If given the choice, depending on some variables such as housing size, type of paranormal activity.

"SURVEY: 33% SAY THEY WOULD BUY A HAUNTED HOUSE--IF ...
Willing to endure things that go bump in the night for a better real estate deal.

On the cusp of Halloween, realtor.com is out with a survey that might seem more batty than enlightening: Many people are open to living with ghosts year-round, especially when a few bumps in the night lead to more home for their money or the chance to live in a better neighborhood. Amityville, Long Island, here we come.

This is according to the results of a Haunted Real Estate survey released today by realtor.com, a unit of News Corp.'s subsidiary Move, Inc.

The survey, which queried more than 1,000 online respondents in late September, revealed 33% of respondents are open to communing with Casper, 25% might be, and 42% are not open to the idea.

When asked about the factors that may sway their decision:

40% of respondents indicated that they need a price reduction in order to choose a haunted home over a non-haunted home,
35% require a better neighborhood,
32% need larger square footage,
and 29% would do so if more bedrooms are involved.
Only 8% of respondents said they require no additional perks to purchase a haunted home.

In contrast, 47% of those surveyed indicate they would live in a home where someone died, 27% said they might, and 26% said they would not.

"Haunted houses are a popular attraction this time of year, but we wanted to see how many people would actually live in one," said Sarah Staley, on behalf of realtor.com. "What we found may be a sign of today's tight housing market, or for many living in a haunted house doesn't have to be a deal breaker."

The survey also revealed that people prefer some paranormal activities over others. For instance, 48% of respondents open to living in a haunted house indicated they could tolerate cold or hot spots in their home. The next most acceptable activity was strange noises, at 45%, followed by strange feelings in certain rooms at 39%, and unexplained shadows at 35%. The least tolerable happenings included levitating objects and the feeling of being touched, both of which are acceptable to 20% of respondents.

Living in a haunted home is not out of the ordinary for many people. According to the survey, 28% of respondents believe they have lived in a haunted home, 14% think they may have and 58% indicate said they have never lived in one. When asked what made them think the home was haunted, 58% cited strange noises, 51% revealed strange feelings in certain rooms, and 40% indicated objects moving or disappearing."

http://www.builderonline.com/design/consumer-trends/survey-33-say-they-would-buy-a-haunted-house-if_o

Somewhat related to this is the California law that says, if a residence was the site of murder, suicide, etc., that fact must be disclosed to potential buyers before they actually buy the property.

I find that to be a sound law because most people would want to know that to make an informed decision as to whether they really want to live there.

In New York there is established case law that requires realtors to disclose to potential buyers if the house is haunted or not. As far out as it sounds it's on the books.

Here's the scoop for that story, (note there are lots of purported hauntings in the New England states.)

"New York State’s Legally Haunted House
There are many houses in the United States with a reputation for being haunted. But there is one house in particular that has actually been declared legally haunted by a court of law.

Anne Ackley owned a Victorian home that was built around 1890 in Nyack, New York and situated right on the Hudson River. It is a beautiful house, with charming period features. According to Ms. Ackley, the house was also home to three poltergeists. In fact, she had published several articles about her haunted house, both in her local newspaper and in a 1977 Reader’s Digest article. The home was even included in a local ghost tour.

Though the Ackleys were afraid of the ghosts at first, they apparently weren’t too much of a problem for them. They managed to stay in the house for over 20 years and never reported any hostilities. There were no issues with the ghosts at all, really, until Ms. Ackley decided to sell the house in 1989.

A man named Jeffrey Stambovsky fell in love with the house and decided to purchase it. He wasn’t from the Nyack area, though, so he knew nothing about the home’s reputation. In addition, neither Ms. Ackley nor her real estate agent mentioned the hauntings in the legal disclosures for the house. When Stambovsky found out about the purported ghosts, he tried to get his deposit back, claiming that the house’s ghostly reputation would damage its value.

Ms. Ackley refused to return the deposit, so Stambovsky took her to court. Legal experts were astonished when the New York Appellate Court declared the house to be haunted “as a matter of law.” This ruling did not declare that the ghosts in the house were real. It only stated that Ackley’s various published “true ghost stories” about the home established its reputation as a haunted house. This could certainly affect its value.

Stambovsky got half of his deposit back as a result of the ruling. Also, this case established the rule that sellers must disclose if their house has a purported ghost or if it is reputed to be a haunted house. Though Ms. Ackley had to change her disclosure to reflect its ghoulish occupants, she had no trouble selling it for a good price. Apparently, there are many people who want to live in a haunted house. None of the home’s subsequent owners have mentioned seeing the ghosts, though, so they either didn’t exist or have since moved on to another plane of existence."

http://blitzlift.com/new-york-states-legally-haunted-house/

Amyjo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> None of the home’s
> subsequent owners have mentioned seeing the
> ghosts, though, so they either didn’t exist or
> have since moved on to another plane of
> existence."

How about that. None of the subsequent owners saw any ghosts. What a surprise.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, "having reported [the ghosts’] presence in both a national publication… and the local press… defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.

Read More: This House Was Declared Legally Haunted By NY Supreme Court | http://lite987.com/legally-haunted-house-new-york/?trackback=tsmclip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISugbhXnVTU

"Estop in the name of love!" said Jose...

Boo unto others as you would have others boo unto you.

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Estop in the name of love!" said Jose...

Kudos to EOD, and to Amyjo for her response ("Boo unto others as you would have others boo unto you.").

Really clever (and funny) from both of you!!

What's a "haunted house"?

Any house that has hangs a photo of the Mormon profit.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any house that has hangs a photo of the Mormon
> profit.

Good definition!

That's the spirit, Messygoop!

