Haunted house

A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited

by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or wer
e familiar with the property. Parapsychologists attribute haunting to the spirit
s of the dead and the effect of violent or tragic events in the building's past
such as murder, accidental death, or suicide.[1] More scientific explanations fo
r the perception that a house is haunted include misinterpreting noises naturall
y present in structures, waking dreams, suggestibility, and the effect of toxic
substances in environments that can cause hallucinations.
In a 2005, Gallup poll, 37 percent of Americans, 28 percent of Canadians, and 40
percent of Britons expressed the belief that houses could be "haunted".
Possible causes[edit]
According to science writer Terence Hines, cold spots, creaking sounds, and odd
noises are typically present in any home, especially older ones, and "such noise
s can easily be mistaken for the sound of footsteps by those inclined to imagine
the presence of a deceased tenant in their home."[4]
David Turner, a retired chemist, suggested that ball lightning could cause inani
mate objects to move erratically.[5]
Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell writes that in most cases he investigated, he
found plausible explanations for haunting phenomena, such as physical illusions
, waking dreams, and the effects of memory. According to Nickell, the power of s
uggestion along with confirmation bias plays a large role in perceived hauntings
. "As a house, inn, or other place becomes thought of as "haunted," more and mor
e ghostly encounters are reported" says Nickell, "When people are given to expec
t paranormal events, they tend to notice those conditions that would confirm the
ir expectations."[6]
Toxicologist Albert Donnay believes that chronic exposure to substances such as
carbon monoxide, pesticide, and formaldehyde can lead to hallucinations of the t
ype associated with haunted houses. Donnay speculates on the connection between
the prevalence of gas lamps during the Victorian era and start of the 20th centu
ry stories of ghost sightings and hauntings, describing it as the "Haunted House
Syndrome".[7] Donnay says that carbon monoxide poisoning has been linked to hau
nted houses since at least the 1920s, citing a 1921 journal article published ab
out a family who suffered headaches, auditory hallucinations, fatigue, melanchol
y, and other symptoms associated with haunted houses.[8]
Michael Persinger, Jason Braithewaite, and others, suggested that perceived appa
ritions, cold spots, and ghostly touches are perceptual anomalies caused by vari
ations in naturally occurring or man-made magnetic fields.[9][10] However, a stu
dy by psychologist Chris French and others that attempted to replicate Persinger
's findings found no link.[11][12]
Commercial haunted houses[edit]
Further information: Haunted attraction (simulated)
The concept of the haunted house was capitalized on as early as 1915 with the Or
ton and Spooner Haunted House in Hollycombe Steam Collection (England),[13] and
by the 1970s, commercial haunted houses had sprung up all over the United States
in cities like Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.[14] By 2005, an estim
ated 3,500 to 5,000 professional haunted attractions operated in the United Stat
es.[15] In addition, around the time of Hallowtide, many Christian churches run
a type of haunted house known as a hell house, which while being a haunted house
, also promotes their interpretation of the Christian gospel message. According
to USA Today, in hell houses, "participants walk through several 'scenes' depict
ing the consequences of things like abortion, homosexuality and drunkenness."[16

]
Legal aspects[edit]
In the case Stambovsky v. Ackley, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Divis
ion ruled in 1991 that a seller must disclose that a house has a reputation for
being haunted when there is a fiduciary relationship or in cases of fraud or mis
representation,[17] because such a reputation impairs the value of the house:
In the case at bar, defendant seller deliberately fostered the public belief tha
t her home was possessed. Having undertaken to inform the public at large, to wh
om she has no legal relationship, about the supernatural occurrences on her prop
erty, she may be said to owe no less a duty to her contract vendee.[18]
Short stories and novels[edit]
Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. The earliest surv
iving report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by Pliny the Younger
(61
c. 112) to his patron Lucias Sura, in which he describes a haunted villa in
Athens.[19] Nobody would live in the house until the philosopher Athenodorus (c
.74 BCE
7 CE) arrived in the city. He was tempted by the low rent and undeterred
by the house's reputation so he moved in. The ghost, an old man bound with chai
ns, appeared to Athenodrus during the first night, and beckoned to the philosoph
er. The apparition vanished once it reached the courtyard, and Athenodrus carefu
lly marked the spot. The following morning he requested the magistrate to have t
he spot dug up, where the skeleton of an old man bound with chains was discovere
d. The ghost never appeared again after the skeleton was given a proper burial.[
20]
Stories of haunted houses are also included in the Arabian Nights, as in the tal
e of "Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad";[21] more modern authors
from Henry James to Stephen King have also featured them in their writings.
Haunting is used as a plot device in gothic or horror fiction or, more lately, p
aranormal-based fiction; haunted castles and mansions are common in gothic liter
ature. Notable works of fiction featuring haunted houses include:
The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole
The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe
"The Fall of the House of Usher" (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe
The House of the Seven Gables (1851) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James
The House on the Borderland (1908) by William Hope Hodgson
The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
Hell House (1971) by Richard Matheson
The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973) by John Bellairs
'Salem's Lot (1975) by Stephen King
The Shining (1977) by Stephen King
The Amityville Horror (1977) by Jay Anson
The Woman in Black (1983) by Susan Hill
Drawing Blood (1993) by Poppy Brite
House of Leaves (2000) by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) by Ridley Pearson
Rose Red (2002) by Stephen King
The Little Stranger (2009) by Sarah Waters
Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (2017)
Films[edit]
See also: Category:Haunted house films.
The Haunted House (1913)
The Ghost Breaker (1914)
Wee Lady Betty (1917)
The Haunted House (1921)

The Ghost Breaker (1922)

The Monster (1925)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
London After Midnight (1927)
The Terror (1928)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
The Cat Creeps (1930)
The Ghost Goes West (1936)
Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
The Cat and the Canary (1939)
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Hold That Ghost (1941)
The Canterville Ghost (1944)
The Uninvited (1944)
The Time of Their Lives (1946)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Scared Stiff (1953)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
13 Ghosts (1960)
The Innocents (1961)
The Haunting (1963)
Bhoot Bungla (1965)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Burnt Offerings (1976)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Inferno (1980)
The Shining (1980)
The Changeling (1980)
The Entity (1981)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The House Where Evil Dwells (1982)
House (1986)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Night of the Demons (1988)
Sweet Home (1989)
Pathimoonam Number Veedu (1990)
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
The Pagemaster (1994)
Casper (1995)
Haunted (1995)
Tower of Terror (1997)
Ghosts (1997)
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
The Haunting (1999)
Thirteen Ghosts (2001)
The Others (2001)
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Rose Red (2002)
Darkness (2002)
Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
The Haunted Mansion (2003)
The Grudge (2004)
The Amityville Horror (2005)
House Of Wax (2005)
The Skeleton Key (2005)
The Grudge 2 (2006)

Monster House (2006)

An American Haunting (2006)
In a Dark Place (2006)
Stay Alive (2006)
Return to House on Haunted Hill (2006)
The Messengers (2007)
The Orphanage (2007)
1408 (2007)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
1920 (2008)
Paranormal Entity (2008)
The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
Deadline (2009)
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
Haunted
3D (2011)
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
The Innkeepers (2011)
The Pact (2012)
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
The Woman In Black (2012)
The Conjuring (2013)
Ragini MMS 2 (2014)
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
Poltergeist (2015)
Crimson Peak (2015)
The Conjuring 2 (2016)