Long Island agents, authors talk buying, selling houses with spooky pasts

Carolina Boucos said she "never got a good feeling" from a four-bedroom Cape in Westbury she was charged with selling more than a decade ago. That sense was confirmed when she returned to the home for a showing — alone.

"It was the middle of summer, not a breeze in sight," said the Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty broker. "I open the door with the key and step in, and the door slams closed. I go to open the door. I can't open it."

Boucos got out of the house, opting to let the prospective buyer's agent do the showing without her. The house eventually sold, but not before Boucos received a question from the eventual buyer that left her shaken:

'Why didn't you tell me someone died in the basement?'

Although it’s likely that many Long Island brokers have similar spooky stories, talk of paranormal subjects is practically verboten among real estate agents. After all, speaking publicly about these experiences can potentially hurt the chances of a listing being sold (several brokers contacted by Newsday did not want to discuss the topic). It ultimately may not matter much, however, given a majority of Americans’ skepticism toward the paranormal as well as a limited supply of housing in areas such as Long Island, the latter of which has driven buyers’ fervor to quickly place bids on homes they may have only visited once.

Fewer than half of Americans believe ghosts are real, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos in 2019. A 2022 YouGov poll found that two-thirds of Americans said they have experienced at least one of 13 paranormal experiences. The most frequent of these was "feeling a presence or unknown energy," which 37% of respondents reported. Only 19% reported "seeing a spirit or ghost."

A house with a 'presence'

Boucos, who described herself as "sensitive" to the paranormal, said when she encounters the presence of the dead and/or an unnatural, negative energy, she does her best to cleanse homes of this energy — with homeowners’ permission — by burning sage, placing white candles and white flowers and saying prayers. Negative energy can emerge from challenging events like messy divorces or from death, as in the Westbury home, she said.

Her experience at the Westbury home was one of a few that left her shaken. Her first impression of the home was so powerful that she asked her daughter Giselle Dimasi, also a real estate agent, to accompany her during a visit to the circa 1950s house so Boucos wouldn't have to be alone in it. However, her 7-year-old grandson, who was with the pair, started crying and wouldn't step into the house. Boucos entered the home alone on that occasion.

When the Locust Valley resident returned to the home on another day for a showing, she had to force herself to open the front door only for it to slam shut behind her. Recounting her experience still gives her chills, she said.

From where Boucos was standing inside, she could see the back door, reachable by a quick walk through the house. To get there, however, she would have to pass the basement door, which she said filled her with anxiety. Boucos soldiered on, scolding whatever presence she believed was in the house for getting in the way of the elderly homeowner selling her home, saying, "Shame on you. It's not right what you're doing."

Boucos got out of the house, opting to let the prospective buyer's agent do the showing without her. The house — which was listed from 2008 to 2009 for $725,00 before being relisted in 2010 for $575,000 — eventually sold for $475,000 in 2011.

A neighbor had mentioned a death to the potential buyer, who then asked Boucos about it. The agent contacted the seller's daughter, who confirmed an incident did occur in the house. Her father had been cleaning a firearm in the basement when he apparently accidentally discharged it, killing him. His death, in 2007, was determined to be accidental (New York State law does not require the disclosures of deaths in a home, only that of a "material defect" that would affect the home’s value, such as previous flood damage). This satisfied the buyer, and the deal closed, according to Boucos. 

Are potential buyers spooked by the paranormal?

Did the reported presence lingering in the Westbury house lead it to be on the market for years and lower its purchase price? It’s impossible to say. It’s more likely that potential buyers were spooked by the need to extensively renovate the home.

But this brings up another question: Are house hunters OK with purchasing a home with a reported history of ghosts? Unless a homeowner has publicly claimed they believe their house is haunted, as in the 1991 Stambovsky v. Ackley case in which the former tried to get his deposit back after finding out about a Nyack home’s reported haunted history, it is not required to be disclosed to a buyer.

'Really, everyone's house has something in it. This life and the afterlife are not as far apart as we once believed.'

— Kerriann Flanagan Brosky, author of "Haunted Long Island Mysteries" and several other books on Long Island's history with the paranormal

But, she said, "If it's known to have it, a real estate agent is not under any obligation to give that information unless it's specifically asked, because they do worry about not making a sale."

Boucos confirmed this to be the case. "We could never — you can't say it," she said about discussing alleged ghosts with potential homebuyers. "Why would somebody buy a house that we thought might have been haunted?"

