Paranormal House

Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991), commonly known as the Ghostbusters ruling, is a case in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, that held that a house, which the owner had previously advertised to the public as haunted by ghosts, legally was haunted for the purpose of an action for rescission brought by a subsequent purchaser of the house. Because of its unique holding, the case has been frequently printed in textbooks on contracts and property law and widely taught in U.S. law school classes, and is often cited by other courts.

Facts and prior history[edit]

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During the course of her ownership of the property at issue, which was located in Nyack, New York, Helen Ackley and members of her family had reported the existence of numerous poltergeists in the house.^[1] Ackley had reported the existence of ghosts in the house to both Reader's Digest^[2] and a local newspaper on three occasions between 1977 and 1989, when the house was included on a five-home walking tour of the city. She recounted to the press several instances in which the poltergeists interacted directly with members of her family. She claimed that grandchildren received 'gifts' of baby rings, all of which suddenly disappeared later. She also claimed that one ghost would wake her daughter, Cynthia each morning by shaking her bed.^[3] She claimed that when spring break arrived, Cynthia proclaimed loudly that she did not have to wake up early and she would like to sleep in; her bed did not shake the next morning.

Neither Ackley nor her real estate broker, Ellis Realty, revealed the haunting to Jeffrey Stambovsky before he entered a contract to purchase the house in 1989 or 1990. Stambovsky made a $32,500 downpayment on the agreed price of $650,000 for the house.^[4] Stambovsky was from New York City and was not aware of the folklore of Nyack, including the widely known haunting story.

When Stambovsky learned of the haunting story, he filed an action requesting rescission of the contract of sale and for damages for fraudulent misrepresentation by Ackley and Ellis Realty. Stambovsky did not attend the closing which caused him to forfeit the downpayment (although he was then not obligated to buy the house).^[4] A New York Supreme Court (trial court) dismissed the action, and Stambovsky appealed.

The case[edit]

Majority opinion[edit]

Near the beginning of the majority opinion (three out of five justices) appears its most well-known conclusion: 'having reported [the ghosts'] presence in both a national publication.. and the local press.. defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.' The court noted that regardless of whether the house was truly haunted or not, the fact that the house had been widely reported as being haunted greatly affected its value.

Notwithstanding these conclusions, the court affirmed the dismissal of the fraudulent misrepresentation action and stated that the realtor was under no duty to disclose the haunting to potential buyers. Thus, no damages were available to Stambovsky because New York, at the time, adhered to property law doctrine of caveat emptor.

The appellate court reversed the trial court's decision regarding the rescission action, however, as it went on to note that 'haunting' was not a condition that a buyer or potential buyer of real property can and should be able to ascertain upon reasonable inspection of the property. According to the court, though the doctrine of caveat emptor would normally operate to bar a rescission action, causing seller to have no duty to disclose information about the property to be sold (but also preventing the seller from affirmatively misrepresenting the condition of the property), the doctrine, in a merged law and equity system, can be modified to do justice to the parties. In this case, 'the most meticulous inspection and the search would not reveal the presence of poltergeists at the premises or unearth the property's ghoulish reputation in the community,' thus equity would allow Stambovsky the remedy of contract rescission against the seller, Ackley. The court held:

Where, as here, the seller not only takes unfair advantage of the buyer's ignorance but has created and perpetuated a condition about which he is unlikely to even inquire, enforcement of the contract (in whole or in part) is offensive to the court's sense of equity. Application of the remedy of rescission, within the bounds of the narrow exception to the doctrine of caveat emptor set forth herein, is entirely appropriate to relieve the unwitting purchaser from the consequences of a most unnatural bargain.

The opinion makes reference to a number of popular books and films featuring ghosts, including Shakespeare'sHamlet and the 1984 movie Ghostbusters and uses supernatural idioms throughout (e.g., 'plaintiff hasn't a ghost of a chance', 'I am moved by the spirit of equity', and 'the notion [..] is a hobgoblin which should be exorcised from the body of legal precedent').

Dissenting opinion[edit]

The dissenting opinion argued that the doctrine of caveat emptor should be strictly applied and would affirm the trial court's dismissal of all of the actions. Displeased by the majority's basis for its holding, the dissent said, 'Finally, if the doctrine of caveat emptor is to be discarded, it should be for a reason more substantive than a poltergeist. The existence of a poltergeist is no more binding upon the defendants than it is upon this court.'

