NationStates Jolt Archive

Just curious... I came across this in a book I'm reading at the moment, which describes (in a narrative sideline) a house in which a person was murdered, and in which reputedly both the victim and the murderer sometimes show up as ghosts.
The house in the story has been up for sale for years, but nobody wants it.

Now, as me and my BF are looking for a house to buy at the moment, I asked myself : Would I buy a house like this, given that you probably could get it at a very low price?
While I - rationally - don't believe in ghosts, I still don't think I'd go for it. Fear tends to be irrational, after all.
What about you?

yes i would.


in theory once someone else has lived in it and survived, its not going to be seen as haunted any more.

Of course, this is the secret of how I built up my massive property portfolio, all you have to put up with is the occasional interference by those pesky kids...

No reason not too. Even if there really are ghosts, you can just turn it into some kind of attraction and have thrill seekers and ghost hunters pay to stay the Night!

Ceteris paribus, no.

If the house were slightly cheaper, or in a better location, or in some other way better, or if it were the only one available, then I wouldn't have a problem. But if I could choose between two identical houses, one of which were 'haunted', I'd opt for the 'non-haunted' one: I don't, for a second, believe in ghosts, but I do believe in my own overactive psyche. God, I stayed in my bed for like a week after watching No Country for Old Men, afraid that if I went downstairs I'd get murdered with a gas cylinder.

I actually DID move into a haunted house, so to speak. We didn't know it was when we moved in, but given what I know now, it shouldn't have been a surprise. My haunting, however, was benign, as my fiance has reminded me to tell you.

My brother and I were teens when my parents bought their house -- at less than market value in a very nice neighborhood. Every night after we first moved in, I heard footsteps come down the hall, stop in front of my room, go down the hall to my brother's room, stop, and... never come back.

Initially I thought it was one of my parents checking on us (how sweet!), but when I asked, they both said no. Then came the night where I decided to catch them and flung open my door only to see.... nothing. That was a sleepless night, I can tell you.

I started chatting up the neighbors and found out that the former owner had been a grandmother, that she was the block babysitter for kids whose parents had not yet gotten home from work, and that she had died shortly before we bought the house from her squabbling grandkids. Add to that the fact that we'd had to pack up and toss out china, Christmas ornaments, etc. and it pretty quickly got me to come to the conclusion that the former owner wasn't QUITE done with the place yet.

One night when I couldn't stand it anymore, when I heard the footsteps, I called out the woman's name. I can't tell you how frightening that was.... because it felt like the air got thick, like just before a lightning strike, and all the hair on my body stood up. I just told it quietly that it was ok, my bro and I would be fine, it didn't need to check up on us anymore. There was a LONG pause and.... the footsteps went down the hall and never came back.

My house is haunted as well. It has spookily dropped in value 30%. Very scary.

I knew someone who moved into a house that had been once used as a funeral home. I wonder, would that count as haunted...?

I had a girlfriend who thought her house was haunted, so I haunted it. Good times. :)

But I might think twice, yeah, before moving into a place that is said to be haunted. Hauntings are usually resultant from great psychological trauma or violent crime, and so it's basically a rumor that a violent crime has taken place at the place. Bad neighborhood.

pay tens to make house seem haunted then buy the house at 50% of market price.

I find it "haunting" that educated people in this day and age still believe in hauntings.

"As good be hang'd for an old sheep as a lamb." as the proverb goes.

I don't want to be around when ya'll decide to return to human sacrifice.

Of course I would. I could use the money I saved on something else.

Just curious... I came across this in a book I'm reading at the moment, which describes (in a narrative sideline) a house in which a person was murdered, and in which reputedly both the victim and the murderer sometimes show up as ghosts.
The house in the story has been up for sale for years, but nobody wants it.

Now, as me and my BF are looking for a house to buy at the moment, I asked myself : Would I buy a house like this, given that you probably could get it at a very low price?
While I - rationally - don't believe in ghosts, I still don't think I'd go for it. Fear tends to be irrational, after all.
What about you?

I wouldn't buy a haunted house because it was supposed to be haunted... but if it meant a REALLY good deal, I'd go for it.

There are no ghosts. Simple as. If you want to charge me less because you're superstitious? I'm strangely comfortable with that.

I find it "haunting" that educated people in this day and age still believe in hauntings.

"As good be hang'd for an old sheep as a lamb." as the proverb goes.

I don't want to be around when ya'll decide to return to human sacrifice.

Yeah, cause being easily freaked out by squeaking floorboards and spooky noises is the same as trying to appease a wrathful god by smashing in somebody's skull, right? :rolleyes:

Just curious... I came across this in a book I'm reading at the moment, which describes (in a narrative sideline) a house in which a person was murdered, and in which reputedly both the victim and the murderer sometimes show up as ghosts.
The house in the story has been up for sale for years, but nobody wants it.

Now, as me and my BF are looking for a house to buy at the moment, I asked myself : Would I buy a house like this, given that you probably could get it at a very low price?
While I - rationally - don't believe in ghosts, I still don't think I'd go for it. Fear tends to be irrational, after all.
What about you?

I would. One, I don't believe in ghosts, two, if I meet one, cool story to write/tell/turn into a doom metal song.

