apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Call Ghostbusters!

i was gonna say that!!!

pretty sure paranormal activity doesn't fly as a legal reason for breaking a lease. i think your best bet would be to try your hardest to find some other reason that you should legally be allowed to be released from the lease

I believe Illinois law says that if you can prove that the property was stigmatized before you moved in and no one disclosed it, then you can break your lease. Stigmatized meaning that people said it was haunted/someone was killed there, etc. Or, (this would be tougher) you have to prove that your 'Quiet Enjoyment' is being disturbed. Quiet does not literally mean the noise level, it means that you should be able to inhabit your space without unreasonable interruption.

If you are strapped for cash, go to a free law place and they may be able to help you out if your Landlord won't release you from the lease.

I would suggest calling a local paranormal research team. Try finding one that is willing to look for other reasons besides it being paranormal (ie plumbing, electrical problems, etc.) Also, many of these teams are willing to try to help spirits move on or bless the house. If anything they can help you feel more comfortable in your home. Here is a place to start if you are in Chicago.

http://www.hauntedchicago.com/investig.htm

The 'stigmatized' idea applies to sales, I assume it would apply to a lease contract....

Maybe it's not the place that's haunted; maybe YOU are haunted.

If there were any items left over from the previous tenant - photos, mirrors etc. get rid of them.

What kind of paranormal activity is going on?

I swear I'm not a hippy dippy weirdo, but I've read that sage smudging that help drive positive ions out of a house, and sweetgrass smudging can help bring negative ions INTO a house (yes, the negative ones are the GOOD ones!). Google sage smudging and do a bit of reading on it. I have a couple friends who have tried it and thought that the house felt "happier", "lighter" and "safer" afterwards. Who knows!

But as a final thought, if you constantly feel unsafe and scared while you're home: break your lease. Your mental health is worth more than a lost security deposit.

I meant "sage smudging CAN help drive positive ions", not "THAT help drive positive ions".

Inquiring minds really want to know....what kind of paranormal activity?
I hope you find a solution, Marie.

er, I grew up in a haunted house... When my parents had our priest come to bless our house, the spirits subsided for a bit.
But I would contact a tenants rights group to see how you could get out of your lease. Even if the spirits are 'good', living with them can be stressful.

I want to hear the ghost story!

I lived with paranormal activity in a dorm room one year at college. :P Of course, it didn't scare me...and it didn't follow me once I left.

Smudging the room/entire apt. is great advice. Especially when moving into a place that had (one or many) previous tenants. If anything, it helps to "cleanse" the energy in a room...ghosts or no ghosts. Give it a try - I think they sell smudge sticks at Transitions Bookplace on North Ave.

Also - are there strange sounds in the room? Maybe you can find a way to record it and see if it's enough evidence for your landlord to let you out of the lease.

I'm sort of afraid to answer this because it sounds like a setup.

I don't see any indication that the doctrine of stigmatization exists in Illinois, and I see no reported cases mentioning it. Even assuming it does exist, and that it does apply to rental properties, a typical remedy would be for the landlord to offer to reduce your rent or move you to a different but comparable unit.

If the so-called paranormal activity manifests itself as, e.g., banging or moaning or something that disturbs your peace and enjoyment of the unit and (crucially) is something that an objective person (i.e., a reasonable person other than yourself) agrees is intolerable, sure, you have an argument. Just bear in mind that landlords do not have to be reasonable, and may dare you to take legal action because they know most people won't. My first rental unit in Lakeview suffered severe water damage from an overflowing bathroom in the unit above, rendering my kitchen cabinets unusable, among other things. The building also had severe roach problems and periodic rodent populations. Yet the landlord (Planned Property Management) would do nothing for me.

In any event, your time and energy might be better spent coming to grips with why you believe that paranormal activity is going on and whether there are other factors (defects in the building, weird neighbors, too much stress in your life, pharmacological explanations, etc) besides what you suspect is paranormal activity to explain the situation you're in.

1) Check for carbon monoxide leaks. According to wikipedia (and a this american life episode, at least):

Some of the phenomena generally associated with haunted houses, including strange visions and sounds, feelings of dread, illness, and the sudden, apparently inexplicable death of all the occupants, can be attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.[citation needed] Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include listlessness, depression, dementia, emotional disturbances, and hallucinations.

so it's worth looking into, maybe you can get your landlord to expense that.

if that turns up negative there's a california law that allows you to terminate a lease if you can find a suitable tenant to replace you. maybe look that up? do the carbon test first though, you don't want to be breathing that shit in.

