I love Arkansas, and I love ghost stories, so when I saw this book I just had to read it. (Bear in mind that this is nonfiction!) The author, Mark Spencer, and his wife Rebecca bought the infamous Allen House in Monticello, Arkansas, knowing that it was rumored to be haunted. Mark, especially, never believed the rumors until they had lived there for a year, and he couldn't come up with reasonable explanations for the many odd occurrences in the house.

The book covers the Spencer family's paranormal experiences while living in Allen House, and it also gives an intriguing history of the property and its first residents. The author's account was straightforward, and I wouldn't say the book was scary, but a few of the ghostly happenings he described gave me chills. For example, he and his wife would see their son Jacob playing downstairs, when actually he was upstairs in his room. Mind you, Jacob is very much alive, but paranormal investigators explained that the spirits were channeling his energy so they looked like him. Creepy.

At the heart of the book is the mysterious suicide of Ladell Allen in 1948, and the secret love letters to Ladell that the author found in the attic. I enjoy reading vintage correspondence (especially love notes!), though I can't say the Allen House letters were too exciting. I suppose they did suggest a reason to why she ended it all, but they weren't as riveting as I'd hoped.

A HAUNTED LOVE STORY is the first "true haunting" book I've read, and it has made me curious about others in this genre. If I'm ever as far south as Monticello, I will definitely swing by and take a peek at the spooky Allen House. Apparently the Spencer family still lives there - they're braver than I am! ( )

I liked the beginning of the book. I enjoy haunted houses and ghosts and the Allen house looked promising. The author had me, until he found the letters in the attic. Then the whole story changed into the original owners of the house, their lives, and loves, and mistakes, and deaths. Sadly their stories, told through the letters, just were not interesting. I really didn't need to know why they were ghosts. I was more interested in what the ghosts were doing. There wasn't much of that here. I honestly can't recommend the story. I am sure that LaDell Allen had a life worth reading about, but you won't find that story in this book. There are not enough hauntings or ghosts here to hold the interest of those looking for that type of story. ( )