Epilogue[edit]

The case generated considerable publicity and area real estate agents had between 25 and 50 potential buyers calling within a week of the court's decision.^[4] Among the prospective buyers to the house at 1 LaVeta Place on the Hudson River was Kreskin. Kreskin was a renowned mentalist interested in purchasing a haunted home in which to curate his collection of paranormal paraphernalia.^[4] Ackley sold the house to another buyer and moved to Florida in 1991. Helen Ackley died in 2003 and her son-in-law 'lays odds' that her spirit has taken up residence back at 1 Ackley Place.^[3] There have not been public reports of hauntings in recent years.

Ghost Stories[edit]

The house had been vacant and was in disrepair when the Ackleys moved into the waterfront home in the 1960s.^[5] Local children purportedly warned them that the house was haunted, though no prior paranormal incidents appear to have been published.^[5] Helen Ackley claimed there were at least three ghosts in the residence. She described two as a married couple who lived in the 18th century, and the other as a Navy Lieutenant in the American Revolution.^[4] In 1993 she was contacted by paranormal researcher Bill Merrill, and medium Glenn Johnson who claimed to have already made contact with two of the spirits at 1 LaVeta Place. The pair met with Helen and disclosed that the couple were likely the poltergeists of Sir George and Lady Margaret who lived in the region in the 18th century. In 1995 Merrill and Johnson published a book about their findings entitled Sir George, The Ghost of Nyack (Deer Publishing, Beaverton, Oregon) – still available on Amazon.^[3][6]

• Helen claimed to have seen Sir George:

sitting in midair, watching me paint the ceiling in the living room, rocking back and forth.. I was on an 8-foot stepladder. I asked if he approved of what we were doing to the house, if the colors were to his liking. He smiled and he nodded his head.^[4]

• Helen's daughter, Cynthia, when she was a child, reportedly would be woken most mornings by one of the spirits shaking her bed. When Cynthia was out of school for spring break she announced loudly before going to bed that she did not have school in the morning and would like to sleep in. The next morning she was not awoken by a shaking bed.^[1]
• Helen reported to neighbors that they heard phantom footsteps and slamming doors.^[7]
• Helen's grandchildren allegedly received trinkets, such as rings, from the ghosts. These trinkets would later vanish.^[1]
• Helen's daughter-in-law was gifted disappearing coins in the same manner, and Cynthia as an adult, claimed to receive silver sugar tongs.^[1]
• Helen claimed that her son came 'eyeball-to-eyeball' with the figure of the Revolutionary Navy Lieutenant.^[4]
• Mark Kavanagh lived in the home briefly while engaged to Cynthia, he purported hearing conversation from a vacant room.^[5]
• Later Kavanagh recounted another experience:

Cyn had already fallen asleep and I was drifting. Then I heard the bedroom door creak, and the floor boards squeak. My back was to the edge of the bed. Suddenly the edge of the bed by my mid-section depressed down, and I felt something lean against me. I went literally stone stiff! I was speechless and could hardly move. I was able to twist my neck around enough to see a womanly figure in a soft dress through the moonlight from the bay windows. I felt like she was looking straight at me. After about minute, the presence got up and walked back out of the room. I finally relaxed enough to shake my wife out of sound sleep acting like a toddler who just had a nightmare.^[5]

All but Kavanagh's accounts were written by Helen and submitted to Reader's Digest magazine and published in its May 1977 issue.

Despite these somewhat unnerving tales, the Ackleys said they had a peaceful coexistence with the poltergeists, and the only account of any terrorizing events is Kavanagh's tale reproduced above.^[7] Kavanagh later reflected on the incidents that he experienced and came to the conclusion that the ghosts were evaluating him to make sure he was a good suitor for Cynthia.^[5]

Since the Ackleys moved from the home in the beginning of the 1990s there have not been any more accounts of paranormal activity reported by any of the subsequent owners of which there have been three.^[7] However, Merrill and Johnson reported that Sir George and Lady Margaret expressed that the spirits were not as fond of the new owners and were thinking of moving on.^[8] It is also reported that after the judgment against Helen in the lawsuit she claimed that she was moving and taking the ghosts with her.^[7]

The house - history and today[edit]