I would read your lease and the city's landlord-tenant laws carefully. Even though you have a one-year lease, you may be able to break it for a nominal penalty -- there should be a clause in your lease that requires 60 or 30 days' notification. For example, my current lease here in DC is for a period of one year, but my lease allows me to leave at any time if I give 60 days' notice. DC law, which is controlling, requires only 30 days.

I'm not sure the non-disclosure rule works on rentals, the only instances I remember were about sales of property. I agree about seeking out either a tenants' rights group (generally they work with people facing slum landlords and other situations, but I'm sure they'd have some answers for you) or a legal aid group.

And to Jim -- yes, she should look at other causes, but let's assume that she's already done that since she's considering breaking her lease, possibly at great cost to herself. Moving after only a month isn't a decision people make lightly.

You poor thing, I've lived in haunted places and can empathize. I now live in a creaky old house, and before moving in I had someone come do a "clearing" because the place didn't feel quite right to me. She used sage and some other things - I'm not sure what she did, but the house felt very different afterward and still does.

Like others recommended, either research sage-ing the house yourself, or find someone who can do it for you. This particular person I used is a shaman. It was the best money I ever spent.

If that doesn't work, break the lease and move. Then leave nasty comments about the landlord on the internet. ;)

I have ghosts in my apartment - and I live on the 15th floor, so no chance of carbon monoxide poisoning.

I find it simpler to keep the peace with the spirits by simply acknowledging their presence. I tell them "Goodnight" and they don't bother me at night by tapping on my shoulder, whispering in my ear or sitting on my bed - but if I forget, there they are demanding my attention (like an old cat, minus the litter box and fur)

As far as "Safety": Ghosts only hurt people in the movies - in real life, they're merely an occassional nuisance.

My sympathies to you. A few years ago I had an opportunity to buy a beautiful row house in DC for an amazing price. I was ready to jump on it, and then the agent told me that some years ago, a family was found shot to death in that house. I was, like, screw that. I was too afraid to buy the house - I had this fear that the deceased family might start haunting the living crap out of me after I moved in.

BTW: the photo for this post is hilarious - it looks kind of like MIchael Meyers from movies Halloween I through, what, 10 now?

I lived in a haunted house. Footsteps and such. Acknowledge them, talk to them, tell them to leave you alone.
Something that I told mine.

" You can not make noises like that when I am looking at both cats, it's not fair" After that all huge crashes with no corresponding messes, happened when the cats were elsewhere in the house and were a potential cause of said noises.

If I could pretend that the noise was caused by the cat, then it didn't bother me as much.

Don't insult them or be rude. Also don't pretend they are your friend. Some people get sucked into a private world. They are mildly annoying roommates.

I had ghost chasers come over. They didn't manage to get anything on film that I know of, but I told them (ghosts) that "people are coming over to take your picture at 7 pm"
One gal said she saw a guy/ghost standing on the porch waiting as she drove up.

I lived there for 8 years and never had any problems.

Please, people, tell me that you're joking!?!

Not sure if you have had any experiences like this prior to moving into your new place but many people believe that spirits are attracted to people not places. Certain people are a bit more sensitive to experiencing things like ghosts or "hauntings" simply because they are mentally and spiritually open to the phenomenon (whether they like it or not).

^ SRSLY

I'm with JulesDC. You have to read the fine print in your contract. Usually there's a clause in the contract that gives the tenant an out, and no reason has to be given for moving. In my province, it's thirty days' notice, and all the landlord can claim is perhaps some advertising costs, not more than a couple hundred dollars. Landlords often depend on tenants' ignorance about rental/lease agreements. Also, even if you did sign an agreement that states that if you move early you must pay out the balance of the lease, it may not hold up if you challenge it – your state most likely has a set of rules/a standard rental contract that landlords and tenants must follow. Contact your local tenants' rights office.

I have always lived in old historic buildings and almost all of them were haunted to some degree. I've never actually seen any ghosts, but I used to hear them making noise late at night, most of the time it sounded like a tv or radio...that I got used to after awhile, although there was one time I heard what sounded like a bunch of kids yelling...I slowly made my way to the bedroom window to see what all the noise was about (it was quite loud and getting louder) and the second I pulled up the shade the sound stopped suddenly! Needless to say, I ran back to my bed and hid under the covers.

