Three real estate agents shared their haunted tales with Curbed last Halloween, and many Curbed readers fought back by providing their own stories, proving that they had many more horrifying, more terrifying experiences in their own homes. Now, in our next Spooky Stories installment, you can find 10 additional real estate stories provided by Curbed's readers. Each story ranges far and wide, from Texas to Japan. Some of these stories might lean more towards the silly side than the spooky side, but they're all in good fun. The submissions have been lightly copy-edited, but there have been no changes to the stories, themselves. To see the original versions, just click on the name of the author above each story. If you think you've got a better story to tell, feel free to tell your tale in the comments.
1. From guest:
In 2011, I was living in an old house in Japan with my husband and young son. We lived there for about five years. Little things would happen like things disappearing, and I just thought it was my toddler. Then one night, I was woken up by my dining room chairs banging on the floor. It was about 2 a.m. I thought my son had gotten up. So, I got up, and as I passed his room, I looked inside and my son was asleep. So, I walked back to my room. I thought we might be getting robbed. So, I woke my husband. We lay in bed for a few minutes listening. It got louder. So, I grabbed my cell and called the cops. My husband got up and grabbed a bedside lamp and went into the main part of the house. No one was there. The cops thought we were pranking them! All the windows and doors were locked. The only thing out of place was the chairs all over the house. So, the cops left, and we went back to bed, and we heard the chairs banging on the floor again. So, I got up turned on all their lights and nothing just the chairs moved again. It didn't happen again, but I didn't sleep again until we moved a week later.
2. From guest:
I live in a haunted house in Spring, Texas. My husband, our two adult children, and I bought the house in 2007, just built and brand new in a new subdivision. No one had lived in this house before us, and no one has ever died in this house, but ever since we have lived here, strange things have happened. Doors close by themselves, cabinet doors open by themselves, and objects like house keys and jewelry have just gone missing and can't be found. Invisible footsteps on the hallway floor can be heard, several times I have heard a soft sound of a woman's voice humming a lullaby as if singing to a baby, and when I go to see about it, it stops. I heard a voice say my name several times when no one was in the room with me, the dogs have barked furiously at something only they can see, and it goes on and on! I also have actually seen a shadow ghost walk down our hallway and through the front door! I was told by a psychic that our house is not haunted since no one has died in it, but that it is the street that we live on that the ghost wanders on and goes in and out of our houses out here, though I haven't heard anyone else say they have the same problems we do. At least the ghosts are not dangerous. They have never tried to hurt us in any way. They are just here. I am not afraid.
3. From guest:
One night, we were having dinner at my parents' house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast when in conversation Mom mentioned "the ghost". They had lived in this house for more than 20 years, never told me about it! Every night when they were settling into bed, they would hear strong rattling and knocking on the wood fence outside their bedroom window. The first few times they jumped up to look for someone/something out there, but no. They never saw anything, only heard it every night for many years no matter what time they went to bed, even if they went at some odd time! Over time, they tried various things to "catch" it, but no. It only happened when they went to bed. And was never heard outside, or from any other room, or by anyone else. Mom said they never told me about this because I wouldn't believe them, but sure, I do believe they experienced this. Why would they lie to me about it? This went on for 20 or 30 years then suddenly stopped. Never happened again.
4. From guest:
We are a young couple, I'm 34, and she's 27. We have three children, aged 10, three, and three months. In July of 2012, we purchased an old farm house with some acreage just outside of a small town in Illinois. We knew the house was old, but not until finalizing paperwork did we find out how old. There were a couple different dates we were been told, but both are prior to the Civil War by about 10 years. I'm a firm believer in the supernatural, but at the same time remain skeptical. I don't want my beliefs to persuade my rationale. So when sounds happen, I try to think of the most likely answers. There have just been too many times already though. It hasn't even been three years, and we've both lost count for how many spooky things we've experienced. There have been battery-operated toys coming to life in the middle of the night, mysterious footsteps, and knocking on windows at 1 a.m.
Strangest of all, though, was what happened to me late one night outside. I was sitting in my car in the driveway, smoking a cigarette with the radio on as I sometimes do. I heard this faint "whoosh" sound that only lasted for a second or two, getting louder as if it was getting closer. Suddenly, my entire car shook violently. It was a clear night with hardly a gust of wind. It scared the crap out of me, and I sprinted into the house. I still have no explanation as to what it was.
See how spooky Washington, D.C. can be with these articles:
Mapping the Filming Locations of The Exorcist
D.C.'s Haunted (and Otherwise Scary as Hell) Locations
This Home May Not Have Ghosts But We're Not Convinced
Boo! Imagine 6 D.C. Landmarks in Halloween Costumes
Get Spooked by the Six Scariest Statues In and Around D.C.
5. From guest:
I bought a house in Knoxville back in 2003. A couple had lived in it for 42 years and then died five weeks apart. It was a charming little ranch home, and they obviously loved it. After I moved in, I would smell pipe smoke now and then. When it happened, I would say, "Now, Mr. Cox, no smoking in the house. You know I have asthma." The smell would go away.
