Owning vintage homes is now becoming a trend. However, one of the top things potential buyers should check before purchasing a new property, especially the vintage ones, is whether the house is haunted or not.
If you are wondering how you can check if the property you just bought is being inhabited by some lost souls, there are 6 DIY ways to help you out with this paranormal task.
First, you need to ask your neighbors about the history of the house. Make sure you don't appear panicked or desperate, play it cool. Never say this at the start of the conversation, "I think my house is haunted and I need to know the history of the house!"
You can ask your 85-year-old neighbor whether she knew something about the house or if there are some crimes that happened inside the place, etc. You can also search the archives at the city libraries and search for possible answers.
Second, call your real estate agent. Of course, when they are selling the house, they are not allowed to disclose any crime or suicide or any paranormal activities that are happening in the property. This is the law. But if you have already purchased the house for good, you now actually have the right to know everything especially if you're affected in more ways than one.
Steven J.J. Weisman, a professor of business law at Bentley University explained, "Haunted properties fall within the category of stigmatized properties, or real estate that is not defective in any physical manner, but due to psychological or emotional factors may have a reduced value."
He added, "Among the situations covered under the title of stigmatized is a property that was the site of a murder, suicide, alleged haunting, or other parapsychological phenomenon."
"In one well-documented New York case from 1991, the scale was voided due to the seller not informing the buyer of the house's reputation for being haunted. The same reasoning could also be used in other states if there aren't clear laws about disclosing paranormal activity."
Third, you can also do an energy audit if you have that device which could detect energy inside the house. Most of the professional energy audits use the thermal imaging camera to pinpoint exact locations where there is a heat loss around the home.
If you want, you can contact a professional paranormal energy auditing team in your area if you want to make sure that there is some haunting happening in the property or not.
Fourth, you can do smudging like Martine's housekeeper did in "Paranormal Activity 2."
If you want to do this, you can do a DIY purifying ritual which is just a mix of dried herbs like cedar, sweetgrass or tobacco just to keep out the negative energy inside the haunted house. While doing this, you can do incantations like "Please leave" which should be repeatedly done.
Aside from the smudging, there are some who opt to use holy water to cleanse the entire house and spread salt around the perimeter. But this wouldn't be effective if the root cause of haunting will remain unidentified. So, it still boils down with the first point. You need to know the history of these activities.
Fifth, observe your pets if you have any, especially if they changed their behaviors. Be on the lookout for moving objects without anybody touching them or some furniture broke but nobody was in the vicinity.
Sixth, check some antiques inside the house especially when you have just moved in. Throw them away, burn them or sell them through flea markets or a garage sale. You don't have to keep all these creepy things inside the house. This is also an effective way to cast away some spirits that live in the house.