One old house that I lived in that dated back to 1893 had a poltergeist that used to play tricks on us by hiding objects in odd places, such as keys inside a plant, etc. I never felt threatened and after awhile I got used to them and even made jokes about them. Once when I had an out of town visitor, I was telling them about the ghosts and they were getting scared, then all of a sudden the lights went out...and neither of us was near the lamp to turn it off. My friend was so freaked! Maybe the ghost really wanted to scare someone, since I was no longer afraid.

It has never occurred to me to break a lease because of ghosts, cause the landlord would most likely assume that I'm nuts. Definitely raises some interesting questions.

I hope when I pass on there are better things to do than hang around whispering and creaking floor boards. Sounds dull.

lol, peacelily & particlebored - I'm sayin'! How is everyone here so serious about this?

If you can get the ghost to testify for you, you can break the lease

ok, this thread is spooking me a little bit.

You can check around with local churches to enquire if someone would be willing to come out and bless your house. My sister in law was convinced their new house had bad juju and a local minister came out to bless it. She felt better immediately. Worth a try if you can't break your lease!

This thread raises some interesting questions. Mind you, so does wondering who would win if Superman and Spiderman had a fight. Just because its interesting doesn't make it valid.

Let me tell you about my own experiences:

I used to work in a museum that had a rather unfortunate history - all of the caretakers before me had died, suddenly and unexpectedly... except for one who'd just gone mad.

If I went through the museum at night or on a particularly quiet day, I used to get a horrible feeling of dread, like I was being watched, like there was someone else in there with me. I kept seeing sudden movement out of the corner of my eye, but of course when I looked there was no one there.

It actually took me a couple of years to work it out. The museum was full of glass-fronted display cases, placed at odd angles to each other. When I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye, what I was seeing was a reflection, or more often a reflection of a reflection, of myself as I walked through the museum. Because of the angles of the glass, the reflection would be in a strange place, or moving in the opposite direction to me.

That was about 12 years ago and I'm still alive, and only slightly mad. The "haunting" of the museum was a mixture of coincidence and optical illusion.

So in conclusion, get a grip, Marie. And the rest of you, stop enabling her.

I've heard that if it isn't monoxide, that it's worth reminding the entity to leave. You can do this, or find a friendly neighborhood psychic to do so. Keep your preference clear. Seriously, I was once told to use this phrase: spirit be gone! Not in an angry or fearful way, just definitive.

Most interesting comments EVER. I'm serious!! Carbon monoxide?! Sage rubs? It's fascinating!!

Marie, we demand details!

(Pretty please. Love ghost stories.)

Landlord by law has a duty to mitigate, if a tenant breaks a lease. I don't know the rental demand in your neighborhood, but perhaps you could try to help LL find another tenant, and pay the LL his/her 1-yr loss difference, if there is any. And then run - run away from your place real fast. You said you feel unsafe - trust your instinct.

Alternatively, if the loss differential is unaffordably huge for you, then perhaps a roommate for the next 11 months might help alleviate some of the fears.

Honestly, though, this thread is scaring me. Now I've got images of the Amityville Horror and the Shining going through my mind and I can't get to sleep.

Hmm... I don't think that anyone here is "enabling" the original poster. I can understand that it's difficult to believe that she could be experiencing paranormal activity if you haven't experienced it yourself. But, for those of us who have, it's a legitimate question.

My suggestion is to find a priest. Even if nothing is there, a priest blessing the place won't hurt, and might make you feel more comfortable.

www.sgi-usa.org

chant and enjoy your home.

Maybe the loony bin still has a room free?

I'm having ELVIS' baby!

What, is this becoming the National Enquirer Apartment Therapy? AKA "NEAT".

Haunted houses?
Cheesy red plastic mannequin feet having sex chairs?
House of dead things?
Eight foot long, seven inch high tables (for the ghosts)?
Peeping over fences?

So, I am having Elvis's baby, and it will be born fully developed, but in miniature size, like a Ken-doll. You know, because of the aliens. I was probed.

I don't believe in ghosts or gods. If there were ghosts, you'd think the world would be jam packed with them. The Target store in Colma should have stuff flying off the shelves all the time:

"Colma is perhaps best known for its 17 cemeteries which comprise approximately 73% of the town's land area."

Source:
http://www.colma.ca.gov/profile.html

There was the time of a horrible stench in the building, but that was due to a sewage problem, not ghosts.

My only odd question is "What happens to everyone's baby teeth?"

Where do they go? All the people in the world past and present had baby teeth that fell out. There should piles of baby teeth. Mountains even.

I've never seen a ghost. I'm a little annoyed about that. My mum died last year. No ghost. Just proves I wasn't the favorite.