The imposing Victorian waterfront home was built in 1890 with 5 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, and approximately 4,628 square feet. George and Helen Ackley purchased the home in the early 1960s and shared the home with their four children, Cynthia, George, Cara, and William.^[9] George died at an area hospital after heart surgery in 1978 at the age of 53, less than one year after the first accounts of paranormal activity appeared in Reader's Digest.^[10] Though his death was not in the home, there was a death in the home later when a relatively young and otherwise healthy dinner guest died of a brain aneurysm.^[7][10] By 1990 the residents included Helen's grandchildren, daughter-in-law and future son-in-law, Mark Kavanagh.^[1][8] The Ghostbusters home sold on Jan 8, 2016 for more than $600,000 above comparable homes in Nyack according to Trulia, fetching $1,770,000.^[11]

The exterior of the home was red for some time, though it has now been painted light blue.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdeGiamarie. 'The Haunted House On The Hudson Ghost Theory'. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
2. ^Helen Herdman Ackley (May 1977). 'Our Haunted House on the Hudson'. Reader's Digest. p. 217.
3. ^ ^abc'Ghost of Nyack: Update'. www.ktransit.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
4. ^ ^abcdefgBarron, James (1990-03-20). 'Phones Ringing (Eerily?) For Nyack Spook Home'. The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
5. ^ ^abcde'Ghost of Nyack: Background'. www.ktransit.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
6. ^Johnson, Bill Merrill & Glenn (1995-01-01). Sir George The Ghost Of Nyack. Beaverton, Or.: Deer Publishing Co. ISBN9781883832056.
7. ^ ^abcde'Nyack Sketch Log: A Legally Haunted House • Nyack News and Views'. www.nyacknewsandviews.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
8. ^ ^abStrom-mackey, Robin M. (2015-08-02). 'The Shore : Helen Ackley's Haunted House on the Hudson'. The Shore. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
9. ^'Kavanagh Website -> Family Page'. www.ktransit.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
10. ^ ^ab'Clark County, OH, Posted Obituaries for'. www.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
11. ^'1 Laveta Place, Nyack, NY Trulia.com'. Trulia Real Estate Search. Retrieved 2016-09-21.

External links[edit]

• The Ghost of Nyack, Atlas Obscura

A Haunted House is a 2013 American found footageparodycomedy horror film directed by Michael Tiddes, written, produced and starring Marlon Wayans.^[3] Although Wayans said the film was 'not exactly a parody' but rather a movie with funny characters doing the opposite of what typical people do in similar horror films,'^[4][5] the film pokes fun at the 'found footage' horror genre, such as Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside. It was released on January 11, 2013 and was panned by critics, but grossed $60 million against a budget of $2.5 million.

A sequel, A Haunted House 2, was released on April 18, 2014.^[6]

Plot[edit]

In August 2012, a young couple, Malcolm and Kisha, move in together. As Kisha arrives, she accidentally kills Malcolm's dog named Shiloh by running him over with her car. On the first night, Malcolm is constantly awoken with Kisha farting loudly that eventually drives him out of the room. The next morning, when Kisha notices her keys on the floor, she tells Malcolm they might have a ghost. To prove to her wrong, Malcolm has security cameras installed by Dan the Security Man and his brother Bobby. Malcolm tries to have sex with the camera on, but Kisha tells him to turn it off. Before they really start, Malcolm turns the camera back on and records everything. In the morning, Malcolm and Kisha watch the video and notice the door moved. Malcolm suggests it was caused by his lovemaking.

The next night, Malcolm notices the paranormal activity and tries to move out of the house and leave Kisha. Since he can't sell his house in the current market, they hire Chip, a psychic, to investigate; Chip immediately falls in love with Malcolm. Before Chip can leave, after finding nothing wrong, Kisha confesses to making a deal with the devil for a pair of shoes. Chip tells Kisha she is screwed and invites Malcolm to join his wrestling group. After Chip leaves, Kisha shows Malcolm a video of her eighth birthday, in which she began to experience paranormal activity by her imaginary friend, Tony. The next night, Kisha gets out of bed in the middle of the night, stands by the bed for several hours, and begins to dance. Malcolm wakes up and follows Kisha to the kitchen, where he catches her eating uncooked food and drinking old milk. She screams crazily when Malcolm restrains her. In the morning, Kisha remembers nothing.

