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Humanities Section => Philosophy & Rhetoric General Discussion => Topic started by: Mr.Obvious on May 14, 2014, 05:44:37 AM

Title: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Mr.Obvious on May 14, 2014, 05:44:37 AM
Perhaps this isn't the proper section to place this topic, if so I'm more than willing to move it.

Last winter my family was having a pre-new-years-eve/post-christmas-party. I don't remember how we got to the topic, but somehow we got to talking about the houses of murderers and serial killers and such. (Our topics of conversation are not usually that gruesome, mind you.)
My entire family and my girlfriend too stated that they couldn't live in a house previously owned by a serial killer or in which people had been murdered etcetera. I was the only one that stated that I wouldn't have any problems with it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not actively looking for houses of serial killers and kidnappers and such out of some morbid fascination. I just don't see how such a past influences me or the house should I live there after such things occured. I don't care if something like that happened because I don't care about any of the things that happened in the house before I would live there, unless it affected the house itself. (Of course I feel sad that people died and such, but I don't see how it affects the house.)
Most of my family were atheïsts and only one or two there believed in spirits actually existing in the world. But yet all of them looked at me as if I was crazy for not being bothered by what happened in some old house that has nothing to do with me. As if it was monstrous and psychopathic to not see the house as tainted because of this. But when I look at a house I see only that; bricks and wood and stuff. Something you can make your home and give it a meaning that is personal to you, what it means to someone else does not matter in that picture.
I said like I felt that I was just being rational, to which my sister replied I was being too rational. What do you think? And could you live in a house in which people were murdered or which was owned by a serial killer or something?
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: SGOS on May 14, 2014, 05:59:47 AM
I'm not superstitious about it, but if I lived in such a house, I think I'd be compelled to think about it's history more than I want.  I'd prefer a house where those thoughts would not enter my mind.  Now, if I could buy it cheap, I might consider it.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Jason78 on May 14, 2014, 06:36:59 AM
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on May 14, 2014, 05:44:37 AM
What do you think? And could you live in a house in which people were murdered or which was owned by a serial killer or something?

Easily.   I'd even spend the night alone in a haunted house and say "Kent Hovind" into a mirror three times before walking under a ladder and sleeping in the path of a black cat (or something).
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: GSOgymrat on May 14, 2014, 08:48:53 AM
I think it would bother me more to live in a house where people were tortured but didn't die than a house where someone happened to just die. It would be upsetting to go into the basement and think "this is where that girl was chained up and raped." For me it isn't about ghosts but being reminded of something terrible in a place that is supposed to be my home.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 09:16:24 AM
I grew up in a haunted house. There was only one (apparent) apparition ever seen, by me. The house during the day was quiet, but at night it made sounds like people walking down the upstairs hallway, and there were two closets that were really freaky. One of them, in my brother's bedroom, had a gap behind it of nearly two feet between the inside dimension and the outside dimension at the end of the hall at the staircase. we never did find out if the space contained anything.

It was really creepy in that closet. It was always cold in there, even in the summer time. The other closet, in my room, had a door that wouldn't stay closed. It had a secure latch, but at night it would open itself. The only way to keep it closed was to put a chair against it.

There was also a gap on the outside where a stone was missing from the front Northeast corner, and behind it, nothing visible. There was a space there that, when the basement light was on, no light shone out. Again, we never knew if anything was in there.

The apparition I saw at twilight one evening from the West. We had a small apple orchard, and just after a rainstorm I was standing at the end of the lot looking at the West upstairs bedroom window, and saw what appeared to be a very pale person looking back at me, a child size shape. At the time the house was only occupied by me and my mother, so it was pretty scary.

And other stuff happened, including "visitations" my mother had in her dreams. My brother got in trouble in France on his mission- long story- and she had a visitation by a spirit, supposedly, informing her that he was ok- this before we knew there was a problem. She claimed that the spirits in the house were benign, so for the most part it wasn't unsettling living there.

