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Grave's End
When Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought their home in Brooklyn, New York, in 1982, they had no idea that they and their young daughters were embarking on a thirteen year nightmare.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter. These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of a parapsychologist, Dr. Hans Holtzer, and the medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter. These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of a parapsychologist, Dr. Hans Holtzer, and the medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End.
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2001
33 people are currently reading
2166 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Mercado
2 books9 followersElaine Mercado is a wife and mother of two daughters, registered nurse, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and entrepreneur. She holds a license as an LPN and as a registered nurse. Mercado has worked in the health care field for over nine years as a medical-surgical registered nurse and registered nurse in Brooklyn, New York’s Coney Island hospital emergency room.
During her tenure as an emergency room nurse, Mercado developed an interest in the psychological aspects of patient care and thus, began studying the mind, body, and spirit connection. At the same time, Mercado began to focus on paranormal phenomena. For over fifteen years, she has studied and attended numerous lectures and workshops on types of hauntings and the current theories behind them. Mercado, a locally published writer, has also written for The Brooklyn Baron and The Nursing Spectrum.
She is an American Heart Association Certified CPR Instructor, and operates a business with her second husband called Learning For Life, offering CPR training to hospital and hotel personnel. Mercado still lives in Gravesend with her family.
During her tenure as an emergency room nurse, Mercado developed an interest in the psychological aspects of patient care and thus, began studying the mind, body, and spirit connection. At the same time, Mercado began to focus on paranormal phenomena. For over fifteen years, she has studied and attended numerous lectures and workshops on types of hauntings and the current theories behind them. Mercado, a locally published writer, has also written for The Brooklyn Baron and The Nursing Spectrum.
She is an American Heart Association Certified CPR Instructor, and operates a business with her second husband called Learning For Life, offering CPR training to hospital and hotel personnel. Mercado still lives in Gravesend with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
December 18, 2021
Yoooo there are so many bad reviews for this book and it hurts my heart. Why am I taking it so personally? Lol. I LOVED the fact that this author is not a writer by trade, which based on the reviews is why people dislike this work. The whole book felt like a conversation with a friend over coffee. It felt genuine and sincere and it truly horrified me more than any horror book ever. It freaked me out so much and gave me the heebie jeebies and I just sincerely loved this memoir/true ghost story. Easy to read, accessible, terrifying. Five stars
January 5, 2013
Being a fellow writer, I don't like to speak badly of anyone's hard work. And I do appreciate the work Mercado put into this.
But I couldn't enjoy this book in the least. I believe in the supernatural and enjoy a good ghost story as much as anyone. Grave's End, however, is just so poorly written, I found myself skipping whole pages out of frustration.
I don't know how many times the words "suffocating dreams" were used, but by the end, I felt that if I never heard that combination of words again, it'd be too soon.
What really bothered me was the character's speech. No one speaks in full, uninterrupted, clean paragraphs. Especially nine-year-olds. I wish Mercado had tried to make the dialogue a little more believable.
I guess this reads more like a story told around a campfire. And that's fine. But as a novel, this just didn't do it for me. I'm sorry.
But I couldn't enjoy this book in the least. I believe in the supernatural and enjoy a good ghost story as much as anyone. Grave's End, however, is just so poorly written, I found myself skipping whole pages out of frustration.
I don't know how many times the words "suffocating dreams" were used, but by the end, I felt that if I never heard that combination of words again, it'd be too soon.
What really bothered me was the character's speech. No one speaks in full, uninterrupted, clean paragraphs. Especially nine-year-olds. I wish Mercado had tried to make the dialogue a little more believable.
I guess this reads more like a story told around a campfire. And that's fine. But as a novel, this just didn't do it for me. I'm sorry.
August 19, 2013
I was looking for a quick read between other more serious books, so I didn't have high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, that's exactly what I got.
This is a pedestrian book about a haunting of an otherwise average house written by the otherwise average homeowner. As well meaning as the writer may be in her desire to share her experiences, I strongly suggest she keep her day job.
The writing is very repetitive and uninspired, and the extraordinary experiences seem boring due to the lack of skill of the writer. This book could just as well have been subtitled "How I managed to ignore a haunting longer than what should have been possible". The writer dismissed the events which were happening to both her and her daughters (!) for *years*. To me this is baffling and frustrating rather than enjoyable to read about.
The book was finally written due to years of effort by the writer's brother, who importuned her to set this down on paper and share it.
I wish he hadn't bothered.
This is a pedestrian book about a haunting of an otherwise average house written by the otherwise average homeowner. As well meaning as the writer may be in her desire to share her experiences, I strongly suggest she keep her day job.
The writing is very repetitive and uninspired, and the extraordinary experiences seem boring due to the lack of skill of the writer. This book could just as well have been subtitled "How I managed to ignore a haunting longer than what should have been possible". The writer dismissed the events which were happening to both her and her daughters (!) for *years*. To me this is baffling and frustrating rather than enjoyable to read about.
