Los Gatos Victorian House, “The Lavender Lady”, said to be haunted
A lovely old Victorian house in the historic Almond Grove District of Los Gatos at 230 Tait Avenue is said to be haunted, according to its owner. The area is filled with homes which are more than 100 years old and I’ve often wondered how many of them are haunted. At Halloween most of them look exceedingly spooky!
This house is in the middle of a zoning and use controversy in Los Gatos. The town does not permit Bed & Breakfasts (I think that’s a shame – it’s really almost ideal for that use) or short term rentals, but this house was being advertised as such for at least a couple of years – I noticed because links to one of my blog posts on my Live in Los Gatos blog was getting cited.
The website for the Los Gatos rental includes a page about the haunting which states that the
friendly Ghost has been heard many times by Lynley and her children and seen only once, by someone else, since Lynley bought the home in 2003
If you have any additional information on it, please share here!
TV’s leading haunted house is a disclosure nightmare – by Broderick Perkins
A house of horrors is the real lead character in the new FX suspense drama “American Horror Story,” which, in early episodes, finds its owners trying to illegally unload their haunted house without disclosing its dark, dark past. (Reprint this story for free with limited copyright restrictions.)
Good luck with that.
“American Horror Story” revolves around the Harmons, a family of three who moved from Boston to Los Angeles in order to reconcile a dark past and end up with a home that has some baggage of its own.
There’s unfaithful Ben Harmon, a shrink; Vivien Harmon, Ben’s pregnant wife and their teens-will-be-teens, pot-smoking daughter Violet Harmon. They are joined by Constance, the Harmon’s gun-wielding, spooky neighbor; Tate Langdon, one of Ben’s patients; Larry Harvey, who doesn’t seem bothered by the spooks; the Harmon’s housekeeper, both in her past sultry mode and in her present guise as a real come-on bitch. Continue reading
How can you learn the history of your haunted property?
How can you find out who lived – or died – on the property before you owned it or lived in it? It helps to know a friendly real estate agent or title company employee if you want to get the distant past history of your haunted land.
A title company can run a title search and get what is called the “chain of title” for you. That will tell you much more than a property profile or the county records, which often go back only about 10 years. A chain of title can go way, way back – as far as Mexican or Spanish land grants in our area.
Sometimes the chain of title will also include death certificates, so you’ll know if anyone died on the land or in the house. But don’t expect this to be absolutely perfect – no guarantees here!
The title records won’t include everyone who lived at the property address, only those who were on title, so at best it can give you a particular window. But with the owners’ names you may be able to expand your research and learn more about what took place there in days gone by. Google and other search engines can be a huge help, but so can archives from the paper (San Jose Mercury News and others). Don’t forget to just ask the neighbors – you’d be surprises at how much they might know!
Haunted rental home in Indiana
I received the email, below, and have permission to share it here (edited slightly for brevity and clarity). I suggested that she talk to the neighbors as they often have input. Got any ideas for her? Please leave a comment!
My name is Susie and I am writing to ask about an experience we had at a rental property (in Indiana).
We have three daughters and out youngest was 13 yrs when we moved into a two story rental home. Her room was a large room over the garage with steps down into it. During our time there the room was always cold (even in the summer). Ali (my daughter) had trouble sleeping and I would go lay in bed with her and I would become uncomfortable in the room and somewhat anxious and inevitably take her to my room.
Ali finally talked to me after we had been there two or three years that there were two children – a girl in a blue smock dress and a boy in older style clothes) that were in her room. She described them as angry at times and they would pick on her. Ali would sleep walk (hasn’t since we moved out). She said they pushed her down in the bed-she said she knew they were mad at her because, she had been gone two days. They would get mad at her when she got migraines (they thought she was ignoring them). The radio would turn on in her bathroom when she showered. One day Ali was very upset about something and went into her room and a music box in the window that needed wound up turned on, on its own, and they whispered “it’s okay”.
As we got closer to moving I would verbally tell them to leave her alone and Ali told me they didn’t like me. After we moved out – they literally broke things – it was winter and the land lord blamed us for leaving the house a mess….It was spotless when we left. I saw pictures of what the landlord claims we did. The toilet in Ali’s bathroom had black water in it that had frozen and cracked the bowl. The oven had been turned on by the landlord to warm the house and all the grease on the exterior turned black. There was a huge water stain on the wood floor that could not be removed. We ended up owing $2000.00 to the landlord for repairs of things we did not do.
I did leave a necklace of Ali’s behind hoping they would not follow her. So far so good. It has been over two years. I wondered how to find out about the land the house is on but I don’t know where to start.
Haunted Home in Hollywood Hills
Many thanks to my friend, Adrienne Foster, who sent me this link a week or so ago regarding a house that sounds very haunted in the Hollywood Hills!
