It's Great To Live In A Haunted House (If You Can Turn It Into A Business)

Imagine buying a property, spending thousands to refurbish it and get it up to code, only to find out it's haunted.

That's bad news for most of us, but if you're in the haunted house business, any suggestion that you have an actual ghost on the premises is good news.

Bud Stross, who owns and operates the Dent Schoolhouse, a haunted attraction built on the premises of an old schoolhouse in Cincinnati, boasts that his establishment was supposedly the site of a mass murder.

"The school opened up in 1894 and was shut down in the 1950s after it was discovered that a janitor named Charlie McFree killed a bunch of kids and put the bodies in the basement," Stross told HuffPost Weird News.

Although Stross' employees had reported spooky encounters, he admits he was skeptical until two weeks ago when he had his own encounter with an apparition.

"It was around three or four in the morning when I caught something in my eye, a lady in a black mask," he said. "It was my first ghost. We jetted out pretty quick."

Stross said there have been other strange events as well.

"The guys in the construction crew were skeptical, so when they report hearing strange footsteps, I take them seriously," he said. "We've never had a problem that hurt the show, but some actors have been pinched."

Not wanting to let a good thing go to waste, Stross has used the alleged ghosts as a marketing tool. However, while some people might raise their hands in fear, others might raise their eyebrows in skepticism.

Stross freely admitted that he's tried to research the history of the Dent Schoolhouse, but said records are inconclusive.

"The district that the Schoolhouse is in -- District 12 -- is the only one with corrupt records, suggesting a cover-up," he said. "And the Cincinnati Enquirer has no stories about it. It's really strange because we're always looking for information about it."

The idea of a paid haunted house actually being haunted isn't as uncommon as you might think.

According to HauntWorld.com, a website dedicated to the haunted attraction industry, there are at least 13 professional haunted attractions that are allegedly haunted.

Editor Larry Kirchner said the owners of these attractions didn't necessarily intend to locate their businesses in haunted real estate -- it was a coincidence based on market realities.

"You have to go back to the 1980s, when haunted attractions started getting big," Kirchner said. "The owners were looking for spooky-looking houses on the outskirts of town. Well, those houses are all gone. They've been turned into malls. Now, the new attractions are being built in the inner cities, in old warehouses."

PHOTOS: HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS THAT MAY REALLY BE HAUNTED (STORY CONTINUES BELOW)

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  This time of year, there are lots of haunted attractions where people pay good money to get the wits scared out of them by actors. But some of these haunted attractions may have some real-life spooks that are working free of charge.

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  The Dent Schoolhouse is a haunted attraction built on the premises of an old schoolhouse in Cincinnati, Ohio, that was supposedly the site of a mass murder.

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  The school opened up in 1894 and, legend has it, got shut down in the 1950s after it was discovered that a janitor named Charlie McFree killed a bunch of kids and put the bodies in the basement, according to owner Bud Stross.

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  Although Stross' employees have reported spooky encounters, he admits he was skeptical until two weeks ago when he had his own encounter with an apparition. "It was around three or four in the morning when I caught something in my eye, a lady in a black mask," he said. "It was my first ghost. We jetted out pretty quick."

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  The Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pa., is built on the site of a former mental institution that between 1908 and 1986, housed as many as 25,000 mentally disabled people.

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  Owner Randy Bates sometimes sees strange flickers of light and says employees report having very creepy encounters, such as the man who had an experience that was so shocking that he ran out of a building so fast, he almost tore the hinges off. "He stayed away for three days," Bates said. "He came back, but won't talk about what he saw."

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  Some haunted places that charge admission don't feel the need to advertise the possibility of real spooks, such as the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas, which owner Todd James says the attraction is built on the site of an old meat packing plant in an area of town once known as "Hell's Half-Acre."

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  Before James built a haunted house, he says there were lots of gunfights on the site. Although James hasn't seen any ghosts, a few of his staffers have run into a gangly ghost they have named "G.G." "It's very creepy," he said. "We have an artist that won't work in that section."

• Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

  Despite this alleged haunted activity, James says he "can't confirm nor deny" the existence of ghosts and has never relied on the supposed real spooks to attract customers.

Or in the case of the Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pa., on the site of a former mental institution.

Randy Bates has been running a haunted house on the grounds, which, between 1908 and 1986, housed as many as 25,000 mentally disabled people.

"There were allegations of abuse there, and slowly but surely, it was finally shut down," Bates said. "The property basically rotted for 24 years. My partners purchased the property hoping to develop it, but there were so many things needed to bring it up to code that it wasn't worth it.