The book was finally written due to years of effort by the writer's brother, who importuned her to set this down on paper and share it.
I wish he hadn't bothered.
May 28, 2010
I was very disappointed with this book.The writing seems to be done by a junior high school, immature girl.She screams and pouts and lets her daughter's suffer years of torment because she is 'scared'.Her treatment of her children was criminal and I don't blame her husband for not believing anything she says.
This woman disgusted me and I had to force myself to finish it.It was obvious that she is also a very stupid women and very uneducated.I also didn't believe all of the 'supernatural' occurrences.They read like a whose who of all the poor ghost stories out there.
Very poor work.Very poor ending.
This woman disgusted me and I had to force myself to finish it.It was obvious that she is also a very stupid women and very uneducated.I also didn't believe all of the 'supernatural' occurrences.They read like a whose who of all the poor ghost stories out there.
Very poor work.Very poor ending.
June 26, 2016
I read this book back in 2003 and I can still remember very well the title of the book, its cover and its writings within. This story has stayed with me for years. I remember sitting in a cozy chair back then, curled up late at night with this book, biting my nails and unable to set it down. This book is a whirlwind, you just have to know what happens with the haunting. Will they stay in the house? Will someone be hurt badly? I recommend this book, it will stay with you for a long time to come. Thats a good thing.
September 13, 2012
This book is written from the point of view of the author, Elaine Mercado. Grave's End tells her real-life experience of a haunting that ruled her and her family's life for many years. It was interesting to read about the disturbances this family experience in their home. I have always found it interesting to read first-hand experiences of the paranormal.
Mercado stresses over and over throughout the book how terrified she was during the times of frequent paranormal activity happening in the home followed by periods of normalcy. It's obvious that it was affecting not only her, but her children as well. I was astounded by how long it actually took for this family to seek out help or even research their home—we are talking years and years of living in fear.
I don't know if I much cared for the solution of bringing a “medium” into the home. I'm a bit on the fence when people start calling themselves a medium. I can buy the fact that some people are more sensitive to the “Other Side”, but people who call themselves mediums and claim to speak directly (and have conversations) with ghosts not so much.
I do believe this book could have been better written had Mercado teamed up with an established author to write this book. Nonetheless, I did find it to be interesting. I would recommend this book to readers who like to read about first-hand paranormal activity such as myself. If you find yourself in the category, you might like to check out some books written by Jeff Belanger.
Mercado stresses over and over throughout the book how terrified she was during the times of frequent paranormal activity happening in the home followed by periods of normalcy. It's obvious that it was affecting not only her, but her children as well. I was astounded by how long it actually took for this family to seek out help or even research their home—we are talking years and years of living in fear.
I don't know if I much cared for the solution of bringing a “medium” into the home. I'm a bit on the fence when people start calling themselves a medium. I can buy the fact that some people are more sensitive to the “Other Side”, but people who call themselves mediums and claim to speak directly (and have conversations) with ghosts not so much.
I do believe this book could have been better written had Mercado teamed up with an established author to write this book. Nonetheless, I did find it to be interesting. I would recommend this book to readers who like to read about first-hand paranormal activity such as myself. If you find yourself in the category, you might like to check out some books written by Jeff Belanger.
August 24, 2013
I am a big fan of all things paranormal. I have read many books on this subject, and this started off to be an alright read. However it soon became quite repetitive (suffocating dreams), and I have no idea how anyone could live with all that activity and fear for so long without doing anything about it. After all the years of activity it seemed a bit of an anti-climax when the house was 'cleansed' within only a few hours. It would have been good if the history of the house had been looked into in a bit more depth, and if the shed had been re-visited after what they found in there. I believe that some of the occurrences happened, but for me, as soon as something dropped a gerbil cage on my daughter or squashed me in my sleep I would have been out of there!
January 10, 2017
This was a great true paranormal story! I started yesterday afternoon and then read it last night till the early hours of the morning as I could not put it down. The book is about the life of the author, Elaine Mercado, as her and her family endured paranormal activity in a house that they bought in the early 80's. It is an intense read and the author gave in-depth details of the activity they had to deal with for a very long time. Giving it five stars for keeping me glued to the book.
May 24, 2014
I knew Ms. Mercado's daughters. Even they think there was no real haunting. Still, it's an interesting story, and a good illustration of how people can talk themselves into believing something, no matter how outlandish.
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October 28, 2024Sufficiently creepy and believable from an author who has an easy, flowing writing style. It kept me awake and jumping at the bumps in the night! I love to re-read around Halloween.
March 7, 2022
This book is the true story of Elaine and her husband and two young daughters, Karin and Christine. Elaine relates the facts of her family’s experience of living in their new home in Grave’s End Brooklyn. Almost immediately they begin to experience strange sensations and sounds in various rooms of the house.
