There was an adorable storybook Tudor house in my neighborhood that was in a sad state of disrepair. The roof was in terrible shape, to the point that there was a sapling growing out of the roof. Someone finally bought the place and I had a brief moment of hope that the house would be restored to its fairytale potential. That didn't pan out. First, the new owners reinterpreted the steep-pitched roof as Swiss chalet rather than English cottage. Disappointing, but hey!, they were still fixing it up, right? Yeah, about that...The new roof went on...the front half of the house only. ??????! The front half of the roof was sporty new green asphalt shingles, but the back was 40 year old gray shingles, with a weird standing seam where the two materials met. Mmmmmm, okay. So recently I drove by and the door was open and I could clearly see that there was no back to the house. The interior was gutted, and at least a good portion of the back of the house was missing. This without any indication that they had resumed major remodels. Mind you, this is 5 or 7 years after the initial chalet/roof debacle.

I don't know what they are doing. I don't know what they are thinking. But I am very sad for that house.

A house down the street is on an odd triangle corner, with street on two sides and two lots on the third side. It looks like it might hVe started as one storey, with another story added on. A front door faces one street, with kind of a metal-looking flat roof, and trees growing in the gutters, and roller shades drawn. The other side has a front porch and a couple of chairs, a couple of pots of fading plants in pots, car or two in the driveway. Potential to be cute. Yes, it's hard to tell which is the front. The lawn is mowed, hedges aren't really overtaking the house. So one side (on the slightly busier through street that we go down all the time) looks uninhabited and vacant, the other side looks lived in.

There's a house a couple of blocks away from us that has an almost military-style fence that encompasses the entire perimeter of the property; iron bars topped by barbed wire(!). There are solid metal shutters bolted down over all the windows and security cameras mounted on each corner of the house, at the end of the driveway and over the doors. I have no idea what goes on in there or what the owners may be trying to monitor but it's the creepiest damn place I've ever seen. And it has looked EXACTLY like that for the almost 30 years I've lived in the neighborhood.

When I was first house-hunting for my first stand-alone house (after the Anxiety Condo from Hell, which came with an abusive "alleged" drug dealer that moved in upstairs), my Realtor took me to a few scary homes:

1) very first place to check out, an older home with three bedrooms and no bath upstairs. All three bedrooms had steeply sloping ceilings, making it impossible for my six-foot self to use more than about a third of each room. To get to the one and only bath in the middle of the night would involve running down the stairs, passing through the "living" room (more of a sitting area), rounding the corner, running thru the kitchen, and into the bath tucked under the stairs. Also without full head clearance because of the stairs. I envisioned having one of those old-fashioned buckets/chamber pots up stairs for emergencies...

2) the house with the Indiana Jones stairway into the dirt-floored basement. You know the movie, the one where the large boulder comes crashing down after him? This was about the time that the Jeffrey Dahlmer story broke, with bodies being found in dirt-floored basements, too.

3) The empty house which we walked across to the deck and admired an excellent view. Until I happened to look up and noticed how remarkably-bowed the roofline was. I tugged at Realtor's sleeve, and pointed up. We both looked at each other, and tip-toed out of there before the structure could give way.

After those, I upped the price I was willing to pay for my new home!

PS, the first house is very near my current home, and I've seen nothing like any sort of addition being added to it. It goes on and off the market periodically. It is possible a subsequent owner may have converted one of the bedrooms to a bathroom.

Running place- that's crazy!

artemis- ooh I hate dirt floor basements. We looked at a house that scared us structurally, too. It was a beautiful house in an expensive neighborhood that was being sold below market value ostensibly because of the awful Austin Powers-esque decor. We were quite ready to look past all that until we went into the basement- which bowed so badly I was afraid we wouldn't get out in time!

During one of our house hunts, realtor took us to a lovely home- until we went to the basement, it wasnt a dirt floor, but it had a storage closet at one end. It had a thick door with a deadbolt lock- odd I thought. Once opened it was room sized, and unfinished and very cold. I pulled on the pull chain light and noticed strange words and symbols were carved into every surface. I grabbed my DH, my kids and literally ran to the car. I never decided if someone had been held captive there or if it was used for weird rituals but there was no way I was buying that house.

Oh that sounds like the opening scene of a horror movie....

If any thread was crying for photos, it is this one.

Agree, Linelle! There are no scary houses near me but I am enjoying this virtual tour.

