Haunted History – Not in My House!

Can you recover damages for living in a haunted house? A Toms River, New Jersey family brought a suit against their landlord to recover their $2,250 security deposit because their “lives would be in mortal danger” if they continued living in the house.

Josue Chinchilla and his family moved into a rental home and things immediately got weird. They started hearing strange sounds and seeing flickering lights, and heard voices saying “let it burn”. One night, Josue’s blankets were pulled off of him and he felt a grip on his arm, they also report seeing a dark form hovering near the bed. They moved to a hotel that night, and filed suit to recover their security deposit.

The family has their supporters, including their pastor who believes that a demonic possession occurred in the house, and Marianne Brigando of NJ Paranormal Investigators says that her own investigation led her to communicate with the alleged presence and she classifies the house as “a the site of an active or intelligent haunting.”

The landlord believed it was fear of paying the rent that drove the family to vacate the property, and countersued for breaking the lease.

As an endnote, a man in Dunmore, Pennsylvania recently put his house up for sale describing it as “slightly haunted”, stating that it was nothing serious just sounds of phantom footsteps, strange knocking sound followed by “a very quiet (hardly noticeable, even) scream at 3:13 am, maybe once a week. Twice a week tops. And the occasional ghastly visage lurking behind you in the bathroom mirror.” The last occurring rarely and only in the second floor bathroom. This gives new meaning to the notion of “Buyer Beware.”