In what’s being called a “Ghostbusters ruling,” presumed to be the first in the US, a court has legally declared that a house in New York is haunted. The declaration could affect its value and ensure that potential buyers needed to be told.
Buyers sue over haunted house
Can you sue someone for selling you a haunted house? In the US, you can practically sue for anything as long as a judge will allow the matter to proceed, and that’s what happened in an unusual lawsuit over an alleged haunted house.
George and Helen Ackley decided to sell the house they had lived in for over twenty years in Nyack, New York, Unilad reported. They had made it well-known to others that they shared the abode with at least three ghosts they knew of – the spirits of Sir George and Lady Margaret, as well as a sailor. They got used to paranormal goings-on, claiming the specter had even left gifts for them. They also claimed their daughter woke up every morning to her bed shaking mysteriously. Only when her daughter declared out loud that she wanted to stay in bed for a while would the ghost relent and leave her be.
Helen claimed that when the family was painting and renovating the house to put it up for sale, the ghost appeared and nodded when they asked the spook if it approved of the color they’d chosen.
Ghost tales scare off potential buyers and winds up in court
A couple, Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky, were all set to purchase the Ackley house. But then they learned that the domicile was haunted, so they backed out on the deal.
However, the Ackleys didn’t want to return the good faith deposit. The Stambovskys then took the Ackleys to court over the matter, claiming the sellers failed to disclose the fact that the house was haunted and therefore was fraudulent misrepresentation. That led to a precedent-setting court case.
Court legally declares house is haunted, sets a precedent for “Ghostbusters ruling”
At first, the attempt by the Stambovskys to take the matter to trial was dismissed by the court. Not to be dissuaded, the couple appealed and got their day in court.
In a 3-2 decision, the judges ruled in favor of the Stambovskys.
The judges ruled that – whether or not ghosts were real – the Ackley family had claimed they lived in a haunted house and, thus, it changed the value of the property. A potential buyer would not know if the house was haunted before moving in and they failed to disclose it.
Through this ruling, which acknowledged the claim by the Ackley family that the house was haunted – in essence – it legally declared the house as haunted.
The ruling set a precedent and has become known as “the Ghostbusters ruling.”
Real estate agents hire ‘haunted house testers’
In China, people aren’t as skeptical about the existence of ghosts. Just the opposite; they are worried about possible haunted houses or purchasing a house or property where someone passed away, suffered an unnatural death, or other tragedy. Potential buyers won’t even personally go near such a place.
As such, real estate agents have a difficult time selling properties that have these rumored reputations. To ensure a house is “safe,” Chinese real estate agents hire “haunted house testers” who will spend 24 hours in a house to determine if any paranormal activity is occurring there, Unexplained Mysteries reported. This allows real estate agents to be able to ensure a property is “ghost-free.”