If you believe in ghosts and paranormal activities, then this is a must read for you. I don’t think if I and my children were constantly living in fear for over ten years, I would have stayed in their house with all of this weird stuff going on.
If you believe in ghosts and paranormal activities, then this is a must read for you. I don’t think if I and my children were constantly living in fear for over ten years, I would have stayed in their house with all of this weird stuff going on.
June 14, 2017
When I started this book it was at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm. So I was spooked. Well, I was spooked after I got through the whole buying a house we don't have heating in our apartment we never looked at the basement when we bought the house oh no we don't have a full basement tale. I formed my opinion of the author in the first two chapters and it was something like "what an idiot".
Then the haunting started and I was like omg yes. And then the author just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. She got spooked by her suffocating dreams she cried she called her daughters and scared them and then did nothing. What a moron.
Also listen. The author at some point got her nursing degree and became a R.N. in case you weren't sure, because she puts that R.N. on the cover of her book. Why? If it was a book about the medical field I'd get that, but this is a book about ghosts. Anyways she is very clearly proud of herself for becoming a nurse and that's cool because I could never be a nurse but this is excess. She drones on about how well she is doing and how she got an A and how people thought she was doing swell and oh wow I don't care.
Anyways. This woman who is *TERRIFIED* of her local house ghosts remains in this house being borderline sexually assaulted by a ghost for I don't know at least a decade. GIRL CAN'T SLEEP AND CAN'T BE THE *BEST* NURSE SHE CAN BE BUT SHE JUST LEAVES IT.
Even better. She goes to a paranormal class. She eventually tells paranormal investigator dude that her house is hella haunted. Dude is like HOT DOG THIS IS ALL MY DREAMS COME TRUE. He wants to investigate. He wants to interview her and her girls and she is like WHOA DUDE no actually I think I'll stick this one out.
Then she continues to be haunted and she continues to be a horrible mother and an all around dumb lady. Her children are scared but they seem to cope with it better than her which isn't saying much and she takes that as a sign that her kids are actually fine being haunted all the live long day. Every night this lady gets scared and cries and wakes up her whole house and forces them to sleep in the living room with her.
To top it all off this woman is a terrible story teller and a worse writer.
Then the haunting started and I was like omg yes. And then the author just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. She got spooked by her suffocating dreams she cried she called her daughters and scared them and then did nothing. What a moron.
Also listen. The author at some point got her nursing degree and became a R.N. in case you weren't sure, because she puts that R.N. on the cover of her book. Why? If it was a book about the medical field I'd get that, but this is a book about ghosts. Anyways she is very clearly proud of herself for becoming a nurse and that's cool because I could never be a nurse but this is excess. She drones on about how well she is doing and how she got an A and how people thought she was doing swell and oh wow I don't care.
Anyways. This woman who is *TERRIFIED* of her local house ghosts remains in this house being borderline sexually assaulted by a ghost for I don't know at least a decade. GIRL CAN'T SLEEP AND CAN'T BE THE *BEST* NURSE SHE CAN BE BUT SHE JUST LEAVES IT.
Even better. She goes to a paranormal class. She eventually tells paranormal investigator dude that her house is hella haunted. Dude is like HOT DOG THIS IS ALL MY DREAMS COME TRUE. He wants to investigate. He wants to interview her and her girls and she is like WHOA DUDE no actually I think I'll stick this one out.
Then she continues to be haunted and she continues to be a horrible mother and an all around dumb lady. Her children are scared but they seem to cope with it better than her which isn't saying much and she takes that as a sign that her kids are actually fine being haunted all the live long day. Every night this lady gets scared and cries and wakes up her whole house and forces them to sleep in the living room with her.
To top it all off this woman is a terrible story teller and a worse writer.
December 28, 2013
"When Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought their home in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1982, they had no idea that they and their two young daughters were embarking on a thirteen-year nightmare.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter. These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End."
I started to read this book again and then realized I had read it already in 2011 lol.
I really like Elaine's writing style, very easy to get into the book and understand from the get-go what is going on.
The book seemed a little long and drug out in places but that may have been crucial to the story.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter. These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End."
I started to read this book again and then realized I had read it already in 2011 lol.
I really like Elaine's writing style, very easy to get into the book and understand from the get-go what is going on.
The book seemed a little long and drug out in places but that may have been crucial to the story.
October 27, 2025
I read this book years ago and remember it being really creepy. I just reread most of it (I remember the ending so I don’t feel the need to complete it again), and I would say yes, it’s still a creepy read and my four star impression holds up.
I noticed some reviewers giving low ratings and saying that the writing is bad. I would say the writing is competent but not polished. It’s clear that Mercado is not a writer, but she can write well enough to communicate the events. To me, that actually makes it feel more authentic; this is like a friend or coworker telling you about their haunted house, not a professional writer attempting to shock you with a clever twist. (And as an aficionado of self published “true” paranormal tales, memoirs etc., I have seen my share of truly amateur writing. Mercado is fine.)
