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

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.

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?

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.

 3BR, 2BA, 1 Ghost

Many thanks to Adrienne Foster for sending me this link.

Today I received a comment on my Live in Los Gatos blog regarding the Cats, Leo and Leona, which guard the entrance to Poet’s Canyon in Los Gatos. Is the area haunted? The writer, Kenny, heard rumors about it and is wondering if there’s more information about this available. Below are his comments. If you know anything, please leave your comment here!

Posted by: Kenny Date: Nov. 2, 2008 My English teacher told us a story about the “Stone Cats of Los Gatos”.  Back in college, he took folklore, and as part of that class, he, in a group of 5 other people, had to find a local story or legend and make a presentation.   Well, they heard the story of these stone cats of Los gatos.  They’re on either side of a gate off highway 17 just before the Los Gatos exit headed towards Santa Cruz.  They decided to take a trip up there one night to see the cats and head up the road beyond them.  The local legend had it that in the forest beyond the cats lived a troupe of albino cannibals.  So, these 6 idiot college kids found the gate, popped it open, and headed up the road beyond.  about a mile in, they start to see a shitload of red eyes in the forest around them.  Everybody starts freaking out.  Then suddenly, their truck dies.  So the three guys in the group (my teacher included) decide to head up the road (not back the way they came, remember: idiot college kids) to find a house to call for help.  Sure enough, they find a house.  My professor insists that he remembers this house vividly, and the other two guys say they saw exactly the same thing.  They get 50 feet away from the house, and it vanishes.  The three run back to the truck down the road, scaring the heck out of the girls in the truck.  They eventually get the truck started, and haul back down to the highway.  As they exit the gate, they look back at the stone cats.  The eyes of the cats are glowing red. Whats the scoop on stuff like this?

Locals who have a penchant for hearing ghost stories have heard for years about the haunted Toys R Us in Sunnyvale, the moved-but-still-haunted Rengstorff House in Mountain View, the nationally known weirdness and haunting at the Winchester House in San Jose, and perhaps also the Coleman Mansion in Menlo Park (now the Peninsula School). Wave Magazine did a really good piece summarizing all four of these and you can read it online here:

http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=22497

This morning I found an interesting article, Home for Sale, Ghosts Included, from July 2007 about a haunted house in Antioch, CA.

The folks in this home had a little girl ghost who was not scary during the time they lived there. Later, though, they leased out their house and did not tell the tenants about her presence - not a good idea!  Whether leasing or selling, in California, this type of paranormal activy must be disclosed to prospective buyers or tenants.

Their agent did not know about the ghost activity when leasing the home, but found out about it from the tenants after the fact. From that point on, though the Realtor advertised it as being an “atmospheric offering.”

Occasionally it’s fun to google “haunted real estste” or “buy a haunted home” or “sell a haunted home” and see what comes up. Awhile back, the search unearthed a site which is titled, simply, “Haunted Real Estate” and is hosted by a gal who really, really knows her stuff.

Kim Hirchak, a Keller Williams Realtor who advertises that she has been selling haunted and non-haunted homes since 1989, is the hostess with the mostest for ghostly real esate in North Carolina.

A year or two ago, I emailed back and forth with Kim and learned that not only does she have good intuition for sensing spirited places, but she also runs a ghost tour and a haunted pub crawl in Wilminton, North Carolina.

Since it’s now autumn and we’re closing in on the Halloween season, I wanted to reference Kim and her interesting variety of services for the Wilmingtin, North Carolina area. One of these days, I’ll hope to meet her at a Keller Williams event. Meanwhile, if you’re in the area, say hello to Kim and take in one of her fabulous tours!

With warm regards from Silicon Valley,
Mary Pope-Handy

Every state has its own take on disclosure requirements surrounding paranormal activity in homes for sale. In Arkansas, sellers are supposed to disclose it if things “go bump in the night”, but apparently agents there can’t be sued over paranormal issues that creep up after close of escrow.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette ran an article on August 24 that includes this “ghost buster bill” information as well as a couple of fascinating stories about agents encountering spooks while showing homes. Have a look and enjoy:
Close Encounters of the Ghost Kind.

Bonnie Vent, of SD Paranormal, emailed me yesterday about her new approach to helping buyers and sellers of haunted real estate, so I thought I’d pass this on to you. I have her OK to copy and paste from the email. - Mary Pope-Handy

Hi Mary,

I have taken my haunted house listings to the next level.  I have a radio spot called “Paranormal News” and I am selling ad spots for those that wish to sponsor the show.  The first ad sold was from a woman in Indiana that has a haunted house for sale.  She is thrilled with the results since the ad goes out to the paranormal enthusiast communities; a targeted audience for any haunted property. 

The audio feeds are currently playing on:  

Para X Radio network - www.para-x.com

Ghostly Talk Radio - www.ghostlytalk.com

Coming soon will be Planet Paranormal - www.planetparanormal.com

As well as ITunes, Yahoo and Google and several podcast directories as podcasts.

The feeds are also stored indefinitely on my own podcast page:  www.paranormalnews.mypodcast.com

The text feeds are seen by thousands as they are on many paranormal websites, several Yahoo Groups also receive the feeds and some people also subscribe via email.  They all receive updates automatically every time I update the feed. 

Here are a few examples:

http://www.beyondrealityradio.com/westcoastnewsfeed

http://parahub.org/files/News.htm

http://www.paranews.co.uk/modules/paranews/index.php/b13 

Please pass this along to clients and fellow agents that are interested in buying and selling haunted property.  If they are interested in sponsoring a broadcast or placing an ad they can reach me at paraxnews@aol.com  I can do the ad for them or they can send a mp3 file which I will incorporate into the show. 

There are plans to turn this into a radio show.  This will of course depend on how much of a response we receive. 

Thx so much,

Bonnie Vent

San Diego Paranormal Research Project

www.sdparanormal.com