Haunted houses for sale

325 Summit Street
Lockport, New York
$129,900

This 5400 sq. ft. federal-style fixer-upper (1st image) was built in 1834 entirely of limestione blocks quarried on site by local abolitionist Francis Hitchens, owner of the Lockport Glass Factory. The house was supposedly a stop on the underground railroad. At some point it was the residence of a wealthy family who owned a number of slaves. As legend has it, the slaves were unhappy with life in the Summit mansion, went insane one by one, and took revenge on the family. Their pets were disfigured, the family members were massacred, and the slaves then turned on each other. Those who survived the resulting murders and suicides were taken into custody. Since then, apparitions have been seen in the mansion's windows, voices have been heard inside, and visitors experience a sense of being watched. The mansion has been owned by the Ruhlmann Family since the 1940s, but hasn't been occupied since 1960. When a buyer attempted to restore the house in the mid-1990s, the frightened workmen left their scaffolding in place and fled - or at least that is the story. Ray Ruhlmann says that the rumors of haunting by a slave or Civil War soldier are an attempt to explain the mansion's abandonment: “No, it’s not haunted. It’s just an old house that hasn’t been lived in for many years — it’s as simple as that.” He hasn't had any offers on the house, which would likely cost at least $300,000 to renovate, but has leased it to the Western New York Paranormal Research With Integrity, which is conducting daytime tours of the property and hosting overnight stays. Co-founder of the group Russ Krest is not ready to put all the rumors to rest: “Yeah, I do think it’s haunted. This place is a calm, wonderful place during the daytime. Soon as the sun goes down, it changes.”

2042 State Road 222
Tate Township, Ohio
$900,000

This property includes the 4,000 sq. ft. manor house (2nd image), a 4-car garage, a guesthouse, a summer kitchen, a tobacco barn, a fishing pond, and nearly 100 wooded acres. The 2-story brick house is an architectural landmark with stepped gables at each end. One of county's oldest homes, it was built almost 200 years ago by brothers John and Edward Salt, who moved from Kentucky to Ohio with their English parents in 1796. John Salt raised hogs, floated them down the Ohio River on flatboats that he would build, and sold them in New Orleans. The Allen Family, who has owned the property for nearly 40 years, found French coins dating to the 1800s during a 1972 excavation in the yard, and the house is on the National Register of Historic Places. The ghost of a young girl appears infrequently and doesn't appear to be malevolent. "I have only seen her twice. She was walking in an upstairs bedroom. She appeared to be about 12. She had a long white dress on and blonde hair. She didn't speak to me," describes Lisa Daniel Allen, who grew up in the house.