I did not believe in ghosts myself until i saw one myself.

as for the house, move in.

you mean there are houses where stuff doesn't randomly walk about when you need it?

I gotta get me one of those!

I started chatting up the neighbors

ewww :p

I do believe them but I always try to rationalize the weird stuff I get at home! I would move in though just get the shit blown out of my mind!

I wouldn't buy a haunted house because it was supposed to be haunted... but if it meant a REALLY good deal, I'd go for it.

There are no ghosts. Simple as. If you want to charge me less because you're superstitious? I'm strangely comfortable with that.

Well, I once lived in a place where I had a rather spooky experience twice... you might have heard of it, a feeling of waking up and not being able to move or do anything.
I know that it's a simple case of parts of the brain waking up without the parts that let you control the movements of your body waking up as well.

However, as it had never happened to me before or since, it's linked in my mind with the place... and believe me, it scared me half to death.
I think even now, knowing the biological reason, it would still scare me.

Of course I would. I could use the money I saved on something else.

Yeah, like calling cheap-ass ghostbusters :p

ewww :p

Beat me to it.

If a house was quite a lot cheaper than normal, then sure, why not? Unless it was supposed to kill everyone who stayed there or something like that.

Yeah, cause being easily freaked out by squeaking floorboards and spooky noises is the same as trying to appease a wrathful god by smashing in somebody's skull, right? :rolleyes:

Actually, pretty much, yeah.

Gods, ghosts, or goblins - if you're going to believe in stuff that just isn't there, you'll probably smash people's skulls in because the ghoulies told you to.

Yeah, like calling cheap-ass ghostbusters :p

HEY!!!!!!!

I'm a cheap-ass ghostbuster!

ewww :p

Beat me to it.


Sorry, is there something wrong with getting to know the people you're going to live near for the next few years, or do you two prefer the confines of your rooms, lit only by the flickering light of your monitors?

Depends on how nice the house is....

But, if its livable, and affordable...Yeah, sure, why not? "I aint afraid o' no Ghosts!" :p

Sorry, is there something wrong with getting to know the people you're going to live near for the next few years, or do you two prefer the confines of your rooms, lit only by the flickering light of your monitors?

Chatting up means a different thing in England.

A rumored haunting would not put me off an otherwise good house, especially if I got a good price on it.

I sort of believe in ghosts. I believe in spirits, and I believe in the possibility of ghosts haunting a place, but then I'm a cat owner, and anything weird that happens in a house is likely to be the fault of the cat. Therefore anything weird that happens in a house is going to get blamed on the cat, regardless, with the constant cry of "what is that cat doing now?" So who knows -- I may have been living in outrageously haunted houses my whole life and just blaming the frigging cat for all the flying furniture and bleeding walls.

Also I like old houses, and if a house is old enough, it's going to have a history of people dying and other bad things happening in it. Even if you build a new house, you're likely on a piece of land that has seen death and disaster sometime in history. If you're going to be put off by that sort of thing, your homebuying options are going to be pretty limited.

If you're worried about ghosts or unhappy spirits, just burn some incense, put out some offerings, and get over it, I say. (Or if you're Christian or something, call a clergyman to come bless the place.)

Ah. Cultural shock, I see.

Ah. Cultural shock, I see.

No, the phrase actually has a different meaning.

I understood that once you said it. I mean it as talking with, you mean it as picking up. The discontinuity between the two meanings is what I was pointing up with culture shock, which is helpfully defined by Wiki as: "the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country. "

Well, I once lived in a place where I had a rather spooky experience twice... you might have heard of it, a feeling of waking up and not being able to move or do anything.
I know that it's a simple case of parts of the brain waking up without the parts that let you control the movements of your body waking up as well.

However, as it had never happened to me before or since, it's linked in my mind with the place... and believe me, it scared me half to death.
I think even now, knowing the biological reason, it would still scare me.

Sleep paralysis? I get that a lot. The first time was terrifying but it doesn't bother me anymore. It's just something that happens when my mind is too active to fall asleep but my body doesn't seem to care..

I understood that once you said it. I mean it as talking with, you mean it as picking up. The discontinuity between the two meanings is what I was pointing up with culture shock, which is helpfully defined by Wiki as: "the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country. "

Ah, I thought you meant in England we all sit by ourselves and don't talk to each other.

Ah, I thought you meant in England we all sit by ourselves and don't talk to each other.

You mean you Dont!? :confused:...

im really going to have to reinterpret Austin Powers now, :p

Btw...Chatting Up still means your Picking Up on someone Down here, lol...Isnt that Weird!?

Sure, why not?

I have a ghost that follows me around from house to house,so it wouldn't bother me at all.

im really going to have to reinterpret Austin Powers now,

Some people haven't fully understood that documentary, although it does sow a completely free and accurate depiction of the Scots.

I have a ghost that follows me around from house to house,so it wouldn't bother me at all.

Tell us more! and it better not be a story with the ending containing the word "Holy Spirit" in it.

Tell us more! and it better not be a story with the ending containing the word "Holy Spirit" in it.

Blah blah blah -insert generic story- and that's how I got the Holy Spirit.....oh shoot..