There was also lots of creepy shit in the house like an old steamer trunk. It turned out the builder of the home was a polygamist, and had a "hidden" family within the home, so there may have been hiding places in the house we never found. the house, when it was built (about 1890) was almost a mansion- 2 stories and a full basement with an out building behind it.
I always thought of it as an old house that was simply loosening up from age.

I don't believe in ghosts per se, but I keep an open mind.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: KUSA on May 14, 2014, 10:09:27 AM
Quote from: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 09:16:24 AM
It was really creepy in that closet. It was always cold in there, even in the summer time.

Sounds like free air conditioning to me. I'd put an air handler in that closet and pump cool air to the rest of the house.

To the OP,  it would be a non issue with me if the house was in good shape and especially if I got a good deal on it because no one else wanted to live there.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on May 14, 2014, 10:35:22 AM
Quote from: Jason78 on May 14, 2014, 06:36:59 AM
Easily.   I'd even spend the night alone in a haunted house and say "Kent Hovind" into a mirror three times before walking under a ladder and sleeping in the path of a black cat (or something).
I actually got a discount on a house of 25% back in 1997 because it had a reputation as being haunted. Lived there for ten years. The landlady was very happy that I didn't report any "incidents".

And then my wife died there.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 10:37:03 AM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on May 14, 2014, 10:35:22 AM
I actually got a discount on a house of 25% back in 1997 because it had a reputation as being haunted. Lived there for ten years. The landlady was very happy that I didn't report any "incidents".

And then my wife died there.

Yup, that counts as an incident.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Solitary on May 14, 2014, 12:36:34 PM
I lived in a house and been in a house with a killer still living there and it didn't bother me (Long story I don't want to talk about.)...So it would make no difference to me in the least. I have an excellent imagination and have been spooked in my life, but I don't believe in anything supernatural. Solitary
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on May 14, 2014, 12:45:43 PM
Quote from: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 10:37:03 AM
Yup, that counts as an incident.
It gets "better". I was in the hospital and unconscious for over a month. She came to see me every day, and then one day she didn't show up. I had just come to a few days before, saw her three times, then didn't see her for five days. They had the cops check out the house and they found her on the sofa, TV on. I've since heard  that the current residents report that their TV comes on by itself now.

I also know that their kid is a real joker, and has bought a second remote they don't know about.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: phattmatt on May 14, 2014, 02:52:11 PM
I would love to live there.  Life would be more interesting and you could get a lot of freaks that would like to party thee
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 04:14:16 PM
Oh, and btw, I never had any visions or any other phenomena that couldn't be explained by imagination or a rickety old house.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: PickelledEggs on May 14, 2014, 04:36:29 PM
I wouldn't be able to. Not because I'm superstitious, it's because my imagination usually gets the better of me when I go off to dreamland... Nightmares are a BITCH.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: KUSA on May 14, 2014, 05:32:38 PM
Quote from: stromboli on May 14, 2014, 04:14:16 PM
Oh, and btw, I never had any visions or any other phenomena that couldn't be explained by imagination or a rickety old house.

But what about the cold closet?
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on May 14, 2014, 05:53:10 PM
Quote from: KUSA on May 14, 2014, 05:32:38 PM
But what about the cold closet?
You westerners call it a "fridge".
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: KUSA on May 14, 2014, 06:02:15 PM
That's fucked up man.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Jason Harvestdancer on May 14, 2014, 09:04:44 PM
I'd do it.  And if it was actually really haunted that'd be even better.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: The Skeletal Atheist on May 15, 2014, 12:45:31 AM
Quote from: KUSA on May 14, 2014, 05:32:38 PM
But what about the cold closet?
Dark space with good insulation.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Hijiri Byakuren on May 15, 2014, 01:02:56 AM
QuoteCould you live in a "haunted" house?
According to my family, I already do. Jury's still out on my end, though.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: SukmiLongHeart on May 17, 2014, 07:15:13 PM
I would most def. like to try that...