Perhaps some of the people on this thread would enjoy this website:

http://www.randi.org/

Seriously, it's the 21st century.

Maybe you could say it is not vacant?

Until Marie tells us exactly why she feels unsafe its hard to take this seriously.

Most people that have a bed feeling about a place, have that feeling instantly and don't rent/buy that place.

What has happened to Marie since she saw the new apartment and love it enough to rent it?

"Haunting" is not a legally recognized event, and thus not a means of breaking a lease; you might find a loophole in the laws that let you break the lease, but if the landlord wants to play hardball they'll win (the fact that you've already mentioned haunting to them will give them leverage against you).

The trick, of course, is whether they'll want to play hardball with you or not.

As mentioned by Violetsrose above, you may want to consider what has changed between the time you rented, and now. Something changed -- in you, or in the apartment. Maybe both.

It will be more productive if you spend time thinking through this, rather than worrying about ghosts. You're allowing fear to rule your life; why?

If you dodge the hard questions you will end up in another bad place, through no fault of the place itself.

You can buy a carbon monoxide detector for about £30 so would be about $60 or cheaper in US and since this is no joke (you can suffer long term brain damage from this type of poisoning, if not actually die in your sleep) you should do this first.

Otherwise however you need to make yourself feel better about where you live. Plenty of people who think feng shui and all that stuff about magnetism and positive energy in a room is a bunch of arse are much happier once they rearrange their furniture! Do what you like to make yourself feel better, chanting, waving plants about whatever and then get on with living in you home. Don't move and don't give in or these feelings will follow you everywhere and you may never get another good nights sleep again!

Officially I don't believe in ghosts, but I get the spooks all the time. You just have to ignore the cynics (how do they know better than you eh?) and do what feels right.

This is just silly. Clearly something is going on, but it isn't ghosts. I think Marie should reach out to a priest or rabi -- for counseling, not an exorcism.

Can you sublet? If its making you this unhappy maybe its worth investigating....will the landlord let you break the lease if you bring in a replacement? Perhaps enlist a friend who could help show the place and give more objective answers (if you are feeling traumatised by the experience).

But if you like the apartment to begin with, give the place another shot - do a deep clean, rearrange the furniture, make the place as welcoming as possible. Enlist a shaman/priest/rabbi/hippie whatever works for you, to bless your home. Talk to your neighbours and find out if there are any local explanations for any unusual experiences. Sound can carry in weird ways..I''m sitting on the 38th floor right now, and once in a while I hear street noise in my office...its a little odd, but not paranormal.

And finally do what makes you happy. It may be worth paying a penalty to the landlord to get away if nothing else works.

native americans believed in burning lemongrass/lavendar/sage bundles and carry it around your house, wave it around and and start in the back of your house, and work your way towards the door--it supposed to push the spirit out of our home. . my friends house had a ghost . .seemed to work for her--

i have nothing productive to add, but wow. best thread ever!

I think it's unfair to automatically assume she has mental problems or is just imagining things when it sounds like she really feels uncomfortable in her own home. The last thing someone wants to hear when they are legitimately afraid is that they must just be crazy.
But, I think she should definitely try all avenues (carbon monoxide, emf or a blessing) before going through the expense and hassle of breaking a lease.
I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but sometimes you can't explain why something make you feel uncomfortable.

My dorm room in college was haunted: items went flying off of shelves, lights flickered, the whole 9 yards. Cool for parties, a little annoying when I was trying to do my homework. My friend's aunt (who was "connected") told me: talk to them, tell them if there is behavior you really don't like, stay calm. The "energy" can also change with times of year, houseguests, etc.

Having people who will listen helps a lot. Good luck.

Ghosts aren't allowed in my home. I don't have a religious belief, but I don't buy reasons why there can't be ghosts either. I've never seen one and I hope never to see or sense one. I get creeped out, I got so creeped out last night reading this topic that I couldn't continue reading, couldn't respond, and couldn't turn around. It's just a feeling. There are no ghosts in my apartment that I'm aware of, but I get afraid to check on things because, you know, it's going to be there and startle me something fierce, and then I can't unsee it, like that red foot sex chair. It's like, if I'm thinking of it too hard in fear, that's when it will show up. It's not going to be there later when I'm just going about my business.

There are just things we don't know in the world, even in atheism and skepticism, there's science beyond our current ability to measure and know, and I file the possibility of ghosts there. I also think it's a fallacy to think the world would be full of ghosts by now if they existed, and another fallacy to suppose they'd all be evident if the world were full of ghosts. I don't file ghosts with religion at all, you can call them spirits if you want to, but I don't consider the subjects even a little related.