Haunted by Rumors in the Hollywood Hills
A couple of months back, I saw something on television about a home in the Hollywood Hills that’s haunted. It was similarly situated clutching the hill, but it was occupied so should not be the same home as this one in the article, since it does not yet have an occupancy certificate. If you know anything about that house, please let me know. I can’t find it anywhere!
Also in Hollywood, according to seeingstars.com, the ghost of Harry Houdini is said to haunt his old digs on Laurel Canyon Road. Click on the link or Google haunted Hollywood and you’ll find many more spots!
Haunted Snowball Mansion in Knights Landing Sells
My Sacramento Realtor blogger friend, Gena Riede, recently helped some buyers to purchase a home known as Snowball Mansion in Knights Landing that was reputed to be haunted. (Knights Landing is about 40 minutes by car from Sacramento.) Her clients have now moved in and are experiencing some telltale signs that they may not be alone. They hear noises – things like drawers opening and closing. Or the doorbell ringing but no one (apparently) there.
Gena tracks the sale through several posts on her blog, Sacramento Real Estate Voice.Her most recent entry is this one: Are There Ghosts at Snowball Mansion? Here she details her clients’ experience since moving in and tells readers about the paranormal team that investigates it. If you’d like to read her series in order, here are the earlier posts:
Amityville Horror House in Long Island Now For Sale
Curbed picked up a Newsday story that “The Amityville Horror House, where Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six family members in their sleep in 1974—and where a, um, tumultuous month spent in the house by the next owners was turned into a bestselling book and cult classic horror movie—is now on the market asking a cool $1.15 million.”
Get the full story and pics!
Haunted New Mexico Adobe Building for Sale – Bids on ebay!
If you’re one of the few real estate buyers who’d really like to buy (and not just see) a haunted property, you now have your chance. Josh Bond, the owner, emailed me a story and some links on this fascinating bit of haunted real estate, so I wanted to share it with my readers. The bid is open until – of course – Halloween 2009.
This is not just your typical old adobe. It was one a stagecoach stop, store and saloon and hails from the days of the wild west (1850s). Oh, if the walls could speak! It was damaged in an electrical fire a few years back. Is Bond sure it’s haunted? He is. He contacted the West Coast Ghost and Paranormal Society (WCGPS), which investigated in May 2009 and found ”evidence of voices, shaking door handles and footsteps when no person was present”. Living there full time, he had the sense that he wasn’t alone, so the findings came as no surprise to him.
For information on the property, see http://www.CucilloBar.com and to write your bid on it, visit the ebay link.
Haunted Kentucky Horse Farm for Sale
The owner of a haunted Kentucky horse ranch contacted me recently to let me know that it’s for sale, and to ask me to alert my readers to its availability. Listed on eBay, the property is offered at $249,000.
Info per the seller on eBay: The seven year old manufactured house is a small 3 bed, 2 bath ranch style home and includes five fenced accress, according to the property owner. Writing on eBay, she says, “I have seen ghosts on more than one occasion on my farm”. She adds that the ghosts are included but not guaranteed.
I’m not sure what is customary in Kentucky, but the owner asserts that the buyer will pay ALL closing costs and that the sale will be as-is.
For more info, check out her post on eBay. I’d welcome some feedback – is this a good price, and are they fair terms?
Maryland Sellers Don’t Have To Disclose Hauntings
Must home sellers disclose ghostly activity when selling their homes? Apparently not in Maryland! A few days before Halloween, Kristine Henry wrote a fascinating piece for the The Baltimore Sun that’s a good read: 3BR, 2BA, 1 Ghost.
I have often been asked if ghosts only inhabit older homes, or if someone could get rid of a ghost by tearing down a house and rebuilding it. (The answer is “maybe”.) The first part of this article discusses the plight of a woman who bought a brand new townhome, only to discover later that it was haunted.
This is a well written article which covers the issue of real estate disclosure law in Maryland and quotes a few experts, such as intuitive psychic Nancy L. Fox and investigative medium Laine Crosby as well as Realtors and a real estate attorney, about the potential of selling a haunted piece of real estate and what to do about it.
Many thanks to Adrienne Foster for sending me this link.
- Los Gatos Victorian House, “The Lavender Lady”, said to be haunted
- Humorous article: 4 Tips for Fixing Up Your New Home (That’s Clearly Haunted)
- TV’s leading haunted house is a disclosure nightmare – by Broderick Perkins
- Ghostwatching’s YouTube Channel – worth a visit!
- Want to hear some real ghost stories? Here’s what you need to do….
- How can you learn the history of your haunted property?
- Haunted rental home in Indiana
- Haunted Real Estate Questions for Mary Pope-Handy
- Article on Haunted College Campus Buildings
- Ghosts, San Francisco, and Mobile Gaming: Oh My!
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