Believe it or not, according to a 1991 ruling by the Supreme Court of New York (Stambovsky v. Ackley), a seller must disclose that a house has a reputation for being haunted because such a reputation could impair ꧃the value of the house.

However, sometimes a home's reputation is so notorious that no formal notification is required. Check out some of these haunted American houses, and when they last went up for sale.

The Amityville Horror House

One of the most famous haunted houses last changed hands in 2017: the Amityville Horror House. The new owners bought the house for $605,000, according to real estate records, $200,000 less than the asking price. The previo𓆉us owner also bought at ✅a discount: $950,000 on a $1.15 million asking price.

But it's not ghosts that keep the price down: it's the threat of Halloween pranksters and tourists.

George and Kathleen Lutz bought the home in 1975, just over a year after Ronald DeFeo Jr. Shot and killed his mother, father, and four siblings within its walls. They got a bargain price on the home and claimed they had no idea what had happened there until strange occurrences began taking place. It was the Lutzes' experience, which took shape in the form of a book by Jay Anson, "The Amityville Horror," which launched the house into the public eye and led to several movie spinoffs.

However, while there may not have been laws in place at the time to ensure that the home's gruesome vintage was revealed at the time of the sale, the success of the Amityville books and movies suggest the homeowners may have gotten their money's worth anyway.

The Winchester House

Whether this house really is haunted or not, you will definitely be startled if you get a chance to visit. The 160 room house in San Jose, Calif., is now a museum, but despite its 160 rooms, an unprecedented level of workmanship, and acres of land, it was considered virtually worthless at the time of its owner's death in 1922. It was sold at auction for $135,000 and opened to the public five months later. It is now owned by Winchester Investments LLC and is marketed as the "Winchester Mystery House."

So just what makes this house so creepy? According to the Winchester Mystery House website, the home's eccentric owner, Sarah Winchester (of Winchester rifle fame), lost her infant daughter and husband but was left with a $20 million fortune. That's a lot of money now, but in the late 1800s, it may as well have been all the money in the world.

Over the next 38 year🅠s, construction continued on a huge and unusual house with more than 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 staircases, 13 bathrooms, and six kitchens. At one point, it soared as high as seve✃n stories and was constantly being renovated, added onto, and rebuilt.

As you might have guessed, Ms. Winchester was an eccentric lady, and ꦍher house shows it in every bizarre nook and cranny. In what is believed to have been an attempt to ward off evil spirits, the house includes mazes of hallways, dead-end stairways, windows in the floor, and many other twists, turns, and secret passages.

Needless to say, ghost stories about the house abound, but if you want to find out whether it's really home to evil spirits, you may have to take a tour and find out for yourself.

The LaLaurie Mansion

The LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans is a stately old home in the French Quarter and was once home to rich Creole Socialites Dr. Louis LaLaurie and his wife, Delphine. In the 1830s, many stories emerged surrounding Delphine's cruelty toward, and perhaps even murder of, her many slaves.

Although some critics believe these were really rumors perpetuated by those who disapproved of the LaLauries' lavish lifestyle, the home's reputation as one of America's most haunted houses persists.

Its most recent owner is an unnamed 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Texas oil tycoon, and it was once owned by actor Nicolas Cage. According to an April 23 article in the Times-Picayune, Cage purchased the house in 2006 for $3.4 million and put the st🎐ate🌄ly, 10,000 square-foot home up for sale in 2009 for $3.55 million. Unfortunately for the Cage, the infamous home turned out to be a curse after all; according to Zillow.com, he lost it in a foreclosure auction later that year.

The Chambers Mansion

Historical information on this old San Francisco home is a bit slim, although many people who've visited report strange experiences. According to Zillow.com, the house was built in 1887 and named after its owner, Richard Chambers. The rest is a legend, in which Chambers' two nieces inherited the mansion together after his death. One of them came to an untimely end in a "farm implementation accident," though other legends suggest she was murdered by an insane family member.

The mansion was converted to a hotel in 1977. In 2002, it was converted to two homes and restored. According to Zillow, it was last sold in 2013 and was estimated to be valued at around $4 million. It's currently valued at $6.2 million, similar𒈔 to other homes in the area. Clearly, its creepy vintage hasn't put a dent in its charm—or its value.

The Bottom Line

Although the courts have determined that a home's haunted reputation could have a negative effect on its value, the continued interest in the old houses listed here suggests that in some cases, a haunting can be a valuable asset for a historic home. Every old house has a story, but if it involves betrayal, murder, and a few ghosts, it can often give a vintage home just the right cachet.