Nearly 20% of Americans believe their homes are haunted

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A new study done by All Star Home has found some pretty interesting results from a survey they conducted of homeowners in the United States.

While they found that nearly 20% of homeowners believe their homes are haunted, they also found that there are lots of things that have contributed to these experiences.

So, what is this all about? Let’s take a look at what the survey found and what some of the explanations are.

Unexplained sounds, experiences and phenomenon

More than 40% of homeowners have experienced these unusual or unexplained occurrences at home.

More than a third of homeowners in the U.S. said that they have experienced unusual things like unexplained footstep sounds or voices.

There are around 42% of homeowners who said they have felt the presence of someone or something that is not visible.

Feeling a presence has led to nearly 20% of homeowners to actually see apparitions and/or ghosts in their homes.

Meanwhile, there were about 16% of respondents who said they found objects in their homes that did not belong to them and that had mysteriously showed up.

Homeowners were able to breakdown what they are experiencing into these areas:

1. Strange sounds.
2. Family pets or animals acting weirdly.
3. Ghosts and strange shadows.
4. Lights that turn off and on.
5. Strange or unknown voices.
6. Unexplained and unusual smells.

The Ouija board has also been identified as a conduit as 10% of those surveyed have used the board. They found that of this 10%, there is a whopping 42% who said they would do it again.

These are the locations their homes that homeowners identified as being the epicenter of their haunting experiences:

• The bedroom at 49%.
• The Livingroom at 26%.
• The kitchen at 23%.
• Hallways or stairs at 21%.
• The basement at 12%

So, what did people do when they encountered these unexplained phenomena?

• 19% said they prayed.
• 11% said they researched the history of the home.
• 11% did a cleansing ritual of some sort.

The average age of the respondents who confirmed they had experienced some sort of supernatural phenomenon in their home were 88 years of age.

Of those respondents, there were 31% who said they are terrified of old homes. They also found that 39% said they felt the presence of a deceased family member or friend.

Another thing that may contribute to the experiences identified by the respondents are local ghost stories and legends. There were 42% of homeowners surveyed who said they did in fact have some sort of scary legend in their area with 52% of them believing the stories were true.

However, there were 24% of respondents who said they would buy a home regardless of what reports indicated it was haunted.

Where are most of these homes found?

Many of these homes tend to concentrated in particular cities.

Cities with high percentages of home that were built before 1939 include:

1. Salem, Massachusetts in which 52.3% of its homes were built before 1939.
2. New Orleans, Louisiana in which 33.4% of its homes were built before 1939.
3. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in which 33.4% of its homes were built before 1939.
4. Savannah, Georgia in which 17% of its homes were built before 1939.

Of course, these towns have some spooky history of their own.

Salem, of course, is the home of the Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of women children along with some men were murdered by religious zealots who believed that Satan had possessed them.

New Orleans has long been associated with Marie Laveau and her Voodoo stories. But there’s also the legacy of slavery and Reconstruction that haunt this city. Then, there’s Anne Rice‘s vampire chronicles that have led to many associating New Orleans with the underworld.

Gettysburg is the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the American Civil War in which 50,000 soldiers died, many left on the battlefield with no one to bury them.

Savannah has a similar history to New Orleans. It is the first city to be established in what became known as the U.S. state of Georgia. From the execution of Native tribes in order to take their lands and slaves who were brutally forced to create the U.S. economy to the English colonists who experienced unusual murders, diseases and fires, Savannah does not have a shortage of scary stories and legends.

Are there explanations?

All Star Home went through their data and found a few things that seem to explain some of these experiences.

The first thing they discovered was the age of the homes. As noted above, many of the homes that where people experienced unusual phenomenon were built before 1939. Oftentimes, old homes creak and groan due to age. There are lots of parts that make a home; so, the things that could go wrong tend to be fairly limitless.

Another explanation that covers homes built after 1940 is vinyl siding. All Star Home said that siding can make popping sounds when temperatures make a change, like going from summer to autumn or winter to spring. These sounds often indicate that repairs are needed.

Other than these two indicators, some homes simply need some sort of maintenance.

Well, there you have it. While Halloween is a fun and spooky holiday that brings a great deal of joy to lot of communities, there are some people have to live in haunted homes year-round.