I know! I thought about adding a pic, but I didn't feel right posting an image of someone else's house, particularly given the subject. :-)

when my friend's husband died, she was so scared of living alone that she boarded shut all the windows that faced the street. She lived by a main country road and was afraid that at night drivers would be able to see the interior--she felt exposed. From the outside the house looked HORRIBLE, scary, abandoned, ugly. My friend is an avid gardener and the back of her house was a paradise and you couldn't find a more delightful human being, it hardly matched the haunted fascade of the front. Nobody could change her mind. She eventually sold the house to live closer to family. New owner removed boards from windows, spruced the front and the house is pretty again. I think my friend now feels a little silly about her decision, but it's all in the past.

kiwi, I have no qualms about posting someone else's place if I'm positive they'll never find the thread. Also I'd blur the house number.

vossner, that's sad about your friend being so scared of living alone. I was a lot of things after my husband died, but scared wasn't one of them. I probably should be more cautious of people being able to see inside my house, but I've reached the point of not giving too much of an eff.

In my sub division all the lots are 2 or more acres. When we arrived there was a bo-na-fide earth home in our "neighborhood". It sold and scary began. The new owners brought in a manufactured home and sat it on top of the earth home making it appear to be a two story. Reversal of fortune and the home went back to the bank. One evening while out walking, a young couple looking to pick up a good deal stopped us and had some questions. We got a tour. There was an illegal staircase joining two stories, but the place was a duplex, two kitchens etc... but all the light fixtures were stripped and cheap ones were purchased but never installed, they were laying about. We found it interesting how a bank could sell this mess but if that couple purchased it--NEVER would they be allowed to sell with that staircase not up to code. I do not think an architect could get it figured out. When there isn't room there isn't room. They passed, and the new buyers are SCARY. The house now looks like hoarders have moved it. There are several vehicles in the yard and piles of bricks,wood, and an assortment of toys and lawn mowers. They appear to be do it yourself-ers--who do not know what they are doing and don't seem to notice things don't turn out quite right. The neighbors all get excited when it looks like they are picking up..but they never seem to finish the job before they start on the next and there are quite a few projects in the works. It has their closest neighbors very upset..worried about property values and all. It is unfortunate there is really nothing we can do.

Oh that is depressing, especially since the original earth home was probably really cool!

This is bringing back memories of the house across the street from an apartment I had several years ago. The house had a very tall stockade-type fence around the entire yard. The residents had to open and close a sliding gate to get a car in or out. From the street, you could see the peak of the roof, but nothing else. In a neighborhood where people only fenced in their backyards, and most houses had no fences at all, this house, with the fence just inches from the sidewalk, just looked creepy.

I lived on the second floor of my building, so I could look down and see inside the fence. They had 3 or 4 large dogs, I think Dobermans, who lived outside and constantly patrolled the yard. The yard was dirt, no grass. And you never saw anyone out in the yard, playing with the dogs, or sitting on the porch.

A week or so after I moved in, I was bringing another load of stuff from my storage unit to the new apartment, and I parked my car on the street, as it was a shorter walk to my unit than from the parking lot. As I was walking across the yard, carrying a box, I heard yelling from the house across the street. Then the gate opened and an SUV drove out at high speed, turned into the street, barely missing a car parked there, reversed direction and headed down towards my building. A man came running out of the gate, yelling and chasing the car.

Then the car swerved, the driver over-corrected the swerve, drove through the hedge at the edge of my yard and headed straight for me. I dropped the box and ran. My books got run over, but I was fine.

The car stopped, the man ran up, opened the door and dragged a young woman out, shouting at her. He ordered her to go home and started to leave. I ran after him, asking for his name and phone number, as I felt I needed to let the landlord know what happened. He refused to give me any information, told me to shut up and leave him alone, grabbed the girl's arm and marched her back, came back and got the car.

So of course I called the police. It was apparently a family argument, and the girl was only 14 years old.

I had to call the police again when the dogs got out and came into our yard and were very aggressive when we tried to get to our cars.

And again the night I heard shots fired. No one was killed, but the father was arrested. Did not see the children at the house after that.

Oh my gosh!!

I lived in a neighborhood with similar house/fence arrangement, back in the day. Theirs was a corner lot, with the house angled on it, that apparently had no "back yard" so they fenced their side yard. The neighbors referred to it as "The Fort" when giving directions. I am glad there was nothing icky going on..just a family trying to make the most of an awkward yard. And yes the earth home was quite unique and an asset to the neighborhood. The owners were lovely people. When neighborhoods begin to turn over to the next generation, life can change.

The scariest house I've ever been in as a buyer is the one where a huge cantilevered deck was literally deforming the main floor, which had a big dip by the stone fireplace and mounds where the deck was tied in to the floor structure. The really scary part is when our realtor called theirs and she said "What floor problems?" we high tailed it out if there.

