Buying (or selling) a home can be an arduous process – but what happens if you uncover a nasty secret after securing your dream property?
We’re not talking about damp, mould or subsidence here, but paranormal activity. And while many might not believe in ghosts, Reddit is inundated with posts from new homeowners who have accidentally moved into a haunted house.
The fiancé of one first-time buyer had a number of spooky experiences while renovating their home a few doors down from a graveyard. They were never warned about any unsettled spirits by the previous owners.
‘He was coming up the basement stairs three months ago and felt a strong presence behind him. He went to go book it up the stairs and the lights shut off on him,’ @winteralexandria’s post in the r/Paranormal subreddit reads.
‘He turns around while at the top of the steps and from the lights in another room of the basement he saw two shadow figures at the bottom of the steps peeking around the corner.’
Elsewhere, the fridge would often be ‘open and dinging’ whenever he arrived at the house – and a 6ft ladder was moved from one room to the other.
‘He was in the basement and clear as day heard someone walking upstairs, heavy footsteps. He went up and the house is empty,’ the post added.
Meanwhile, @Litalonely rented a house that was so spooky they couldn’t use the entire third floor, which was comprised of three bedrooms, two living rooms, and a bathroom.
‘Whatever is in my home is ruining our lives and I have smudged it many times. It worked once a few months ago, and now whatever it is, [it] doesn’t care how long I smudge and chant for,’ they wrote.
‘Four hours of drowning the place in sage and cedar while commanding it to leave did not work.
‘When my partner has stayed up there, things get bad with him. Whatever it is, [it] steps in and basically possesses him. It happened to my brother as well when he lived here.’
And last week, Adele was accused of jeopardising the sale of a £6,000,000 mansion she lived in back in 2012 for publicly alluding to it being haunted.
The current owners of the Grade II-listed Lock House in Partridge Green, West Sussex have now submitted a planning permission request to convert the 10-bedroom property into three residential units.
As per reports from the BBC, they remarked that Adele’s comments during an interview had impeded the selling process, as well as ‘future marketing efforts.’
Do you have a right to know if your new home is haunted?
So, with all this in mind, do homeowners legally have to disclose a property being haunted to buyers? In short, no – unless the new buyers end up feeling misled and decide to take legal action.
‘When it comes to selling a potentially haunted house it’s somewhat of a grey area with regard to disclosing such information and the law does not compel you to disclose if a property is haunted, unlike a physical issue such as a structural default,’ CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, tells Metro.
‘That said, as a seller, you must also ensure you don’t lie about the history of the property if a buyer asks you a direct question, but this largely puts the ball in the buyer’s court to fully investigate the property and any potential issues it might have.’
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Naturally, though, not everyone believes in ghosts – and as Verona says, it ‘really rests on whether you believe in the paranormal or not and, perhaps most importantly, the buyer.’
‘If the buyer feels they’ve been misled it could lead to a case of non-disclosure under the Misdescriptions Act of 1991, however, they would need to be able to prove in a court of law that the house is haunted,’ Verona adds.
‘Despite the fact that it is incredibly hard to prove, a property with a reputation for being haunted can go for as much as 10% to 25% below market value – that’s between £29,000 to £72,000 based on the current average UK house price.’
4 of Britain’s most haunted homes
30 East Drive in Pontefract
Number 30 East Drive in Pontefract, West Yorkshire is an unsuspecting semi-detached house — but upon entering you may discover it’s home to Europe’s most violent poltergeist.
Horror fans from all over the UK have been flocking to stay in the three-bedroom property, which has been dubbed ‘Britain’s most haunted’ home, spending just £75 per night to see if it is as haunted as the claims suggest.
The strange happenings started in 1966 when Jean and Joe Pritchard moved into the home with their two children Phillip, then 15, and Diane, then 12.
The family then claimed to have experienced years of unexplainable events such as lights being turned on and off, green foam appearing from tops and photographs being slashed.
They said the happenings got progressively more violent as family members were slapped and shoved down the stairs.
The Stag Inn, Hastings
Perhaps the oldest public house in Hastings, East Sussex, The Stag Inn dates back to the 1500s – and was connected to smugglers in the 1700s.
Ghosts are discussed matter-of-factly on the pub’s website, where they admit to a few familiar (if translucent) faces: a sea captain from Holland murdered by a local fisherman, and a horror movie-esque young girl dressed in all white.
‘The back bedroom gives you goosebumps,’ the staff add. ‘Most who have used the room have felt a presence.’
Even more weirdly, there are two old, mummified cats at the bar. They’ve been on site since the 1800s, or so the stories say, apparently used to fend off evil spirits.
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
This Aylsham, Norfolk country home is the residence of the UK’s most famous headless ghost: Anne Boleyn.
Apparently, the beheaded former wife of Henry VIII haunts to corridors of her family home (she was born on Blickling’s 5,000-acre estate) every year on the day of her execution: May 19.
Anne isn’t the only Boleyn to haunt the halls. Some have reported sightings of her father Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire’s ghost.
Littledean Hall, Gloucestershire
Noted as one of the most ‘haunted’ houses in England, Littledean Hall was built in the 5th century. Originally a Saxon hall, it was later remodelled from a church and then into a Norman hall.
That said, there are supposedly some ghostly tenants here who don’t appear to have moved out.
Perhaps the most famous apparition is that of a little boy, whose portrait still hangs on the wall.
How do you know if you're buying a haunted house?
Worried about accidentally buying a haunted house? Fear not, for one Reddit thread is inundated with tips for sussing out a spooky property at the viewing.
@Glimmerofinsight notes that if there’s a ‘heavy feeling inside the house, a sense that the light from the windows doesn’t penetrate the inside of the home, a sensation of panic or dread, or a sensation of being watched,’ there could be a ghost lurking.
‘A feeling that the room is crowded or “noisy” even when you are the only one there, as if you are standing in a train station full of invisible people pushing past you,’ they added.
‘Probably the biggest red flag is that the house had multiple people moving in and out, especially if they were actually buying it,’ @Beautiful-Finding-82 noted, stating that it’s a big ‘clue that something is wrong.’
And in @daqhuqijusee’s experience, ‘random cold spots’ and ‘smells of sulpur/rotten eggs in random places’ could be another sign.
In the 1950s, one visitor recalled a terrible night of sleep on account of the flickering lights out on the landing – where another saw the boy running across the room, only to find just his portrait upon arriving.
Meanwhile, other experiences at Littledean Hall include hearing horses’ hooves in empty stables, as well as multiple experiences of vertigo on one of the staircases where a previous owner fell, and ghostly bloodstains in front of the fireplace.
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