If it were me, I'd take a real ghost anyday over Tommy Monson's picture on the wall.

:)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2017 04:23PM by Amyjo.

You've really been on a woo-wwo kick as of late.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2017 04:19PM by steve benson.

"The White House

For years there have been reports that the White House is a hotbed of haunted activity. Visitors, staff and even White House residents have reported seeing the ghosts of Abraham Lincoln, Abigail Adams and Andrew Jackson, to name a few. FDR, Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill are among those who claimed to have seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. More recently, the Obamas claim to have repeatedly heard strange sounds and felt a sensation of someone gnawing at their feet in the middle of the night.... (Can't wait to hear reports of Donald Trump ghost sightings!)

The Whaley House

Now a museum run by the Save Our Heritage Organisation, San Diego's Whaley House was designated an official Haunted House by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1960s due to frequently heard heavy footsteps of the ghost of "Yankee Jim" Robinson, who was hung on the property in 1852 before the house was built. Other ghostly sightings include owners Thomas and Anna Whaley (Anna was reportedly seen by Regis Philbin), and even the family dog."

http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/holidays/americas-scariest-homes-real-life-haunted-houses-pictures

speaking of which: If you're an 18+ female who can pass for almost 15 years of age, you can earn a nice paycheck simply for walking two paces behind men costumed as Joseph Smith, Jr. Must have ID!

Happy Halloween, Cheryl !

Trying to decide if I'm going to spend a small fortune again this year for the little hobgoblins who show up for trick-or-treat. Or go incognito by turning out my porch lights, or maybe going out for the night.

I never have enough candy no matter how much I end up buying to hand out before I run out.

There used to be years we didn't get any trick-or-treaters. These past several years they've been coming out in droves!

It's cheaper!

We all like a little bump on a big night.

To me it would be a very sad, rather than scary thing to live in a house with a disembodied spirit. I can imagine what a lonely and pointless existence that must be. I would most likely encourage it to trust the Beings of Light so it can reincarnate.

I wouldn’t—I’ve seen those movies!!!!

I've shared this story before on RfM. But a haunted house thread is a good time to reshare it.

My father met his second wife while serving in the Navy during WWII. They married in California, and later moved back east to Massachusetts where she'd inherited a 200 acre farm with no existing house on it when they got there.

Dad knew how to build, so went about building their to be house on an existing structure of an old foundation that had been there since the 1700's. It took them 2-3 years to build their home. During that time they lived in a tent on the property. Despite the harsh Massachusetts winters, they somehow managed to do it.

By the time they moved into the house to get settled in, there came a knock on their door each night around 9:00. Dad would answer the door and there'd be no one there. At first he thought it was a practical joker who was a hermit who lived nearby in their rural neighborhood.

So after a big snowfall one winter, with a full moon lit night, dad decided that would be the night he was going to follow the footsteps in the snow to see where they led after the knock knock knock came.

He went outside with his kerosene lantern lit under the light of the full moon, and began circling the house in the new fallen snow. The more he circled the house is when he realized the only footprints were his own.. By then he was getting creeped out, so he went back inside deciding whatever *it* was, wasn't human.

The next night it came knocking, dad answered the door and said in his most commanding voice (he was an inactive TBM then,) that if the spirit was a good spirit it was welcome back anytime. If it wasn't a good spirit dad ordered it by the power of the "Melchizedek priesthood" to not return again.

Dad said after that night the visitor didn't return during the rest of the time dad lived there.

Sometime later in the village nearby, dad mentioned it to one of the old timers. Who asked dad hadn't he heard of what happened there before? Dad didn't know. So the local told dad about the sea merchant and his wife who'd lived there in the 1700's, who built their home on the same foundation as dad's house. He was gone at sea constantly. He kept promising his wife that each trip would be his last.

On his last trip home he returned to find his wife hanging in the attic. They were a childless couple, and the house back then was very isolated from the nearby village - she became very despondent and committed suicide.

The street the house is on is named after the sea merchant (last name only,) to this day.

After my dad died in 2000, I drove there with my children to see the house for myself. His stepson was still living there with his wife of 60 years. He'd inherited it from his mother when she died. They took us on a tour of the grounds, and showed us the house that dad built.

Sterling's wife told me she did not believe in ghosts before she moved into that house after her MIL died in 1978.. Now no one can convince her they are not real.

They still hear the knocking on the door when they're at home to hear it. If they aren't near the front door, they will hear the door open by itself and then hear footsteps walking across the wide plank floorboards (the same ones my dad had laid when he built the place from the ground up.) They hear footsteps climb up the stairs to the attic. The attic door open and shut. But they never hear it come downstairs again. It only goes up the stairs every time.

They told me they believe it is a feminine spirit. My dad used to believe it to be a feminine spirit as well. As a child when dad told us kids about it I thought it might be the sea merchant returning home to find his wife, and still had unresolved guilt over her death. But they believe it is the wife's spirit, so since I didn't experience that myself, I've gone with their hunch.

Sterling also told me during my children's and my visit that he discovered in the 1960's that the house my father had built was exactly like the house that was there in the 1700's. Sterling said there was no way dad could have known this because those blueprints had been buried in the county courthouse, and dad had not had access to them when he built their home.

Today their 200 acre farm is now about half that size, since they sold off part of the acreage. They operate a Christmas tree farm from the property. It still has beautiful views of the mountains around it with the foliage. There's now a large meadow Sterling and his wife made on one side of the house to see out their large picture window dad had built.

They plan on keeping the home in their family for generations to come, and haven't changed a thing from when dad built it from the ground up. They're even willing to put up with their ghostly visitor. They told us it doesn't frighten them. It just goes about its business by going up to the attic when it comes calling.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2017 02:19PM by Amyjo.