In a Dark Place

I found a copy of this book a couple of years ago after watching the documentary version of it, "A Haunting In Connecticut" on the Discovery Channel. The TV show was one of the scariest I'd seen, and the book tracks the film pretty closely. The premise of the book is that the Snedeker family needs to move closer to where the oldest son, Stephen, is being treated for cancer. The family thinks they have found the answer to their prayers when they find a large home that has just been remodeled that is being leased for a very reasonable price. However, they soon learn the reason for the bargain. The house is a former funeral home. However, with the expense of the son's cancer treatment weighing heavily on the family budget, the Snedekers are unable to afford breaking their lease and moving to yet another house. According to the book, demons invade their domicile - or they invade the demon's domicile, depending on how you look at it - until the supernatural detectives, the Warrens, are called in and with the help of an exorcism, restore peace to the household. Just as much as fright, though, I felt a great deal of anger at the Snedekers as parents. For one thing, Mr. Snedeker seems to believe that the size of his electricity bill is more important than the mental health of a child recovering from cancer since he removes all of the light bulbs from the basement bedroom so that Stephen can no longer sleep with the lights on. Then he forces the boy to continue sleeping in this bedroom in spite of his tales of horror of being tormented by apparitions coming from the former embalming room adjacent to his basement bedroom. He does this in spite of the fact that he and his wife have both personally been the victims of attacks and witnesses of various manifestations of the house's spirits. Afterwards, in despair, the boy just gives in to the demons' collective will, manifesting in more and more bizarre behavior until he finally attacks a visiting cousin. How Mrs. Snedeker could have invited this young niece into her home in the first place just because she wanted the companionship and help around the house, having witnessed firsthand the mayhem that the house's demons can cause, as well as her son's deteriorating mental state, is a wonder to me. I have read an interview with the author, and he paints both the Warrens and the Snedekers in a very unflattering light in that interview. He basically says that he does not really believe the Snedekers' stories, since even the Warrens themselves told the author that they think that all of their clients are crazy including the Snedekers. Plus, apparently there was considerable drug and alcohol abuse going on in the Snedeker household and the family members would never tell the same story twice. The author only went through with writing the book because he was already legally obligated to do so. However, even if the account is total fiction, it is well told and frightening fiction and I highly recommend it if you

It's kind of irrelevant whether, as the author claims, this is a true story. But even read as fiction, this is one of the scariest books I've ever read, and I've read a lot on this theme. Makes the "Amityville Horror" school of "true haunting" books look like children's fairy tales by comparison. A truly frightening book about a young family who unknowingly move into a converted Funeral Home, and despite their terror are unable to afford to move out. I've read it multiple times and it gives me chills every single time.

I found this book in the library years ago. I have always been interested in accounts of supposedly 'true' hauntings and this book turned out be my my absolute favourite to date. I have since read it 3 times. It really is compelling. I'm sure there are many people who feel they are true afficionados of hauntings so I challenge you to read it and place your opinion on it here.This is the only book I have read that actually bothered me and I couldn't put it down. Whether Ray Garton has embellished on the happenings I don't know. I know a film was made, changing the name of the Snedekers but it was apparent it was the same family. The film is totally wishy washy compared to the book though. A lot is left out and in my opinion you don't get the same feeling that you get from the book. I loved it. It still scares me to this day and I have been searching ever since for more stories like this, which is shameful of me because it means someone else will have been through what the Snedekers went through. I have to say it grabs you from the start. Its such compelling reading. I recommend it. I don't usually scare easily when reading, but this one did it.

I cannot believe this book is out of print.It's still the scariest thing I've read on ANY subject and had me spooked of funeral homes,old drains,and rusty sinks for a long time. Not to mention the poor boy who's bedroom turned out to be the south coffin room.Different,chilling, and true, and the grotesque events leading to the hauntings made my skin crawl.Thank you, Mrs. Snedeker for telling the world your story. Thanks also to Ed and Lorraine Warren, and the state of Connenticut which I can't pass through anymore without thinking of this book...it's that good---

This book, In A Dark Place, is, without a doubt, the best book I have ever read. It's exceptionally written, terrifying, and unsettling: just to think that such a thing could really happen to a family like the Snedekers. The most frightening thing, for me, was Stephen's transformation from a happy, normal boy into the dark, brooding, evil person he became, as he was, in essence, posessed by these demons and spirits in the house. I still wonder if he's ok now. The description in the book is so vivid, and I felt as though I was there. With the spirits in the basement, the voices that were heard, all of it. Stephen, Carmen, and the whole Snedeker family, I wish you the best of luck in the future. I highly recommend this book to anyone, who, like me, is an unofficial, though truly dedicated, ghosthunter.