As to why I find it so creepy, it’s honestly because of how many loose ends, random occurrences and apparent contradictions occur in this book. It feels authentic. I do believe in ghosts, and I have actually lived in a haunted building, and that’s what it felt like. It’s hard to pin down and sometimes you’re terrified and sometimes you doubt if it’s even haunted.
I noticed some reviewers giving low ratings and saying that the writing is bad. I would say the writing is competent but not polished. It’s clear that Mercado is not a writer, but she can write well enough to communicate the events. To me, that actually makes it feel more authentic; this is like a friend or coworker telling you about their haunted house, not a professional writer attempting to shock you with a clever twist. (And as an aficionado of self published “true” paranormal tales, memoirs etc., I have seen my share of truly amateur writing. Mercado is fine.)
As to why I find it so creepy, it’s honestly because of how many loose ends, random occurrences and apparent contradictions occur in this book. It feels authentic. I do believe in ghosts, and I have actually lived in a haunted building, and that’s what it felt like. It’s hard to pin down and sometimes you’re terrified and sometimes you doubt if it’s even haunted.
May 25, 2015
i can't fully describe my feelings about this book. it is written in first person narrative by the woman who lived it. Have you ever ran into a person that just rubs you the wrong way? Where you just have an almost uncontrollable urge to poke them in the eye with a stick for reasons that you just can't explain. This is how I felt about the narrator. Simpering is probably the closest adjective to use for her if I could only use one to describe her. She almost seemed to enjoy her role as victim too much. Some women are like that, some men too, I suppose. It's horrible that she suffered so much for so long, however if she'd emersed out of denial sooner and gotten the house cleaned right away it wouldn't have been half as bad. Seems the majority of her fear was self induced and not that the haunting was horribly violent in its own right.
March 8, 2018
I found this book at a used bookstore and was interested in the cover. Spooky old houses always catch my eye! The book's byline proclaiming "A True Ghost Story" made me buy it. The story initially had me intrigued, but I nearly quit reading due to poor editing and redundant details. I only continued reading to find out what would finally happen to the family.
The author's personality bothered me. Why sit back and allow your children to be harassed by spirits in their own home? Why did it take so long for the author to research the history of her house? I was contemplating that idea after the first two chapters! I tried to keep in mind that the events actually occurred in the 1980s and 90s, so research and accessible information was harder to come by. The final chapters were the only redeeming quality of Grave's End.
The author's personality bothered me. Why sit back and allow your children to be harassed by spirits in their own home? Why did it take so long for the author to research the history of her house? I was contemplating that idea after the first two chapters! I tried to keep in mind that the events actually occurred in the 1980s and 90s, so research and accessible information was harder to come by. The final chapters were the only redeeming quality of Grave's End.
May 31, 2009
This is a tale of a “true ghost story” allegedly, taking place in Brooklyn in 1982. It was a fast and entertaining book, nothing better than a good ghost story to read late night when all alone. It was written by Elaine Mercado who at times comes across as a weak and helpless woman who has no control over her life. I only wanted to slap her a few times. It just seemed like she was forever beating herself up throughout the novel. This distracted from the main story of the thirteen-year nightmare. Some of the chapters did appear to be a repeat of the charters before, but with a few variations. All in all I did enjoy it, but then again give me a story of a haunting and I am hooked
March 16, 2013
As someone with a love of "all things spooky," this book definitely met that criteria and then some. Particularly since it is based on a true story. I think people that are giving this book bad reviews based on the writing are forgetting the fact that this woman is not a professional writer/author. She's an RN living in a haunted house and simply wanted to share her experience. I first heard about this house on Paranormal Witness and then discovered Elaine Mercado had wrote a book as well. I literally could not put this book down and read the whole thing in just a few hours. But it's a great read. I enjoyed the paranormal aspects of the story every bit as much as the relationship aspects between Elaine and her family. You really can't have one without the other in my opinion.
April 19, 2010
A quick read but I didn't like the quick wrap up at the end. I expected more of an explanation about what was going on. Well I guess in real life not all questions can be answered. I have read better books on this subject but I didn't think the book was awful. I didn't enjoy the writer's style of writing and found some parts to be boring and hard to get through.
May 23, 2010
This woman is in serious need of a CAT scan.
October 17, 2016
I enjoyed the book and finished it rather quickly. Although, I will say that there's a lot of run on with details and I would get a little frustrated with that but overall I really enjoyed it.
October 25, 2020
Mercado’s memoir takes place during the first 12 years she lived in an allegedly haunted house. She moved into the Brooklyn house wither husband and daughters, and over the course of the next decade, unusual activity gets progressively worse. At first, the family has the uneasy feeling that they’re being watched. It evolves into a presence waking them from their sleep by pressing down on them, or “suffocating” them. Before long, there are strange lights and shadows, noises and apparitions. Really bizarre stuff happens that Mercado can’t rationally explain, and it hardly dawns on her to think of it as paranormal.