Well, this is the same entity that flipped open the oven one night, and turned it on. My mom had a dream about it, to be exact. I went to go get water in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden the oven door just slammed open, and it began to glow. So I went over to it and turned it off. Other things include lights being left on in places that no one goes into for a while, like the basement. It could be said that someone was careless and left a light on, but that is VERY doubtful, considering that before my mum goes to bed she checks every single electrical unit in the house about 5 times to make sure its off. Let's see. There has been a time when I was in my current apartment and a can literally flew off the ground and hit the wall. Oh yeah, and the time when i was watching television after I had got off work at around 2am, and I saw a little girl about 7 -10 in a long gown, walk from my sisters room into the kitchen. Why was that weird? My sister was 14 at the time, is kinda tall, and has very dark black hair. This girl had blonde hair. I was so scared that I slept in my closet with my dagger. There have been loads of other things. These occurrences happen from house to house. A common one has to do with the timers on things. I think that is why my mom checks everything to make sure its off. In our current house the stove has a time that goes off every night at midnight. Sounds like it should be fixed if you mess around with it, or unplug it. Nope, unplugging it doesn't stop it. Better still is the fact that there are no batteries in the timer either. Anyways, I am sure if I was more intelligent I could write down all sorts of formulas and hypotheses about why these occurrences happen to me, but I rather enjoy the thrill of not knowing what exactly is going on. :)

Blah blah blah -insert generic story- and that's how I got the Holy Spirit.....oh shoot..

lol, touche.


Well, this is the same entity that flipped open the oven one night, and turned it on. My mom had a dream about it, to be exact. I went to go get water in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden the oven door just slammed open, and it began to glow. So I went over to it and turned it off. Other things include lights being left on in places that no one goes into for a while, like the basement. It could be said that someone was careless and left a light on, but that is VERY doubtful, considering that before my mum goes to bed she checks every single electrical unit in the house about 5 times to make sure its off. Let's see. There has been a time when I was in my current apartment and a can literally flew off the ground and hit the wall. Oh yeah, and the time when i was watching television after I had got off work at around 2am, and I saw a little girl about 7 -10 in a long gown, walk from my sisters room into the kitchen. Why was that weird? My sister was 14 at the time, is kinda tall, and has very dark black hair. This girl had blonde hair. I was so scared that I slept in my closet with my dagger. There have been loads of other things. These occurrences happen from house to house. A common one has to do with the timers on things. I think that is why my mom checks everything to make sure its off. In our current house the stove has a time that goes off every night at midnight. Sounds like it should be fixed if you mess around with it, or unplug it. Nope, unplugging it doesn't stop it. Better still is the fact that there are no batteries in the timer either. Anyways, I am sure if I was more intelligent I could write down all sorts of formulas and hypotheses about why these occurrences happen to me, but I rather enjoy the thrill of not knowing what exactly is going on. :)

Wow...ever tried to talk to the ghost?

Wow...ever tried to talk to the ghost?

Well, there was a point I remember when I was a little boy, right before all this stuff happened on a regular basis, and it was when my great-grandfather died. My dad got his house, and his office was eventually turned into my room. I was in my room one night, and I swear I heard his voice tell me something along the lines of "Make me proud", to which I replied something about I will try to do so. That was the only time I've talked to a spirit, if it was even a spirit at all. I might add that I am not crazy, and do not hear voices on a regular basis. :p Also, while I said I'd like to enjoy the mystery of the entire thing, I still am skeptical quite often about what happens. Like that voice could have been a hallucination. I could have wanted to hear my great-grandfather speak to me, because I loved him so much. So yeah.:)

come to think of it maybe ghosts and such are just a plot to keep city types out of the countryside?

maybe this explains Native American burial grounds :wink:

SNIP

oh your always chatting nsG'ers up >.>

Just curious... I came across this in a book I'm reading at the moment, which describes (in a narrative sideline) a house in which a person was murdered, and in which reputedly both the victim and the murderer sometimes show up as ghosts.
The house in the story has been up for sale for years, but nobody wants it.

Now, as me and my BF are looking for a house to buy at the moment, I asked myself : Would I buy a house like this, given that you probably could get it at a very low price?
While I - rationally - don't believe in ghosts, I still don't think I'd go for it. Fear tends to be irrational, after all.
What about you?
Especially when it's rooted in ridiculous superstitions. I'd like to think I wouldn't fall for such fears, but if they ever got me in a chokehold I'd need to give in, since I wouldn't be able to enjoy it or feel good about it...

I ain't 'fraid of no ghost!
http://www.studip.uni-goettingen.de/pictures/smile/ghostbuster.gif

Especially when it's rooted in ridiculous superstitions. I'd like to think I wouldn't fall for such fears, but if they ever got me in a chokehold I'd need to give in, since I wouldn't be able to enjoy it or feel good about it...

That's the infuriating thing about it... I don't believe in any superstitions, ghost, spirits, banshees, whathaveyou.
But, and it's a big but, when things go bang in the night, my brain switches off, my grandmothers stories become vivid, and I go hide under the duvet. :(

Oh lord no. There's definitely something supernatural that goes on in some places. Although living in the Winchester Mystery House would be fun.

Yes. Mainly because I would probably know how to deal with it.

I don't get kooks who believe in ghosts and are still afraid. The story goes they can't hurt you, right? Or can ghosts hurt the living?

