Believe it or not, there’s a lot of jurisprudence on this, including the famous Stambovsky v. Ackley case in New York that requires sellers to disclose the existence of a ghost. (Haunting, they find, is a defect that even a reasonably prudent buyer probably could not discover on his own during inspections.) Because the seller in question had given interviews in the local media about the ghost in the house, that seller was estopped from denying in court that the haunting was real, which meant that the house was haunted AS A MATTER OF LAW.
If all law were like this, I’d still be a lawyer. But I digress.
Anyway, to my delight, I’ve found a Web site that deals with the hard issues facing sellers who want to unload 3 br./2 bth./1 ghst. residences: Haunted Real Estate.
There are even tips for how to frame the existence of a ghost as a plus. Turns out plenty of people would like to live in a haunted house.
(Sometime I’ll talk about Aunt Kitty’s poltergeist. She loved him dearly.)
This entire post is officially the highlight of my day.
There’s a set of copyright cases about whether texts that are dictated to people by divine beings or ghosts can be copyrighted in the name of the transcriber. There’s a split of authority, but I believe the better view is similar to that in Stambovsky — anyone who claims to be a transcriber is, as a matter of law, not an author.
Win!
3 br./2 bth./1 ghst
Superb.
And now I am intrigued by Aunt Kitty and her poltergeist.
I would totally buy a haunted house. Especially if the ghost’s name was Dennis.
Someday I’ll tell you about Michaelis and Fiona, the ghosts from my old house. Though Michaelis actually moved with the family here. 😉
I must hear about Aunt Kitty’s poltergeist!
Only ghost I’ve ever met: my friend Melanie had Fred, and I got to see him turn the lights on and off at random on more than one sleepover.
You should check out this post.
I am intrigued by Aunt Kitty’s poltergeist. Especially because she is named “Aunt Kitty.” 😉