Do you live in an area with a spooky or scary house or spooky or scary neighbors? I do. When we moved here

[debm55]

Last edited Sun Oct 22, 2023, 12:48 PM - Edit history (1)

in 1983, there was a family of four. Dad, Mother, and 2 daughters. The father died leaving the house to the mother. Mother died leaving the house to one of the daughters. Last she she died. Ever since the father died, their has been no upkeep on the house. Since there was no will, the town says they can do nothing. The house is caving in. Trees are growing over the property line. It is a scary place. Oh, we did pay for three large oak trees to be removed at our expense. Town tells us there is nothing they can do as the owner of the house had no will so she still owns it. She has been dead for 12 years. I am afraid to go out at night. as the house looks haunted.

[Ocelot II]

1. No, but I do have this neighbor:

[debm55]

3. HAHAHAHAHAHAH, poor you. What do they do for Christmas? Have you ever complained to them? I feel for you,

Ocelot II, That is not what I would want to look at. Sorry to say this, but it's trashy looking. I have another neighbor who skipped Halloween and put their Christmas stuff up today.

[Ocelot II]

5. They're lovely people, a couple of old hippies. I love their Halloween decorations,

and their Christmas stuff is even more elaborate. It doesn't bother me at all; it's fun. Neighborhood kids just love it.

[Lochloosa]

2. Is anyone paying the taxes on it? If not, you might be able to get it cheap.

[debm55]

4. No, we talked to the Mayor and went to a town meeting. They can't do that until they serve the papers to the orgininal owners--

who are dead. It looks like a jungle with all the weeds and roof collapsing on the house.

[Ocelot II]

7. And if the real estate taxes aren't being paid, eventually the city or county

could take the property and sell it at auction. Eventually something will be done with it. In the meantime I'd be concerned that squatters might move in, and maybe inadvertently set it on fire.

[rsdsharp]

6. Property I was a long time ago, but if the house was left to one daughter,

and she died intestate without issue, and without marrying, the rules of intestate succession would probably award the house to the other daughter. If she is dead, and there are no other living relatives, the house would escheat to the state.

In any case, whoever owns it, it could be condemned by the city if it’s a hazard.

[debm55]

8. They have, The guy who put the notice on the door, fell through the rotted porch(height of about 12 inches) It is condemned but they

need someone to sign off on it. --or so they told us.

[stopdiggin]

10. deb - that simply doesn't make any sense.

and I think it is high time you got another (better) opinion. Dead people simply do not hold title (or own property) - and 10 years is far to long for an estate to still be in probate. Now it could very well be that they are having trouble locating, or dealing with (perhaps incompetent themselves?) a true heir. But the idea that an old lady deceased for some 10 years - is still 'owner', is just balderdash.

(and as another poster pointed to - either somebody is paying a property tax on that property - which would be public record - or they aren't. plain and simple.)

[debm55]

13. I don't want the property nor the house. It is a hazard. There is one remaining daughter, I think. The mayor told us that they are busy tearing

down homes with wild animals, racoons inside and will get to ours. right now they are taking care of the houses that are in worse shape then the house next door.

[elleng]

9. No, thankfully I'm removed from neighbors significantly!

[electric_blue68]

11. 🤔 Well, in NYC we have..

the various drumphf towers! 😲☹️

I do believe there maybe a few genuine haunted houses.

I seem to vaguely recall there's one in Greenwich Village.

[highplainsdem]

12. Probably a lot more than a few in NYC. I'd be surprised if there

aren't lots of books with titles like "Haunted New York" with some overlap in the haunted locations described but lots of different ones as well in each book.

One of my brothers owned a place that was haunted for a while. Beautiful custom home built around 1980, ten years before my brother bought it. Solar panels on the roof. Stunning pool.

The wife of the previous owner, the builder, had died in the house.

When my brother was away on business trips, my sister-in-law would sometimes hear the sound of a woman crying at night. Other nights, there might be the sound of pots and pans being slammed around in the kitchen.

There would be sounds of something hitting against the outside of an outer wall of the master bedroom on the second floor, though there were no trees nearby.

