by the pete
I think you played it correctly -- my sympathies! There are a lot of Haunts in which mechanisms exist that put an expiration date on one or more players, and in many cases there's less than ten turns to do anything about it.As you say, it's not meant to be a particularly fair game. Friday night I played a game in which I drew the Possession event and dropped to my lowest Speed stat. And then drew a Blood Dagger, which cannot be discarded and does one damage to Speed every time one attacks with it! There I was in a house full of cultists, more than capable of beating them were it not for the parasitic knife I had welded to my arm. We won that one, but barely. Again, as you say: it's what makes it hilariously fun!
I also second playing with more people when possible.