Would you live in a house where a murder took place?

A few days ago, there was a murder that took place about a four or five minute drive from my house. I pass the area all the time. I heard about a murder taking place the following day. I know the murder victim's sister; she is a bartender at the local bar I frequent. I met her when I was in high school, and was taking driver's education classes.

When the murder took place, some local residents just thought people were hammering down election signs, not knowing a murder was taking place.

I passed the house on Friday and Saturday.

This had me wondering, what will become of the house? I wonder if they will tear it down, or if there will be people who live there in the future.

I remember putting up a thread on another board I post at, asking about how they would feel about living in a house where a murder (or possibly a rape) took place.

I talked about this to my parents this evening. I am pretty sure that in almost any house that a murder took place, 99.9% of them will be perfectly fine and no real problems will occur at all.

My mother said that if hypothetically, she was buying a new house, she would absolutely be OK with it, depending on the price.

I remember when I was eight years old, there was a McDonalds where a multiple homicide took place. Three people were murdered and one was permanently disabled. I don't really remember hearing much about it, given that most eight year olds don't have any interest in the news, anyway. I remember being there a number of times as a child after the murder took place. On none of those occasions that I went there afterward do I remember my family talking about the fact that a murder took place there, or anyone discussing it when I went there. about five years after the murders, it was torn down and a new McDonalds opened just down the street. No new building has been built in its place; I was last in that area earlier this month when I visited the new vinyl store that opened across the street recently.

Also, someone brought up something about apartments where murders have taken place. Would they not allow people to rent the apartment or would they? Do apartment owners take things like these seriously or not? That reminds me of the murder of a 10 year old girl that took place a number of years ago up here in Canada that was huge news; on one metal board that I posted at, one of the regular posters there was the murder victim's brother's best friend. She was raped and murdered in an apartment complex; does that make the whole apartment tainted, or just the room?

I don't remember hearing what happened about the apartment, if the apartment the murder took place was closed and condemned, or if there have been people who have continued to live there since then. Still, I imagine most would feel uncomfortable being in there, but what about the rest of the building?

Has there ever been an entire apartment complex condemned because of murders that took place in them? It would be a bit strange for the people living in the other apartments.

I remember in the movie Death Wish, Charles Bronson's daughter was raped and wife attacked in the apartment (his wife died in the hospital). At one point during the movie, they have changed the apartment completely, even though Bronson and his surviving family still lives there (until Bronson moves at the end of the movie).

Some people even feel uncomfortable with houses suicides or sudden deaths took place.

I even remember Family Guy, in one episode, Cleveland considered one room to be haunted, because his uncle died in there ("We estimate he died somewhere in between The Tonight Show and The Today Show"). Even though no crime took place, they still feel the room was haunted.

I also remember an episode of The Simpsons where Marge got involved in selling houses, and was nervous about one house to the Flanders family, since the house was a murder site years ago. She felt ashamed, and revealed later to them that a murder took place there, but the Flanders family wasn't angry.

Some people even believe that houses should not be built over where murders took place.

Canada's most infamous couple ever is Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. They have been called the "Ken and Barbie of murderers", because looking at them, you NEVER would have pegged them as a couple who would be involved in rape and murder. Paul Bernardo raped approximately 30 or so women and girls, and murdered at least three we know of (plus, there are a few murders he has been tied to, but it is unknown if he was the murderer). After Bernardo and Homolka were convicted, the house where the rapes and murders took place was torn down. However, in later years, there was debate over a new house being built there. The parents of Leslie Mahaffy, one of their murder victims, said they were in support of a new house being built, saying they believe while acts of evil took place in the house that was built, the ground the house was built on is not evil.

(Trivia: The second verse of the song "Nobody's Hero" by Rush is said to be about the family of Kristen French, another one of the victims of Bernardo and Homolka. Neil Peart reportedly knew the family members before Kristen was born.)

Anyways, would YOU feel comfortable living in a house, or even an apartment, where a horrific crime took place? Do you consider the place to be haunted or tainted, even after the evil has left (the killers brought to justice), despite most houses where such crimes happen that remain standing have had no problems?

I guess some people like to party, and feel uncomfortable celebrating or partying in a place which was also the scene of a horrific crime.

I voted Yes, if the price was right, but with some exceptions. How grissly of a murder are we talking? Blood and gore everywhere? Simple gunshot to the chest? And the events leading to the murder? Robbery gone wrong? Crime of passion? Children or adults? How well was the murder publicized? Are people going to drive by every day to see the murder house?

Oh, I'd have soooo many questions and conditions.

One of my first jobs as a youngin' was riding along with my father delivering home heating oil in some bad areas of the city. We used to pass (and quite possibly deliver oil to) the house of Gary Heidnik, convicted serial killer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_M._Heidnik

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I voted Yes, if the price was right, but with some exceptions. How grissly of a murder are we talking? Blood and gore everywhere? Simple gunshot to the chest? And the events leading to the murder? Robbery gone wrong? Crime of passion? Children or adults? How well was the murder publicized? Are people going to drive by every day to see the murder house?

Oh, I'd have soooo many questions and conditions.

