The Haunted Life of Lura by Donna Bunting Flake

Inspired by actual events, The Haunted Life of Lura is a portrait of Lura's yearnings for love, permanency, and acceptance. Through unimaginable circumstances, brimming with escalating violence, Lura confronts the storms of her life.
For seventy years the townspeople of Raeford, North Carolina have been denied entry into the once stately but now deteriorating home of Lura Kennedy. Change is in the air. The local newspaper runs the headline, "Mystery House Opens Its Doors." Now the home place will be sold at public auction, and eager and curious visitors flock to the house to seek out treasures.
The town gossip is overhead saying, "Is this the room where that man was cut up?" Lura's elderly cousin joins the throngs of visitors. "Even though my grandmother lived directly across the street, I knew I could NEVER set one foot onto Lura's property. Lura and her family were estranged from all of us, just like they were from everyone else."