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Original poster

Someone died in our new house.

104 replies

Elasticatedwaist · 22/03/2022 15:41

We had to have the floorboards up last week in our new house which uncovered a blackened and charred joist. Turns out,
From talking to a neighbour that there was a fire here, the wife and 2 kids made it out but the man didn’t. He was a drunk apparently and caused the fire. Terribly sad !
Not sure how I feel about living in a house where there was a tragedy like that.
Dh is quite freaked out.
Would it bother you ?

OP posts:
theDudesmummy · 22/03/2022 18:31

We are restoring an old farmhouse and I did some research on the family that built it. Four of them died in the house, says so right there on the death certificates. No problem for us. They are also buried in the village cemetery and I have been to visit them there!

Fupoffyagrasshole · 22/03/2022 18:35

My house is 300 years old a lot of people must have died here - someone was actually murdered in it in the 60s 🙈🙈

Doesn’t bother me

katicomps · 22/03/2022 18:36

Our current house dates to 1700s so I'm guessing more than a couple have died here. It was an old coach house and overnight boarding inn so there might have been non accidental/non natural deaths (been watching to much GoT! 😆)
But at our old house, the person before us died in the upstairs bedroom and then so did the person after us too. Again, it was an old school house so I'm guessing they weren't the first either.
None of this bothers me in the slightest, I still lived in those houses happily and it wouldn't affect my view of any future houses either.

Clarabe1 · 22/03/2022 18:48

I think I might struggle to live in a house where there was a recent murder. There is a house near me where 2 women were brutally raped and murdered in the 1970s and every time I drive past it I think about them. The house is beautiful as well but I always think of it as a tragic place.

Itwasnotmeormydog · 22/03/2022 18:53

No. It is bad enough for people when a member of their family dies. No need to make it worse by people acting like their house is now haunted or something.

colourmebladd · 22/03/2022 19:05

He probably died of smoke inhalation rather than being ‘burnt to a crisp’.

Hedgesfullofbirds · 22/03/2022 19:08

My house dates from the early 1600's so, doubtless, many people have died in it ober the years - but, equally, many more have probably been born or conceived in it too! And I like to feel that they are all watching over it, and me, as its current custodian, as I intend to do when my time comes.
In any event, every time I walk through the door it wraps its arms around me, hugs me and makes me feel welcome, safe and secure

TunnelOfGoats · 22/03/2022 19:10

I wouldn't be bothered about the death, but as PP have said I would be really annoyed that the fire hadn't shown up in the searches or survey, and that the estate agents hadn't disclosed what happened, because I thought that they are now duty bound to do so?

Westfacing · 22/03/2022 19:14

We read all the time how elderly/terminally ill people wish to die at home - some time in the future another family will live in that house.

salcombebabe · 22/03/2022 19:17

I rented a house for just over a year and was forewarned that someone had died there. It was an old house so, like others, I wasn’t that bothered. What I didn’t know but found out a few months later was that the guy had hung himself from the roof strutts through the loft hatch in the room I slept in!

Jellybean23 · 22/03/2022 19:20

Millions of people die at home every year. Are you afraid the house is haunted? It wouldn't bother me at all.

AnnesBrokenSlate · 22/03/2022 19:26

Did you not Google the address before you bought the house? Am I the only person who does that?

I'd be shocked if I discovered someone had died so tragically but I would also be worried that no-one had brought the structural damage to light before I bought the house.

Westfacing · 22/03/2022 19:29

And it could be that he didn't actually die in the house, but in hospital.

I'm sure your husband will get over it.

waitingformygirl · 22/03/2022 19:43

It would bother me knowing the details. But you were fine not knowing and I'm guessing the house felt ok before you knew.
The previous owner of our new house died in it the year before we bought it and he was only in his 50s. I don't want to know how he died so I don't ask the neighbour because the house feels nice and peaceful, and I don't want my imagination to go into overdrive.

My3cents1 · 22/03/2022 19:57

Of course not. Hubby is being quite dramatic. Even houses of the most horrific crime scenes get new owners. Unless you personally build from scratch a house will have history.

Somuddled · 22/03/2022 19:59

The death wouldn't concern me but the fire would. I'd want to have known about it before buying and be provided with reports confirming there was not significant damage.

Dynamicsloth · 22/03/2022 20:11

When I was young the bloke next door was stabbed to death and the room set alight. The flat was refurbished and people lived there happily over the years. Just looked on Rightmove and it sold recently for over £900k.

I would wonder why the joist hadn’t been replaced and why the survey had missed it. The fact there had been a death wouldn’t bother me.

EatSleepReplete · 22/03/2022 20:14

Wouldn't bother me at all. Someone burned to death in the house I grew up in. My house is a new build but it's on a siege ground (directly uphill from a medieval castle). We previously lived across town in an area locally known as battery hill because they launched missiles from there too.

I'd be concerned about potential fire damage though, if they've left the damaged joist what else have they not sorted out.

BeanStew22 · 22/03/2022 20:20

@gamerchick

The joist would bother me more. I'd want that checked. Otherwise, no. People die in a lot of houses.
^ this

Definitely get the joist checked

It may bring you some comfort to have your home blessed: I have done that in the two places I have bought. I’m not sure what if any religion you have but perhaps that is an option for you?

MadameFantabulosa · 22/03/2022 20:21

Everyone has to die somewhere.

BeanStew22 · 22/03/2022 20:22

@Elasticatedwaist

I wouldn’t mind if it had been natural causes, I would expect people to have died here. It’s the fact that they burnt to death in an accidental fire I think.
^ I can understand that the circumstances would be disturbing to you. We had a relative who passed away in a house fire, but I don’t think about that she go think about this house (the family still live there)
Bloodybridget · 22/03/2022 20:28

I wouldn't like to think of someone having died in awful circumstances in my house. Of course many houses will have had deaths occur in them; someone dying of old age or in the course of illness is one thing, death by fire or some accident, or as a result of violence, is another.

user1471538283 · 22/03/2022 22:13

My favourite house had one of the owners die in it. It was such a happy house.

It wouldnt bother me.

saraclara · 22/03/2022 22:53

@Bloodybridget

I wouldn't like to think of someone having died in awful circumstances in my house. Of course many houses will have had deaths occur in them; someone dying of old age or in the course of illness is one thing, death by fire or some accident, or as a result of violence, is another.
Yep. My husband died in this house, naturally and peacefully, with us round his bedside. I'd have no qualms about living in a house where people had died through natural causes.

But I'd irrationally struggle with a tragic death or a suicide. Not for any woo reason, but because I have a very strong and visual imagination, and I wouldn't be able to stop myself visualising it or imagining their distress and panic.

Charette · 22/03/2022 23:01

Our house had a murder on the first floor landing. We knew before we bought it, and it hasn’t caused us a second thought.

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