I don't get kooks who believe in ghosts and are still afraid. The story goes they can't hurt you, right? Or can ghosts hurt the living?

Yes they can. Both poltergeists and regular ghosts can harm the living (although poltergeists aren't ghosts per se but rather an alleged psychokinetic phenomenon stemming from a person in the house). If a ghost does harm you, it's time to gtfo of there because that thing is either seriously messed up or something a lot worse than a ghost. Either way it's bad news.

I would personally live in a haunted house to see if the phenomenon are real.

Well other people say they can't hurt you, so if I was going to humor the notion I'd rather believe them. Bring it on, ghosts! And even if they can, I'll die then become a ghost and kick their ass.

Hell no! I don't want a house with any weird stuff going on! It doesn't matter what's making it weird. Even if the strangeness was proven to be of mundane origin, I don't want to have to wonder what "the house" is going to do.

My current house has a lot of strange sounds, MOST (but not all) of which were discovered to be from mice. It didn't stop me from having the creeps. It's just that instead of being creeped out at what a spirit would do, I instead wondered if the mice would walk on me and/or bite once I fell asleep! Mousetraps work, but unfortunately, every fall (and sporadically at other times of the year), some more mice decide to check out the nice, warm house.

And then there's the occasional noise that is definitely NOT from a mouse. Or anything else mundane that I can think of. Like the times a huge BANG came from downstairs (loud enough that the walls and floor rattled)...and nobody else in the house heard a thing, even though they were down there! WTF?!

Or the time I lost my wallet, only to find it sitting in the outside (BBQing) fireplace. Nobody else was home (so someone couldn't have moved it), I had seen the wallet inside the same day, AND I hadn't been near that fireplace that day. Again, WTF?

Not to mention things like thinking something was lost after carefully checking its usual spot, then doing a fruitless room-to-room search...and finally finding it in the spot I originally checked, blindingly obvious and not hidden at all!!

Hell no I wouldn't move into a place if they told me outright that it was going to be just as weird or weirder!!

of course wouldn't want to break a tradition virtually every house i have lived in has been haunted apart form my nice new flat

There was a house where I grew up in Montana. It was a popular place for high school student to go and scare the bejeezus out of themselves. The thing about this house was that it was the scene of a very graphic murder that had happened about 2 years before I moved to the town. The police never cleaned out the blood soaked mattress and had left everything in place. They apparently thought the blood soaked mattress was not evidence. Needless to say, there was an ominous feeling to the place and the surrounding woods. I believe in pissed off spirits and I also belive that these pissed off spirits were still hangin around.

Fergi America;14303864']Hell no! I don't want a house with any weird stuff going on! It doesn't matter what's making it weird. Even if the strangeness was proven to be of mundane origin, I don't want to have to wonder what "the house" is going to do.


I second this. People don't mind living in haunted houses where the ghosts are quiet and invisible and don't do anything; it's the shrieks in the night or blood on the walls. I don't think these phenomena are caused by dead spirits, but it would still be a lousy place to live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_Poltergeist

One of the most disturbing. If that creature starting doing it's thing in my house, I'd get the fuck out.

I have no fear of the fictional "holy" ghost, so why should I worry about other fictional ghosts?

I have no fear of the fictional "holy" ghost, so why should I worry about other fictional ghosts?

Because they can throw you across the room.

Because they can throw you across the room.

No, they can't.

No, they can't.

Enfield Poltergeist.

The Holy Ghost is what is inside of you. So I guess it could be holy, demonic, lazy, sly, or mundane.

What about the Bell Witch in Tennessee?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_Poltergeist

One of the most disturbing. If that creature starting doing it's thing in my house, I'd get the fuck out.

Begging the question: Why didn't THEY?

I'm in ur house, haunting ur basements

(someone, find a good image fast!)

Enfield Poltergeist.

Didn't you hear that Superman, Batman, and Manfred Von Karma beat the crap out of the enfield poltergeist?

Seriously, though, the family that reported it also admitted that they made the whole thing up.

EDIT: Also, for Tothe's sake...

http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/4/3/ghostkittehhau128517289471875000.jpg

I have enough 'demons' already.

It depends on the type of haunting I thought was going on I guess. I'm not going to move into what I thought would be a physically active haunted residence.. aka me getting knocked up side the head by something I can't touch, or something turning on appliances and shit. How can I fight them? My main thing would be .. how do I knock something upside the head, or kill it if I can't touch them? Seems unfair. And I'm not about to be relying on priests or witchdoctors to 'cleanse' my home. If it's down to that, my ass is gone.. or well not there to begin with.

I'm not informed on this stuff, but I'm betting to those that are.. there is a difference between .. demonic, spirit, ghost .. etc ..

Ohh Legion! That would suck.. I wouldn't move where I thought there was a Legion.

Of course I would. Haunted houses are awesome!

Depends on the nature of the haunting.

Seriously, though, the family that reported it also admitted that they made the whole thing up.

The daughters admitted that they faked some of it, but much of it was real. I believe that, especially with Bill the poltergeist.

The daughters admitted that they faked some of it, but much of it was real. I believe that, especially with Bill the poltergeist.


What's the coincidence of someone faking it , and at the same time the house being really haunted. C'mon now.

