Summary

In 1958 Charles (Cha-Cha), the eldest of Viola and Francis Turner’s thirteen children, claims a small closet-sized room as his own to separate himself from his siblings. The first haunting occurs soon after, the specter attempting to haul him out of the second story window. His three year old brother Lonnie saves him by yelling that he is trying to sneak out, waking the entire house. Everyone spills into the hallway to witness Cha-Cha fight the specter. Francey, the oldest girl, tells Cha-Cha to run, finally dragging him out, and putting a door between them and the ghost they refer to as a ‘haint’.

Cha-Cha’s father Francis insists ‘there ain’t no ‘haints’ in Detroit’. He makes Cha-Cha search the room, and then suggests if he isn’t adult enough to sleep alone, he should move back in with...