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Would you buy a house that somebody had been murdered in?

363 replies

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 14:18

Around 12 years ago, an awful murder involving a child and parent happened a few miles from our house, it was such a shock and the house has been empty ever since.

It's now on the market, I personally could never buy it or live there and I feel sad every time I drive by.

Would you buy it given the history if it was perfect for you?

OP posts:
jasflowers · 10/03/2025 15:40

No i wouldn't, read too many Stephen King books.... silly really because chances are, many of us live in older homes where murder was done or plotted or other vile crimes committed.

I mean who would know if their 1920/30s terraced house was the scene of a murder?

One thing i'd never do though is buy a converted chapel c/w its own Grave yard...

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 15:40

notapennyless · 10/03/2025 15:38

I would buy it but get a priest to come and bless it before we moved in.

My parents did that and the weird things that would happen got worse and more frequent, they never bothered again!

OP posts:
DreamyRedNewt · 10/03/2025 15:40

No, I wouldn't.
We found a house on the cheap side when looking for properties to buy and they had to disclose that the owner had been murdered. I didn't want anything to do with the hose, even if it was cheap. It would be even worse with a child involved, no way.

PenneyFouryourthoughts · 10/03/2025 15:40

Yes.

notapennyless · 10/03/2025 15:42

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 15:40

My parents did that and the weird things that would happen got worse and more frequent, they never bothered again!

That sounds like a job for the Diocesan Exorcist.

Every RC Diocese has one...

SabreIsMyFave · 10/03/2025 15:42

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 14:18

Around 12 years ago, an awful murder involving a child and parent happened a few miles from our house, it was such a shock and the house has been empty ever since.

It's now on the market, I personally could never buy it or live there and I feel sad every time I drive by.

Would you buy it given the history if it was perfect for you?

Probably not. Not since watching this on the BBC. 😱

Would you buy a house that somebody had been murdered in?
saraclara · 10/03/2025 15:45

I consider myself very rational and un-woo, and I certainly don't believe in ghosts and spirits. But no, I couldn't live in a house where something so desperately cruel and tragic happened.

An acquaintance of mine took her own life in a house a hundred yards from mine. She was found by her young children. This was 20 years ago, but I still find it hard to walk past her bedroom window.

But a peaceful death wouldn't bother me. Or at least I shouldn't let it, since I nursed my DH at home until his death. But I dare say there are people who wouldn't want to buy my house if they knew he'd died in it.

BMW6 · 10/03/2025 15:47

I would visit the house alone a few times to get the vibe from it.

Some houses feel "off" to me, others feel disturbing, even really scary. Most just feel empty, devoid of any feelings. Others feel positively welcoming.

TaylorSwish · 10/03/2025 15:47

I would go and see it. I would feel what the energy was like and decide then.
Disclaimer - I am a bit odd.

ByWildLimeCat · 10/03/2025 15:48

A similar hideous crime happened local to me maybe 20 years ago, a man killed his wife and all of his children within the home. It did well, at a hugely cut down price - a lot of the locals thought it should’ve been knocked down. They did it up completely and sold it on, but I do think of that poor family every time I drive past it now.

Dontfencemein · 10/03/2025 15:48

As previous posters have said, a natural death would not bother me, but I could not feel at peace in a place where someone had been murdered, especially by a family member.

llovemermaidgin · 10/03/2025 15:48

When we moved to our previous house, our older neighbour [who turned out to be a bit of a cow] was keen to tell us that the previous elderly owner had died in the kitchen. A welfare check was done because of the smell, they had lain there for nearly 3 weeks. The house had been empty for ages and was really low priced.
I just said "That's a shame. Still it's all in the past." She looked royally pissed off.
We lived there for nearly 22 years and no negative vibes. Downsized didn't need to mention the incident as it was history. I always thought it sad, that no relatives visited to check on the lady though.

FastFood · 10/03/2025 15:49

Yes no problem at all.

Isometimeswonder · 10/03/2025 15:50

Would not bother me one bit.
And if I got a bargain price, all the better!

