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| Grave's End | 
 enlarge | Author: Elaine Mercado
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95 (30.49 RON)
Buy New: $10.36 (24.39 RON)
You Save: $2.59 (6.10 RON) (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  109 reviews
Sales Rank: 29633
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0738700037
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.12974723
EAN: 9780738700038
ASIN: 0738700037
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Possibly the greatest "non-fiction" ghost story ever written December 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love reading ghost stories, especially those that claim to be true. I don't know if this woman's experiences are true or not, though I suspect that they're exargerated because there's just too much stuff happening. It's almost like the complaints a lot of skeptics had with the Amnityville Horror; just too much goings on to be real.
But maybe it is all true. I don't know. And frankely, I don't care. I'm not some "ghost hunter." I just like a good story, and this qualifies. It is creepy, arguably believable, and very... well, the living characters are undoubtably real.
The writing is well-paced and there's real emotion. There's even a degree of skepticism that I did not expect. Regardless if the events in "Graves End" actually occurred as they appear in this book is irrelevant to "Graves End" being one of the greatest "non-fiction" ghost stories ever written. I eagerly await any further books from Elaine Mercado.
Read the book in 3 days December 7, 2008
I went to a local Borders to browse, and just by chance, I ended up reading a few chapters of this book. After leaving, I decided that I had to go back and buy it, and I ended up reading it in three days. Very good read, and very spooky. The ending definitely gives you closure.
 Terrible writer October 28, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am shocked to find that so many people gushed over this book. The narrative was boring, cloying and drippy. There were some interesting new things as far as hauntings go, like the cat's strange behavior and the water incident. I really have no sympathy for a family that is too stupid to look into the history of the house sooner. I mean, it was ten years of torture before they even decided to get any kind of help at all. The main problem with the writing was how repetitive it was. I did not need to hear the details of the same "suffocating dream" all 75 times it happened. And the dialogue was far too detailed to be real recollections. No good and not scary.
Great spooky read September 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Whether you are a believer or not, this would be a great evening's entertainment during the Halloween season.
The writer experienced it all--and what a haunting! It has myriad elements. I can see why she thought she was going crazy. Fortunately she got in touch with Hans Holzer and the source of the mystery was revealed. A long-hidden tragedy from 1850 lay beneath their old house buried in a mine shaft.
If you think you have a little spirit problem, and it doesn't involve the alcohol type, then read up on this little gem. And from what I've read of similar books, GRAVE'S END is much better written than most of the genre by the person who lived in the house. But then, medical professionals generally do have a knack for expressing themselves well. Yes, an RN is considered a professional.
VERY ENTERTAINING book.
 Great first-hand haunting account August 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First off, I'm not a believer in the religious sense. Despite the number of various claims made for hauntings and poltergeists across the world, the sheer inability to scientifically quantify any of it means that if you believe, you're trusting your gut rather than your rationale. To me, when you actually think about the allegations made about what ghosts are doing, it's quite silly - if they can make loud noises, rattle doors, occasionally manifest themselves, and so on, why do they have SUCH trouble getting their message across? Cue "experts" on the matter to come up with arbitrary rules to cover-up the fact that we really, really have no idea what the hell is going on.
Anyway, to some of you, the above will mean a "not helpful!" click on my review and moving on. But to others, this will be exactly the type of review you're looking to read. I've been reading a number of these books recently for a project I'm working on, and to date Grave's End is the best. The writing isn't perfect, there's no real tidy resolution in the end, and no definite answers reached. But Mercado's book smacks of authenticity, and that's what has probably bowled over the 100+ reviewers so far.
Mercado is frank about her life with her daughters, her (soon to be ex-) husband, and the relationships that come into her life. As the ghost occurrences begin, they are more annoyance than something to embrace. The main issue seems to be sleep paralysis, which happens on sometimes a nightly basis. But there are other very inexplicable events, such as floating objects and lights throughout the house.
Throughout the book, Mercado naturally portrays herself as someone who just wants some explanation and peace, and even when Hans Holzer and his psychic Marissa show up, she voices the exact same reservations I had - OK, they pulled some names out of the air, and some history, but there's NOTHING to back up their claims. If you are at all skeptical about your doctor - you ask any and all questions to be sure you're healthy, right? - you should be a thousand-fold times more with someone who claims the ability to communicate with spirits. I don't dismiss this possibility, but I also don't readily embrace anyone to do the job (which it seems many people do) anymore so than I would run to a random person without any research and say "cure me!" Ultimately, the one questionable part of the book occurs when the experts step in to do their thing. But the preceding is a very haunting experience that goes over 10+ years. Mercado even addresses the problem she has with ghost movies, when people don't just vacate their homes, then discusses how difficult this actually is to do in reality.
I have only a few hesitations in believing Mercado's accounts. First off, in the number of years that this stuff was going on, despite floating objects and lights and specters and so forth, I CANNOT believe she didn't keep a camera handy to document the events. The fact that there is no picture record available for the sheer number of incidents is the biggest question looming over this book. At one point, her brother brings in a video camera, and right as a mist shows up, the footage gets blurry...but even this is more proof than not that something is going on.
Second, I have read a number of haunting books involving, oddly, divorce and children, and a lot of events occur solely to the children. While I can believe Mercado's account, I'm very suspicious of the psychology in children undergoing a divorce, and the sudden ability to get a lot attention by claiming to see ghosts in your bedroom. I have no proof either way, but I can only trust the kids on their word through Mercado, and really, this isn't enough. 10 year olds are capable of playing elaborate games.
Finally, sleep paralysis plays a huge roll in the events that happen, and I think this merits an examination into the phenomenon alone. Could, say, an intermittent carbon monoxide leak (something that wasn't as heavily worried about at the time the book was written in the 1980's and early 1990s) have played a huge role?
This is a book that will really make you wonder about the things she encounters. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a "true haunting" book, especially those who are not necessarily ready to eat up any ghost story they come across as true.
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