Spirit Town by Suzanne Roberts

Spirit Town was written by Suzanne Roberts.  It was published by Whitman in 1972. 

From the back cover:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF . . .

you, with your family, unsuspectingly moved to a weird, spirit-ridden town called Hangsaman, where everyone in town believed in witches and sorcerers and spells and the world of the dead?

Mimi had to face the evil there in Hangsaman, in this chilling tale about a ... SPIRIT TOWN.

Mimi moves to Hangsaman along with her mother and older sister, Julia.  Mrs. Wade purchased a house site unseen in Hangsaman, just certain that she would have a successful beauty parlor.  It turns out that success is not guaranteed in this strange new place.

This town is smothered by an oppressive sense of evil.  Three mediums live in the town, and they communicate with the dead.  Mimi doesn't believe it for a second, but Julia is immediately intrigued.  Julia's boyfriend was recently killed in Vietnam, and Julia hasn't been herself in months. 

Julia snatches onto the hope that she can speak to Chuck again.  Mimi tries to convince Julia that the mediums are fake, but Julia won't listen.  Mimi's insistence that the mediums cannot contact spirits raises their ire.  Mimi becomes frightened, certain that she is in danger.  Can she prove that the mediums are frauds before it is too late?

As I read the book, I was unsure whether the mediums would turn out to be fakes or whether they would turn out to be real.  The book has an overlying sense of mystery, danger, and the unknown from the very beginning.

This is a very good to excellent book.