A large part of the reason not to bring up this subject of the paranormal is that many people simply believe it doesn't exist, while it can deeply affect others whose minds are more open to the possibilities. For the latter, the horrors of the past held in a house could leave them with feelings of unease, while the former group will just enjoy the comforts of a home.

But there is a third group: people engrossed by the paranormal, who may seek out historic homes or those with dark pasts. These individuals may attend open houses and ask for showings, but this behavior doesn’t necessarily translate to a transaction, Boucos said.

Either way, Boucos will continue showing Long Island homes while ensuring any negative energy is cleared out.

"Everybody I've ever sold a home to, and I've sold many homes in 30 years, love their homes," she said.

Reportedly haunted neighborhoods on Long Island

Long Island is home to many accounts of unexplained phenomena.

Nassau and Suffolk counties have many hotspots for alleged paranormal activity near residential areas. These include Native American burial grounds, Colonial graveyards and the homes of those accused of witchcraft.

"Some people are adamant that their old houses are haunted — we have some homes dating back to the 17th century," said Stephen Long, executive director of East Hampton Historical Society. "If a community is from the mid 20th century, it has less history and therefore fewer stories of people dying in houses."

There are, of course, places that saw more recent tragedies, such as the Amityville Horror house and the shuttered Kings Park Psychiatric Center, which is believed to be haunted by its former inmates and sometimes elicit feelings of unease and terror in trespassing visitors.

It is this history that perhaps informs or stirs residents' experiences of unexplained phenomena, from the sound of creaky footsteps on another floor when there shouldn't be anyone there, the image of ghostly faces in a mirror or doorway or an unsettling feeling that can't be explained.

'When you have these older homes, you're going to have energy that's left behind.'

— Kerriann Flanagan Brosky

"Our Revolutionary War history and our Native American past are two things that really conjure up some of these [phenomena]," said Flanagan Brosky.

"When you have these older homes, you're going to have energy that's left behind," she said, adding that it’s believed that violent events make it more likely for this energy to persist.

Flanagan Brosky pointed to Cold Spring Harbor as the place with the most paranormal energy, largely due to its history as a port for whalers and the potential use of the long closed Van Ausdall Hotel as a brothel. The site of the hotel now hosts an upscale restaurant called Harbor Mist. Her research uncovered a double murder committed by an enraged husband at the site, along with an unexplained death that occurred there in the 1960s. Not only are the ghosts of these three individuals said to still be haunting the building, but according to Flanagan Brosky, most of the properties along Main Street — which were residences in the 1800s and are now shops—"have a ghost or a spirit or two."

Homes in the area typically sell for millions of dollars, with a median sale price of nearly $1.5 million, according to OneKey MLS.

Dead cats, Bible pages, 'witch marks' and other creepy things you could find in your home

Aside from ghosts and other unexplained phenomena, Long Island's "creepy" past includes reports of witches and the witch trials that followed. Both the Dutch and English settlers who built colonies in New York feared witchcraft, but there were notable differences between the two groups.

"Dutch magistrates were more cautious at trying cases involving witchcraft and often demanded strong evidence," said Scott R. Ferrara, a doctoral student and graduate teaching fellow at CUNY's department of anthropology who wrote "Accused of Witchcraft in New York." "On the other hand, English magistrates were more likely to try witchcraft cases and convict."

The English's deep unease led them to "protect" their Suffolk County houses with "anti-witchcraft" devices such as leather shoes placed near walls that were believed to stop non-corporeal witches from entering their homes, a practice that persisted into the 1800s, Ferrara said.

"I'm sure many people live in historic homes where they have found these 'anti-witchcraft' devices in the walls, chimneys, wells, etc.," Ferrara said. "Things like old leather shoes, desiccated cat remains, horseshoes, 'witch jugs,' Bible pages, poppets, corn cobs, etc., or have seen 'witch marks' carved into the beams of their house." Witch marks are carvings on houses and other structures that were believed to ward off evil.

East Hampton is one notable community with a reported history of both witches — Goody Garlick, who was accused of witchcraft by a teen who died shortly after giving birth and later cleared by the governor of Hartford, Connecticut, apparently lived on Main Street — as well as hauntings.

Finding odd, old items such as leather shoes and horseshoes, not to mention a dried-up cat corpse, in an unexpected place in a home might send shivers up most people's spines. However, understanding the history of witchcraft and the protective measures people took could bring some much needed clarity.

Flanagan Brosky said people should take this approach when it comes to alleged sightings of ghosts and spirits. "When you think of them as people like us who have passed on and crossed," she said, "it takes the creepiness out of it."