"I already had been running a successful haunted house called Bates Motel, so they brought me in to turn this place into another haunted house."

Although Bates hasn't seen a ghost on the site, he sometimes sees strange flickers of light. However, employees report having very creepy encounters.

"One female employee had something happen and had to be escorted, she was so freaked out," Bates said. "Just recently, another guy, who had worked for me for two years, came out of a building so fast he almost tore the hinges off. He stayed away for three days. He came back, but won't talk about what he saw."

But while the PennHurst Asylum's haunted rep is known enough to attract spook-seeking shows like Ghost Adventures and "Ghost Hunters" (which will do a live broadcast there on Halloween), there are other haunted places that charge admission but don't feel the need to advertise the possibility of real spooks, such as the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas.

Owner Todd James said the attraction is built on the site of an old meat-packing plant in an area of town once known as "Hell's Half-Acre."

"There were lots of gunfights here," he said. "The place has lots of personality."

James said that while he hasn't seen any ghosts, a few of his staffers have run into a gangly ghost they have named "G.G."

"It moves fast and it's really thin," he said. "It's very creepy. We have an artist that won't work in that section. People also report seeing an old janitor type. He almost looks like a transient and somebody will turn their head to say something and he'll be gone."

James said that when the house was first built, tools would mysteriously disappear and that he's had doors inexplicably locked behind him. Despite this alleged haunted activity, James said he "can't confirm nor deny" the existence of ghosts. In addition, in 22 years of business, he hasn't relied on the supposed real spooks to attract customers.

"We've never pushed it as an angle," he said. "We think our event is very well done and that's what we push."

Kirchner said, if pressed, most owners of haunted attractions will admit they don't believe in ghosts.

"For a house to be haunted, you have to believe that there is such a thing as a haunted house," he said. "Most, if not all, owners of haunted houses do not believe their houses are haunted. But the perception helps them make money and they will play it up and emphasize it."

Comments

[pakaal]

05:24 PM on 10/26/2011

"It was around three or four in the morning when I caught something in my eye, a lady in a black mask," he said."

With apologies to Ghostbusters, "You're right, no human would wear a black mask like that."

[madlova345]

10:56 AM on 10/26/2011

omg!!! love that totally rad dude

[BassguyGG]

02:40 PM on 10/25/2011

An old friend of mine lives in a house built in the 1760's. It's a beautiful place with an elaborate garden that her father bought and furnished in period antiques. Being their only daughter, in due course the house became hers. Both my friend in her husband have told me many times over the years that the house is haunted by a number of its former inhabitants. In fact, her husband told me a chilling story about an encounter with his late father-in-law. Apparently the father-in-law demanded to know what my friend's husband was doing in his bedroom (the master bedroom, now theirs), whereupon the husband had to explain to his father-in-law that he was dead and that they were living in the house now. I've stayed in the house many times over the years and have never seen anything paranormal, but my wife says she woke up one morning and saw my friend's late parents sitting on the couch across from her.

[marianproletarian]

04:45 PM on 10/25/2011

Thanks..I love spooky stories like these.

[Hillrick]

01:16 PM on 10/25/2011

Two folks who were very scared by something in the house and they never spoke about it!?!?!? Haunts!!!!
My wife, who is Chinese believes very much in ghosts and they are not happy to share a home with them. Her mother is actually a type of Shaman who will rid a house of ghosts. She, basically astrally projected and verified there were ghosts in our home and when she visited three years later she removed them. One thing I do believe is that my Mother in law is not a crackpot and would not lie about her daughter's welfare. I mentioned we should have her visit and set up a ghostbuster's business but they weren't interested. I should contact these businesses and have them pay her NOT to visit their haunted sources of revenue.

[OncologyRN]

12:31 PM on 10/25/2011

I've had several encounters with apparitions and unexplained occurrences in my lifetime. For the most part I can say that it isn't the dead that scare me .... it's the living that tend to wig me out.

[Left of Right]

12:18 PM on 10/25/2011

After my step-dad died he hung around for about a year and let us know he was around. He popped my mom on the rear-end when she was leaning into the fridge, tugged the blanket off my aunt, kept turning on or off my stereo or tv, rattling plastic grocery bags, and many more things.

A few times we smelled his Swisher Sweet cigars quite strongly. Once, my daughter and I heard a loud commotion in the kitchen and 3 refrigerator magnets had been flung across the room. FROM the refrigerator! One of those was really strong, too--you had to get your fingertips under it and really tug. No prob for him though.

