The Uninvited: The True Story of the Union Screaming House by Steven LaChance (2008), is about a man’s experiences with a haunted house in a small Missouri town during a several year time period in the early 2000s. I was unfamiliar with Steven or the “Screaming House” in Union until this book showed up in an Amazon.com book search. Being from Missouri, I figured it was something I should definitely check out.
In the beginning, the book focuses a lot on Steven (the author), who is a hardworking single father struggling to make it with three children. After moving from one disappointing rental to another, they manage to find what seems to be a dream home for their family… and this is where the real story starts. I am a person that reads a lot of books that would keep most people up at night, but I don’t usually have any issues. The activity that LaChance describes was enough to keep me from reading before bed. It does tend to be a little heavy on the demonic, and things like oppression and possession, but one thing I liked was that the author was really honest in describing those experiences and his opinions.
After reaching his limit of paranormal activity, the author finally moved his family out of the haunted home, but activity seemed to follow them, often in the form of nightmares. Fate also seemed to arrange for Steven to meet Helen, the next renter (or victim?) of the home. He felt the need to help her to find answers with the ongoing activity. In doing so, they formed a close relationship, and Steven ended up forming Missouri Paranormal Research (which I believe is now Paranormal Task Force), and the group seemed to spend an exhaustive amount of time investigating in the home. From there, the story focuses on Helen and the extreme experiences she goes through, including signs of possible oppression and possession, threatening both homicide and suicide, and even spending a short amount of time in a mental health facility. Steven seemed to talk himself through the thoughts that I was having while reading. Was she truly being affected somehow by some kind of demonic entity from the house, or was she purely having a psychological breakdown?
One thing is for sure. You won’t be bored with the twists and turns in the story.
For Steven’s website, click HERE. For a pictorial tour of the Union Screaming House, click HERE.
Author’s bio from the book cover:
Steven LaChance (Missouri) is co-host, with Denice Jones, of the popular Internet radio show Haunted Survivor. He appeared in the documentary film Children of the Grave and his story was featured on The Discovery Channel’s A Haunting. His experiences at the Union screaming house inspired him to form the Missouri Paranormal Research Society.
You might also like:
The Spirits of Ouija: Four Decades of Communication (Big Séance)
Chip Coffey’s “Growing Up Psychic” (Big Séance)
Vintage: A Ghost Story (for the gay teen in your life) (Big Séance)
As a teacher, occasionally I will have those days where nothing seems to go right. Some days I set out to inspire and end up coming home feeling like I spent the day pulling entire classes to the park in a wagon… all of them packed in like sardines, excited for the fun to come, but too apathetic to pitch in to help get the group there. (I apparently use this metaphor frequently because my last group of eighth grade students left me at the end of the year with a little red wagon, autographed by every one of them. Those days make it all worth it.) There have been a few times where on those wagon-pulling days I’ve decided to relieve my frustration while breaking the tension of the class at the same time… with a sudden drawn out scream. If you want the full effect, imagine Pee Wee Herman when someone said the secret word. Yes. I’m classy. But it usually works. We all laugh and move on in a much lighter (hopefully) atmosphere. 
I recently got caught up on what seemed like an endless amount of paranormal shows on the DVR. Episode after episode, I continued to see and hear investigators determine a location was haunted by the ghost of a “little girl”, because they captured an 
Fear and Spirit Communication
On more than one occasion recently, the topic of fear in areas of the paranormal or spirit communication, such as the Ouija board, has crossed my path. So it has been on my mind lately. Below is a somewhat unstructured blabmentary on this topic.
It all began with a reader who commented on one of my Ouija posts. Most of the people who caution me about the use of the Ouija board refer back to their own personal negative experiences. Most of these experiences involve either sleepovers, dares, parties, or other situations where there probably isn’t much planning, focus, or reverence involved. In most of these situations where people are gathered and dabbling for fun, there’s not a lot of seriousness or trust involved, and with so many hands on the planchette, I’m likely to be skeptical of any paranormal event or communication that you tell me about. Sometimes people will use the term “dabbling” with me, or warn me of evil, as if I’d never ever thought about the possibility or read a book on the topic. It’s a bit insulting to me when people compare my very positive and structured experiments, based on reading and research, with a drunken party or a sleepover from when they were twelve.
That’s okay though. People only have their own experiences to draw from, and we’re all different. In fairness, this particular comment was left on a post from a year and a half ago, a time where I was only starting to read about the Ouija, and I’d conducted no formal sessions yet. It was a respectful comment and was intended to be a warning, or perhaps encouragement to use caution. As I’ve mentioned before, in my opinion, all tools of spirit communication fall in the same boat. Having to fear a Ouija board because it has a sort of magical power to bring in evil spirits, yet thinking a digital audio recorder is fine, makes no sense to me. And I’ve also publicly mentioned how I don’t hold much belief in demonic or evil entities, demons, etc. Negative or nasty spirits who were negative or nasty humans, sure. Bad energy? Of course. But the concept of the devil is something that makes me chuckle when it pops up in a serious discussion. Oh I know, so many of you say “In order to have good, you must have evil”, or “You can’t have angels without the devil”, but I don’t really get that opinion either.
My opinions of demonic or negative energies aside, I’ve always practiced spirit communication responsibly, often grounding and centering, praying or asking for protection, being in a light and positive mood, etc. I also should once again point out that I have never actually had any successful Ouija sessions where I witnessed any communication or paranormal activity.
Right now I’m in the middle of Karen A. Dahlman’s book, The Spirits of Ouija, Four Decades of Communication. On this topic, we seem to share the same opinion, for the most part. She discusses how people fear the Ouija board out of ignorance. They believe what Hollywood or religious leaders want us to believe, and they don’t want to take the time to learn about it. I’m really getting a lot out of it so far. I wanted to include a passage that pertains to fear, but I haven’t taken the time to send her a message asking for permission. She really knows her Ouija! She has a great interview out there on one of Jim Harold’s podcasts.
Another catalyst for this commentary was a portion of Theresa Caputo’s book, There’s More To Life Than This: Healing Messages, Remarkable Stories, and Insight About the Other Side from the Long Island Medium. My mom is a big fan of hers, and she sent the audio book to me as an early Christmas gift. At one point in the book, Theresa discussed how those who fear negative energy and experiences, breed negative energy and experiences. In other words, if you expect it you’ll get it. She also talked about how many of the homes she’s cleared of negative energy had a lot of religious items displayed around the house, as if it was a dare, or an obvious attempt at over protecting themselves. This has really gotten me thinking, and it has sparked a few discussions among friends recently. I suppose it was kind of like an Oprah “aha moment” for me.
Am I still talking? Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
You might also like:
Thanksgiving Ouija Session 2013 (Big Séance)
EVP/Ouija/Spirit Box Session: “Ouija… Board” (Big Séance)
A Very Ouija Thanksgiving (2012) (Big Séance)
Ouija Gone Wild (Big Séance)
The Paranormal Podcast… To Ouija or not to Ouija? (Big Séance)
Share this:
Like this:
10 Comments | tags: after life, afterlife, angels, big seance, blogging, commentary, communication, demonic, demonic entities, demonic spirits, fear, fear and spirit communication, ghost, ghosts, heaven, karen A. DAhlman, karen dahlman, negative energies, negative energy, negative entities, negative experiences, other side, ouija, ouija board, ouija board research, paranormal, positive experiences, seance, spirit, spirit communication, spirit world, spirits, spiritual, Theresa Caputo | posted in Book Discussions, Ouija, Spirit Communication, Topics Inspired by Blog Comments