Maybe an Exorcism will help you sell your haunted house

If you found out that someone had died in a house you were planning to rent or buy, what would you do? Go ahead and move in without a thought, or leave the possibly ghost-ridden place for some other sucker? What if it wasn't just a death, say, from accident or sickness, but a murder? Would that change your mind? What about multiple homicides?

For many people these sorts of questions aren't just fun hypothetical quandaries.They're real-life dilemmas. There are tens of thousands of murders each year and most of them occur in or near someone's home. After the police have finished their investigation and the crime scene is cleaned up, sooner or later someone new is likely to move in.

In a few high-profile cases, an entire house where crimes occurred may be torn down, as happened when kidnapper Ariel Castro's Cleveland home -- where he held three girls captive for nearly a decade -- was demolished in 2013.

In many older cities and towns across the country and around the world, it is a statistical likelihood that almost any home or building built before the 1940s is probably associated with someone's death at some point. This is especially true for many extended families who housed several generations under one roof.

In the real estate business, these are often called "stigmatized" properties because a social stigma is attached to the house or location. Beliefs about ghosts and the dead have been influenced by pop culture, such as the 1982 horror film "Poltergeist," in which a family is haunted and attacked by spirits of the dead buried under their new home.

A Missouri woman who recently rented a home was shocked to find out that it had been previously lived in by a serial killer. According to a story by KMOV-TV, the home is "a typical North County ranch house on a tree-lined street. Catrina McGhaw signed the lease without worry. Her section 8 voucher covered $810 in rent. Until a family member told McGhaw to check out a cold case documentary about serial killers airing on the A&E Network. McGhaw is living in the same Ferguson, Missouri house serial killer Maury Travis used as a torture chamber. The landlord even gave her the dining room table; the same one from the crime scene photos."

The fact is that in many places a renter or seller is not legally required to notify anyone about a house's gory history unless it relates to a material defect. Last year, a Pennsylvania court ruled that homeowners and real estate agents are not required to disclose to potential buyers if killings took place there years earlier.

Read Full Story: Discovery News

1.  Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
The ghost of a loyal hound is said to haunt the grounds of this cemetery, which hosts special Halloween tours. He's said to have never left his owner's grave and still walks the grounds.

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2. Cork City Gaol
There are night tours available every Thursday night at 6pm at this abandoned gaol.
Paranormal buffs believe there's a resident female ghost, dressed in a green shawl, who haunts the gaol.
 
3. Wicklow Gaol, Co. Wicklow
Another long-abandoned gaol which highlights its haunted history. Regular tours are held to explore the premises, where you can explore the dungeons and "meet with prisoners past".

- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/blog/most-haunted-places-in-ireland-29715921.html#sthash.q1nmrOsJ.dpuf