Once, I believe he saved our little dachshund from falling down the stairs. She was very old and couldn't be allowed to go down without being carried. One morning I woke to the sound of the smoke alarm going off and came running out to the hall and she was poised on the edge of the top step about to go. I scooped her up just in time! My husband had forgotten to shut the bedroom door on his way out. Though there was no smoke or fire, I'm forever grateful the alarm had me running out there. I think my step-dad did that for me.

Suddenly, it just all stopped. He got busy elsewhere, so, although he never scared us; we simply said hello, I'm glad he got where he was going!

[Nathaniel Guest]

11:14 AM on 10/25/2011

The statement that "it was not worth it" to bring Pennhurst up to code is more a value judgment than fact. A recently-completed study shows that there is an economically-viable use with a high-market demand that could re-use almost the entire campus without turning what is considered by many to be a sacred space into a freak show. See the study at www.preservepennhurst.org. Let's admit that it was cheaper and easier to make it into a haunted house, irrespective of the fact that that use, though both what it says and what it doesn't say, comes dangerously close to profiting off the suffering of the people who lived there.

[humpfree]

07:31 PM on 10/24/2011

Ghosts don't exist. They're just vegans. I see them all the time. No big deal.

[ghostgirl21]

09:50 AM on 10/24/2011

Believe me,living in a real haunted place,is not fun.
My Grandmother's house is over 300 years old,and we always knew there were Spirits around.
When I did see a full body apparition,it was one of the scariest things in my entire life.
It was a young girl,7-10 years old,white colonial dress,and big lace bow in her hair. She materialized right in front of me,and she was transparent. I don't think my feet touched any steps while I ran down the stairs,and out of the house.

[Woodsie]

12:52 PM on 10/24/2011

A house that old, I'm guessing you live in the Northeast..? ( bet it'sa fantastic old place!) I never believed in ghosts until when confronted with something at a friend's mid-1800's house that turned my whole logically cynical world inside-out, upside down. I'm surprised I didn't leave one of those cartoon hole outlines of my body exiting through the wall. : )

[ghostgirl21]

01:13 PM on 10/24/2011

Yup. Northeast Connecticut. Seeing a ghost will surly turn your brain inside out.
It's actually kind of funny now,because I do Medium work,hence my screen name.
She only wanted to talk me,and told me she was very sorry for frightening me. She told me that she wasn't trapped there,it was her favorite place,so she came and went.
If you don't mind,I'd like to hear what you saw. Fanned & best wishes to you,Woodsie.

[Left of Right]

12:05 PM on 10/25/2011

Neat story, thanks. I wonder who the little girl was? A relative, most likely.

[lily]

11:17 PM on 10/23/2011

I watch a lot of ghost shows and read a lot of ghost books - it's a very interesting subject to me. Luckily, while I've been told my house is haunted and I've experienced a few strange things, I've never seen a ghost or had anything scary happen. However, I think if you live in a building where children were murdered and you believe their ghosts are there, you have an obligation as a simple act of humanity to contact a psychic and have them helped to the next plane.

[perspektuv]

12:20 PM on 10/23/2011

The janitor and school crossing guard at the elementery school I went to in Detroit during late 1950's name was Charlie. The building was originally a one room train depo, then turned into a school and 6 rooms were added. I phoned my older brother to spark his memory and he said he thought his last name was Scottish - thus possibly a Mc ? Ole Charlie retired in 1959, said he was 70 years old. He was nice to all us children but this story made me wonder.....

[Carmen Slade]

11:10 AM on 10/23/2011

""The school opened up in 1894 and was shut down in the 1950s after it was discovered that a janitor named Charlie McFree killed a bunch of kids and put the bodies in the basement..."

Sounds like Freddy Krueger...or Black Stanley!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

10:07 AM on 10/23/2011

turn it into a business?
not a ghost of a chance,
never get past the housing
in-spectre;-D

[MIvoter1231]

01:26 PM on 10/24/2011

Ha!!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

01:28 PM on 10/24/2011

boo ha ha;-D

[Marchant2]

09:05 AM on 10/23/2011

I think my house has a ghost, but a really bad one. You'd never know he was there unless I talk about him.

[Left of Right]

12:20 PM on 10/25/2011

Yikes! So you can't talk about it. Maybe you could write about it! (That's not safe either, I wouldn't think.)

[rMatey]

10:27 PM on 10/22/2011

Most of the haunted places are b.s. I've yet to find one this is genuinely haunted.

[Belle Starr]

11:40 PM on 10/22/2011

weird stuff always goes on in our house . . .

[MIvoter1231]

01:28 PM on 10/24/2011

Haven't been to the good ones then.