Erika T. Wurth’s “The Haunting of Room 904” delivers a paranormal thriller that interweaves Indigenous spirituality with the ghostly legacy of America’s colonial violence. Following her acclaimed novel “White Horse,” Wurth continues to establish herself as an important voice in contemporary Native American horror fiction. While her latest offering presents a compelling premise and important cultural themes, it sometimes struggles with pacing and character development that might leave certain readers wanting more.
The Story: Hauntings, History, and Hidden Truths
“The Haunting of Room 904” follows Olivia Becente, a Native American paranormal investigator whose gift for communicating with spirits emerged unexpectedly after her sister Naiche’s suicide. Five years after this tragedy, Olivia is approached by the historic Brown Palace Hotel in Denver to investigate a disturbing pattern: every five years, a woman checks into the hotel, only to reappear in room 904 three weeks later and commit suicide – exactly as Naiche did.
As Olivia delves deeper into this mystery alongside her loyal assistant Alejandro, she uncovers connections to the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, in which Colorado militia slaughtered Cheyenne and Arapaho people. The investigation leads her through a labyrinth of spiritual entities, ancestral trauma, and a sinister group called the Sacred 36 – a cult with ties to both the massacre and her sister’s death. When Olivia discovers that her mother may be the next victim of room 904’s curse, the race to break the supernatural cycle becomes intensely personal.
Strengths: Cultural Depth and Supernatural Innovation
Cultural Authenticity and Historical Resonance
Wurth, who is of Apache, Chickasaw, and Cherokee descent, infuses the narrative with authentic Indigenous perspectives and spiritual practices. The novel doesn’t merely appropriate Native beliefs as exotic window dressing but grounds them in living traditions and historical trauma. The connection between contemporary hauntings and the Sand Creek Massacre creates a powerful metaphor for how America’s genocidal past continues to haunt its present.
The novel’s strongest moments emerge when Olivia confronts spirits from this massacre, particularly Nese, a two-spirit Cheyenne person whose soul was trapped in a “dybbuk box” by one of the massacre’s perpetrators. These encounters feel weighted with genuine spiritual gravity rather than mere supernatural scares.
Complex Supernatural Mythology
Wurth creates an intricate supernatural mythology that blends Indigenous spiritual practices with elements from Jewish mysticism and Mayan cosmology. The novel portrays a multilayered afterlife with doorways between worlds that can be accessed through mirrors, vessels, and certain rituals. This metaphysical framework feels both coherent and mysterious, giving the supernatural elements depth beyond standard ghost story tropes.
The author’s decision to structure the narrative around a specific historical atrocity gives the supernatural elements a moral weight often lacking in paranormal thrillers. The haunting isn’t random but stems from specific acts of violence and exploitation that continue to resonate through generations.
Urban Indigenous Reality
Perhaps most refreshingly, Wurth portrays urban Native Americans with nuance and complexity. Olivia isn’t a stereotypical medicine woman but a modern professional who navigates contemporary Denver while honoring her spiritual heritage. Her identity discussions with friends highlight the complexities of Native identity in modern America—showing how colonialism impacts even casual conversations about ethnicity and belonging.
Weaknesses: Pacing Issues and Character Development
Uneven Pacing
The novel’s pacing sometimes feels uneven, with early chapters moving slowly as Wurth establishes characters and supernatural rules. While this buildup creates atmosphere, some readers might find themselves waiting too long for the central investigation to gain momentum. Conversely, the climactic confrontations sometimes resolve too quickly, with supernatural solutions appearing somewhat abruptly after lengthy buildups.
Character Relationship Challenges
While Olivia is well-developed as a protagonist, her romantic relationships sometimes feel underdeveloped in comparison to the supernatural elements. Her attraction to Dorian (a descendant of Luella Stillwell) shifts between genuine connection and plot convenience. Similarly, her past relationship with Sasha, a rabbi who helps with Jewish mystical elements, feels more functional to the plot than emotionally resonant.