I've asked myself this question multiple times: "what would I do when I actually see a ghost or something similar?"
I'd like to think I'd go towards it and try to touch it or establish in some way it's actually there. If my hand would go right through it I would probably just think I'm losing my mind or am hallucinating or need to find a new dealer.

For all I know I might just run away too. I try not to ponder too much about this though because it seems very unlikely the situation will ever occur. (+ I have a good dealer)

Grts
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: The Skeletal Atheist on May 18, 2014, 01:21:03 AM
Why not? If it's a popular rumor that the house is haunted then I'd be able to get it for cheap.

If it actually turns out to be verifiably haunted then I can just write a paper on it and walk away one Noble Prize richer. Hell, if it were verifiably haunted I could offer some tours for major coinage. Then you have fees from anyone wishing to make documentaries from it. You could coin a popular name for the place then trademark it, so anyone using it has to pay a licensing fee. Then you have a shit ton of merchandising opportunities: dolls, shirts, cups, fridge magnets, and every manner of useless, Chinese slave labor made shit. It almost seems like there is some sort of monetary incentive to say a place is haunted.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: missingnocchi on May 18, 2014, 01:25:38 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InLfUMjyKNo

'Nuff said.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: AllPurposeAtheist on May 18, 2014, 01:29:43 AM
You're all aware this haunting bullshit is made up nonsense...right? RIGHT?..

Oh fuck it. Believe in ghosts. If you're dumb enough who am I to question dumb shit that's not real?
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: The Skeletal Atheist on May 18, 2014, 01:51:59 AM
There's a duplex across the street from my apartment where a lady shot herself on the 4th of July (we were drunk as hell and thought it was a firecracker until the Crime Scene Unit van showed up) a few years back. I bet if I mentioned that I knew a suicide happened there and acted like I had fears that it was haunted to the place's land lord next time it is vacant I could get rent pretty cheap on the place. I never tell the people that move in there what happened though, it's really none of their business.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: doorknob on May 18, 2014, 12:54:48 PM
I don't believe in ghosts but I do hallucinate from time to time and just the knowledge that something awful happened there would definitely effect me mentally. Now if it was just an old person passing away I wouldn't have a problem with it.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Hydra009 on May 18, 2014, 05:51:05 PM
Quote from: doorknob on May 18, 2014, 12:54:48 PMI don't believe in ghosts but I do hallucinate from time to time and just the knowledge that something awful happened there would definitely effect me mentally.
I can sorta see that perspective but it is odd how it plays out.  People march right by old battlefield sites without a care in the world but tell 'em about a house where there was a suicide and they're creeped out. Maybe there's just something about an old, decrepit building that really ramps up the fear factor.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: doorknob on May 19, 2014, 09:55:14 PM
Actually now that I think about it, I was living in an apartment where some one committed suicide. I lived there for about 5 years and never knew anything until the mother of the deceased kept driving by. Finally one day she stopped and told me that her son died there and it was the anniversary of his death and that was the reason she kept driving by. 

It only bothered me for about a minuet. I really didn't think about it too much afterwards. And I never saw things I don't already see or had weird experiences there.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 17, 2014, 09:06:19 AM
This is one of those things that, even as an atheist, can be open to speculation, unlike the fairy tale books written by desert people, things like hauntings happen across the world from america to china to japan, all over, so maybe their is something to it.
I say maybe, because I had this conversation with a friend once, the problem with things like hauntings is it is a lucrative market for people to make easy money off, so of course they will make up ghost stories, just buy a creaky old house and claim its haunted. You might even go as fr to make a tv series out from it. Ghost adventures is one of those shows that great to watch if your high and need something funny on.