I suppose if you think sage works as a superstition, it could just as well alter or affect the status of the air or be ineffective as any folk remedy, sort of how eucalyptus is some kind of flea repellent or moths and other bugs are attracted to light. If it has some scientific effectiveness, or if it's merely a folksy ritual for a mental placebo, it's just as likely plain nonsense.

As for feng shui, I believe in it a little, but mostly to the power of arranging things so they work for your needs a lot better, appear balanced for your safety and relaxation, not to magically appease some external invisible thing that will attack you if you don't follow strictly. Rearranging your belongings and choosing colors to aggravate you less makes sense. These things at home that uplift or relax or cause you worry or anger travel with you outside in your demeanor and generate other attitudes, fortunes and misfortunes, not in some cosmic way, but in a socio-psychological soft science way. It's in basic, why we decorate our homes - because we value the power it has to feed the soul, which brings us full circle to ghosts.

This comments thread is really depressing.

My grandpa haunted our house after he died, but in a friendly way. Marie, I believe you when you say your apartment is haunted, but you have a right to live there in peace. Tell the ghost it must live by your rules while you look into your legal options. You may find that things will calm down and you won't need to call 'ghostbusters' or look into moving.

BTW, when you leave a cemetary, you should always tell the locals to stay put so that you don't bring home any stray spirits.

Its not that I don't believe in ghosts but I always think that assumption shouldn't be jumped to until all other options have been explored. I mean, you've only been there 29 days. All buildings and individual apartments in them have their own unique sounds etc. You don't say what makes you so sure its haunted but have you made sure its not just 'normal' building noises? I've moved a lot and know it can take a long time to place every sound etc. in each place.
It just seems suspicious that you immediately want to break the lease without trying any other options...sage, blessing, talking to current and past renters, etc.

In Chicago you can always sublet, you can't sign away that right in your lease. Breaking your lease, even through a lawyer, or "renters agency" can mark your credit AND make it near impossible to be approved for another apartment (except perhaps through a small LL) - in NYC there is a database and if you've gone to housing court for any reason (your fault or others, if you won or lost) you can be essentially blacklisted.

I hope Marie shares details of what's going on.

If it's loud clanging in the walls, it might be just the pipes.

If it's the semi-transparent figure of an old man hovering a foot above the ground offering to fold the laundry, then it's probably a ghost.

(p.s. Don't let him touch your laundry, Marie. Ectoplasm is impossible to wash out of natural fibers.)

I kid ... but I'm open-minded and sincere in my request for descriptions of what's going on.

OK, taking the "uncomfortable" part seriously, yeah, I can understand that. There are things that can bother you, that may even be background things that you don't notice so much consciously, but subconsciously they are registering. And perhaps triggering memories of other events that were negative, or creating that "mystery" that you cannot identify.

As you cannot identify it, you assign it as supernatural. And you may give it powers it does not have.

Send a guy back in time with a bic lighter and a cordless drill and he too, would be a god. Why? Because he would have something mysterious and unidentifiable.

Things that go bump in the night as long as I have been alive have had a rational, logical explanation.

Example: At SFSU, during some summer course on film, the theater started whistling. The whole thing. Kind of howling. Yes, some people freaked out. People had dropped the class because of that sound, past and present.

Whether the instructor was jerking the students around or not, I don't know. But said something about "other people think it's haunted".

It's NOT haunted. There is an air intake above ground that has a flat/level opening. Ever blown across the top of a coke bottle? Makes that howling moaning sound?

That sound was carrying through the theater. Poor design of the air intake had wind making that same kind of sound and it was amplified by the design of the air circulation system and the set-up of the theater.

Haunted? No.

Distracting? Very.

Next, there are scents and smells and sounds and differences in the surroundings in this new place. It might be more or less humid. Or be a completely different climate for you (is it?).

Ask any of us old farts about weather change and joint problems. This is one example:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/safety/2005-02-21-health-pressure_x.htm

That might sound fishy, until you realize that people can have severe allergies in one area and not in another. Because they are not affected by the pollens in the other area. Right?

So you may have moved to a different climate, and now you are affected by the weather. Or pollens. Or chemicals.

Yes, chemicals. There's stuff you can smell and stuff you can't smell. Whether or not you can smell it is a moot point. As with the CO2, you don't need to smell anything to die from it.