It isn’t until she’s freed herself from her unhappy marriage (to a husband who never took her claims seriously) that Mercado finally accepts that what is happening in her house is not logical whatsoever. It’s affecting her sleep and therefore her job, her relationship with her kids, and no one in their circle of friends or family wants to come to their house. 12 years after moving in she finally looks into the history of the house and finds a medium to help the situation. It seems kind of unfathomable that someone would live in a house with so many disturbances for so long, but Mercado explains how it’s something you learn to cope with.
The writing was mediocre and the style clunky, but Mercado did a decent job conveying how the haunting affected her and her daughters. I thought the medium’s intervention was especially interesting and gave a pretty creepy reason why they were experiencing the “suffocating” episodes in bed. The story she shares is believable, her fear is palpable, and the resolution was compelling, though it was certainly a long time coming.
It isn’t until she’s freed herself from her unhappy marriage (to a husband who never took her claims seriously) that Mercado finally accepts that what is happening in her house is not logical whatsoever. It’s affecting her sleep and therefore her job, her relationship with her kids, and no one in their circle of friends or family wants to come to their house. 12 years after moving in she finally looks into the history of the house and finds a medium to help the situation. It seems kind of unfathomable that someone would live in a house with so many disturbances for so long, but Mercado explains how it’s something you learn to cope with.
The writing was mediocre and the style clunky, but Mercado did a decent job conveying how the haunting affected her and her daughters. I thought the medium’s intervention was especially interesting and gave a pretty creepy reason why they were experiencing the “suffocating” episodes in bed. The story she shares is believable, her fear is palpable, and the resolution was compelling, though it was certainly a long time coming.
June 24, 2017
1.5 stars. I was so excited to read this book (for the subject matter) but the writing was terrible, and it was too drawn out. Most of the book was unnecessary filler, and the good stuff- the psychic, the cleansing of the house, and the identity of the spirits was just a few pages at the end and boom it was done. The writing style was immature, as if it were written by a young girl and that made it really hard to get through the book.
April 9, 2016
Most people have “that” friend. The one who’s had “an” experience. They’ve had a family member reach beyond the grave, perhaps just as a momentary smell or a voice. Or they’ve been the target of a haunt, something more ominous or outright disconcerting. Items misplaced or broken. A constant feeling of dread in an area.
For anyone who has read Elaine Mercado’s Grave’s End, I imagine a chorus of readers all crying out the same thing: “Why aren’t you doing something about all this?” As she makes quite clear in the book, Elaine Mercado didn’t have the benefit of such a friend, and as a result (or a sales motivated tactic) Grave’s End is a lengthy tale of passivity in the face of outright malignancy. So what compels the reader to continue reading?Grave’s End opens with a solid voice establishing a biographical narrative. A couple faces the impossible task of locating real estate in New York City without it being on fire or in a crime-infested shithole of a neighborhood. No easy task.
What the Mercado family found was a complicated home: a motivated pair of sellers (along with their reluctant to leave parents) sell a home that the Mercados–although conflicted about ousting the elderly couple in the basement apartment–ultimately choose to buy. Humanely they allow the elderly couple to continue to reside in the house for a great length of time and all to no addition to the narrative. This is where Grave’s End departs from similar tales; never recanting the truth of the story, Elaine Mercado tells her story without the sort of embellishments we are used to seeing. The trouble is that these presumably true events are quite overt, and in the face of a very threatening opposition she does what anyone would do. She does…nothing?
The sensations experienced by Elaine follow a common pattern with hauntings. Shortly after purchase she becomes aware of her unease, followed by outright fear to be alone. After a time this distinction narrows to her basement, which later becomes a huge source of disquiet (especially when her daughter moves into the basement).
As the haunting progresses, feelings become auditory (footsteps, voices), until telekinetic activity becomes undeniable in the form of a child’s bed sheets being ripped off her bed. The poltergeists (we’ve reached nuisance level here, which as Elaine learns in her college course poltergeist means “noisy ghost”) continue for to choke and suffocate the family for years. Years. No real estate market on the planet would keep a sane human being dwelling somewhere where multiple people experience the terror of sleep paralysis symptoms, especially when those experiences are couples with a ghost frottage.
This is where many readers (myself included) struggle: we are all aware of the frog in the boiling pot theory, the one where a gradual increase of heat allows the frog to boil to death. But faced with asphyxiation, items levitating, and sheer terror it takes Elaine years to reach out and even educate herself, denying the offered assistance of the professor when he does.
