Haunted Real Estate Blog

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!

Curbed blog post link
Newsday article link

A & E Television, the producers of “Paranormal State”, now features an online map displaying haunted locations across the United States.

The page directs viewers to “Click the symbols on the map to explore paranormal experiences, stories and phenomena from across the United States.”

Today I got an email from Andrea Pilat, a television producer, who’s looking for some haunted real estate to feature in an HGTV show, “Haunted House for Sale”.  I think that she may have thought that I sell haunted real estate - I don’t!  I just collect the stories and share them here.  Anyway, here’s what she’s looking for.  If you can help, I’ll post her email address below, which she invited me to share.

We are looking to feature 3 haunted houses that are for sale, anywhere in the country (preferably in different states).  Each of the 3 stories would include the seller, the buyer, the Realtor, and a local ghost hunting team.  You seem to be very looped in on the haunted real estate scene, so I immediately wanted to reach out and see whether or not you had any clients with haunted homes, or knew of any others in your area or beyond. We hope to begin shooting end of June/ July, so time is of the essence for us.

Do you know of any haunted houses which are on the market (currently for sale or “sale pending”)?  If so, please jot Andrea a note at apilat@kpitv.com. 

Annie Wilder has lived in a haunted house for the last ten years, and she has no plans to move.  She has an appreciative sense of adventure about the whole thing.  To get a glimpse into her experience, read her article, “Living With Spirits“, found on the Llewelyn site.

A friend of mine sent this to me because Annie ties together her religious upbringing (raised Catholic) with her comfortableness, generally, with the concept of spirits and an awareness of the existence of the deceased.  That is not unlike the answer I offer when people ask about my interest in ghosts and my background (I’m Catholic with degrees in theology, a field I love even if it’s not my paid employment at this time in my life). 

Annie is a good writer and I suspect that the two books she’s written are as nicely put together as this article.  I plan to give them a read this year.

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.

Many thanks to fellow San Jose area Realtor CJ Brasiel for alerting me to an interesting article in Women’s Day Magazine (online) about haunted tours.  Written by Kimberly Fusaro, the article, “Real Haunted Places“, lists a dozen haunted hot spots around the country that are worth a visit.   The piece is well written, concise, and includes good photos. Have a read!

Gil Gross, who hosts the afternoon radio program from 2 - 4 on San Francisco’s KGO Radio, had a change of conversational direction today.  While discussing and listening to stories about the multiple, devastating tragedies on Sept. 11th 2001, one of Gil’s callers (a widow from that day) relayed having an experience after the death of her husband that convinced her that he was sending her a message of hope. It was a very moving call, and Gil invited others to share any similar experiences.

And they did.

It’s really not often that mainstream radio or other media will be open to this type of conversation, unless it’s at Halloween (and then there are a lot of giggles). Instead, this was a very serious sharing by all kinds of listeners, many of them skeptics themselves until they’d had some sort of experience of a loved one after death.

Although my radio track record is pretty much limited to having been a college DJ at a small school in Spokane (Gonzaga U “KZAG, the voice of Gonzaga”), I do know that radio personalities and their producers do not want to risk offending people (and their advertising dollars) and they don’t want to cause eye-rolling and dial switching. So it’s a bit gutsy for Gil and his producer to just go with the flow today and encourage & take those calls.

Not only that, but it was handled very well, in a very supportive way that was neither sappy nor skeptical, but open and intelligent.  I don’t think that Gil could have done a better job with this highly sensitive topic on an emotion-charged day.

The synopsis of today’s program really does not do it (or Gil) justice as it not only sidesteps this very interesting segment of today’s show, but actually fails to mention it at all. I wouldn’t say that this element was so important that it overshadowed weighty interviews or the more “meaty” element of talk radio, but it was a dimension seldom broached and it should have been noted in the synopsis.

That’s OK, we’re mentioning it here. Kudos to Gil and to his producer too (my apologies, but I didn’t see the name of that producer online).  Want to hear the pocast? It’s online - enjoy!

podcast

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?

Recently I had the pleasure of spending some time with Annette Martin, a well known San Jose psychic, medium and author.  I toured her around Los Gatos and shared with her some of the haunted places in town that I’d researched over the years (my “Los Gatos Ghost Tour“), getting her ”take” or “read” on them. We also enjoyed interesting conversations about local history and the unseen spirits, ghosts and impressions that are a part of our Silicon Valley scene.

Since I get emails from all over the country regarding haunted real estate, ghosts, and problem hauntings, I asked her a little bit about her work in that arena.  What do do if a ghost is a nuisance or even a danger?  Sometimes these situations can become truly intolerable.  One of the services that Annette provides is assistance to people in homes with unwanted or negative ghostly activity.  For less than the cost of a reading, Annette will visit local homes (Santa Clara County and perhaps nearby areas) and work to calm the situation.  That may mean encouraging the ghost to cross over and go into the light, or it may mean trying to communicate the need to just get along amicably.   Of course, results cannot be guaranteed.  “If a ghost really doesn’t want to leave, it is very, very difficult to make it happen,” she explained.  Sometimes, though, they may just need a little help to move along or to calm down, and Annette’s ability to connect with them creates a good opportunity in which that can happen.

Please visit her website at www.Annette-Martin.com for information on how to contact her as well as other information on her other related work (medical diagnosis and crime investigations as well as doing readings).

Yesterday I was at Borders at Oakridge Mall, in San Jose, and under the “local interest” section found a book written in 2008 by David Lee on local haunts in Santa Clara County.  I recall being phoned a year or two ago by someone putting together a book along these lines and wish I could remember if it was the same person - I suspect so but am not positive.

“Haunts of San Jose” is a paperback book and runs just about $15.  Although it’s titled,”Haunts of San Jose”, the area covered is more extensive than that, including places in Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Felton and others.

This is the first book I’ve seen that’s focused on ghost stories in the San Jose area in particular. One of the best things about the book is the collection of photographs - clearly this author spent some time visiting sites personally and not just going off of hearsay. It is well organized too, by either geographical area or topic (as in “haunted schools”).  At under 200 pages, the book is a very manageable length, too.

While “Haunts of San Jose” has good breadth, it does not have a lot of depth and the writing itself is poorly done (stylistically) - this is one book that should have had a co-author to make it a more enjoyable read.  Many stories are glossed over and some of the more interesting aspects of some places are not mentioned at all.  For example, Trials Pub in San Jose has a fascinating history (there’s a holding cell or two in the basement that used to be called into use when the jail was at overflow levels, and executions happened behind the building). 

Several haunted spots were not mentioned at all, such as Bella Saratoga, formerly the site of the Saratoga News, which is very well known locally as a haunted place. Another location said to be haunted is the Mountain Winery - no mention of this either.  At the same time, though, the book sleuthed out a few places that I did not know about - and I appreciated the new (to me) info. 

On the whole, Haunts of San Jose is a good, general overview of haunted places in and close to San Jose, and I would suggest that local ghosthunters get a copy and read it as it is a very good starting point for doing more exploration on your own.