The book centers around an old property near Bayou LaFourche in South Louisiana that was the location of a horrific mass murder back in 1963. The Proctor family was murdered, their heads cut off and displayed on the mantle in the living room, and the only witness and the obvious prime suspect was their son, 14-year-old Noah Proctor, a mute since birth. Unfortunately, the brutal triple murder would not be the only terrifying thing to happen there.
Dr. Julien Girard, a Louisiana Studies professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, is teaching a class on Louisiana culture and the final project involves picking something of Louisiana cultural significance and fully researching it. The team that does the best job on their report will be the only team to get an A, so the stakes are high. One such team consists of Marisol, a highly-driven transplant from California; Andy, a wealthy do-nothing who doesn't care about school; Michael, a jock; and finally, April, a quiet girl. This team picks Proctor Hall and the mysteries surrounding it as their project, which is fine by Dr. Girard, as he has a special curiosity and interest about the property and loves to talk about it at least once in class each semester.
When the students head out to check out the house, and Andy takes a shortcut and doesn't actually get the proper permission, the kids soon discover that the property is now being managed by the Louisiana Society for the Paranormal. Their trespassing could get them into lots of trouble, but Dr. Girard happens to be old friends with Henri Duchamp, the President of said society and the kids are given the opportunity to tour the decrepit home. Let's just say that some very weird stuff happens, revealing April to be a psychic of some sort, but also that paranormal reporter Landry Drake of the famed Bayou Hauntings series had also recently been at Proctor Hall, as evidenced by some of his camera equipment there. Naturally, this gets all of the kids really interested.
When Andy goes back on his own later that night, in the hopes of getting nominated as team leader by taking some initiative, he has a disturbing experience that leaves him forever changed, and one that leaves no doubt that this house is, in fact, very haunted... but that's only the tip of the iceberg.
With April showing strong signs of being psychic, Landry Drake wants to involve her in an attempt to contact the spirits in the house, but his girlfriend, Cate Adams, is worried for the girl's safety. Everyone wants to unravel the mysteries of the haunted house, but at what cost? When a brutal murder occurs with everyone within steps of the victim, it becomes crystal clear that evil lurks within the walls of Proctor Hall, but Landry and his group might be looking in the wrong direction.
The Proctor Hall Horror kept me glued to its pages from start to finish. It's a creepy and compelling book, just the right kind for the upcoming Halloween season. If you haven't yet read Bill Thompson's Bayou Hauntings series, this is a great place to start, even this far into the series. You won't feel left behind as the regular characters are covered well and it just might push you to check out earlier books in the series. Highly recommended.