I live quite near an old cemetery, the kind that sits on a hill, poorly maintained, a lot of the graves caved in (hollows formed when the coffin rots away), visit it yearly, sometimes really early in the morning, walk through a lot of said graves. So a haunted house doesn't pose much of a problem to me.

or odds.. Odds fit better to what I was meaning.

come to think of it maybe ghosts and such are just a plot to keep city types out of the countryside?

maybe this explains Native American burial grounds :wink:



oh your always chatting nsG'ers up >.>
If so, it must be to keep people out of the cities, too.
*goes to live on a space station.*

LOL, I'm such a flirt....

Oh lord no. There's definitely something supernatural that goes on in some places. Although living in the Winchester Mystery House would be fun.
Been there, seen it... except for the craziness inherent in the architecture, I don't think there's anything particularly weird about it.

There was a house where I grew up in Montana. It was a popular place for high school student to go and scare the bejeezus out of themselves. The thing about this house was that it was the scene of a very graphic murder that had happened about 2 years before I moved to the town. The police never cleaned out the blood soaked mattress and had left everything in place. They apparently thought the blood soaked mattress was not evidence. Needless to say, there was an ominous feeling to the place and the surrounding woods. I believe in pissed off spirits and I also belive that these pissed off spirits were still hangin around.
Any links? Google doesn't seem to display any Hurley House that's haunted -- just a substance abuse program.

Of course I would. Haunted houses are awesome!

:fluffle:

Been there, seen it... except for the craziness inherent in the architecture, I don't think there's anything particularly weird about it.

Yea I'd have to agree, I've been there like three times, and I never got any feelings from it. I've been to haunted houses and every time I been to one, they always have this certain feelings about them. Can't really explain it.

I live quite near an old cemetery, the kind that sits on a hill, poorly maintained, a lot of the graves caved in (hollows formed when the coffin rots away), visit it yearly, sometimes really early in the morning, walk through a lot of said graves. So a haunted house doesn't pose much of a problem to me.

Every day I went to the train station, I literally walked five minutes next to an overgrown, no-longer-used cemetery.

Either the ghosts there are too scared of me to do a haunting, or -- more likely -- there AREN'T any ghosts there.

Yea I'd have to agree, I've been there like three times, and I never got any feelings from it. I've been to haunted houses and every time I been to one, they always have this certain feelings about them. Can't really explain it.

Well a planned haunted house isn't really gonna be the real deal. Unless of course them ghosts are in it for money.

Every day I went to the train station, I literally walked five minutes next to an overgrown, no-longer-used cemetery.

Either the ghosts there are too scared of me to do a haunting, or -- more likely -- there AREN'T any ghosts there.

Once again...what did Jolt do with the rolling eyes smilies?

Not every cemetery and not every old house is going to be haunted.

Well a planned haunted house isn't really gonna be the real deal. Unless of course them ghosts are in it for money.

True. I dunno how to really explain this. I guess in a "real" haunted house, the air becomes more "heavy" for me. I never got that feeling at the Winchester House.

Well, I once lived in a place where I had a rather spooky experience twice... you might have heard of it, a feeling of waking up and not being able to move or do anything.
I know that it's a simple case of parts of the brain waking up without the parts that let you control the movements of your body waking up as well.

However, as it had never happened to me before or since, it's linked in my mind with the place... and believe me, it scared me half to death.
I think even now, knowing the biological reason, it would still scare me.

That's happened to me a couple of times when I fell asleep at school, and it's a terrifying feeling.

If it's trying to teach me a lesson, I'm not listenin'.

I have a ghost that follows me around from house to house,so it wouldn't bother me at all.

You have a cat?

I live quite near an old cemetery, the kind that sits on a hill, poorly maintained, a lot of the graves caved in (hollows formed when the coffin rots away), visit it yearly, sometimes really early in the morning, walk through a lot of said graves. So a haunted house doesn't pose much of a problem to me.

That's nothing. I walk through a cemetery on the way to school each morning.

It does get creepy, however, when it's dark because of clouds and fog, and ominously through the gravel you hear feet crunching...slowly coming...and then, out of the fog, pops your substitute teacher in a Russian cap. Anti-climax? I thought so.

Insta-friend

Every day I went to the train station, I literally walked five minutes next to an overgrown, no-longer-used cemetery.

Either the ghosts there are too scared of me to do a haunting, or -- more likely -- there AREN'T any ghosts there.

You're not scary, you're adorable. :p

Well, I once lived in a place where I had a rather spooky experience twice... you might have heard of it, a feeling of waking up and not being able to move or do anything.
I know that it's a simple case of parts of the brain waking up without the parts that let you control the movements of your body waking up as well.

However, as it had never happened to me before or since, it's linked in my mind with the place... and believe me, it scared me half to death.
I think even now, knowing the biological reason, it would still scare me.

Hmm. Sounds interesting. I don't believe in haunted houses, but I wouldn't move in one because like what has already been said, it usually means something bad has happened there and I don't want to be there.

True. I dunno how to really explain this. I guess in a "real" haunted house, the air becomes more "heavy" for me. I never got that feeling at the Winchester House.