The supporting characters, while diverse and interesting, occasionally fall into familiar paranormal story types—the loyal gay best friend, the spiritual advisor, the mysterious cult leader—without fully transcending these archetypes.
Exposition-Heavy Dialogue
At times, characters explain supernatural rules and historical contexts through dialogue that serves exposition more than character development. While this information is necessary for readers to understand the complex mythology, these explanations occasionally interrupt the narrative flow with information dumps rather than seamlessly integrating lore into action.
Writing Style: Atmospheric Yet Accessible
Wurth employs a direct, accessible prose style that balances supernatural elements with contemporary dialogue. Her descriptions of spiritual encounters are particularly effective, conveying otherworldly experiences through vivid sensory language:
“I could feel it, the pure malevolence of the spirits around them both, the aching, arching blackness reaching around my heart. And squeezing.”
The novel’s structure, which includes interludes titled “The Massacre” to provide historical context for the Sand Creek atrocity, effectively bridges past and present. These sections, written in a more lyrical voice, create some of the book’s most haunting passages.
The dialogue generally feels authentic to contemporary Denver, with characters speaking in natural, colloquial patterns that ground the supernatural events in a recognizable reality. Occasionally, however, dialogue becomes the vehicle for explaining supernatural rules in ways that feel slightly forced.
Thematic Depth: Grief, Guilt, and Historical Reckoning
Beyond its supernatural trappings, “The Haunting of Room 904” explores profound themes of grief, guilt, and historical accountability. Olivia’s journey isn’t just about solving a paranormal mystery but about confronting her guilt over not being there for her sister before her suicide. This personal grief parallels larger questions about historical responsibility—how descendants of both victims and perpetrators of historical atrocities must reckon with inherited trauma and guilt.
The novel thoughtfully examines how colonial violence continues to manifest in contemporary America, not just as metaphorical hauntings but through ongoing erasure of Indigenous histories and exploitation of Native spiritual practices. The Sacred 36, with their appropriation of Indigenous spirituality for personal power, represents this exploitative dynamic.
Perhaps most poignantly, the book explores the difficulty of forgiveness—both forgiving others and forgiving oneself. Olivia must ultimately forgive herself for not saving her sister while confronting those who exploited Naiche’s vulnerability.
Comparison to Other Works
Readers of Wurth’s previous novel “White Horse” will recognize her talent for blending supernatural horror with Indigenous perspectives, though “The Haunting of Room 904” leans more heavily into paranormal investigation tropes. The novel shares thematic territory with other Native American horror writers like Stephen Graham Jones (“The Only Good Indians and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter“) but develops its own distinct approach to supernatural investigation.
Fans of paranormal investigation stories like those of Victoria Schwab’s “City of Ghosts” series or Paul Tremblay’s “A Head Full of Ghosts” will find familiar elements, but Wurth’s centering of Indigenous spirituality and historical trauma creates a unique reading experience. The novel’s exploration of mirrors as portals to other worlds also recalls the work of Clive Barker, though with a distinctly American historical context.
Final Assessment: A Unique Voice in Paranormal Horror
“The Haunting of Room 904” represents an important contribution to paranormal horror fiction from a Native American perspective. Wurth skillfully demonstrates how America’s violent colonial past continues to haunt its present, using supernatural elements as powerful metaphors for historical trauma while creating genuine supernatural suspense.
While some aspects of character development and pacing could be stronger, the novel succeeds in creating a memorable paranormal investigation enriched by cultural authenticity and thematic depth. It offers readers not just supernatural thrills but an opportunity to reflect on historical accountability and the power of believing in others.
For readers seeking paranormal fiction that engages thoughtfully with American history and Indigenous perspectives while delivering genuine supernatural chills, “The Haunting of Room 904” offers a compelling, if occasionally uneven, reading experience that confirms Wurth as a distinctive voice in contemporary horror fiction.
