I Bought A Haunted House In Wisconsin, Can I Sue The Seller?

It's Friday the 13th, so why not share a spooky story? We bought a house that sat on the market for a very long time. We thought we were getting a steal of a deal. That's when we met the neighbors when we moved in.

Moving into a haunted place.

They didn't waste much time destroying our home-buying dreams. "That house is haunted, you didn't buy it did you?" I asked why she thought it was haunted and she told me that multiple people had moved in and moved out right away. Also, there were lights that were on in the attic randomly.

Oh great. I kept the information to myself and didn't want to alarm the rest of my family, but let me tell you - I wasn't excited for that first night.

Every time you move into a new place there are new noises and nuisances that you need to get accommodated to. The sound of the boiler turning on for the first time convinced me there was a ghost in the basement.

Uneventful for the first few nights, but then some weird stuff happened.

The clock radio in the kitchen would come on in the middle of the night. It was startling. At first, I thought that maybe it was just because I had the radio alarm accidentally set. At least that's what I told myself so I could go back to bed.

Cat stared at the corner of the room, and she would get startled and book it.

We had a cat that was odd to begin with, but we noticed that she would be staring at things that weren't there. Sometimes, for no reason at all, she would leap up with her hair standing up and just book it out of the room, hiding in a corner of the house.

A psychic told us there is activity, but they are friendly.

We had a psychic that did readings with us on the radio. I've never been 100% sold on it, but it was still entertaining. So I asked her if we had some paranormal stuff going on. She said that yes, there were spirits in the house, but they were happy that we were there. Ok, I guess that makes me feel better.

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If I wanted to, could I sue the sellers for not disclosing the fact that it was haunted?

In real estate, sellers need to be honest about the condition of the property. Anything they know to be a defect needs to be disclosed, or legal action could potentially take place. For example, if the seller knew that the foundation was faulty and prone to collapse and it did, you could sue them.

But what about a haunted house?

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Haunted House Or Stigmatized Property

If you think there is something going bump in the night, but it doesn't physically damage your home, you don't need to disclose it as a seller. However, there is some gray area. Other states like Minnesota, actually have it written in the law that sellers don't need to disclose "perceived paranormal activity."

Here's the actual wording for Wisconsin shared by the Wisconsin Realtors Association:

Wis. Stat. § 452.23 (2) (a) states that a licensee is not required to disclose “that a property was the site of a specific act or occurrence, if the act or occurrence had no effect on the physical condition of the property or any structure located on the property.” This statute is intended to apply to “stigmatized properties” which have been or are the site of a murder, suicide, haunting or other notorious event which does not physically damage the property. If the event resulted in physical damage, the seller would normally be required to disclose the defect on a Real Estate Condition Report (RECR).

So if you think you have a legitimate case, you could contact an attorney and see what kind of advice they give you.

Or, in our case, just make friends with Casper and enjoy your time on the living side of this property.