In 166 pages it isn’t until page 66 that the notion of moving is brought up, followed by the book’s staple “my husband disagreed.” Elaine’s ex-husband is simply referred to as husband and a quick CTRL+F search for “my marriage was failing/bad/no longer good” could probably remove 10 pages alone. I don’t hold this against Mercado as that she is a registered nurse who had a story she wishes to share for the stated purpose of encouraging victims of hauntings to come forward rather than remain in the closet as she did. For an unbelievable period of YEARS.
Ultimately when famed Hans Holzer shows up with a medium the story has gone on for so long that all interest on my part was lost. A very simple “walk and cleanse” ends years worth of trouble, and the medium pitches the story of a tunnel collapse which motivated the ghosts to “show” how they felt by strangling the family. The medium also purportedly knew about the house’s physical structure before alterations and this great impressed the family. In its retelling, the Mercado’s personalized terror and ultimate release sequence is poorly able to capture the feelings they have as that in 30 pages we hear of a few short “go to the lights” and poof the ghosts are gone. Very anti-climatic.
As a believer of ghosts I have always gone by the “look ’em in the eyes and see their truth” method of listening to ghost tales. Unfortunately most fall flat on the page, as I feel that Grave’s End ultimately did. I hope that the Mercado family is well, and I hope that anyone involved with the story benefited from the public retelling (and selling) of the story. Unlike other outrageous books (cough Amityville Horror cough), this book did not launch Mercado to mega selling proportions or endless film adaptations.
For an interested reader of hauntings this book might prove worthy. As literature it utterly fails and as just a story–true or otherwise–it does not frighten. It is simply a retelling of a family’s tale, one that seems quite believable even if it’s protagonists aren’t.
YEARS?! COME ON!
For anyone who has read Elaine Mercado’s Grave’s End, I imagine a chorus of readers all crying out the same thing: “Why aren’t you doing something about all this?” As she makes quite clear in the book, Elaine Mercado didn’t have the benefit of such a friend, and as a result (or a sales motivated tactic) Grave’s End is a lengthy tale of passivity in the face of outright malignancy. So what compels the reader to continue reading?Grave’s End opens with a solid voice establishing a biographical narrative. A couple faces the impossible task of locating real estate in New York City without it being on fire or in a crime-infested shithole of a neighborhood. No easy task.
What the Mercado family found was a complicated home: a motivated pair of sellers (along with their reluctant to leave parents) sell a home that the Mercados–although conflicted about ousting the elderly couple in the basement apartment–ultimately choose to buy. Humanely they allow the elderly couple to continue to reside in the house for a great length of time and all to no addition to the narrative. This is where Grave’s End departs from similar tales; never recanting the truth of the story, Elaine Mercado tells her story without the sort of embellishments we are used to seeing. The trouble is that these presumably true events are quite overt, and in the face of a very threatening opposition she does what anyone would do. She does…nothing?
The sensations experienced by Elaine follow a common pattern with hauntings. Shortly after purchase she becomes aware of her unease, followed by outright fear to be alone. After a time this distinction narrows to her basement, which later becomes a huge source of disquiet (especially when her daughter moves into the basement).
As the haunting progresses, feelings become auditory (footsteps, voices), until telekinetic activity becomes undeniable in the form of a child’s bed sheets being ripped off her bed. The poltergeists (we’ve reached nuisance level here, which as Elaine learns in her college course poltergeist means “noisy ghost”) continue for to choke and suffocate the family for years. Years. No real estate market on the planet would keep a sane human being dwelling somewhere where multiple people experience the terror of sleep paralysis symptoms, especially when those experiences are couples with a ghost frottage.
This is where many readers (myself included) struggle: we are all aware of the frog in the boiling pot theory, the one where a gradual increase of heat allows the frog to boil to death. But faced with asphyxiation, items levitating, and sheer terror it takes Elaine years to reach out and even educate herself, denying the offered assistance of the professor when he does.
In 166 pages it isn’t until page 66 that the notion of moving is brought up, followed by the book’s staple “my husband disagreed.” Elaine’s ex-husband is simply referred to as husband and a quick CTRL+F search for “my marriage was failing/bad/no longer good” could probably remove 10 pages alone. I don’t hold this against Mercado as that she is a registered nurse who had a story she wishes to share for the stated purpose of encouraging victims of hauntings to come forward rather than remain in the closet as she did. For an unbelievable period of YEARS.
Ultimately when famed Hans Holzer shows up with a medium the story has gone on for so long that all interest on my part was lost. A very simple “walk and cleanse” ends years worth of trouble, and the medium pitches the story of a tunnel collapse which motivated the ghosts to “show” how they felt by strangling the family. The medium also purportedly knew about the house’s physical structure before alterations and this great impressed the family. In its retelling, the Mercado’s personalized terror and ultimate release sequence is poorly able to capture the feelings they have as that in 30 pages we hear of a few short “go to the lights” and poof the ghosts are gone. Very anti-climatic.