Usually, around this complex, I can tell when apartments are being redone AND when they have been doing something to an apartment they don't usually do.

That can include painting, pulling up old carpeting and pads and putting down new (which also might release a gazillion bits of dust mite stuff and pollens and molds that worked their way down into the carpet). Chemicals for sealing or lubricating or whatever stuff is used for all parts of apartments.

So you could have seen the apartment you are in on a good day, with no chemicals, and no pain in your body and no allergies.

Pay attention to everything. Are they rehabbing a nearby apartment? Is there construction of any kind in the neighborhood? Are you near any shops or businesses that might put off fumes of some kind, including restaurants.

Is there considerably more or less greenery? Or greenery of a different kind? That could have to do with allergies. And that could have to do with better or worse air quality. Plants clean the air.

Ideas to try, this fan:
http://tinyurl.com/49go5u

You might be able to find it at local Rite-Aid stores, if you have those. It uses a regular furnace filter, which you can get in varying filtration levels.

That might help in a couple ways, if it's light sound that is irregular, this will mask that sound, if you turn it on HIGH. I, personally, find the WHOOSH sound to be very comforting. If you don't like that kind of sound, uh, don't get that fan.

For chemicals, that you may or may not be able to smell, read these articles (the usual ones I post for plants that clean the air):
http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htm
http://www.essortment.com/all/houseplants_rwhz.htm
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-ten-houseplants-for-cleaner-air.html

And get that sensor too.

While I can't do anything about barometric pressure, there are things to help dehumidify or to humidify as needed. You could very well feel miserable if you are not used to humidity and happen to have moved to an area that is more humid than you like. Or hotter. Or colder.

And there's the old-fashioned "This isn't what I thought it was going to be like" feeling. Sometimes we fool and trick ourselves, by building up what something will be like. And it's not like that at all.

Of course, sometimes we get fooled and tricked by others. Into believing something that isn't true. And it's never nice to be fooled or tricked.

My mother grew up in a house in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. She's sane. My grandmother is sane. My aunts and uncles are sane. But they all have stories of hauntings that happened in the first 10 years they lived there (the '60s I think). I believe them although I've never seen a ghost.

Would love to hear details! Makes me feel like a kid again.

as much as i feel for your discomfort, i am loving this thread

"I believe Illinois law says that if you can prove that the property was stigmatized before you moved in and no one disclosed it, then you can break your lease."

The Stigmatized Property Law references NOT telling people that a mass suicide/murder/horrible nail gun incident took place in the property to keep it from lowering the value. Not only can you not mention the incident, you are legally not allowed to voice an opinion/vibe/hunch that anything like that is going on.

My ex-husband is a real estate broker and we had a long talk about this. I guess in an older city it's more likely that someone has died in just about any space and it makes it hard to avoid. On the other hand, in Texas it's illegal NOT to disclose that the home may be haunted.

Interesting topic. By the way, where did the picture up top come from? That's not from the OP is it? If so, CREEPY!

where is this marie person? with so many responses, at the very least she owes a big ol' thank you to the at community. marie? are you out there? yeah, right...

(on the bright side, now we all know how to get rid of those pesky-bad vibes and otherwise that hole themselves up in our personal spaces. maxwell...take note.)

"BTW, when you leave a cemetary, you should always tell the locals to stay put so that you don't bring home any stray spirits."

Oh crap! I never even thought of this. I do tons of cemetery angel photography. I wonder how many hitchhikers I've drug home!

BTW, whatever is troubling Marie, I don't doubt her sincerity and think it should be respected. Deal with it in whatever way brings you peace and comfort.

Continuing on with the "I don't know if this is for real or not, so I have to kid a bit" theme...

pxlchk1: The law REQUIRES disclosure of horrible nail gun incidents? Are there a lot of those?

What about hot glue gun incidents? That stuff on high setting is really hot.

What if there were a lot of paper cuts on the property? Do those have to be disclosed?

My father is a real estate broker -- and he has to tell possible owners when people have died in the property they would like to purchase.

Is there a renter's board in CHI that can help you?

apt therapy is too late! the ghosts got to her!

i'm sympathetic, but you don't have any legal standing here -- there is no conclusive evidence to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts anywhere, least of all your apartment. so if you pursue breaking your lease on the grounds of being haunted, you have the very difficult burden of proof that 1. your landlord knew of a pre-existing poltergeist situation, and 2. ghosts have done things that disrupt your ability to live peacefully and safely in your apartment AND your landlord was negligent in stopping the ghosts. this isn't like having a leak in your ceiling -- you can't prove that ghosts exist. there is no way you can expect him to be capable of reasonably addressing and resolving the problem. additionally, if your landlord doesn't believe that there are ghosts in your apartment, the landlord might have a valid complaint against YOU on the grounds that you're stigmatizing (and thereby devaluing) his property. if you can't stand living in the apartment, you don't have to stay there. but you would be better off trying to work with your landlord to sublet or assign your lease.

