Santa Clara University Law School professor Eric Goldman tracked down the 1977 Readers' Digest article.  He reports that at the end of the article the Readers' Digest reiterated its continuing offer of $3,000 for 2500-word chronicles of verified original experiences in the field of psychic phenomena.  Thus, he concludes, Readers' Digest must have paid Helen Ackley $3,000 for her story about her haunted house.  Were she now allowed to claim otherwise, her former claim to Readers' Digest would be exposed as a lie.