Thank you so much auntjen, kiwigem & bpathome for the very warm welcome and apologies for the delay in responding! Now that you've told me how, I'll definitely pop back to add some pics when I'm not so tired - it's half past midnight here - but in the meantime I'm loving reading everyone else's scary house stories!

Mimi x

Right after the house next door to us sold to a 50-something single guy, we were awakened one morning by the sound of a jack hammer. This went on for several days...the jackhammer work was being done inside his garage with the door closed. We didn't see any work truck out front, so assumed he was doing the work himself. One morning after the jackhammering stopped, we noticed a big stack of concrete chunks in his driveway. He had apparently hauled them out of his garage during the night...and they were gone by evening. Later he had several truckloads of dirt hauled off; then we saw lumber being delivered and heard hammering for another couple of weeks. Next, a concrete truck pulled up and poured a new garage floor.

He said there had been a crack in the garage floor, so he replaced the floor. He didn't say a thing about the hauled-off dirt, lumber and hammering, and we didn't ask. We think he must have built himself a bunker...BUT since he turned out to be quite an oddball, most of the neighbors think he's probably a serial killer and built himself a place to hide bodies.

The house in the title paragraph might be growing/making drugs.

Organisedsarah, the lumber was probably formwork for the new concrete.

Right folks, going to try to add pics. The first two show the (less than attractive and frankly rather scary - grey, bleak!) view from our lane, whilst the others show the garden front - only seen by us.....the lemon paint is currently in the process of being replaced by F&B 'Green Smoke'......

Hope this has worked!

Mimi x

Oh my gosh Mimi! Your garden is so lovely and evocative. I can forgive the previous owners and their lemon paint. Looks like they were trying their best to add some cheer to the sad front facade. The green smoke will look great!

Sarah - that does sound scary! We joke that one of our neighbors is a serial killer because of how he keeps his garage- clean like an operating room- as though you can smell rubbing alcohol coming from it when you walk by - lol. It's just in good fun though. your guy really does sound a little scary!

Beautiful.

I've never seen this house, but one town over from me about 6 years ago the current (or at least, the then-current) home-owners decided to remodel their kitchen.

Lo and behold, when they pulled up the kitchen floor, they found a skeleton.

Back in the mid-80s, a woman had been reported missing by the then-owner of the house, and no trace of her was ever found -- well, until that remodel.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we have a winner.

Artemis this is not nearly as creepy, but your story reminds me of something I had completely forgotten about our first house. The family we bought from had lived there for decades. The kids were all grown and gone. But apparently rather than have the kids share two bedrooms, they gave the girls each their own room and had the son sleptin the attic. This struck me as a little bit offputting because the attic was unfinished and you had to access it through the master bedroom. (To each his own, but I would not find my teenage son having to walk through my bedroom in the middle of the night if he needed to use the restroom a satisfactory situation!)

Anyway the whole time we lived there we called the attic the "Secret Nixon Room", because the whole area that the son used as a bedroom was covered, absolutely covered- like two layers thick- in magazine and newspaper clippings about Richard Nixon. You couldn't really tell if he had an extreme admiration for the guy, or if he wanted to assassinate him. It was different...

Mimi, welcome!

Your house is gorgeous!! Wow.

My house was the creepy house on the block. There was a gate at the driveway with a camera, and they left all the fence lines brushy so the house could not be seen from the road.

The first thing all the neighbors said was , " WOW, we can SEEE the house!"

then..." We are SO glad some decent people moved in....we can let our children play outside now!"

They must have been SOME pieces of work!

I think I would have trouble staying at this, the Ettington hotel...

...only because it was the building used in the Haunting of Hill House...one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.

It looks so creepy in black and white with the tilted lens!

I remember a house we had to walk past everyday in the 8th and 9th grade. All the other homes on the street were nicely taken care of but this one had overgrown trees and big junipers almost making the walk too narrow to get the mail up to the door. They finally put up a mailbox and the front walk kind of closed up except to the cats. When I read about Boo Radley, I always thought of that house. I loved the shape of that house too, it had beautiful Cape Cod windows and a balcony on the second floor. Because of the poor condition of the exterior and the neglected yard, it looked like a Halloween house ( except the light was always off on Halloween ) There was an old car on the side that looked like it never moved. In the fall and winter, leaves piled up until they covered the sidewalk like snow and spilled out into the street.

Sadly, our first house became scary. It was a tiny 2 bedroom in FL, and we had a lot of great memories there. I drove by years later, and despite the fact that someone was living there, all of the windows were boarded up, and the back yard had an 8' privacy fence with all sorts of 'Keep Out' signs. Looked liked something illegal was going on there.

