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For the video games, see Haunted House (video game) or Haunted House (pinball).

A haunted house is a building that supposedly is a centre for supernatural occurrences or paranormal phenomena. Ostensibly it may be populated by ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists, or even demons. These demons continue to "haunt" the physical world after a tragic event occurred on the property — such as a murder, accidental death, or suicide — sometime in the recent or even ancient past. It commonly serves as a plot device in gothic or horror fiction or, more lately, paranormal-based fiction.

The actual structure can be anything from a decaying European feudal castle to a newly occupied suburban ranch-style house of fairly recent construction, though many authors and movie directors prefer that the architecture be from the 19th century or earlier.

Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. Roman-era authors Plautus, Pliny the Younger, and Lucian wrote stories about haunted houses, and more modern authors from Henry James to Stephen King have featured them in their writings. Haunted castles and mansions were common in gothic literature.

A popular dark ride at Disney theme parks, The Haunted Mansion, references much of the popular iconography of haunted houses.

Films featuring haunted houses, mansions or castles

• The Ghost House (1917)
• The Haunted House (1921)
• The Cat and the Canary (1927 & 1939)
• The Cat Creeps (1930)
• The Ghost Goes West (1936)
• Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
• Hold That Ghost (1941)
• The Uninvited (1944)
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
• Scared Stiff (1953)
• House on Haunted Hill (1958)
• The Innocents (1961)
• The Haunting (1963 & 1999)
• The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
• The Legend of Hell House (1973)
• Burnt Offerings (1976)
• The Amityville Horror (1979 & 2005)
• The Shining (1980)
• The Changeling (1980)
• Poltergeist (1982)
• The Nightstalker Murder (1986)
• Beetlejuice (1988)
• The Others (2001)
• Session 9 (2001)
• Rose Red (2002)
• The Haunted Mansion (2003)
• The Grudge (2004)
• The Grudge 2 (2006)
• Doodeind (2006)
• Monster house (2006)

Haunted Houses and the Law

In Stambovsky v. Ackley, the Supreme Court of New York ruled that the fact that a house is haunted must be disclosed to a seller.

See also

• Borley Rectory
• Amityville Horror
• Blair Witch Project
• Legend tripping
• Winchester Mystery House
• Staup house
• Stigmatized property
• Haunted Hollywood
• List of haunted locations

Sources

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External links

• Real Haunted Houses: A comprehensive listing of haunted houses in the United States and around the world
• Haunted Houses: The Film Genre That Won't Die A look at cinematic haunted houses
• A Night In A Haunted House Abridged version of a story that appeared in The Southern Literary Messenger, June 1855

• Ghosts
• Spirituality
• Halloween traditions