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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask if you'd live in a house where someone was murdered

230 replies

TheCatsBlanket · 12/02/2020 23:22

Just finished watching 'White House Farm' and wondered to myself what happened to the property. Did someone buy it and now lives in it or has it remained empty? I know a google search would prob tell me but my question is, would you live in a house where a murder had taken place? I'm not religious but I think that I'd be scared to be alone in a place with a violent past, in that I'm sure it would harbour sinister vibes.

OP posts:
labazsisgoingmad · 13/02/2020 09:59

a lot of places get knocked to stop ghost hunters
ie the cottage where April Jones was allegedly murdered
cromwell street Fred West now a garden
the house where Myra Hindley's gran lived and where a murder was committed where they were finally arrested

getyourarseoffthequattro · 13/02/2020 10:03

no. I couldn't. There was a house near us, where the husband brutally murdered his wife and children. It was really awful.

The house went up for sale a few months later and it never sold. Its been sat empty ever since Sad

It wouldnt be "ghosts" as such that bothered me, just the feeling of the house.

LionelRitchieStoleMyNotebook · 13/02/2020 10:07

Yes I would, you don't know what's taken place in a house in years gone by, domestic abuse, child abuse, any kind of violence, why is a murder any different? Our house is well over a hundred years old Christ knows how people would have been treated here especially women or staff

thecatneuterer · 13/02/2020 11:14

@billysboy well I also find it funny. But won't someone think of the children Grin

timetest · 13/02/2020 11:45

My house dates from the early 15th century and there are the remains of a Roman bathhouse on the land. There must have been an unexplained death or two over the centuries but I have never felt anything remotely scarey about it.

katkit · 13/02/2020 12:22

A few weeks ago, we looked round a house. I'd researched the area, and found headlines about a woman being murdered on that street, but hadn't felt deterred. As the estate agent showed us round, the penny began to drop, and we found out that actually, the previous owner of the house had committed suicide in the top bedroom. It is horribly sad, and I couldn't buy it, in case my DD was scared, or teased in the playground. My other half refused point blank. I declined as my own mental health is fragile, and didn't think I should step into that poor woman's shoes.

NineSwans · 13/02/2020 12:28

a lot of places get knocked to stop ghost hunters

It's not to stop ghost hunters, it's to stop ghoulish 'true crime' tourists!

5foot5 · 13/02/2020 13:48

I think so.

I used to rent somewhere where somebody (famous!) committed suicide. Never bothered me.

bluenoir · 13/02/2020 13:49

As long as they'd caught the murderer and found all the bodies I'd be fine.

I know someone died in my bedroom in 2010 (peacefully of old age) and parts of my house are over 300 years old so she probably wasn't the first either.

It's the most peaceful house I've ever lived in!

Lockheart · 13/02/2020 13:56

Did the house murder them?

If not then I personally see no reason why I wouldn't live in it.

But then I spent many years working, often alone, in old castles and forts and so forth where no end of horrible things happened. History doesn't worry me.

Antihop · 13/02/2020 14:05

It wouldn't concern me. We moved house fairly recently and since then a house in our area has come up for sale where a murder took place. It was very cheap and if we'd still be house hunting, I would have been happy to live there and get a bargain.

changerooloo · 13/02/2020 14:11

I found out AFTER buying my house that a murder took place there 40 years ago.

Never had any bad feeling from the house, in fact i've always felt it to be a very safe welcoming house!!!
initially, i wanted to move straight away but for various practical reason, can't.

I wouldn't have bought it if i had known but it doesn't majorly bother me now! although i try not to think about it too much.

MulticolourMophead · 13/02/2020 14:17

I live on a street where all the houses are at least 100 years old. I'm pretty sure there have been deaths, even in the house I'm currently in. Hasn't bothered me.

beingchampion · 13/02/2020 14:30

To those wondering how/why the cousin moved in so soon - I don't know what kind of farm it is, but if there's animals you need to be on site so it's the obvious thing to do.

ShesGotBetteDavisEyes · 13/02/2020 14:39

Not RTWT but there is another thread I’m on at the moment discussing White House farm and this is one of the subjects that came up.