As a believer of ghosts I have always gone by the “look ’em in the eyes and see their truth” method of listening to ghost tales. Unfortunately most fall flat on the page, as I feel that Grave’s End ultimately did. I hope that the Mercado family is well, and I hope that anyone involved with the story benefited from the public retelling (and selling) of the story. Unlike other outrageous books (cough Amityville Horror cough), this book did not launch Mercado to mega selling proportions or endless film adaptations.
For an interested reader of hauntings this book might prove worthy. As literature it utterly fails and as just a story–true or otherwise–it does not frighten. It is simply a retelling of a family’s tale, one that seems quite believable even if it’s protagonists aren’t.
YEARS?! COME ON!
June 5, 2022
I picked this up because I'd heard it recommended on one of my favorite podcasts, The Ghost Story Guys.
The book was... ok. It is obvious the person recording the story is not a writer, and that it was written in the past because of the occasional viewpoints that are seen quite unseemly nowadays. The story was interesting but did become repetitive and a bit dull, until the end where there was some resolution.
Since it is meant to be non-fiction I can't exactly criticize the "plot," but I will say this narrow little book took me about twice as long to finish as I anticipated. It may have been more interesting in the past, when it was more popular in the media to have stories of "real" hauntings.
The book was... ok. It is obvious the person recording the story is not a writer, and that it was written in the past because of the occasional viewpoints that are seen quite unseemly nowadays. The story was interesting but did become repetitive and a bit dull, until the end where there was some resolution.
Since it is meant to be non-fiction I can't exactly criticize the "plot," but I will say this narrow little book took me about twice as long to finish as I anticipated. It may have been more interesting in the past, when it was more popular in the media to have stories of "real" hauntings.
January 1, 2015
Just about everyone loves a good ghost story, but what does one do when it seems as if the very fabric of reality twists and the vastness of the shadowy unknown peers out from behind the everyday rhythm of life? In Grave's End: A True Ghost Story, Ms. Mercado addresses this issue with wrenching candor. Although this may not be a book to read in an old, shadowy house at midnight, the story offers both fear and hope, and a sense of something eternal.
By the time Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought a charming - but somewhat dilapidated - Victorian-style house in Brooklyn, New York, in the winter of 1982, they had been house-hunting for a little over a year and were quite anxious to settle into a home of their own. Although the house was in need of some serious renovation, it was within their price range and they were more than content to do the work required to make the house their own. Little did they realize that they and their two young daughters would be embarking on a nightmare that would last for thirteen years.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her eldest daughter - eleven-year-old Karin - began to experience the sensation of being watched. Next came the scratching noises and inexplicably weird smells, followed by whispering voices, maniacal laughter, fluffy, dust-ball sized apparitions flitting along baseboards, and mysterious orbs of light floating along the ceilings. Almost from the day the family moved in, each member was targeted by the haunting in some way; "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except for the youngest daughter - five-year-old Christine. Eventually, these paranormal experiences escalated to actual acts of physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of famed parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and psychic medium Marisa Anderson, the family finally discovered the tragic and heart-breaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End. As of the publication of this book, Elaine Mercado continues to live in the once-haunted house with her family.
I certainly enjoyed reading this book; as I always love reading true accounts of paranormal experiences. In my opinion, the story was very descriptive; written in a down-to-earth style that I appreciated. According to the author, while there is still residual paranormal activity, the primary source of the haunting has been cleansed from the house, and she and her family are able to live in their house in relative peace. Overall, I would give Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado, R. N. an A+!
By the time Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought a charming - but somewhat dilapidated - Victorian-style house in Brooklyn, New York, in the winter of 1982, they had been house-hunting for a little over a year and were quite anxious to settle into a home of their own. Although the house was in need of some serious renovation, it was within their price range and they were more than content to do the work required to make the house their own. Little did they realize that they and their two young daughters would be embarking on a nightmare that would last for thirteen years.
Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her eldest daughter - eleven-year-old Karin - began to experience the sensation of being watched. Next came the scratching noises and inexplicably weird smells, followed by whispering voices, maniacal laughter, fluffy, dust-ball sized apparitions flitting along baseboards, and mysterious orbs of light floating along the ceilings. Almost from the day the family moved in, each member was targeted by the haunting in some way; "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except for the youngest daughter - five-year-old Christine. Eventually, these paranormal experiences escalated to actual acts of physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.
This is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of famed parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and psychic medium Marisa Anderson, the family finally discovered the tragic and heart-breaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End. As of the publication of this book, Elaine Mercado continues to live in the once-haunted house with her family.
I certainly enjoyed reading this book; as I always love reading true accounts of paranormal experiences. In my opinion, the story was very descriptive; written in a down-to-earth style that I appreciated. According to the author, while there is still residual paranormal activity, the primary source of the haunting has been cleansed from the house, and she and her family are able to live in their house in relative peace. Overall, I would give Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado, R. N. an A+!