I was worried that my old apartment was haunted. Turns out instead I was just having hallucinations due to sleep paralysis.

Anyway...check your lease for a disenchantment clause. If you can reasonably argue that there is something about the apartment/environment that you were not aware of upon signing, you should be able to get out alright.

I'm shaking my head at the mind-boggling level of ignorance being displayed in many of the comments. I commend the landlord for a tactful, restrained reply to an utterly kooky question. At least there are some rational comments here, amongst all of the utter nonsense.

Lightspeed, how can you call people's opinions "ignorance" and "nonsense"? Just because your opinions are different, that doesn't make everyone else wrong. This is a topic that interests and excites people. If you are so intolerant, then why do you participate in a public forum?

True Blue,

Yes, those glue gun incidents need to be more widely reported. Maybe Oprah can do an episode and check with Nate B on glue guns...

Doogle - please don't confuse an "opinion" with an objective "fact". If you made an assertion that "the Earth is flat" or "1 plus 1 equal 3" and I said that your statement was "nonsense", it would have nothing to do with a disrespect for your "opinion". If it's intolerance you think I have, then it's intolerance for people spouting myth as if it were fact -- which I don't apologize for.

Hi Marie,

I can clear your place for you if you like, remotely, with just the info you've given, gratis. No guarantees of course, but I have done it before. Just let me know if you would like me to, since your question didn't necessarily indicate a desire to do so!

Yes, it sounds all woo-woo, but hey I live in California now...

Yeah, that's the ticket! I'll just burn some weeds, wave my hands a bit, and it'll all go away! And all you pay is shipping and handling!

Marie, no disrespect to you, but I would suggest that you look for physical explanations of the phenomena first. Sure, the ghost explanation is the sexy, exciting one, but it's also the least likely to be true.

Jim G, thanks for the James Randi link. Love that guy.

I rented a home in Indiana and was plagued by poltergeists. Beginning at about 1 A.M. there would be doors slamming, or lights going on and off rapidly, or the faucet/shower being turned on and off. One night a salt shaker hurled through the air from across an empty kitchen and just missed my husband's head, hitting the door casing with such force that it chipped the wood. We both stood there in shock. Living in that house was a terrible experience that I will never forget.

To those of you that are poking fun at Marie: Please do not make fun of those of us who have experienced events such as this, as it could just as easily happen to you. You don't have to believe in something to make it so. There are things in this world that are not readily explained, and that would scare any logical person.

A statue of St Joesph helped rid my house of its ghost (an elderly man standing in the hallway about 10:30 every night). St Joseph is the patron saint of new homes. I live in a house built in 1890 about half a block down from a very large, historic cemetery so I pretty much expected otherworldy visitors.

I lived in a three story house years ago....Everynight at 2:30 I would hear steps going up and down the stairs.

I was the only one at home most nights. I would get up to investigate and find nothing...

Up and down, night after night, the footsteps continued without fail. Never any explaination....The sounds seemed to stop at the bottom landing at the threshold.

One day I met an elderly woman who was original to the neighborhood. She told me how glad she was to see me rehabbing the house and taking it back into a loved state.
She then went on to say that most people left soon after taking occupation.

"After all of the tragedy that place has seen, it's good to see you paying attention to it". I asked her to elaborate...

"Well, the place was built by a shift worker who worked the midnight shift at the local refinery. The town was a bit of a rowdy frontier back then and he'd worry about her safety each night when he went to work".

He bought her a shotgun and taught her how to use it for her protection. One night there was a fire at the refinery and the workers went sent home from the areas not affected.

The husband went home but realized he had forgotten his house key. Not wanting to wake his wife he went from door to door, all of them locked. Finally he tried to pry open a window. The window next to the front door, on the threashold to the stairs was a likely candidate.

You can probably figure out the rest of the story....Since the old neighbor women told me the story, till the day I moved out three years later, I never heard another footstep at night.

I've lived in a handful of old buildings and nary a ghost to frolic with. :-(
I've always wished for a friendly spirit with a penchant for washing dishes. A girl can dream - can't she?