On another night, Kisha urges Malcolm to investigate a noise, but it turns out to be Rosa, his Hispanic housekeeper. Rosa quits, and Malcolm and Kisha smoke marijuana with the ghost to relieve their pain. The next day, Malcolm's friend Steve and his girlfriend Jenny bring over a ouija board to communicate with the ghost. When it misspells ghost as 'gost', they all laugh at it, and it throws the ouija board across the room, scaring Jenny and Steve out of the house. That night, the ghost drags Malcolm out of the room and has sex with Kisha. When Malcolm finds out, he calls his cousin Ray Ray, who immediately flees when he sees the ghost's powers. That same night, Kisha waits for the ghost until it gets late and leaves. After Kisha leaves, the ghost rapes Malcolm.

Malcolm and Kisha anger the ghost by ignoring it, so it attacks Kisha in the night while Malcolm listens to music, through headphones, on his computer. In the morning, Malcolm notices something is wrong with Kisha and calls Father Doug to do an exorcism. When it does not work, Malcolm calls Dan and Bobby to help. Chip also rushes into the house to help. During the exorcism, Kisha escapes into the living room. Before Malcolm and Doug find her, Doug accidentally shoots and kills Rosa, who had come to pick up her last check. When they all meet in the living room, Kisha behaves very strangely and flees to the basement. The group follows and finds her crying in a corner. When Malcolm reaches for her, she attacks him, and the whole group beats her up, apparently forcing the ghost out of her body.

The next night, Malcolm and Kisha have sex with the camera on for about three hours. In the middle of the night, Kisha wakes up and stands next to the bed for a few hours before walking out of the room and making a big crash and screaming Malcolm's name. When Malcolm comes out of his room, Kisha throws him back, and he hits the camera, knocking him out. When Kisha enters the room her shirt is bloody. She crawls to Malcolm and sniffs his body until he farts in her face. As Kisha lunges at the camera, her face takes on a demonic appearance. A minute later, Malcolm wakes up telling everyone he survived and Kisha is behind him making him scream.

Cast[edit]

• Marlon Wayans as Malcolm Johnson
• Essence Atkins^[7] as Kisha Davis
• Cedric the Entertainer as Father Doug Williams
• Nick Swardson as Chip the Psychic, a psychic who lusts after Malcolm
• David Koechner as Dan 'the Man' Kearney
• Dave Sheridan^[7] as Bob 'Bobby' Kearney, Dan's illiterate brother/associate
• Marlene Forte as Rosa, Malcolm's Hispanic housekeeper
• Andrew Daly as Steve, Malcolm's exchanger friend
• Alanna Ubach as Jenny, Steve's wife
• Affion Crockett as Ray-Ray, Malcolm's gangster cousin
• Robin Thede and J.B. Smoove as Kisha's mother and stepfather

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

A Haunted House grossed $40.4 million in North America and $20.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $60.5 million, against a budget of $2.5 million.^[2]

The film grossed $18.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Zero Dark Thirty ($24.4 million).

Critical response[edit]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 9% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 2.59/10. The site's critical consensus reads, 'A Haunted House seeks to offend every sensibility, but its greatest sin: not being funny!'^[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 20 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews'.^[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of 'B–' on an A+ to F scale.^[10]

Nick Swardson was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

Home media[edit]

A Haunted House was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, and digital copy on April 23, 2013. Mad max 2.

Sequel[edit]

On April 8, 2013, it was confirmed that Wayans, Open Road, and IM Global Octane will produce a sequel due to the financial success of the first film. The sequel had begun shooting in early July 2013.^[11] On April 18, 2014 a sequel titled A Haunted House 2 was released.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'A HAUNTED HOUSE (15)'. British Board of Film Classification. April 23, 2013. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
2. ^ ^abcA Haunted House at Box Office Mojo
3. ^Buchanan, Jason. 'A Haunted House (2013)'. AllMovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
4. ^'Marlon Wayans: I Guarantee You'll Love 'A Haunted House' Z 107.9'. Zhiphopcleveland.com. January 11, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
5. ^'The Blacklist: Lord Baltimore - TVGuide.com'. TVGuide.com.
6. ^'Open Road Films Sets A Haunted House 2 Release Date'. ComingSoon.net. May 3, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
7. ^ ^ab'A Haunted House'. ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline Media. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
8. ^'A Haunted House (2013)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
9. ^A Haunted House reviews at Metacritic
10. ^'CinemaScore'. cinemascore.com.^{[permanent dead link]}
11. ^'Open Road Films Plans A Haunted House 2'. ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. April 8, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2013.

External links[edit]

• A Haunted House on IMDb
• A Haunted House at Box Office Mojo
• A Haunted House at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Haunted House at Metacritic