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We Beg You to Stay Away From These 5 Famous Haunted Properties

We’ve strapped on our proton packs and got out our best ghost-seeking gear to review these haunted (or stigmatized, if you’re being technical and euphemistic) properties. While we’re not big believers in the supernatural, all five of these homes all carry some sort of scary rep. Perhaps deservedly so?

If you aren’t easily spooked by the occasional cold spot or shadowy figure, these five homes might call for further inspection. However, if they do live up to their reputations, you may not want to stay for long…

108 Ocean Ave, Amityville, NY

Price: $850,000
Scary scoop: Depending on whom you ask, this six-bedroom Dutch Colonial home is either one of the most haunted in the entire country, or just a perfectly nice suburban home to raise a family.

It’s well-known that a man brutally killed his family here in 1974, but it’s what happened post-murder that’s given the Amityville house its legendary reputation.

When the Lutz family moved into the house in 1975, they reported seeing and hearing all sorts of paranormal phenomena, including a piglike demon. So terrifying were their experiences, that they became the basis for the long-running “Amityville Horror” film franchise.

The Lutzes moved out in 1976, and subsequent owners have not reported any unusual activity in the home.

The “Amityville Horror Home” garnered its fair share of popularity this summer, but the home remains unsold.

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148 Washington St, Salem, MA

Price: Listed for $900,000 in 2014
Scary scoop: The Joshua Ward House is a sprawling 14-bedroom mansion in the heart of downtown Salem.

It’s built on the land where, in the late 17th century, Sheriff George “The Strangler” Corwin conducted some of the most brutal interrogations of the Salem Witch Trials. Corwin reportedly tortured and killed 19 men and women where the house now stands, often finishing off his victims with a large rock.

Visitors to the home have reported cold spots, objects moved without explanation, and candles burned down to puddles of wax even though they were never lit. Some have reported being choked by unseen hands—presumably Corwin’s.

The home was last on the market for $900,000 in 2014, which isn’t a bad price if you’re not bothered by its history.

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1140 Royal St, New Orleans, LA

Price: Sold in 2009 for $3.5 million
Scary scoop: The LaLaurie Mansion was originally built for French royalty, but when Dr. Louis LaLaurie and his wife, Delphine, moved into the home in 1832, it forever became known as a house of horrors.

Legend has it that Mrs. LaLaurie was especially vicious toward the family’s slaves. In 1834, after a fire broke out in the home, firefighters reported finding a dozen slaves chained to the walls of a secret room in the attic. Some had holes drilled in their heads and their mouths sewn shut, among other horrific tortures.

The mansion’s purported history formed part of the storyline for Season 3 of “American Horror Story.”

After the home was converted into apartments in the late 19th century, residents reported hearing chains clanking and screams at all hours. Shadowy figures have also been seen in the home’s halls. The building eventually fell into the hands of actor Nicolas Cage—yet another shadowy, scary figure!—but the actor lost it in foreclosure proceedings to a group of investors in 2009, for an estimated $3.5 million.

While closed to the public, the home is still a popular destination for ghost hunters passing through the French Quarter.

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508 E. Second St, Villisca, IA

Price: Currently not for sale, but available for rent at $428 per night. (Or is it per fright?)
Scary scoop: This unassuming home in southwestern Iowa is the location of one of the most horrific unsolved crimes in American history.

Sometime during the night of June 9, 1912, an unknown individual entered the home and murdered eight people, including six children, with an ax. All the victims suffered devastating head wounds. Although police had several suspects at the time, the killer has never been definitively identified.

In the years since the murders, visitors to the property have reported hearing children crying and doors slamming by themselves. Objects like lamps will fall without any explanation.

Feel free to book the Villisca Ax Murder House for tours or overnight stays, to see if it lives up to its reputation. Let us know, OK?

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3860 Carolina St, Gary, IN

Price: Sold for $35,000 in 2014
Scary scoop: An unassuming two-bedroom in northwest Indiana received national attention in 2014, when the Indianapolis Star broke the story of the strange circumstances that followed a woman and her three children after moving into the home.

The woman and her children reported tenebrous creatures in the home and an inexplicable infestation of large black flies. Most terrifying, the woman’s children apparently became possessed by demonic creatures, uttering curses in deep, unnatural voices and gaining supernatural strength.

Some of the phenomena were witnessed by police and social workers. At one point, a nurse reported seeing one of the children walk backward up a wall onto the ceiling with a “weird grin” on his face. (You’d likely have a weird grin, too, if you walked backward up a wall.)

The home was purchased by “Ghost Adventurers” star Zak Bagans soon after the story broke. Bagans is still listed as the property owner, but the home was demolished earlier this year. However, the lot is ready for someone to build a new house over what’s been nicknamed the “portal to hell.”

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