That bedroom door would swing wide open and shut again for no obvious reason.

They'd sometimes find their young daughter sleeping in the hall outside her bedroom door, and though she could remember having been afraid and having left her room because of that, she couldn't explain exactly why.

I found during the few years that they lived there that for some reason I'd sometimes stumble on the landing just a few steps below the second floor. And one day when I was following my sister-in-law and mother up the stairs to see some changed decor in my niece's room, the one closest to the top of the stairs, I saw a blue shoe or leather slipper for an instant before someone stepped up and the shoe disappeared from sight. When I got to my niece's room, my mother and sister-in-law were already on the other side of the room, talking about the changes that had been made. Neither had blue shoes on that day.

Years after my brother had sold the house, I was driving past one day and noticed there was a garage sale. I stopped and chatted for a while with the man who'd bought the house, and I finally asked him if he'd noticed anything odd about it. He told me that sometimes he thought he saw someone walk past him,caught that movement with his peripheral vision, but when he looked in that direction, no one was there.

The house certainly didn't look spooky. Perfectly lovely modern home on a very pretty modern cul-de-sac. But I don't doubt what my brother and sister-in-law told me. And I was no more than 8 feet away from the landing where I clearly saw a blue shoe before it disappeared up the stairs.

[electric_blue68]

18. Wow. I think sometimes things can be explained but other things maybe not...

I'm open to possibilities.

You are probably quite right in thinking there might be "The Haunted Houses of NYC" books about! I must say I'd not of thought of a modern house being haunted.

Your poor niece! And you seeing something so distinct like the blue shoe - something that'd be highly unlikely for you to think of lends credence to your experience.

[Prairie_Seagull]

14. Excellent lead in for a 'scary story'. deb thread.

You need better legal advise deb and yea maybe you could pick it up cheap. Make a deal with the lawyer. Split the proceeds?

[debm55]

15. Prairie, I don't want the house. It has been condemned but the town is taking it's good old time tearing it down.

The strange thing is the lights go on every night in the living room and kitchen.

[highplainsdem]

16. The power shouldn't be on in that house. Who's paying the bill?

[debm55]

17. I don't know. There is a car with no inspection stickers in the front of the house filled with white garage bags. I think the lights are the ones

that turn on at a certain time. You are right though, there should be no electricity if the house is condemned. Which makes it all the more spooky.

[kimbutgar]

19. There was this guy named Anton LaVey in SF and he had this house that was painted black

And ran the church of Satan out of it. I used to ride my bike past it all the time to go a playground.
He at one time had a pet lion that roared all night long until the city fined him and took the lion away. The house was right out of a horror movie. It’s been torn down and replaced with a new building but all of us SF natives in the Richmond district knew the devil disciplines house. The nuns at my Catholic school warned us to not walk in front of it!

[wnylib]

20. No haunted houses here that I've heard of, but

there are some big old Victorian houses that look like they'd fit well as a setting for a haunted house movie.

There is an old 3 story, sprawling brick high school on top of a rural hill that looks spooky to me. Looks like it should have clouds circling it with lightning flashes glowing through the clouds. Maybe some bats flying around it. It's still in use, too.

I live within a couple hours drive of a Spiritualist village full of mediums. I've been there a few times to check it out, but it was always in the summer during their tourist season, not around Halloween.

[Niagara]

21. I have scary neighbors.

The majority of my neighbor's are awesome, we help each other out when someone needs the help.



But.. there's that one neighbor who people can hear yelling while they're inside their own house, won't let their handsome dog inside when he's ready to come in and almost a month ago, they were driving erratically late at night and almost hit another neighbor while they were out for a walk. Scary stuff.

[debm55]

22. I am going to call the mayor tomorrow. No one should be living in a house that has been condemned, why is there

electricity? All utilities are supposed to be turned off in a condemned home. In PA, you are not allowed to drive with an inspection sticker. or keep the car on your property. I am 68, my husband is 72, we do not have the energy or money to clean up yards and cut trees. Something is not right with this whole situation.