Been in one of those, where the air/atmosphere seemed heavy but it was a monastery instead of a house. I suspect it had more to do with the nature of its construction than anything else though.

Odd thing is, I've heard some recent tidbits from the local grapevine about this sort of thing. It seemed that a few days ago, some burglar went into a shophouse while the family was out for a few days. When the owner came back, he still found the burglar, dehydrated and trapped inside the house, apparently unable to make his escape. According to the burglar (after he was jailed), every time he tried to move to the residential area or leave, there'd be a suffocating pressure that would keep him immobile.

People think it's ghosts, but I think he was doing drugs and OD'ed on something really powerful at the time.

Yea I'd have to agree, I've been there like three times, and I never got any feelings from it. I've been to haunted houses and every time I been to one, they always have this certain feelings about them. Can't really explain it.

Could they be caused by the stories you've heard about the houses?

Could they be caused by the stories you've heard about the houses?

That's a possibility, but I've heard stories about the Winchester house too, and I never got that feeling.

Once again...what did Jolt do with the rolling eyes smilies?

Not every cemetery and not every old house is going to be haunted.

True -- only a small percentage (my current estimate is 0%) of them are.

I'd have no trouble living in a "haunted" house. If Scooby Doo has taught me anything, it is that the only thing to fear is a crooked Realtor with face paint and an improbably complex scam.
The exception is if the house's reputation was such that I'd have to put up with ghost hunters and local kids constantly showing up to bother me.

Don't see why not. I'm interested in them and it could be... interesting to live in one.

Don't see why not. I'm interested in them and it could be... interesting to live in one.
Or it could just be expensive, as your in-home ghosthunting hobby turns up one serious structural problem after another -- bad plumbing, bad wiring, squirrels in the attic, mold, etc.

That's why "Ghosthunters" is my favorite ghosthunting show on tv. They almost always prove the haunting to be due to bad plumbing. :D

Or it could just be expensive, as your in-home ghosthunting hobby turns up one serious structural problem after another -- bad plumbing, bad wiring, squirrels in the attic, mold, etc.

That's why "Ghosthunters" is my favorite ghosthunting show on tv. They almost always prove the haunting to be due to bad plumbing. :D

I wonder sometimes how much money roto rooter has made because of those two.

I already live in one.

I already live in one.

:confused:

:confused:

Indeed.

Indeed.

The last place I lived in was haunted, well the whole f'n city was haunted. Savannah, Ga. that is. according to their travel brochures they are one of the most haunted cities in the U.S.

and i didnt believe it until i saw it, and heard it, and recorded it on camera, etc.

and i didnt believe it until i saw it, and heard it, and recorded it on camera, etc.

Seriously?

Seriously?

well..

I did this overnight "investigation" with a group of friends at this theatre that i used to work at in savannah, ga. The place apparently burned down twice, once during a performance. I thought it was all bullshit. So i brought my camera took hundreds of pictures (with the lights out, at 2-3am ghost hunters style) until a few of my pics from about 230-4am starting turning up like this....

http://b5.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01301/59/09/1301529095_l.jpg

i wish i could post more to prove, but i must find the rest first. this one was on my myspace (the pic with the most orbs on it). It could just be dust, but i took over 200 pics that night and only about 20 had these in it (from 230-4am). I took the pics from 12am-5am.

I also saw a figure of a man (which i did not get a pic of) that everyone else saw in the group.

I was not a beliver until then. That night was some crazy shit.

Seriously?

Methinks the only haunts would be its citizens. :p

I wouldn't buy a haunted house because it was supposed to be haunted... but if it meant a REALLY good deal, I'd go for it.

There are no ghosts. Simple as. If you want to charge me less because you're superstitious? I'm strangely comfortable with that.

That sums up my thoughts quite nicely.

I want to go on one of those contest shows where they take people to some supposedly haunted location, just so I can spend the whole time not being scared, thus forcing them to refilm that episode.

Don't see why not. I'm interested in them and it could be... interesting to live in one.

Washuu Hakubi Decision-Making-Style FTW! :D

Just curious... I came across this in a book I'm reading at the moment, which describes (in a narrative sideline) a house in which a person was murdered, and in which reputedly both the victim and the murderer sometimes show up as ghosts.
The house in the story has been up for sale for years, but nobody wants it.

Now, as me and my BF are looking for a house to buy at the moment, I asked myself : Would I buy a house like this, given that you probably could get it at a very low price?
While I - rationally - don't believe in ghosts, I still don't think I'd go for it. Fear tends to be irrational, after all.
What about you?

Yep I have no qualms about it, my wife on the other hand gets spooked out by the whole thing. Heh probaly because we have lived in a haunted house.

That sums up my thoughts quite nicely.

I want to go on one of those contest shows where they take people to some supposedly haunted location, just so I can spend the whole time not being scared, thus forcing them to refilm that episode.
I love those shows!! My favorite is "Scariest Places on Earth". The formula is golden. You take a bunch of dumbshits who want to be on tv, preferably family or close friends because then the interpersonal dynamic will kick in, causing them to start fighting and blaming each other for the whole thing within just an hour or two. Then you load them down with the most ridiculous "gear" you can slap together. The mere fact that they let you strap them into these mecha-moron get-ups is enough to guarantee comedy. Then you take them to some old pile of a place that you've gussied up with horror movie props, spin some creepy yarns, toss a bag of their heads, spin them around a couple of times, turn all the lights out, let them loose -- station a few interns around the place to rattle doorhandles and flick paper clips at the walls in the dark -- and just let the hilarity ensue. With screams.

