House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume Three

House of Darkness House of Light #3

by Andrea Perron

Roger and Carolyn Perron purchased the home of their dreams and eventual nightmares in December of 1970. The Arnold Estate, located just beyond the village of Harrisville, Rhode Island seemed the idyllic setting in which to raise a family. The couple unwittingly moved their five young daughters into the ancient and mysterious farmhouse. Secrets were kept and then revealed within a space shared by mortal and immortal alike. Time suddenly became irrelevant; fractured by spirits making their presence known then dispersing into the ether. The house is a portal to the past and a passage to the future. This is a sacred story of spiritual enlightenment, told some thirty years hence. The family is now somewhat less reticent to divulge a closely-guarded experience. Their odyssey is chronicled by the eldest sibling and is an unabridged account of a supernatural excursion. Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated this haunting in a futile attempt to intervene on their behalf. They consider the Perron family saga to be one of the most compelling and significant of a famously ghost-storied career as paranormal researchers. During a seance gone horribly wrong, they unleashed an unholy hostess; the spirit called Bathsheba; a God-forsaken soul. Perceiving herself to be the mistress of the house, she did not appreciate the competition. Carolyn had long been under siege; overt threats issued in the form of fire a mother's greatest fear. It transformed the woman in unimaginable ways. After nearly a decade the family left a once beloved home behind though it will never leave them, as each remains haunted by a memory. This tale is an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit on a pathway of an eternal journey for the living and the dead.

Genres: Paranormal, Horror, Nonfiction, Biography, Thriller, Mystery

400 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2014

About the author

Author "House of Darkness House of Light" A true story. This collective memoir chronicles the events which occurred between 1970-1980 in an ancient farmhouse in Harrisville, R.I. Volume One draws the reader into the family dynamic, there to dwell with them as they discover the multiple spirits who are sharing space and time with seven mere mortals stunned by the sight. This is a trilogy whose time has come. The world is finally ready for the message it will receive within these pages, described in the media as INTENSE, DISTURBING, RELEVANT. I am the eldest of the five daughters born to Roger & Carolyn Perron. After 30 years the time has come to tell the truth."

Reviews

[Lyndsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm honestly very confused as to how this book as an average of that many stars. The story is interesting.. when the author actually tells it. There is so much unnecessary fluff in the story that it is so boring to read. It got good at the end when she had her family members all write a brief essay but other than that it was truly awful.

[SpideyWebz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to read all three books before writing a review, so that I really knew what I thought. This haunting has always interested me, and I wanted to hear more about it from an insider's point of view at long last - just to see what truth (if any) could be salvaged from something that became completely blown out of all proportion in the minds and memories of five children.

Unfortunately, Andrea Perron simply does not deliver. She talks an awful lot about how wonderful she believes herself to be, and can make stories about digging a well or one of her sisters playing with their toys into four entire chapters (fluff and filler, in other words) but the haunting itself is almost glossed over. This is the story of Andrea Perron perceiving herself to be some amazing human being who can do no wrong in anybody's eyes; it's not really about the alleged haunting at all.

Carolyn Perron displays syptoms of epilepsy, seasonal affective disorder and fibromyalgia rather than signs of "having her energy drained by an evil entity" and I would like to know why this isn't pointed out in the book when even uneducated eyes like my own can recognise symptoms of serious illnesses. Of course she recovered fully and within weeks once she moved to Georgia, that's what happens when you move from a cold place to a warm one and suffer from SAD and fibro! I also think that, even though Carolyn absolutely believes what she thinks she saw, the "gathering" of all the spirits in the home, in her bedroom holding flaming torches and chanting(!!) cannot be anything more than a hideous nightmare that was particularly vivid at the time. Ed and Lorraine Warren should honestly have been arrested for assault and harrassment, the way they played with that poor woman's already troubled mind on multiple occasions.

Lorraine Warren, of course, had her own issues... but this isn't a review of Lorraine Warren or her unbalanced mental state.

In all, Andrea is repetitive, dull, arrogant, and perfectly unable to tell the story that people are actually paying to read. The late Colin Wilson was infinitely more informative and forthcoming on the case of the Black Monk of Pontefract... and he wasn't even there!

