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{{trope}}
[[File:PhantomManor.jpg|frame|[
{{quote|''"It was an evil house from the beginning -- [[Curse|a house that was born bad]]."''
|'''Dr. John Markway''', ''[[The Haunting]]''}}
[[Exactly What It Says
When you enter, [[Ghost Butler|the "wind"]] closes the door behind you. Creepy portraits may adorn the walls and the eyes may [[Portrait Painting Peephole|literally follow your every move]]. There are probably [[Cobweb of Disuse|cobwebs]] everywhere. The [[Ominous Pipe Organ]] may start playing Bach's [[Toccata and Fugue
▲[[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|A spooky house.]] A staple of [[Horror]]. Where [[Haunted Castle|Haunted Castles]] would appear in European tales, the [[Haunted House]] takes its place in American stories. It is commonly associated with bumps in the night, strange lights, and a shady history involving violence and terror.
▲When you enter, [[Ghost Butler|the "wind"]] closes the door behind you. Creepy portraits may adorn the walls and the eyes may [[Portrait Painting Peephole|literally follow your every move]]. There are probably [[Cobweb of Disuse|cobwebs]] everywhere. The [[Ominous Pipe Organ]] may start playing Bach's [[Toccata and Fugue In D Minor]] all on its own. Mirrors reflect things that aren't there... when they aren't [[House of Broken Mirrors|all broken]]. The house itself may seem alive, having [[Genius Loci|a mind of its own]], yet it may be [[Walking Wasteland|surrounded by dead trees and blackened grass]]. Will usually be [[Always Night|always in permanent night time]], if not having localised [[Grave Clouds]].
It might be a ramshackle abandoned shack standing alone. Or a [[Big Fancy House]] maintained by a [[Creepy Housekeeper]]. Or a typical [[Suburbia|suburban home]] built on an [[Indian Burial Ground]]. It has a distressing tendency of killing its way through a family receiving it as an [[Unexpected Inheritance]], and if it gets a sufficiently sordid reputation it will be chronicled by a [[Haunted House Historian]] who tries to warn new would-be victims.
This is somewhat a [[Discredited Trope]] nowadays, with parodies, [[Abandoned Hospital
Compare [[Haunted Headquarters]], which is any haunted primary setting, and [[Old Dark House]], which may or may not have a supernatural element. [[Big
If it's merely the setting for a [[Scooby
For the [[Atari 2600]] game of the same name, go [[Haunted House (
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime
* In ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', the Hinata house is haunted by a [[Cute Ghost Girl]] who appears sporadically throughout the series. She turns out to be really a very nice person. Also, she kinda sucks at haunting.
* Anna and Yoh's house in ''[[Shaman King]]''.
* ''[[
==
* [[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]] spent at least one story dealing with a hostile haunted house, within which her magical powers were unavailable.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* The little cabin in ''The [[Evil Dead]]'' contains a haunted book, so, for all intents and purposes, is haunted.
* Gracey Manor in ''[[The Haunted Mansion (
* ''[[
* ''Darkness'' (2002), starring [[Anna Paquin]], had a family moving into a haunted house as {{spoiler|part of an [[Evil Plan]] to complete a demonic ritual}}.
* ''[[Poltergeist]]'' features a suburban California home that is normal at first, but is invaded by ghosts that torment the owners in various ways. Because it was built on top of a cemetery.
* Somewhat inverted in ''[[
* [[Manos:
* ''[[The Amityville Horror]]'' and all sequels.
* ''The Haunting in Connecticut'': The house was formerly a funeral home.
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* ''[[Burnt Offerings]]''
* ''[[The Haunting]]''
* Whether the ''[[House
* ''[[The House
* ''[[The Changeling (
* Played straight and {{spoiler|Inverted}} in ''[[The Others (
* ''[[The Grudge]]'' and ''[[Ju
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Shirley Jackson's classic novel, ''[[The Haunting of Hill House]]''. The first paragraph has been cited by [[Stephen King]] as one of the finest openings in English-language literature:
{{quote|
* Matheson's ''[[Hell House]]'' rivals Shirley Jackson's Hill House.
* In ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' Skeeve received from the natives (Deveels), notoriously canny businessmen, a big house on Deva as a part of a deal. Why do they give him a cheap house? It has a back door that leads to the [[
** {{spoiler|And the ''native vampires'' avoid it as haunted. Some even say they saw ''[[Humans Are Cthulhu|humans]]'' there -- just imagine it!}}
* The Shrieking Shack in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series. Arguably, Sirius Black's house as well.
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* {{spoiler|Subverted}} in ''The Haunting of Grade Three'', where the eponymous third-grade class has relocated to an old house, which has mysterious noises and objects that moove seemingly of their own accord. {{spoiler|In truth, the house is sinking, which accounts for the odd noises and movements.}}
* {{spoiler|Subverted}} in ''The Ghosts of Cougar Island'', which features an abandoned, {{spoiler|seemingly}} haunted house. {{spoiler|In truth, the "haunting" is caused by some runaway orphans.}}
* In ''Shunned House'' by [[
** Also the titular house in ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'', that has a haunted reputation, but is actually periodically visited by a living, immortal witch who used to live in the house, and still uses its sealed attic for her work.