One time, my son came to stay a few weeks. One night, very late into the night, he was in the den on the computer and being a little noisy. I was in a bedroom on the other end of the house kind of grumbling to myself that he needed to go to bed. A few minutes later, my ashen-faced son came to my door and said, "Did you just come into the den? I didn't see you, but some woman just screamed, 'Shut up,' in my ear!" I told him that evidently Mr. and Mrs. Cox don't like noisiness late at night. He was much quieter after that. I loved having that couple in my house — even as spirits.
6. From guest:
A co-worker of mine and his five-year-old son recently moved from one apartment to another. They moved in, and everything was fine. However, he started noticing that the windows would open after he had closed them, and the pantry would be open after he had closed it. He immediately thought that someone was sneaking into their apartment at night and stealing food. He spoke with the management, and they put in new locks and window locks, but it still kept happening.
One evening, when his son was out with his mother, my co-worker decided to play Xbox Kinect. He stood up and was recognized by the software and played a game. In the middle of his game, the software started recognizing another player. He turned around to see if someone was there and didn't see anyone. But player number two was moving on Kinect. He moved out.
7. From guest:
Years ago, I went to look at a very nice property that was selling for a ridiculously low price. On five acres in the low desert and with mission style architecture, the house was built in a square that opened on to a center courtyard that had a pool. And there were out buildings for horses!
I was in the habit of taking my German Shepherd with me when I went off to meet realtors on my own, and when we got to the house, the dog would not cross the threshold. The interior of the home was beautiful, and there were some wonderful mirrors on the wall. The entire time we walked through the house, I had the feeling we were being watched. I actually thought I saw flashes of people reflected in the mirrors and the windows. The entire time I was inside, my dog sat just outside the front door, howling like someone had died.
Left the house still thinking about buying it, but then — on a whim — decided to do a little research. (We were new to the area). This was in the days before full disclosure. Found out the previous owner of the house had murdered his wife and four children before shooting himself, and the house had been on the market for three years. It never did sell. The family who had inherited the house finally had it demolished, and thirty some years later, the lot is still empty.
8. From guest:
This isn't a haunting, but it is about actual skeletal remains at a residence. My wife and I went to a public auction not far from our home. We got there about an hour early, so there weren't many people except the auctioneer and his clerk. It was an old farm house with a barn and other detached buildings. As I walked past one small shed, I looked in the window and saw a mummified hand attached to arm bones propped up on a hay bail. I walked around to another window, and there I saw a pelvis with part of the backbone attached to it along with some ribs lying nearby.
My wife and I couldn't believe what we were seeing and rushed back to the farm house where the auctioneer was. When I told him what we saw, his clerk scolded me for poking around, but the auctioneer just laughed and said that those bones were left in the attic by an old doctor who lived there back in the 1800's. They were supposedly for medical research, but I wondered if they may have been from the his wife's lover!
9. From guest:
The first house my husband and I bought, he found while working. Though it was in a neighborhood that our realtor was focusing on and well within our price range, she had not thought to show it to us. For the price, the home was in amazing condition, far better than the rest of the houses we had seen. Despite being vacant for a long time and full of leaves, it was welcoming and cozy. In fact, our 18-month-old daughter took off wandering from room to room as if she felt right at home. The realtor wouldn't go past the entryway (a detail I wish I had paid more attention to), and when I found my daughter hiding in a closet, she told me she was playing hide-and-seek. I assumed a harmless imaginary friend and made an offer on the home.
Shortly after we moved in, I heard a faint "Mommy" being called from my daughter's room. I started toward the hall before realizing my daughter was at her grandmother's. My husband also saw a little girl one time when our daughter was away. Soon, we realized our daughter was spending a lot of time in her room and in other parts of the house by herself. Whenever we would check on her, she would turn abruptly and stare at us and give short answers until we left her be, but when we would leave, we would immediately hear her laughing and jabbering again. When we confronted her, she told us that she had friends in the house. She said that they scared her because they were creepy looking. One of them, the one that was usually in her room, she described as a little girl. She said that she only saw her eyes, that they were black and shiny. She said that the little girl was always under furniture. When I asked her how she knew it was a girl, she said that she talks to her and has a girl's voice. I asked what she says. My daughter told me the little girl tells her to come with her under the furniture. She wasn't let out of my sight again the rest of the time we lived in that house. Turns out a young child died in that house of severe neglect and abuse.
10. From shasha:
I'm currently experiencing a haunting in my very new house, which started when several new buildings were being built right across the street. All incidents happen in the wee hours of the night.
My boyfriend has heard footsteps coming upstairs, doors slamming at odd hours of the day, even if there's no wind. One day, everyone heard female wailing sounds coming from inside of the house from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. accompanied with the door slamming. My house is a three-story house, and my roommate lives on the first floor. He heard footsteps on the second floor at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. and the same footsteps going downstairs to the first floor and out the door. Everyone was asleep at the time.
I related my accounts to the master foreman in charge of the new condo buildings across my house, and he said they were having strange incidents in the building directly across my house. These included unexplained electrical issues, water pipe bursting, elevators stopping on wrong floors, and fire alarms going off for no apparent reasons. This is in a very affluent neighborhood in W. Los Angeles.
· Three Horrifyingly True Stories from Real Estate Agents [Curbed DC]
· 10 Horrifyingly True Real Estate Stories from Curbed Readers [Curbed DC]
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