Back in September of 2018, prolific pulp horror author Guy N Smith handed out an exclusive chapbook entitled ‘Haunting At The Wain House’ to all of those who attended that year’s annual GNS Fan Convention. Each one of these chapbooks was hand signed by Smith on the very last page of the chapbook.
The chapbook details the paranormal activity Smith and his family had been experiencing in their home – the Wain House – since they moved there some twenty years ago.
DLS Synopsis:
The inexplainable happenings started following the passing of Smith’s dear mother, on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Prior to her death, Smith’s mother had been living with Smith and his wife, Jean, although spending almost all of her time occupying one of the small spare rooms in their house.
Following her death, the first inexplainable occurrence happened in that very room. One morning Smith’s five-year-old grandson, Gregory, asked about the old lady that had been in his room that morning. Upon Smith enquiring what she looked like, the young boy described Smith’s mother down to the very last detail.
Then there was the fir cone that was seemingly flung across the dining room, only no one had been in there at the same time. On a different occasion, one of Guy’s fans who had been attending one of his annual Fan Conventions, had their bottom pinched, despite there being nobody near him. On another occasion Smith’s ballpoint pen went missing, as did some money and associated paperwork.
Finally, after a number of years of these happenings, Smith eventually saw the apparition of his late mother. However, as Smith was later to learn, there might well be more than one presence haunting the Wain House….
DLS Review:
Smith always loved talking about the strange and seemingly inexplicable happenings that took place at his home. Often during the annual Fan Conventions, he would relay to all those around him, another story of the mysterious phenomena they’d experienced in the house. The missing ballpoint pen being one particular happening that seemed to frustrate him the most.
Whether you truly believe there might be a ghostly presence (or two) haunting the Wain House, or not, this short chapbook which details Smith’s belief in the ghostly hauntings, is still an incredibly interesting read. Smith’s absolute firm belief in the supernatural and that his late mother (and indeed his late brother – Lance), were both haunting his house, is abundantly clear in how he describes each of these “happenings”.
However, even with such a firm belief in these occurrences being rooted in the supernatural, the way he and his family just accept the situation without fear, and if anything, a mild annoyance, is so typical of Smith. If you’ve had the pleasure to meet Smith or any of his family personally, then you see this very nature in them. They’re not ones to be fearful. They’re pragmatic and practical folk. And those wonderful traits are exhibited throughout this write-up.
There is another side to the chapbook however, which is less entertaining, and a great deal more sinister. Again, for those who know the Smith family and the hardship they endured up to and after Smith’s sad passing, will probably have felt the same pang of anger and sadness when reading certain sections of this chapbook.
I am of course, referring to the parts where Smith tells us about the money and PayPal paperwork which mysteriously went missing. Of course, in this chapbook he blames the ghostly presences for the disappearance. The ghosts up to their old tricks again. Sadly, for these disappearances at least, we now know different.
As many of Smith’s fans will know, in July 2022 (over a year following Guy’s passing) Smith’s cleaner, assistant and all-round helper – Nichola Whiffen – was convicted at Telford Magistrates Court of stealing vast amounts of money from Smith between September 2018 and January 2020 (although her thievery had no doubt gone on much longer than that). Whiffen was handed a four–month jail sentence for what she did.
Sadly, when reading this chapbook, you can see Smith is none the wiser to what was really happening with his money and the paperwork trail. It’s heartbreaking to read it in this way, knowing the truth of the matter, which ultimately makes this particular chapbook a very difficult read for anyone who was close to Smith.
The chapbook runs for a total of 6 pages.
© DLS Reviews