* ''[[
* ''[[House of Leaves]]'': A postmodern horror story about a family that slowly discovers that their {{color|blue|house}} is larger on the inside than on the outside. [[Bizarrchitecture|Much, much larger.]] Also, <s>{{color|red|possibly there's a monster.}}</s>
* ''[[Nick Arcade]]'': The Creepyville board has a haunted house crawling with ghosts that scare Mikey (the player).
* In [[Aaron Allston]]'s ''[[Galatea in 2
** [[Art Initiates Life|It is.]]
* Edbrook Manor from ''[[Haunted
* Anne Rivers Siddons' ''The House Next Door'' is a very strange example in that the house is still unbuilt at the start of the book, and there's no obvious reason why it turns out the way it does (it's not built on a cemetery, for example). All the same, it's a very Bad Place indeed.
** But the people next door figure it out. {{spoiler|It's the architect that's cursed. All his previous projects were unfinished because someone died or was blinded in a freak construction incident. No reason why it's him but he was adopted and doesn't know who his real parents were, so that tells us something. After they kill him and are killed by the house someone finds the plans to that house and it looks like it's going to happen again.}}
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* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, the Dean brothers visit the reputedly-haunted Mansion, but never work up the nerve to go inside. This was a wise decision, as {{spoiler|the house itself is the guardian of a portal between worlds. A very ''aggressive'' guardian.}}
** While we are on the subject of [[Stephen King]], we can count the Overlook Hotel from [[The Shining]], and ''Black House''.
*** And the Marsten house from [[
▲== Live Action Television ==
{{quote|
▲* ''[[Thirty Rock (TV)|30 Rock]]''. [[Lampshaded]] by a [[Genre Savvy]] Liz Lemon.
▲{{quote| '''Liz:''' Word of advice: If the will says you have to spend the night in a haunted house you better hope that everybody else there is [[Black Dude Dies First|black guys]] and [[Death By Sex|sluts]].}}
* In ''[[American Horror Story]]'', the house is haunted by numerous previous residents who died there. Anyone who dies on the premises appears to become a ghost, and this leads to something of a snowballing effect when the ghosts start killing people.
* In ''[[Being Human (
* The haunted, gothic Collinwood Mansion is featured in ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]''.
* The British [[Dom Com|domestic comedy]] [[So Haunt Me]] deals with a suburban home haunted by its previous resident, a [[Jewish Mother]]. While the father is mostly annoyed by her presence, the other family members generally enjoy her company.
* ''[[
** Cordelia's apartment in ''[[
*** That's because she found out his name while doing research for the place. Mainly because it was originally haunted by Dennis' mother who was far less nice, and attempted to kill Cordelia or convince her to commit suicide, believing her to be Dennis' fiance, who she hated in life.
*** And the reason behind the said haunting was that Dennis's mother walled him in a closet to keep him from moving out to live with the said fiance, and suffered a heart attack immediately afterwards.
* In the ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' episode "The Eternity Trap", Sarah Jane, Rani and Clyde accompany Professor Rivers to investigate Ashen Hill Manor, supposedly one of the most haunted houses in Britain. As Clyde puts it, it's "[[Harry Potter|Hogwarts]], [[Tim Burton]]-style".
* The [[Stephen King]]-scripted miniseries ''[[Rose Red]]''.
* ''[[The Monkees]]'': Featured in "Monkee See, Monkee Die" and "Monstrous Monkee Mash".
* The ''[[Castle]]'' episode "Demons" has the [[Body of the Week]] be a ghost-hunter killed in a reputedly haunted mansion. Castle, naturally, [[Agent Mulder|eagerly buys into the possibility of demonic possession]], while Beckett is [[Agent Scully|a lot more skeptical]]. Although the case of the week is ultimately discovered to have a human hand behind it, it's still [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|up in the air whether the house actually is haunted]].
* Aaargh Manor is reputed to be the most haunted house in Bottom World, in ''[[
* The Crypt Keeper's house, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN21k3vjRvQ shown in detail] in the opening credits of ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]''.
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* Diana Thornton's '''Lover's Last Chance'''. The song starts by describing innocent childhood Halloween fun, but then< "All of them hush past the house on the corner/A darkened old mansion than never did sell/Even the grownups just whisper about her/Nobody knows how she died... or won't tell."
* The titular "Loa House" in [[King Diamond]]'s song by the same title, from the
▲== Theme Parks ==
* ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'' at [[Disney Theme Parks]]. There's 999 Happy Haunts, but there's room for a thousand...any volunteers?
* Halloween Horror Nights 2010 at Universal Studios Orlando features the haunted house Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate, which is the first literal haunted house the event has had and has a group of spirit seekers attempting to [[What an Idiot!|summon the angry ghosts of a mass murderer's victims and the murderer himself in the most haunted place in the world]].