25 years ago, DH and I were looking for a house. We found one super cheap - sizable lot, old Victorian house that had been abandoned but had "good bones". We had just closed our cabinet shop to move back to the Northeast. We certainly had the equipment and the expertise to renovate it ourselves.

We talked about it most of the night - planning rather grandiose [reflecting back now] "We can do this..." and "We can do that..." projects. The next morning, DH said "I had dreams last night about that house that scared the cr@p out of me." I said "SO DID I!" As if it tried to possess us until we got far enough away from it and regained our sanity. We had the SAME dreams. It was too weird for words.

One other house we looked at was on Shades of Death Road. Which I thought was a unique postal address, but DH wouldn't even consider it after the possessed Victorian.

I truly believe houses have souls or auras or whatever you want to call them.

very scary stories! bad people make bad houses. These stories remind me of the Jaycee Lee Dugard captivity and the Ariel Castro kidnappings. You just never know . . .

After seeing the Castro victims freed, I REALLY started wondering what the whole garage thing was about with my neighbor. The one thing that kept me from thinking the worst was that the police chief was his neighbor on the other side, and that man is a truly snoopy neighbor and I'm SURE he checked things out! He did bring in enough lumber to have built a room under his garage floor.

SHADES OF DEATH ROAD? Now THAT's quite an address! I thought our home in Kansas was on an odd-named street: Hithergreen Drive. We found out the street signs were made by prisoners at the local penitentiary, and they simply didn't know how to spell Heathergreen. Was there a reason a street was named Shades of Death? Was it in Death Valley or something?

Mimi, your house is spectacular! That wisteria vine ---- SWOOOOOON!

Mimi, so beautiful!

Sarah, sounds like one of those Doomsday Prepper types.

That's a great link, my3dogs!

OK...NOT moving to Shades of Death Road was a very good idea, malna, after reading the link My3dogs posted!

A month before we got married, my fiancé rented an apartment in a house for us. He was very excited about the charm of our first home, could not wait to show me. He told me what street it was on - it was NOT Shades of Death Rd! - while we were driving to this fabulous place, and I told him about the house on that street my little brothers and I always considered haunted while we were growing up because of the weird twisted brick pillars and vines all around It, many chimneys and a cupola. Oh, the stories my brothers and I made up about that house!

Of course that was the very house my fiancé had just rented. And of course, he was working goofy hours that included working from 7 pm until 4 am two nights a week at the time! My four brothers took turns sleeping over two at a time on the nights hubby worked the entire time we lived there, but that made the horror stories we told even worse because we kept trying to outdo ourselves while we were in the house.

The house was a beautiful victorian with gorgeous wood, stained glass windows, a huge fireplace, etc. but that didn't matter. We loved scaring ourselves silly. We never actually saw a ghost, but we sure thought we did. And we told my husband and our parents we did, too. They didn't believe a word of it. I was 20 when I got married, my brothers were 19, 15, 11 and 10.

mushcreek, those of us on the building forum know how much effort you are putting into your house. If you put anywhere near that into your first house, what you describe would be quite a fall from grace for your poor first home!

Not scary, but odd...11 years ago when we were house hunting, one of the houses we looked at was a nice house (empty). As we were upstairs looking at the bedrooms, one of the bedrooms had an access door to the attic (I think the room had sloped ceilings and a kneewall). Anyway, it was nice little low door complete with a door knob, but what was odd was it had a peephole. We thought at first that the peephole may have been put in so a kid could make sure there were no "monsters" in the attic or something like that...but the peephole was installed facing into the room and the door was the only access to that part of the attic. Maybe the owners had kids who played house and in the attic, but it just seemed really odd. We still refer to it as the peephole house

Daki: Ok that is seriously creepy if you ask me, but then I have a recurring nightmare about discovering a man living in my attic -lol!

I was talking about this thread with my neighbor and she told a story about a house down the street. This house was always in good condition and the yard nicely maintained. The yard seemed a little neglected for a time but I really didn't think anything of it. Then the home went up for sale. My neighbor went to the estate sale. The elderly lady had Alzheimers and starved to death in her own home. No one thought to check in on her. She had no family and friends to know that she was in trouble. She always lived quietly and kept to herself. Who knows how many places get neglected because the elderly owner is unable to maintain it. Now it's hard to pass by without feeling a little sad about what happened there. I always enjoyed her pretty stone lion and unicorn among the clipped hedges and roses as I walked by.

Oh that's so so sad!