There are lots of houses that claim to be haunted. However, there is only one house that has been legally declared haunted by the New York Supreme Court. As far as I can tell, this is the only one in the entire country. So, how did it become "Legally Declared" haunted? Here's the story.

This beautiful 1890's victorian home overlooks the Hudson River in Nyack, New York. The beautiful house has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and apparently three poltergeists.

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‪Helen and George Ackley and their children lived in this haunted house. In 1977, Helen wrote to Reader’s Digest to relay some odd occurrences they had experienced over the years. ‬She told Readers Digest that the house was haunted and the ghosts were scary and actually left them little gifts from time to time.

Unfortunately, sometime in the 1980s, Helen was forced to sell the home. She didn’t mention the haunting to her buyer, Jeffrey M. Stambovsky, who had agreed to purchase it for $650,000. He put down a $32,500 deposit. However, he soon discovered that the house was supposedly haunted after a local architect told him so. Jeffrey took Helen to court in an attempt to get his deposit back. He used the article in Readers Digest as proof of the haunting.

The New York Supreme Court declared that the house was haunted “as a matter of law.” Ultimately, Jeffrey settled for half of his deposit back and left the haunted mansion for good. Helen had no problem selling her house afterward.

The case became known as the “Ghostbusters Ruling,” and has been taught in U.S. law school classes.

More REcently the house was on the market for $1.89 million. It was owned by film director Adam Brooks, indie singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, and is now home to the singer-rapper Matisyahu. As far as I know, none of them have experienced ghosts in the only legally haunted house in the country.

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