Crawley House

Book excerpt: Like a grand lady, the house has reigned over Harvest Street for almost a century. It's a splendid home- a sweeping veranda, ivy covered walls and spacious rooms, all within a short walk to the campus. Add to its charm the exceptionally low rent, and it's a perfect student rental. In spite of this, tenants never stay. Within weeks of settling in, they flee; whispering tales of occurrences that were first odd, then escalated to terrifying. Over the years, the house has stood vacant for longer and longer periods. Gillian McDougall has just moved to Kingston and this Victorian era house is perfect! Dirt cheap rent, close to the university and a fenced backyard for her five year old daughter Sarah, make the place irresistible. Gillian's mother Maureen, Sarah's loving Nana agrees. Together, the three of them will build a new life here, and this house will once again become a family home. Soon, they too learn that this house is bewitched. Odd things start to happen. Sarah loves the swing in the backyard and her new friends, twin girls who no one else has seen. Nana Maureen can't sleep in her room. She's constantly woken by creaking floors, nightmares of being strangled and the smell of rotting flesh. They have never quarreled before, but now the air is heavy with tension. Small disagreements explode into rage. They don't know that they're only the second family to ever dwell under this roof. They don't know about the horrible fate that befell the original family. They don't know about the greed and hatred from an earlier era that still breathes in the very walls of this house. This malevolence doesn't want Gillian's family to run away. It wants them dead