When a listing is so perfect it gives you chills, there may be more to the story. A professional offers advice for a happy haunting and DIY ghostbusting tips.
One look at the house, and Mike Carroll had a sense of foreboding. First built in the 1800s, the historic home had fallen into disrepair. Tree branches hung low over the doorway, and overgrown weeds surrounded the property. A fire had left significant smoke damage throughout the house and no one had bothered to fix it.
“It was creepy,” Carroll, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Best in West Babylon, New York, says. “I would walk in and get chills – because it felt like something bad had happened.”
An estimate put necessary repairs at $200,000, so Carroll proceeded to list the property as an “As Is” purchase. Soon after the home went on the market, Carroll says neighbors started approaching, and they all had the same question:
“Do you know what happened in this house?”
Carroll’s initial chills had been a sign of something sinister – in 2014, a man had attacked his mother and older sister in the home. The sister survived; the mother did not.
Despite being in a typically popular neighborhood, the home failed to attract any interest. Even investors who usually gut a property seemed to get a bad vibe.
Due to unforeseen issues with the property's title, the home was taken off the market. Years later, the home is still vacant.
Some residents leave a lasting impression
Carroll has represented multiple properties with a history – or unexplained occurrences. He recalled hearing a couple arguing in a bedroom of a listing without finding any source for the voices, only to discover later that a previous owner had shot his wife in the same room.
In another instance, Carroll toured a property with his assistant when they both came across the distinct smell of a woman’s perfume.
“The funny thing is, men would walk in and love the house, but when their wives would tour it, they would run out without saying a word to me,” Carroll says.
That lingering scent is what Sterling Moon, a medium and tarot reader based in Denver, would call an “imprint,” or an impression left over from the previous occupants.
“You can tell when you go into a house, sometimes there’s an energy you just feel,” Moon says.
It can be as simple, she says, as an older man who lived in a home for 60 years and always started his morning by cracking open the newspaper. The “imprint” could be that the new homeowners may still hear a rustling of paper each morning.
Some may find these leftover characteristics from someone who also enjoyed the home charming. But what can an owner or agent do if they would like a “spirited” home to be less so?
What to do when a house is haunted
Signs a home could be haunted can range from electrical nuisances (flickering lights in the middle of the night) to strange annoyances (unexplained flooding or insect infestations). If someone compares walking into a living room to stepping into a freezer, they may need to call a furnace repair shop – or they may have found a sign of a spiritual entity, according to Moon.
“I always encourage folks to be super skeptical and try to figure out if it could be something else,” Moon says. “Try to debunk your own experiences.”
When further investigation fails to turn up a logical explanation, it may be time to consider if these spooky signs are in fact supernatural.
For those who think their home may be haunted, Moon offers several tips for evicting otherworldly tenants:
1. Rid the home of dust bunnies – and bad vibes
The first step for many new homeowners is to give the home a good cleaning. But don’t forget to cleanse the home’s energy too, Moon says.
“[A good cleaning] doesn’t get rid of any ghosts, but it can get rid of unhelpful energy,” Moon says. Although the ghosts might stick around, they will certainly be better behaved.
She suggests burning herbs such as sage, palo santo and mugwort, which are believed to have energy cleansing properties. Before striking a match, though, homeowners should carefully consider their source. For example, white sage is an endangered plant, so it’s important to look into the sourcing practices of the supplier.
“Always think about where your ingredients come from, because you want your supplies to have the same positive energy,” Moon says.
A floor wash can also help neutralize the energy of a home and is relatively simple to make. Homeowners can create one by boiling water with lemon and cinnamon (according to Italian folklore) or bay leaves, then using the cooled solution to wipe down the floor and door handles.
2. Have a conversation (no Ouija board needed)
Talking with roommates about your pet peeves can be awkward, but when it comes to meddlesome ghosts, Moon says it’s worth a try.
“The most simple thing you can do to is acknowledge the spirits and talk to them,” Moon says. “Ask them if they know they’re dead – and are interested in moving on.”
She says some spirits are just confused and may not even realize they’ve died. If politely asked to move on, many will leave of their own accord. Even beyond the veil, most ghosts realize that manners matter.
3. Create a DIY ghost repellent
If the first two strategies don’t work, it may be time to try the all-purpose solution when it comes to repelling ghosts: salt.
Moon suggests sprinkling saltwater into the corners of a home or pouring some salt over a threshold. Best of all – this solution is as inexpensive as it is effective. Any table salt at the grocery store can work well.
“You have to think back to the cultures where these traditions came from,” Moon says. “Many were humble people that worked with the tools they had in their kitchen. Your ingredients never have to be fancy.”
Don’t rush to exorcism: You may have a happy haunting
Finding out a home is haunted may be unsettling at first, but Moon points out that many ghosts are good spirited.
“Some cultures believe every home has a benevolent house spirit that keeps an eye on things and can be a helper,” Moon says. “It’s worth not expelling all the spirits from your house right from the get-go. You might enjoy having some of them around.”
When a house becomes a home, it’s a special feeling that can’t easily be replaced. Moon suggests it could be more than a gut feeling that tells homebuyers when they’ve found “the one.”
“Most of us have had the experience of walking into a place and going, ‘This is it. This is my home!’ There might be something we can’t see that was waiting for us just as much as we were waiting for them,” Moon says.
“Many people have had a feeling of something comforting in their home and it’s never bothered them. They wouldn’t dream of having someone come in to expel that feeling or energy. If you’re open to it, consider if it’s the result of your home’s own friendly ghost.”
How to sell a haunted house
Whether a home’s hauntings are delightful or dreadful will be a matter of opinion, but one thing is for certain – there comes a time when we all must move on. So what do sellers need to disclose to prospective buyers about potential ghosts?
While in most states, sellers are not required to disclose a death on the property or an otherwise “stigmatizing fact” about the listing, an agent and seller must always answer honestly if directly asked.
Carroll believes even if disclosure isn’t required, honesty is the best policy.
“I always recommend just being honest with people, tell them straight out what’s going on. It has nothing to do with the house – it’s just a stigma. Besides, they can always Google what happened, if the neighbors don’t tell them first.”