There was a long history tying the family to the farm. The Eatons took over the management and day to day running of it after the murders and the lease didn’t come up until 5 years later. At which time they applied to officially take it over along with other interested parties. It was awarded to them.
It wasn’t an overnight thing. Ann Eaton was close to her auntie and probably felt a sense of duty to keep the farm in the family (the family have other property/farmland in the area - it’s not a typical scenario really). I personally can understand their reasons for keeping it on.

A few years ago dh and I purchase a property in which a father had murdered his family members. I didn’t go around at first as I felt creeped out however once it had been renovated I went round (alone!) to clean it and get it ready for renting out. It was fine...but I did keep looking over my shoulder!
A family live there now - they know the history. If you didn’t move into houses people had died in at some time you’d probably be cutting out half of the property market!

pigsDOfly · 13/02/2020 14:45

When I sold the house I used to live in this was one of the questions the purchasers asked: has there ever been a murder in the house. It was a Victorian house, so very possibly. I just told them that as far as I'm aware there hasn't been. I imagine people must have died in the house though.

I knew someone many years ago who bought their house from the widow of a man who had hanged himself in the garage of the house. They got it very cheap, I imagine there weren't that many people wanting to buy it tbh.

I wouldn't want to live in a house that I knew someone had been murdered or killed themselves in.

In the same way, there was a huge Victorian mental hospitals near where I used to live that was turned into 'luxury' flats. I wouldn't want to live there either. I wouldn't be able to get past all those unhappy, trouble people who lived and died there and are now forgotten. I'd feel as if I were living on their graves in a way.

Witsendagain · 13/02/2020 14:47

I would! Usually because they tend to be massively discounted! There was a five bed character house in a lovely village near me recently for less than 100grand. The advert actual stated that it had been location to a horrible 'event'. That kind of house would have sold easily for 3x the price (and had on the same street). Unfortunately it was on the junction to a crossroad which was no good for our cat and the garden was TINY!

Oldbutstillgotit · 13/02/2020 14:54

Friends bought a house at a very good price . The man wanted a quick sale as his wife had committed suicide there . Understandable . A few months later the woman that the man had been having a secret affair with went to the police alleging that he had actually killed his wife . Case reopened and he was eventually jailed .
Friends ended up selling at an even more reduced price .

ComeTheFuck0nBridget · 13/02/2020 14:59

No, definitely not.

I watch a lot of the Mummy YouTuber types, and used to watch one who bought a house which had a fairly high profile murder happen in it, the incident itself was national news I believe. I don't really watch her videos anymore, it just seems so weird.

BrimfulofSasha · 13/02/2020 15:03

How would you even know? it's not something i've ever thought to ask...statistically a lot of properties will have 'witnessed' rape and DV too...you just wouldn't know though would you?

MimiLaRue · 13/02/2020 15:05

Yes. If you have a house thats even remotely old, the chances are, someone has died in it at some point or another.
I guarantee you that at least half the people in this thread saying no, have no clue what happened in their house before the previous owners moved in and have had people die in their house. Ignorance is bliss really....

Abouttimemum · 13/02/2020 15:08

Yeah wouldn’t bother me at all. It’s just bricks and mortar and the people are gone. I don’t believe in ghosts / spirits and all that.

I do feel sorry for people who live in houses that turn out to have historic bodies buried in the garden and whatnot. I worked on a case where the previous owner had killed his father and buried him under the decking, and it wasn’t discovered until many years later.

That’s a bit grim.

PhilomenaChristmasPie · 13/02/2020 15:10

What a great place to play horror games in! I'd love it!

Sceptre86 · 13/02/2020 15:19

Not knowingly no, although there is a big difference between someone dying in their sleep or committing suicide or murder.

knightlight · 13/02/2020 15:21

No but me and my brother were so peeved about having to move out of our childhood home (into a much nicer house) when my mother remarried that we put loads of notes in the floorboard saying there had been a murder in the house and even put a similar note in a milk bottle buried in the garden.

What odd children we were.

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