Book Review: House of Spirits & Whispers by Annie Wilder
Title: House of Spirits & Whispers: The True Story of a Haunted House
Author: Annie Wilder
Category: Paranormal
Although I enjoyed this book for the most part, and found it exceptionally easy to read (except for the most annoying use of the word "gotten", which should not exist in the English language - it sounds awful!), I didnt learn anything new from it. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting Wilder's account of living in a haunted house to reveal, but I thought there would be more: That by the end of it I would have a greater understanding of my own "paranormal" experiences, but alas! I do not.
House of Spirits & Whispers is a descriptive account of the spiritual journey that Wilder was thrust into upon purchasing her house, and what she believed she learnt from it. It is not an objective account in any way, shape or form: At no point does Wilder engage the assistance and expertise of a unbiased third party (a parapsychologist, for example). Perhaps the whispering radiators were not ghostly whispers at all but a fault with the heating system? Perhaps the light shows were not ghostly displays of interaction but reflections from outside? Perhaps the OBEs and dreams really were just dreams? I was frustrated by this because I couldnt help but feel that Wilder was a little too eager to put everything down to the "paranormal", rather than trying to decipher if there were any "normal" causes for the phenomenon.
I also felt that the characters in the book - both living and dead - were a little hollow (if you'll pardon the pun).
However, House of Spirits & Whispers is a quick read, and it's not terrible, so I'm giving it 3 out of 5 stars.
