If you could afford to vacate, like most people you may be reluctant to make such a drastic change.

Even if you aren’t, many reasons could prevent you from leaving a problem house.

Mercado is obviously an anxious person, overprotective, prone to worry. Elaine found herself in this situation before she became a nurse she couldn’t afford to take the girls and move out. Yet, what if, like Elaine Mercado, you have nowhere else to go? You may be unable to escape elsewhere on your own. I think if we just keep our heads, whatever it is will just go away” (71).īut what if you do keep your head, and it doesn’t go away? He says, “…I couldn’t figure out what was happening to me. After Mercado deals with unpleasant phenomena, such opposition simply piles on more grief.Īt another point in the narrative, her husband suggests a different approach. He provides for Elaine and their daughters plenty of doubt, disbelief, disagreement, sarcasm, and harassment. In Grave’s End: A True Ghost Story, an allegedly true account of a haunted home, Elaine Mercado’s husband personifies dogged unwillingness to attribute events to supernatural causes. If you admit to a confidant that you believe what’s happening in your home is supernatural, would they believe you? Will they accept and help you, or mock and reject you? Receiving criticism might make anyone hesitate to share their paranormal experiences with others. Could you confide in anyone else about them? Who? You may face loneliness, wondering why these strange things are happening to you and your family. For example, if you heard a disembodied voice say, “I love you” in your dark cellar, how would you feel? Warm and fuzzy? Or scared shitless? Would you ever get used to it? You could try, but you may never become perfectly comfortable with such contact. If so, can you learn to live with spirit housemates? You would need to overcome fear of spirits manifesting in your personal space. If you diligently rule out natural causes and consider that such happenings as seeing balls of light, glimpsing shadowy figures, and being touched by unseen presences in the night are supernatural in origin, where does it leave you? Assigning possible meaning requires you to question, research, test, and evaluate. If you can find no natural cause, you may fear what’s happening. At first you may have no explanation for the events and phenomena. When faced with inexplicable happenings in your home, a place you want to consider a safe haven, it may take time to discern the source. What is it? You can’t imagine what it could be. Your eyes fly open and your heart freezes.

Grave's End by Elaine Mercado