Marie - please ignore the folks on this board who mock your problem.
I have to agree with GreenLight - in that I've heard from too many sources that the best place to start is to kindly, but firmly ask the ghost to leave, or to stop scaring you... whatever you are comfortable with.

I heard one woman share her experience of moving into a new (to them) house and found that her dog would growl and freak out in or near the dining room. She said she felt like an idiot asking the ghost to leave, but since she has - her pooch is feeling much better about the joint.

The topic of paranormal or afterlife visits truly intrigues me. My sister died when I was 15 and I long for a visit from her. I recently read a book by John Edward (the 'Crossing Over' guy) and he too suggests asking the spirit to leave or chill out. Nothing to lose.
If that doesn't work, try a house blessing or shaman or sage.

Good luck.

One of the most simple things to do in order to get rid of evil - or just annoying spirits? Put a glass under your bed with half of water and half of sugar overnight. It works all of the time and it could not be more simple.

Having lived in a haunted apartment, I feel for you. We heard a grandfather clock chiming, kitchen chairs slide across the tile floor, a pipe organ, voices.. the list goes on and on. We never felt threatened but I used to bargain with her. I would tell her that she could make all the noise she wanted on the weekend if she would let us sleep peacefully during the work week. I don't think it ever really worked.

Our solution was to steel our nerves and deal with it. We loved everything about the apartment and figured that our "Miss Mary" only made things more interesting.

if I were a ghost...why would smudging sage drive me away?
and why not a cigarette?

"The law REQUIRES disclosure of horrible nail gun incidents? Are there a lot of those? "

No! You CAN'T disclose horrible nail gun incidents. It would effect the property value!!!

There may be a ton of them. But we'd never know!

Of course, this is all going on the word of my ex-husband and his self-claimed "expertise" as a real estate broker. Given he was F.O.S. about everything else... :)

"The law REQUIRES disclosure of horrible nail gun incidents? Are there a lot of those? "

No! You CAN'T disclose horrible nail gun incidents. It would effect the property value!!!

There may be a ton of them. But we'd never know!

Of course, this is all going on the word of my ex-husband and his self-claimed "expertise" as a real estate broker. Given he was F.O.S. about everything else... :) :::hiss:::

"The law REQUIRES disclosure of horrible nail gun incidents? Are there a lot of those? "

No! You CAN'T disclose horrible nail gun incidents. It would effect the property value!!!

There may be a ton of them. But we'd never know!

As for the paper cuts, only the truly gruesome ones that end in a horrifying death.

Of course, this is all going on the word of my ex-husband. It wouldn't the the first time I found out he was F.O.S.

"The law REQUIRES disclosure of horrible nail gun incidents? Are there a lot of those? "

No! You CAN'T disclose horrible nail gun incidents. It would effect the property value!!!

There may be a ton of them. But we'd never know!

As for the paper cuts, only the truly gruesome ones that end in a horrifying death.

Of course, this is all going on the word of my ex-husband and his self-claimed "expertise" as a real estate broker. Given he was F.O.S. about everything else... :) :::hiss:::

I feel badly that I am joining this discussion so late. I am a regular poster here and my hobby for the last thirty years has been paranormal investigation.

In fact, this weekend, I was busy conducting an investigation in a house in Davenport, Iowa. I've written a book on the subject, made television appearances, and have done hundreds of presentations at colleges and universities on the ghosts and hauntings. In the region where I live, I am well known as The Ghost Lady.

Marie, if you will contact me, I will be happy to refer you to a reputable paranormal investigator in your area. There are lunatics out there who present themselves as investigators who are looking for a cheap thrill. They come in, make a mess of things, and then us serious folks have to clean up after.

Real paranormal investigators are a small community and most of us know each other or are connected with each other through different organizations. I'll be happy to help you, if I can.

"I commend the landlord for a tactful, restrained reply"

I agree - the landlord tackled this request in a very professional manner

When I lived in New Orleans, I lived in a haunted apartment. My roommates would constantly burn sage and complain that he would always bang on their doors. He never did that to me, because I asked him nicely not to. I know it sounds silly, but it usually worked. If he banged on my door at night, I would just ask him if he needed anything, if not would he please stop. He would. Then he would bother everyone else.

I would much rather live in a haunted house that the place I live now.

Check it out for gas leaks or toxic mould - some moulds can be hallucinogenic, as well as being very bad for your health.

If everything checks out fine, and there's no logical, real reason for it, get over it. You have an overactive imagination, and I doubt overactive imaginations are a reason for breaking a lease - so chill!