theory from someone he knew who'd written a book about the most haunted house in Connecticut. The theory: ghost activity happens more frequently in houses near water.Of course, I had to read that book. So I finally got around to it, and here's what I think:The story itself is fascinating, but the way it's told is draggy. The author uses a lot of passive voice in the first 2/3, and as a professional ghostwriter and editor, this writing styl... moree held me back from full immersion in the story. It's clear the author isn't too practiced in describing action or emotional states like fear.However, the story itself is fascinating: a poltergeist destroying a tiny old house where two older parents took care of a home schooled, adopted, socially isolated girl. Featuring floating refrigerators! Lay-Z-Boy chairs that rotate in the air! Most of it witnessed by priests, neighbors, and Bridgeport, CT police officers. (I imagine Bridgeport PD in the 1970s is not too different from NYPD: salt-of-the-earth skeptics.) The story is of particular interest to me personally because it happened the year I was born and it unfolded in my home state.The strongest part of the book, by far, begins with the story's lengthy denouement. Readers would be wise to skim the descriptions of the haunting itself, then slow down when you get to the transcript of the priests advising the parents to get counseling for themselves. That's a real-life, word-for-word conversation between very insightful and well-read clergy people and a very repressed and fearful mother. I found it fascinating to read. The interviews with first-hand witnesses were also good; in particular, conversations with former seminarian Paul Eno, who offers some sci-fi type theories to explain everything he and others saw and felt (and everything paranormal and unexplained in general). This is where the bodies-of-water/loose soil theory comes into play.Overall, worth a read at Halloween time, especially if you're from the Northeast. Fans of The Conjuring may enjoy, as The Warrens do make their inevitable appearance. And for the record, I don't believe in this stuff. Though like Fox Mulder, I want to.
review 2: I first heard about the Lindley St house a few years ago reading about Bridgeport on the internet and subsequently found the authors Facebook page about the release of his book. Ironically, I soon found out that I only lived a few blocks away from the house. When I found out the Warren's were involved with this case, the house and book had my full attention! I even somewhat became obsessed with the house, often driving by trying to imagine the crowd of people that were camped outside 40 years ago and thinking about the Goodin family and what happened to them inside of the walls of this small, modest home. Well, I just finished reading the book and it didn't disappoint. I am left feeling so much empathy for the Goodin family, I can't even imagine the ridicule and bullying that the entire family endured, and knowing that this was very much real and not a hoax as deemed by the police department. It would have been impossible for a 10 year old girl to be responsible for the things that happened on Lindley St but realize that the police department had to do what they had to do to get rid of the crowds. I especially enjoyed the pictures of the family and of both the inside and outside of the house and thought that the author did a great job of representing and respecting all involved. Finally after 40 years the Goodin Family has been served some justice. It would have been great to hear Marcia's side of the story, but unfortunately the author was unable to locate her. Now for the Lindley St movie... less

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