February 23, 2017
The author is clearly not a full time writer, but someone who wants to share the true story of what happened to her and her family. I think the biggest problem overall, is if this was fiction, we would say it was not believable. All of the characters are flat, fill only one niche on the personality spectrum, and I have no idea what any of their motivation was for staying in the house. This really could have been condensed so much more.
November 7, 2021
I'd seen Elaine's story on one of those paranormal TV shows (Paranormal Witness specifically) and was excited to find the book and learn more about the story behind the televised version. Typically whenever you watch one of these shows and read the book the story varies (sometimes more than once depending on how many shows you're on). Sometimes it seems to be due to the absence of a family member (in part in this case Elaine's eldest daughter Karin), and others a certain artistic licence (presumably) that comes from TV production (something I personally have never understood. I mean if you want people to believe your unbelievable story why would you allow anyone to change the facts?). So finding that the stories varied between Paranormal Witness and Grave's End was not surprising, but honestly it's always a little disappointing.
I felt overall Grave's End was not edited well as it suffered a lot from repetition and covered Elaine's personal internal perspective too much, when there are four people in a house first hand accounts from other witnesses are something that a lot of true story paranormal books seem to lack but could definitely benefit from. Watching Paranormal Witness I found Elaine's daughter Christine kind of funny and very relatable, which endeared me more to the story overall. In the book her daughters seemed to be mostly unafraid but while the book mentioned it on more than one occasion it never really got into why and it would have been nice to have those other perspectives, because that in itself is unusual.
Grave's End was fairly standard fare for the genre, but held my interest.
I felt overall Grave's End was not edited well as it suffered a lot from repetition and covered Elaine's personal internal perspective too much, when there are four people in a house first hand accounts from other witnesses are something that a lot of true story paranormal books seem to lack but could definitely benefit from. Watching Paranormal Witness I found Elaine's daughter Christine kind of funny and very relatable, which endeared me more to the story overall. In the book her daughters seemed to be mostly unafraid but while the book mentioned it on more than one occasion it never really got into why and it would have been nice to have those other perspectives, because that in itself is unusual.
Grave's End was fairly standard fare for the genre, but held my interest.
October 23, 2012
Quite an entertaining book although the author could have cut off or minimized some of the unnecessarily repeated stories and mélange of thoughts and emotions - she was terrified, but she seemed confident by not doing anything to solve her problem, not till many years later. The same with her daughters, which was rather frustrating from a reader's POV.
At some point, all the balls of lights and sounds were becoming cliches, I almost gave up reading. Then something interesting happened in the book... and I reluctantly continued.
For those who said she wrote like a child, I've read authors who wrote worse. Considering the author was a registered nurse by profession, one should not have high expectations for beautifully written paragraphs. Yet, I thought she was consistent throughout the book and although lacking the flair of full-time authors, she managed to keep the reader entertained. At least, this one was entertained [and frustrated at the same time *hahaaa*].
Speaking of which, there was this one chapter toward the end where she finally got a "ghostbuster" to cleanse the house the entire day and night. And all they had was coffee and pastries. Gawd... why didn't she even prepare food for the guests?! Weren't they starved by the end of the cleansing??? I even found it strange that the "ghostbuster" was the one who brought the pastries. Oh well, maybe she was cash-strapped then, who knows.
More info of the author and haunted house at http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-...
At some point, all the balls of lights and sounds were becoming cliches, I almost gave up reading. Then something interesting happened in the book... and I reluctantly continued.
For those who said she wrote like a child, I've read authors who wrote worse. Considering the author was a registered nurse by profession, one should not have high expectations for beautifully written paragraphs. Yet, I thought she was consistent throughout the book and although lacking the flair of full-time authors, she managed to keep the reader entertained. At least, this one was entertained [and frustrated at the same time *hahaaa*].
Speaking of which, there was this one chapter toward the end where she finally got a "ghostbuster" to cleanse the house the entire day and night. And all they had was coffee and pastries. Gawd... why didn't she even prepare food for the guests?! Weren't they starved by the end of the cleansing??? I even found it strange that the "ghostbuster" was the one who brought the pastries. Oh well, maybe she was cash-strapped then, who knows.
More info of the author and haunted house at http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-...
October 27, 2010
I read this book several years ago, and found it to be annoying. The author takes every ghost/poltergeist cliche ever heard of and throws them all in there together, making the whole thing completely unbelievable. I didn't believe any of it for a second. Which was disappointing, because when you read a "true-ghost" story, you want to believe that it really happened. Or at least entertain the fantasy! That's what makes it fun.
Another reason for my doubts: the photo on the cover, of the house, is obviously not even the house she was writing about. The same exact photo was used for the cover of another novel -
Another reason for my doubts: the photo on the cover, of the house, is obviously not even the house she was writing about. The same exact photo was used for the cover of another novel -
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