Shows like that are really a psychology experiment in the willingness of people to suspend rational thought so that they can believe something they want to believe. The places on that show are famous tourist attractions. Everybody knows their stories. The majority of them are also inhabited -- they are historic homes that families live in -- they have electricity and cable, even. I don't care if it's a 14th century Irish castle. The However-Many Earl of Whatsit who lives there now does not maintain a fully stocked torture room over his garage, complete with prop skeletons hanging from the wall shackles. Come on, contestants, get a grip. Go have a sit down in his Martha Steward chintz living room or make yourself a sandwich in his Calphalon kitchen, and relax already.

And why, oh why, do they buy into the fiction that they are stranded alone in the big scary castle? They get into these states where they think they are all alone in horrible danger, just like in the movies! :eek2: But it's a tv show -- in the 21st century -- it never occurs to them that the entire place is wired for audio and video, and that somewhere on the premises -- maybe in that kitchen where the cookies are -- is an entire television crew monitoring everything that happens.

Yet these idiots who go on that show manage to work themselves into the most outrageous hysterics of terror. One wonders. One truly does.

I wonder how many contestants never make it on the air on that show because they just said "fuck this" and started flipping on the lights, or they found where the crew was hiding and demanded the cookies as their reward. :D I think they should show those, like in an annual special.

Ooh-ooh -- horror movie idea! Family goes on that show -- only they're, like, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family -- tables are turned, the hunters become the hunted! Woo-hoo!

EDIT: I remember one episode of "Scariest Places" that had an unscripted moment, where the hidden nightvision cameras and the mecha-moron head cams both caught an actual non-show rat walking across the top of a chest of drawers in a bedroom. I guess it figured, hey the lights are out, I can come out now. The rat freaked out the contestants the least of everything, but I wonder how the homeowner felt about it. I would have been screaming, "RAT!!!" Remember what I said about ghosthunting being an expensive hobby as it reveals problems with the building?

hell yes! if i could get it cheaply enough. (REAL) things that go boomp in the night are my friends!

As I think about "Scariest Places on Earth", it makes me think that people who are super-freaked out about the idea of haunted houses are like the contestants on that show. I think they just really, really want to believe in this idea that is very scary to them.

There are people who aren't scared by it and for whom living in a "haunted house" is a kind of ego trip because they get to talk about how sensitive to the spirits they are, etc.

But there are also people who seem terrified at the idea of it, who hang onto the fear that ghosts or spirits can hurt them somehow, that they would be at the mercy of some unseen presence in the house with them (the whole horror movie trip). They go on and on about the horror of someone having died in a house, etc, but that mindset requires a hardcore suspension of rational awareness of reality. In a world as crowded as ours, show me a place where, throughout history, there's never been a death, never been a bad occurrence. It's like the suspension of disbelief required to read a fantasy novel, but they keep it up forever, in the context of their real lives, and only about this one thing. And they're not very consistent about it, either, because they'll freak out about some supposedly haunted places and not others -- dependent maybe on how good the story of the place is?

Also, if they really believe in ghosts, I wonder that they seem always to choose to be freaked out, never to develop a coping mechanism to live with it.

I think they're just into the drama of the horror story.

hell yes! if i could get it cheaply enough. (REAL) things that go boomp in the night are my friends!
Unless they are burglars, maybe?

Sure I would. Cheaper than it should be house, fuck yeah.

Enfield Poltergeist.
Margaret has publicly stated that although they did fake a few phenomena to catch the investigators out, they were not responsible for all the phenomena. She has stated that "It is ridiculous to suggest that either my sister or I could have been responsible for the strange activity that went on in our house." However, despite this there remain differences of interpretation regarding whether the girls faked all the phenomena or not.
"Oh it's all real, I swear"
.....
"Ok, we faked some of it, but the rest is real!"
Credibility levels are plummeting, captain! I cannae believe it!
Not every cemetery and not every old house is going to be haunted.

I don't see why cemeteries would be haunted. Seriously, when's the last time you heard of someone dying in a cemetery?

I lived in a "haunted" house when I was a kid. Some guy committed suicide in my room, big blood stain on the floor under my bed. Freaked me out. Water collected under the house and the floor would be wet in that corner, made the blood appear to be new about once a year......of course it was spring when it was rainy but it was also about the time he shot himself, so you know at 9 I thought it was obviously pretty damn scary.

A lady died in the condo behind me two days after I closed. We've had some weird stuff happen, I'm sure it's all in my head though. *ignores ghost*

well..

I did this overnight "investigation" with a group of friends at this theatre that i used to work at in savannah, ga. The place apparently burned down twice, once during a performance. I thought it was all bullshit. So i brought my camera took hundreds of pictures (with the lights out, at 2-3am ghost hunters style) until a few of my pics from about 230-4am starting turning up like this....

http://b5.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01301/59/09/1301529095_l.jpg

i wish i could post more to prove, but i must find the rest first. this one was on my myspace (the pic with the most orbs on it). It could just be dust, but i took over 200 pics that night and only about 20 had these in it (from 230-4am). I took the pics from 12am-5am.