Ilikeadrink14 · 10/03/2025 15:51

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 14:30

It doesn't bother me the land my home is built on, who's died naturally here etc it's just I'd think of the awful circumstances all the time, the parent actually killed their child and them themselves in the hallway of the upstairs.

I wouldn't be able to walk the hallway without thinking of it.

A friend’s daughter committed suicide by drowning herself. Her parents found her when they came home from shopping. To my horror, they were still living there 20 years later! How could they even go in that bathroom without ‘seeing’ the body of their daughter there every time? I just couldn’t, and still can’t, get my head around it.

Inyournewdress · 10/03/2025 15:54

With the specific example you are talking about OP, I don’t think I would. I don’t think it would be cursed or haunted or anything like that, I just think I would dwell on it and be upset by it.

housethatbuiltme · 10/03/2025 15:55

Sounds so very 'American' to worry about these things (and haunting).

Any place with history will have seen death.

Most houses around here are Victorian, people will factually have died in many of them. Many of my family members died at home. Some natural causes (from my Great-grandma dying in her sleep, my Nana who died of a sudden heart attack, my uncle who died of diabetes in his sleep, to my baby cousin who died of SIDs), a couple from suicide and even one murdered (domestic violence).

Family still live in several of those houses and the people who eventually bought the 'murder' one likely had no idea (its not like it made news, it was buried real quick by police). No one advertises that the previous owner had her head smashed in by her drunk boyfriend.

Future buyers wouldn't have know that my baby cousin died in that house either etc... when it came time to sell. In the UK 200 children a year die of SIDs and thats now, historically it was much higher so living in a house a child died in is really not that rare.

just a little statistic in the UK per year 52 children are murdered and 182 women are in domestic violence attacks most of which occur at home.

The house opposite us is for sale, this owner got a bargain because the previous one committed suicide in the house two decades ago. I doubt they plan to tell the new buyer the last owner hung themselves in the master bedroom.

You're overthinking it purely because you know but its likely far more common than you ever considered.

housethatbuiltme · 10/03/2025 15:56

Ilikeadrink14 · 10/03/2025 15:51

A friend’s daughter committed suicide by drowning herself. Her parents found her when they came home from shopping. To my horror, they were still living there 20 years later! How could they even go in that bathroom without ‘seeing’ the body of their daughter there every time? I just couldn’t, and still can’t, get my head around it.

They probably 'see' all the years of happy memories they had of her in the house instead.

Pipsquiggle · 10/03/2025 15:58

If it was a decent house, in a place I wanted to live, then yes. You would probably get it at a decent price.

I think 12 years is enough time to let the building move on.
I'd probably go around the house and burn sage in every room - even though I have never done this before. I would also redecorate every single room and probably the outside as well.

S18 · 10/03/2025 15:58

Yes, but I would probably redo everything in the house. I’m not superstitious, but it would probably make me sad to think about what happened there.

ForFunGoose · 10/03/2025 16:00

Yes
it’s bricks and mortar.

I might think twice if there was a shrine or any other memorial on the property.

GiveMeSpanakopita · 10/03/2025 16:00

No, because I believe that highly traumatic events can live on in the fabric of a physical place. There's a dark energy. I've seen two ghosts (well, saw one, heard the other) and when it comes to the metaphysical, I'm with the Bard: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

On a more quotidian note, I believe it would be difficult to re-sell.

MatildaTheCat · 10/03/2025 16:01

I think there’s a real difference between sad events or tragedy and a place where real evil took place. We lived very close to a house where two absolutely horrible murder/ attempted murder/ rapes took place and I could never pass it without feeling the bad vibe ( not like me).

That house has since been refurbished and rented for years. I could never contemplate buying somewhere like that.

PrinnyPree · 10/03/2025 16:04

At first I was going to answer yes, but now I'm thinking about it no. I would think about it all the time and pick at the thought like a scab. I struggle with headlines of child abuse, actually living where it happened would probably be intolerable.

I don't think I'd have serious issue with an adult murder in a house as long as it wasn't cruel or vindictive, like a burglary gone wrong.

ItGhoul · 10/03/2025 16:06

It wouldn't bother me one bit. It's just a building. The building didn't kill anyone.

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