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Haunted House (
* ''[[
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV]]: Oblivion'' has a quest which involves buying a haunted house and clearing it of ghosts.
* There's several of these in ''[[Castlevania II:
* ''Might and Magic VII'' had one.
* A haunted house appears in the Neighborhood in ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Skateboarding]]''.
* ''[[Fatal Frame]]''
* ''The House'' point-and-click Flash game series focuses on exploring a house whose inhabitants committed suicide. Or did they?
* Unsurprisingly, used in ''The Lost Crown: A Ghosthunting Adventure''. Also a Haunted Museum, two Haunted Churches, a Haunted Boathouse, etc. Basically, if it's got a roof, some ghosts are sheltering under it.
* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines|Vampire:]] [[Word Salad Title|The Masquerade:]] [[Colon Cancer|Bloodlines]]''' Oceanside Hotel level features a [[Exactly What It Says
* Spookyraven Manor in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', with such bizzare undead as the "Pooltergeist" (made out of Snooker balls) and "Undead Elbow Macaroni".
* While the main threat in the first two ''[[Clock Tower (
* ''The Haunted Mansion'' for the Gamecube. Playing it as a kid and being used to Mario Kart and other kiddy games did NOT help whenever rotting arms burst out of boarded doors and "The Ring" girl in a red dress flipped her hair up with a screech.
* In the second ''[[No More Heroes]]'' game, Travis fights Matt Helms, a ghost kid who haunts his creepy, abandoned house, complete with a graveyard on the front lawn.
* The entirety of ''[[Sweet Home (
* Draynor Manor in ''[[
* The entire setting of the first ''[[Nightmare House]]'' fan game.
* ''[[
* ''[[
==
* In ''[[
* The Kesandru / Brie Meighsaton House in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.
* ''Stupidity in Magic'' has this. ''Twice'', actually. Both times, the main cast is only called in to see why the house is haunted - they never get the house itself (they have their own place already, anyways). The first time, {{spoiler|the ghosts were stuck in the house because of a curse, and most of them were happy to leave once the problem was fixed.}} The second time, the ghosts were haunting a house being rented out by a college - the rent was ''very'' reasonable, due to the haunting, and the college students only called for help because the ghosts {{spoiler|had started possessing the occupants and were getting a bit violent; once things were fixed so that they wouldn't be in danger of getting hurt any more and they realized ''why'' the rent was so low, they were quite willing to let the ghosts stay - they preferred slightly-haunted accomodations that were within walking distance of the college to anything else they could've afforded.}}
* ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'': well, Goblin Hollow.
* Olive Specter's home in [[The Sims]] 2. Actually, if you have a Sim die on your lot, their ghost will show up and cause trouble.
* This is the backbone of ''Amber: Journeys Beyond.'' [[Rule of Three]] on the ghosts, one from roughly 1910-1920, one from 1942, and a third from the late fifties.
* In ''[[Roza]]'', they [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2011-08-28 stumble on an entire haunted village].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20131104180112/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3344 Crimney trick-or-treats at one]. It's good that Fuschia already has a crush on him.
== [[Web Original]] ==
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* The student republics in the new Forum/RPG, ''Grave Academy'', akin to Hogwart's Houses, all have elements of this, the students being monsters probably help.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* The trio of heroes from ''[[
▲== Western Animation ==
* In a ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' Treehouse of Horror segment, the Simpsons move into a haunted house, which does its best to make them leave... but they refuse, because it's pretty much their dream house. The segment ends with the house destroying itself rather than live with the Simpsons.▼
▲* The trio of heroes from ''[[Filmations Ghostbusters (Animation)|Filmations Ghostbusters]]'' set up shop in what resembled a run-down haunted house--Ghost Command--that featured haunted appliances such as (most memorably) the wisecracking Ansabone. Similarly, the [[Big Bad]] Prime Evil had Hauntquarters, a cathedral-like building located in the Fifth Dimension.
▲* In a ''[[The Simpsons|Simpsons]]'' Treehouse of Horror segment, the Simpsons move into a haunted house, which does its best to make them leave... but they refuse, because it's pretty much their dream house. The segment ends with the house destroying itself rather than live with the Simpsons.
▲{{quote| '''Lisa:''' You can't help but feel a little rejected.}}
** Subverted in another episode, where the family have to spend the night in a haunted house. Homer, foolishly, says it's perfectly safe since there's no such thing as ghosts. The spooky music rises and the door slams behind them, complete with a flash of lightning... Next morning, the sun is shining and it's beautiful out, and they've had a pleasant night's sleep and absolutely nothing's happened.
* In ''The Simpsons''{{'}} sister show ''[[Futurama]]'', Bender the robot inherits a castle and finds it's haunted by robot ghosts. The haunting is stopped when they find that it was caused by improperly shielded cables from the robot cemetery. Still it led to this great exchange:
{{quote|
'''Bender:''' That's what they said about being ''alive''. }}
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Our Ghosts Are Different]]
[[Category:Haunted Index]]
[[Category:Home Base]]
[[Category:Abandoned Area]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:
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