Item: The Haunted
Rating: 2.5
Author: msdravenrahl

Review: The Haunted by Robert Curran | Terror in the Smurl Home

The Haunted by Robert Curran
Series: Ed & Lorraine Warren #3
Published by Graymalkin Media on October 4, 2014 (first published 1988)
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Religion / Christian Living
Pages: 324
Format: Paperback
Where to buy: Affiliate Link

The world’s most famous demonologists, Ed & Lorraine Warren, were called in to help an average American family who were assaulted by forces too awesome, too powerful, too dark, to be stopped. It’s a true story, supported by dozens of eyewitnesses—neighbors, priests, police, journalists, and researchers. The grim slaughterhouse of odors. The deafening pounding. The hoofed half-man charging down the hall. The physical attacks, a vicious strangling, failed exorcisms, the succubus... and the final terror which continued to torment the Smurls. In this shocking, terrifying, deeply absorbing book rivaled only by The Amityville Horror—a case also investigated by the Warrens—journalist Robert Curran digs deep into the haunting of the Smurl home in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, and the unshakeable family bonds that helped them survive. Don’t miss the Warrens' blockbuster films The Conjuring and Annabelle (in theaters October, 2014.)

My first impression of this book? Not great.

The author understandably uses pseudonyms for people who didn’t want to be revealed, which is fine. But then they admit that one character—Donald Bennett—is completely fictional, and that events were altered to make the story more dramatic. For a book billed as a “true story,” that’s a huge red flag. Because of that, I can’t in good conscience give this more than 2.5 stars.

The preface really set the tone for me. If the book can’t even be upfront about what’s real and what’s dramatized, how are we supposed to trust anything that follows? I honestly can’t understand what the Warrens were thinking by allowing that.

As a resource for anyone researching the Smurl family hauntings, this book is… limited. Aside from a few names to look into, it doesn’t provide much insight.

That said, if you want a quick, dramatized read about the paranormal, it’s not terrible. The language is simple and easy to follow, but it ultimately fails to convince me of the haunting it claims to document.

CW / TW:

This piece contains graphic references to:
Sexual Assault, Rape, & Violence against children & animals
Recommended Age: 16+

About Robert Curran

Ed and Lorraine Warren both had supernatural experiences growing up in Connecticut. They became high school sweethearts and, on Ed’s seventeenth birthday, he enlisted with the U.S. Navy to serve in World War II. A few months later, his ship sank in the North Atlantic, and he was one of only a few survivors. Soon after, Ed and Lorraine were married and had a daughter. In 1952, Ed and Lorraine formed the New England Society for Psychic Research, the oldest ghost-hunting group in New England. From Amityville to Tokyo, they have been involved with thousands of investigations and church-sanctioned exorcisms all over the world. They have dedicated their lives and extraordinary talents to helping educate others and fight against demonic forces whenever they are called. Ed and Lorraine Warren also wrote Graveyard, Ghost Hunters, The Haunted, In a Dark Place, Werewolf, and Satan’s Harvest.

Robert Curran has been a newspaper reporter for over twenty years and is the recipient of nine writing awards. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. He lives in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. The Haunted is his first book.

Jack and Janet Smurl and their daughters lived in a small house on Chase Street in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. They eventually moved to a new home and are currently not experiencing any paranormal activity.