So, I'm several quid out of pocket and none the wiser when it comes to what really happened in that farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, beyond the facts that Carolyn became unwell and Roger became a philandering jerk in response to his wife's medical conditions when he ought to have been helping to support her and find somewhere more suitable to live. Thanks for nothing, Andrea.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing is something to be cherished. Editors and publishers contribute to the books they put on the market, while self-published books reveal the inexperience of an author. I wish Andrea Perron well in her writing career. She has a way of endearing herself to readers, despite the flaws of her prose. This is an interesting story, but it really is far too long. When, after 1,200 pages an author says “indulge me” a reader’s heart might sink. Still, there are bits and pieces here and there that keep the reader going. As I learned long ago, it is best not to give indications that you’re winding up the story until you really are doing so.

While these books aren’t chronological in any kind of strict way, this one is mostly about leaving the haunted house. There’s a lot of dirty laundry hung out on this line—broken families have skeletons as well as ghosts, it seems. It may be cathartic to write it, but what will the reader think? I suspect most of us simply wanted to know about the strange things that happened in Harrisville. Learning about family life is always a little weird in a different way.

There’s plenty of paranormal over the course of these three books to keep most readers interested through the sometimes very repetitive rehashing of family dynamics. As I mention in my blog post on the book (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) I was interested in learning of the involvement of Ed and Lorraine Warren in the case. Andrea Perron has a perspective on this that is quite different than that in the movie The Conjuring. This was a case they didn’t solve, and, it’s clear from Perron’s account, the family didn’t really want to have solved. Life is complicated. Apparently so is death.

[Too Many Toys · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have said, the least of the three volumes in terms of story. I won't repeat my previous reviews. I skim/skipped well more than half the book because it was tedious, platitude-laden prose that had nothing to do with the story. Based on the essays at the end, Carolyn and Christine might have written a great single volume story. It is sad that a good editor couldn't have wrung a good 150 page story out of these 3 books. I liked the fact that this was a family story rather than a ghost story. Unfortunately, the family story was buried in the other 80% of repetitive, irrelevant, self-indulgent drivel.

[Derek L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the Warrens had their way, we would have received a book that would have been much shorter and would more than likely not had the full perspective of a family dealing with spirits for 10 years. As much as I've enjoyed and loved reading the accounts of the Warrens, reading Andrea Perron's trilogy memoir has changed my view of the Warrens (not in a negative way). It is a reminder that there is always more than one side, always more than one perspective, of every story.

I would review this book in isolation, but I believe I'd be repeating myself from the other two books in this series. I still hold firm to what I've said but I would also add that I did get a bit tired and even somewhat annoyed at the constant cut and paste of random quotes. I think it would have been a lot more effective if Andrea used them just to close off chapters and removed the remaining quotes. There was also a slight arrogant tone throughout the three volumes. However it isn't distracting enough to warrant this tone to be highly concerning. She attempts to try to be quotable herself every now and then, making me think she wants to be held up in a really high regard than she knows she deserves.

While those two issues were present in this series, I did find myself immersed in the story. Ms. Perron certainly can tell a great story about life at the Arnold estate and can make you think you're there with them living amongst the spirits. Could this have been done in one book, as many reviewers assert? Possibly. But I think condensing it down to one book would not have done the ten years of supernatural experience justice. Perron had adequately, if not super-adequately, done her and her family's story justice in these three volumes.

The idea that this was a House of Darkness and a House of Light was proven time and time again throughout all three books. I imagine this is exactly what others would experience living in a haunted property - there are scary times but there are also good times.

Overall, I give this trilogy a 4/5.

[Miranda Frey-myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The same lines over and over

I so wanted to love these books. I absolutely believe this family but the author could easily have fit all three volumes into one. I love to read about their experiences and their feelings about them but I swear she was just trying to sound intelligent and whimsical and when I say she repeated the same things over and over it is no exaggeration. It became a chore to finish these books. The best part for me was in this one, the third volume, each of the seven family members writes in their own words their thoughts about living in the farm house. The author should have let the sisters write the whole thing with her because none of them sounded so desperate as her to come off so enlightened which she failed at.

[Tc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrendous read as were the other two. Unfortunately, I bought all three volumes at the same time.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worse than the first two, if you can believe it.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little better than the other two, but not by much. Needs editing badly, so much of this could be cut. Way too much religion and philosophy, she still goes off on tangents on both, numerous times. Timeline jumps around like crazy and it makes it hard to follow. Interesting and boring, not the least bit scary. Honestly this whole trilogy was rough to read, and at times almost unbearable to come back to. This trilogy should be highly edited and then rereleased, people are drawn to this because of the Conjuring house, they expect horror and scary, it seriously lacks on both. I found these books so disappointing and drawn out, not even sure it was necessary to make a trilogy of this.

[LisaMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. Finally! Even though this was the shortest of the series it took me the longest (oh only about 8 months!) to finish but I didn't want to DNF so far into the series and I don't exactly zip thru Kindle books like I do audios.
I really enjoyed Book 1, Book 2 not so much, and I really didn't think this one had much significant to add other than the individual accounts of other family members.

[ℭ𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔰𝔢𝔞 || 𝔅𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔭𝔥𝔢𝔩& · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this series but this one was my least favorite. It was all over the place, hard to follow, and honestly kind of boring. The first two were great though, just would not recommend this one unfortunately.

[danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

the reviews were not wrong when they said these were horrible

[austin stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrea’s style and Prose grows on you. Enjoyed this book, glad to have finished the trilogy. There’s a lot of context and info here, just gotta be patient to find it, understand it.

[LaShan Coker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love and recommend this trilogy. I have read many books about hauntings and I believe every word of this one. The real story of The Conjuring !

[Derreck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been sitting here in front of my laptop over half an hour trying to figure out what the say, but I'm speechless.

Speechless because I am grateful. For not only gaining knowledge of the unknown, the misunderstood, but to feel like I've gotten to know the Perron family on a deep and personal level. You'd think we'd done more than just hang out. Had we been an a coffee shop I'm sure whatever we'd been drinking would have long since turned cold the business hours ended, time to close up, see you next time we open, as I sat and listened. There was so much to tell!

I've been entranced, deeply invested in this story and now that it's over (then again is it ever?) I am somewhat at a loss. What's next? What more can be said? What can be done?

This went deeper than just a random scary ghost story. This was true story based on a family who didn't just go to hell and back. They survived. Not all of it having to do with the supernatural.

I feel educated and I suppose even lighter. Maybe slightly more evolved.

Oh how I wish these books weren't judged so harshly. I found each volume a treasure, and I believe I always will.

A story of seven individuals, though we've never met and probably never will, has made me feel like I've taken a role, as an observer. I'll never forget these words and even though I have just finished this volume, my heart will always remain touched by its words, and its lessons. Through these volumes I daresay I may have come out a bit stronger now.

Though my head is still in chaos over my sentimental feelings, I will never forget.

So thank you, brave ones for sharing your stories. May we as a society learn to be more like you.

[Emily Voorhees · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave volume one 4 stars, volume two 2 stars, and volume three 1 star. Like many people have said, everything could and should have been part of one book. Ms. Perron is very intelligent and open-minded, and has a unique writing style that borders on poetic. I appreciated her thoughtful insights into the world of metaphysics. However, everything she said in book one was only reiterated in agonizingly lengthier form in volumes two and three. I feel a bit silly for having purchased all three volumes, when reading only the first one would have sufficed. I cannot recommend this one.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you read her story you get a sense of what the family went through and not hollywoodized for the movie . I do feel as the 2nd and 3rd books could have been combined and condensed.

Merged review:

I had a really hard time getting through this book. When reading this you get a sense of what the family went through. This is a long story but it is more detailed than the movie like books always are. It sounds terrifying!

[Kirti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a drag honestly. This book just seemed unecessary. The thoghts of the author, stories are repetitions from the first two books. This book has the seance(if you have seen her interviews you would already know what happened), letters from the family members on what happened(but nothing new there), them moving to georgia and the sad drift between the parents... but .. not as good as the first book.

[Angela Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

enlighten

Reading this book was as interesting as I thought it would be. There was so much love. There was hate there was Enlightenment, serenity, so much scariness, but at the same time everyone knew how to deal and one be a family. I love the book that everyone in the family was able to share their stories, even if there were some kept to themselves. Understandable Thank you for sharing part of your lives that others can learn from.

[Kelley Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book

I really liked it. I have read the first two as well. I feel it is a privilege to get to read what happened in their lives. What they went through, and how they handled it as well.

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

Not sure what this third book, and the second, was supposed to accomplish. I didn’t find anything of value in either of them. I found myself thumbing through chapter after chapter looking for something worth reading. I finally gave up on both of them. Just my opinion.

[Lisa Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story... mediocre writing