But back to it, I think their just might be something, its just not as common as these made up shows and fake mediums claim it to be. I did stay in a house once on holiday with my family, very old house by the sea, and one night when going to the kitchen to get a drink of water, I looked down the long corridor across from where the kitchen joined it, and saw a figure stood at the other end, and it was by no means physical enough to be anyone else in the house. I dashed into the kitchen, came back, and it was gone. To this day I can't explain what I saw, but it did open me to the idea maybe their might be something out there... just not whatever ghost adventures claims it to be.

"IS THERE A SPOOKY GHOST HERE?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObYL5YQi3lM

of course people will bullshit about haunted houses, so its not surprising to have people call it for being bullshit, all cases. I would not mind looking around a haunted house though, like the winchester house, Lizzie Borden House or the Whaley House. The Amityville Horror House I'd probably not, because a lot has been said calling the story of what happened their bullshit, commercialized and made up to make money from it, considering people have lived in Amityville since the 'incidences' and have had no occurrences. The Lutzes and Ron DeFeo made up the whole thing to make money from it.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Solitary on July 17, 2014, 10:46:50 AM
When I was a toddler, I was sleeping in the attic of my dad's mother's house. I woke up and saw two figures in white robes talking. One told the other: "he is too young", the other said, "no he isn't", and started toward me. I was fascinated until he touched me and I started screaming. My dad came running up the stairs and asked me what happen. I told him I saw two men in white robes, he started laughing and told me I was hallucinating. When I got older I realized it was a memory from being down in the Land of Dixie when my mother saw Clansmen and screamed scaring me, when I asked who they were. Our brain can do some amazing things, good and bad. Solitary
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: AllPurposeAtheist on July 17, 2014, 12:56:56 PM
I live at the Y and there's been hundreds of guys die here. The last guy who had my room died in it..  Come to think about it I do hear noises from outside the window all the time!  Traffic! :eek:
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Nam on July 17, 2014, 01:05:15 PM
I once fell asleep at the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom, does that count?

-Nam
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 17, 2014, 01:26:25 PM
Quote from: Nam on July 17, 2014, 01:05:15 PM
I once fell asleep at the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom, does that count?

-Nam

it does if the creepypasta about the magic kingdom has anything to say about it.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Jason Harvestdancer on July 17, 2014, 03:09:55 PM
Come on, if it actually was haunted that would be the coolest thing ever.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: The Skeletal Atheist on July 17, 2014, 03:59:01 PM
Quote from: Jason_Harvestdancer on July 17, 2014, 03:09:55 PM
Come on, if it actually was haunted that would be the coolest thing ever.
And a meal ticket.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Unbeliever on July 17, 2014, 08:45:37 PM
Since ghosts (if they exist) could not have the ability to affect the material world at all, such a house would be perfectly safe, as long as humans haven't played around with it. I'd love to give it a shot, as long a Criss Angel hasn't been anywhere near it.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Nam on July 17, 2014, 08:52:46 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on July 17, 2014, 08:45:37 PM
Since ghosts (if they exist) could not have the ability to affect the material world at all, such a house would be perfectly safe, as long as humans haven't played around with it. I'd love to give it a shot, as long a Criss Angel hasn't been anywhere near it.

If they have no effect on the material world, how would one even know it's haunted?

-Nam
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 18, 2014, 06:07:28 AM
Quote from: The Skeletal Atheist on July 17, 2014, 03:59:01 PM
And a meal ticket.

a book and movie deal.

or... sadly.. having ghost adventures crew coming around and shitting all over your house.

"Ah!! I Can... Smell... Something really bad down here!!"
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Unbeliever on July 18, 2014, 07:56:49 PM
Quote from: Nam on July 17, 2014, 08:52:46 PM
If they have no effect on the material world, how would one even know it's haunted?

