Ghost Story
Published: 1979
Author: Peter Straub
Genre: American, Drama, Fiction, Ghost, Horror, Literary, Literature, Suspense, Thriller
Check out the review of this book here:
Summary
The tale begins with a guy named Donald Wanderley traveling with a little girl whom he appears to have abducted. When Donald and the girl arrive in Panama City, Florida, the narrative travels back in time to the previous winter's events.
Four elderly men who are members of a clique called the Chowder Society live in the small upstate New York town of Milburn, which is indicated to be in Broome County east of Binghamton: John Jaffrey, a doctor; Lewis Benedikt, a retired entrepreneur; Sears James, an attorney; and Ricky Hawthorne, an attorney, and James' Partner.
For the past 50 years, these closest friends have gathered, told each other tales, and been wonderful companions.
However, their group used to be made up of five people. Jaffrey had hosted a party in honor of a visiting actress a year before, and their fifth member, Edward Wanderley, had perished in an upstairs bedroom amid the celebrations. He had a terrified expression on his face as if he had been scared to death.
Since that night, the friends have been troubled by dreadful dreams and have turned to recounting ghost stories to each other.
Sears tells them a ghost story about when he was a young man during one of their gatherings.
Before opting to go to law school, James worked as a teacher in a small town. He became obsessed with one of his students, Fenny Bate, a sluggish, mentally troubled young lad.
Fenny and his sister were shunned by the town, and after some investigation, he discovers why.
Gregory, the older brother of the two youngsters, was widely thought to have sexually abused his younger brother.
Gregory was the guardian of his younger siblings because their mother had died and their father had abandoned the household.
Gregory tumbled from the ladder and died one day while repairing the roof and someone thought they spotted the two young Bate children fleeing the scene.
Sears tells his friends that over time, he began to see a scary young guy lingering around the school, and he finally came to believe it was Gregory Bate's ghost.
Sears endeavored but failed, to free Fenny from the clutches of his deceased brother. Fenny died, and Sears departed the tiny town after finishing the school year.
After relaying his story, Sears and Ricky are summoned to the property of one of their clients, who has discovered some mangled sheep in his field.
Later in the ride, Sears tells Ricky that the previous night's event was not made up, but had truly occurred to him when he was younger.
Sears, like the rest of the Chowder Society, admits to being terrified. They decide to write to Edward's nephew, Donald Wanderley because Donald has authored an esoteric novel and they believe his research skills may be useful to them. However, before Donald arrives, Jaffrey commits suicide by jumping off a bridge.
Donald enters just as the funeral is wrapping up. The Society's three remaining members inform him that they want him to look into any conceivable options that he may find acceptable.
Donald's brother David had died under unexplained circumstances some years before, prompting him to pen his horror thriller.
Donald tells them the tale of what he believes happened. He'd gotten a teaching job at Berkeley because of the positive response to his first novel, and he'd started dating a lovely graduate student called Alma Mobley.
He was inseparable from her at first, and there was a discussion of marriage. But, as time passed, he began to notice odd things about her and thought that there was something peculiar about Alma.
She had a sinister drug-dealing acquaintance named Greg Benton who was the guardian of a mentally disabled younger brother, as well as even more sinister acquaintances who belonged to a cult associated with the Manson Family and claimed to be in regular contact with the spirit of a dead man named Tasker Martin who "approved" their relationship.
Donald ceased seeing her as frequently, because his business faltered, and Alma suddenly disappeared one day.
Upon further investigation, he learned that many of Alma's claims about her family history were false; for example, she claimed to be the daughter of a prominent New Orleans artist called Robert Mobley, who had two boys but no daughter.
In fact, Robert Mobley had a bizarre experience similar to Donald's in which his son Shelby committed suicide after an affair with a mysterious younger girl named Amy Monckton while under the guardianship of a woman named Florence de Peyser, who employed a sinister man named Gregorio as her chauffeur.
A few months later, David phoned to tell him that he and Alma had gotten engaged and that he wanted everything to be okay between Donald and his girlfriend.
Donald tried to warn David about Alma, but it was too late, and David died shortly after.
Soon after, Lewis Benedikt is murdered in the forest, and Sears and Ricky decide it is time to tell Donald the most horrifying story the Chowder Society has ever heard—and it, too, is real.
Eva Galli, a young woman, had migrated to the village fifty years before. She was in her early twenties, and all five of the young guys were head over heels in love with her, although completely platonic love.
Eva came to see them one night in 1929, not long after Black Tuesday, but she wasn't herself.
She made sexual approaches and made fun of them. Eva collapsed and injured her head as a result of the struggle.
They planned to hide her body by placing it in a car and driving it into a deep pond, believing she was dead.
But, at the last second, Eva's body vanished from the inside of the car, and a lynx watched them from the opposite bank.
Donald continues his investigation and swiftly concludes that they are dealing with a Manitou or some type of shape-shifting beast.
He also believes Alma Mobley is Eva Galli, as well as Amy Monckton and the mystery young actress who was the guest of honor at his uncle's death party.
He discovers some of his uncle's tape recordings and listens to bits that not even his uncle has heard yet, when she talks directly to him and the remaining Chowder Society, claiming to be a member of an ancient race of creatures and being old enough to recall the first humans in the nation.
Donald, Ricky, and Sears are joined in their fight by Peter Barnes, a young man whose mother was murdered by the servants of these creatures, formerly normal human people who have been given new life and powers.
Sears is ambushed and killed in his car, and the survivors discover that the reanimated Gregory and Fenny are assisting Eva in her endeavors and that Gregory is identical to Greg Benton, the drug dealer Donald met in Berkeley, and Fenny was Greg Benton's disabled brother, and Gregory and Robert Mobley's New Orleans acquaintance Gregorio were also one and the same.
Gregory informs them that Florence de Peyser assisted in his resurrection and that Eva is also obedient to the de Peyser lady.
Gregory and Fenny assault Peter, Donald, and Ricky at a movie theater, but both are slain in the subsequent fight, causing Donald to learn that, despite their unearthly abilities, the monsters are not truly immortal. Eva is tracked down and defeated by the survivors, but she escapes in a new form.
Ricky, exhausted, departs Milburn for a lengthy vacation with his wife, as Peter prepares for college. Donald keeps an eye out for Eva's next appearance, which he believes will be the little girl from the beginning of the novel.
Eva appears in the shape of a small girl and seeks to manipulate Donald's psyche while in Florida.
He is able to resist and kills her after she attempts to flee in the shape of a wasp. Donald then makes plans to travel to San Francisco in search of the de Peyser woman.
Useful Search Related Words & Keywords
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