One of my first jobs as a youngin' was riding along with my father delivering home heating oil in some bad areas of the city. We used to pass (and quite possibly deliver oil to) the house of Gary Heidnik, convicted serial killer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_M._Heidnik

Wow. I remember that House Of Horrors story on the news. That's a pretty weird experience there.

And I'd buy it if the price is right.

As a US citizen, this question is kind of... erm... pointless? I mean, if you want to be technical, there were wars among native tribes before Europeans ever showed up and God only knows exactly how many square miles of this country were sites of horrible massacres or battles. Likewise, once whitey showed up, it got even uglier, so before you even had half of the country settled, much less built up, you had blood all over the damn place.

Unless there's a statute of limitations on hautings of sites of grisly murders, my supposition from all of this is that we'd need to have real Ghostbusters if all of that violent death equalled genuine hauntings, but that's me. Besides that, if it keeps the neighborhood kids off my lawn and/or the Mormons from showing up at my door, I consider it a bonus.

No. Not because of ghosts or creepiness, but because of the possible negative affect on resale value. If there's a recent murder in the house a good many people won't buy it. Why would I want to be saddled with that?

It worked out OK for the Lutz family. They went on to fabricate an entire industry out of their short stay at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville.

Not superstitious in the slightest, plus it would be cool to show your friends around the house and say "here's where the decapitated head was nailed to the wall".

S.D. wrote:

Not superstitious in the slightest, plus it would be cool to show your friends around the house and say "here's where the decapitated head was nailed to the wall".  

My purchase of my house was *almost* held up due to the previous owner's suicide... He didn't do it *in* the house, but he and his ex-wife (who we were buying the house from) had divorced some years prior and afterwards he hung himself in his apartment a few towns away.

The reason this came back to bite us in the ass is cuz the wife had never taken his name off of the deed to the house even after the divorce, which created a bit of a legal mess because technically, she had no right to sell the house because the now-dead husband still "owned" half of it. Therefore the sale was delayed for a few weeks so she could get the deed changed, which took a while to untangle. The dead hubby's half of the sale then went into a trust for their son, who was about twelve at the time, and I understand that totally torpedoed her plans for moving to HER new house cuz she'd been banking on the whole sale $$ to finance her move, not just half of it. (Oopsie. Oh well, boo-f***ing-hoo.)

After dealing with this woman thru this entire process, quite frankly I didn't blame the ex-hubby for hanging himself cuz if I'd been married to her I might have been tempted to do it too.

Looking back, as soon as the problem w/the deed popped up we should've said "Y'know what, we're not going into business with this idiot, the deal's off, forget it, see ya," cuz it would've saved us a lot of time and trouble.

I also think if I'm buying a house, I plan on staying there long enough that any memory of a murder/suicide taking place there will have faded and ultimately become a non-issue when it comes to resale value.

If the price was right, yes.

That's not very specific, but applies I think. If it was a house/mansion/estate way out of my normal price range, and I'd get to have it for pennies, just because a coked up billionaire murdered another, I think I could live with it.

And possibly make some alterations and sell it a few years later!

I lived in one when I was a kid. My step-grandfather was murdered in our backyard when I was about 14. No condolences please, it was a good day lol he was found floating in our pool. He had his head hashed in by a couple bricks. Tge cops thought my grandmother put a hit on him, but they could never prove it. I tend to think she had it do e also. Dude had it coming and tge world was a better place after that day.

And yes, I would buy a house where a murderer occurred, it wouldn't bother me.

I live in one

MoonChild wrote:

I live in one

Who did you kill?

Lari wrote:

MoonChild wrote:

I live in one

Who did you kill?

Did you whack a guy? Off a guy? Whack off a guy?

i dont see the big deal.

If price was right, it got cleaned up real well, and the perpetrator was put away behind bars and awaiting his/her end (or is already there).

Props to mentioning a Charles Bronson flick, my mother is quite irked by his films but they are indeed some of the most wholesomely violent, brutal films of the 80s.

I would also be very enticed and open minded about the idea of welcoming the emergence of a demonic spirit posing as a dead person in the house. Would give me a chance to practice my exorcisms. That would also give the house more resale value and publicity to people who like the occult, or believe in electric ghost detectors.

muckie wrote:

Props to mentioning a Charles Bronson flick, my mother is quite irked by his films but they are indeed some of the most wholesomely violent, brutal films of the 80s.

Death Wish is from the 1970s, actually.

BTW, my mother met Charles Bronson once.

Required Fields wrote:

muckie wrote:

Props to mentioning a Charles Bronson flick, my mother is quite irked by his films but they are indeed some of the most wholesomely violent, brutal films of the 80s.

Death Wish is from the 1970s, actually.

The first one was, but the rest were released in the 80s.

I went with "if the price was right" option. And I would probably have the place blessed to be sure.

I'd totally buy this house if I could afford it.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/house-from-silence-of-the-lambs-for-sale-127080104147.html

007 wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

muckie wrote:

Props to mentioning a Charles Bronson flick, my mother is quite irked by his films but they are indeed some of the most wholesomely violent, brutal films of the 80s.

Death Wish is from the 1970s, actually.

The first one was, but the rest were released in the 80s.

Death Wish V: The Face of Death was released in 1994, actually.

I was gonna vote "no" but then I realized I "kill" the toilet every morning around 8 AM.