-Nam

Ummm...wishful thinking?
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Aupmanyav on July 20, 2014, 07:31:12 AM
I am a strong atheist, not believing in soul or God. I think I may survive (my hallucinations). Way back in my school days, way back home from private tuition passed by a grave-yard, and the time was after dark.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: SGOS on July 20, 2014, 07:50:57 AM
I suppose it would depend on what kind of spirits were haunting the house.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 20, 2014, 08:07:14 AM
Although being atheist does make me a skeptic first and foremost, I have followed the stories from Lorraine Warren on the hauntings she's encountered.

The creepy thing is how she and her husband Ed kept from many cases objects that are meant to contain supernatural presences, including the infamous annabelle doll, and she has a priest come by and bless the place she keeps all the objects.

This is one of these things where I fall into the catagory of more agnostic, in that I don't know what truth there is to all this, but maybe there might be something.

The conjuring was a good movie at least. 
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: the_antithesis on July 20, 2014, 10:31:06 AM
All houses are haunted.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 20, 2014, 10:47:30 AM
Quote from: the_antithesis on July 20, 2014, 10:31:06 AM
All houses are haunted.

Even this one?



that would be a like ass to face ratio between living and spirit.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Atheon on July 20, 2014, 01:20:02 PM
I lived in a house in which a husband and wife died (separately and of natural causes), with no incident. A very nice house. I've also slept in the room in which my grandmother died.

If I was in a house in which someone was tortured and cruelly murdered, it would bother me because entering the room where it happened would make me think of that horrific suffering that took place there. I would also consider resale value.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 20, 2014, 01:34:58 PM
Quote from: Atheon on July 20, 2014, 01:20:02 PM
I lived in a house in which a husband and wife died (separately and of natural causes), with no incident. A very nice house. I've also slept in the room in which my grandmother died.

If I was in a house in which someone was tortured and cruelly murdered, it would bother me because entering the room where it happened would make me think of that horrific suffering that took place there. I would also consider resale value.

Before me and my brother were born, our brother (seems strange saying that considering) who developed terminal cancer and died age 12 also died in my mothers home. Theres never been anything to suggest his presence is there, which makes me glad, just the idea of a presence lingering around because maybe they died in pain would be horrible.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Moralnihilist on July 20, 2014, 02:45:52 PM
I would have no issues living in one.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Nam on July 22, 2014, 09:19:46 PM
Quote from: Munch on July 20, 2014, 10:47:30 AM
Even this one?



that would be a like ass to face ratio between living and spirit.

Dude, what I tell you about showing my house on the 'net?

:wink:

-Nam
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: ParaGoomba Slayer on July 23, 2014, 01:53:03 AM
I'm too much of an atheist to even suspend my disbelief for fantasy themed fiction, and I know that ghosts don't actually exist.

But I wouldn't be able to. I've always had an immense fear of imaginary things ever since I was a child. I'm 22 and I still sprint up the stairs because I imagine that Leatherface is chasing me up it, still am afraid of jump scares whenever I walk past dark doorways, and I still wish there was a good way to cover your whole body with a blanket AND get fresh air without having to lift the blanket.
Title: Re: Could you live in a 'haunted' house?
Post by: Munch on July 23, 2014, 02:16:04 PM
Quote from: ParaGoomba Slayer on July 23, 2014, 01:53:03 AM
I'm too much of an atheist to even suspend my disbelief for fantasy themed fiction, and I know that ghosts don't actually exist.

But I wouldn't be able to. I've always had an immense fear of imaginary things ever since I was a child. I'm 22 and I still sprint up the stairs because I imagine that Leatherface is chasing me up it, still am afraid of jump scares whenever I walk past dark doorways, and I still wish there was a good way to cover your whole body with a blanket AND get fresh air without having to lift the blanket.

oh man, you know I've always had that kind of feeling or even fear myself. Something about going up a staircase in the dark and just wanting to get to the top where its light and look back down, even when i know nobodies there. If its all bright up the stairs or at least light at the bottom of it I don't get that feeling, or even when heading downstairs into a dark area.
I think its just the mind playing to some level of anxiety.