I also saw a figure of a man (which i did not get a pic of) that everyone else saw in the group.

I was not a beliver until then. That night was some crazy shit.

Congratulations. In notoriously damp Savannah, as the temperature dropped after midnight, you somehow miraculously got condensation on your lens.



Ergo...

There must be ghosts.

Ahem.

Or it could just be expensive, as your in-home ghosthunting hobby turns up one serious structural problem after another -- bad plumbing, bad wiring, squirrels in the attic, mold, etc.

That's why "Ghosthunters" is my favorite ghosthunting show on tv. They almost always prove the haunting to be due to bad plumbing. :D
Well, better I find out about any problems my house has when it is cheaper to fix them than find out later when my 'ghost' has broken and soaked the living room rug. :D

Uuuuh No.

If like a 99 yo woman died in her house and supposedly haunted it, MAYBE, but I'd be freaked out living in a house where someone was murdered. Even if I didn't have any haunting experiences I don't want to walk into my den knowing so & so was murdered where my computer desk now sits.

I'd love to buy a house that was supposed to be haunted. I could get a good deal, and have lots of new stories to creep people out with!

Re: Ghost Hunters -- Or unshielded electrical boxes, accounting for most feelings of dread or being watched.

I think it's great how they debunk 90% of what they investigate -- did you see the one with the restaurant that called them in with all the fun-house effects? Man, that was just embarrassing... they caught it in thirty seconds.... and fixed one effect that was malfunctioning. :D

I wonder sometimes how much money roto rooter has made because of those two.
Just think -- if you call Roto Rooter in Warwick, New Hampshire, you might end up with Jay and Grant under your sink!

Congratulations. In notoriously damp Savannah, as the temperature dropped after midnight, you somehow miraculously got condensation on your lens.



Ergo...

There must be ghosts.

Ahem.
*nod*
Yeah, I've seen effects like that when shooting caves. Water droplets or dust would be my guess.

Re: Ghost Hunters -- Or unshielded electrical boxes, accounting for most feelings of dread or being watched.

I think it's great how they debunk 90% of what they investigate -- did you see the one with the restaurant that called them in with all the fun-house effects? Man, that was just embarrassing... they caught it in thirty seconds.... and fixed one effect that was malfunctioning. :D



That was great. :D

But you guys don't deny that sometimes stuft happens that harms people right? Stuft that makes no sense? Why subject yourself to that? To the unknown?

But you guys don't deny that sometimes stuft happens that harms people right? Stuft that makes no sense? Why subject yourself to that? To the unknown?

Haven't observed it. *edit* and I strongly doubt that I ever will. Bring on the hauntings.

But you guys don't deny that sometimes stuft happens that harms people right? Stuft that makes no sense? Why subject yourself to that? To the unknown?

"Stuff I can't explain" does not equate to monsters, ghosts, and ghouls. I'll reserve my worries for real dangers.

But you guys don't deny that sometimes stuft happens that harms people right? Stuft that makes no sense? Why subject yourself to that? To the unknown?

1) Things happen to harm people every day. Wait -- you meant ghosty things? No, I have never seen any evidence that ghosty type things have ever happened at all, nevertheless have harmed people. And this comes from someone who is perfectly willing to believe that such things exist. But I am not going to agree with your statement based only on a willingness to accept that ghosty things are possible.

2) Again, lots of stuff make no sense. Not making sense can easily be a sign that you or I simply do not understand the cause of an occurrence. It does not imply anything spiritual or magical.

3) Why submit yourself to the unknown? Tomorrow is unknown. Do you intend not to stick around to see it? The unknown is not necessarily a bad thing.

4) I don't understand this fear of ghosty/spiritual/magical things when there are so many things that do make sense and are very well known that are both extremely harmful and extremely terrifying. Things like crime and fire and whatnot. Why worry about ghosts?

I have visited several places where terrible things have happened: The Tower of London (The Bloody Tower where prisoners were kept before they were executed), Tuol Sleng, in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia where thousands of Cambodians and a handful of westerners were tortured to death (the Khmer Rouge often took their photographs before they killed them), and various prisons in Australia. The spirits linger in these places and the suffering is palpable. You can feel the fear on the walls of the Bloody Tower.

Rest in Peace you victims of man's inhumanity to man!

Yes.

I have visited several places where terrible things have happened: The Tower of London (The Bloody Tower where prisoners were kept before they were executed), Tuol Sleng, in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia where thousands of Cambodians and a handful of westerners were tortured to death (the Khmer Rouge often took their photographs before they killed them), and various prisons in Australia. The spirits linger in these places and the suffering is palpable. You can feel the fear on the walls of the Bloody Tower.

Rest in Peace you victims of man's inhumanity to man!

No, YOU can 'feel the fear on the walls'. And, since I noticed no such thing, I have to assume you feel what you want to feel.

But you guys don't deny that sometimes stuft happens that harms people right? Stuft that makes no sense? Why subject yourself to that? To the unknown?

Yes I do deny it.

I subject myself to the unknown every day when I drive to the office, why would I fear something that doesn't even exist?