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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/whaunt130.xml

Devil's in the detail of 'haunted' house sale
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 6:54pm GMT 29/03/2008



After enduring howls in the night and creaking staircases for the past three years, an Italian family is preparing to sue the previous owners of their house for not telling them it was haunted.

Gaetano Bastianelli, 57, and his wife Stefania paid €120,000 (£94,000) for the modern home in the Umbrian town of Spoleto in 2005 - encouraged by the fact that all the furniture and fittings were left by the owners, right down to the coffee cups. "We considered it the deal of the century," said Mr Bastianelli.

The couple claim they were unaware that the house in Santo Chiodo road had been built close to the disused Pozzi Ginori cemetery, or that strange goings-on at the address during the 1970s had necessitated an exorcism - and prompted a visit from Perugia University's paranormal research team.

"The ghosts started their haunting on the first night," said Mr Bastianelli, a former long-distance lorry driver. "I woke suddenly at around one or two in the morning. There was water seeping from under the bathroom door.

"The hot water tap was pouring out boiling water and the room was full of steam. My wife was stunned, because she had turned off everything before going to bed."

He claimed that by next morning, malevolent spirits had left "luminous green mould all over the walls".

After that things got worse. He said the sound of chains rattling had alarmed his 10-year-old daughter, and claimed that the lawnmower and his wife's car had spontaneously combusted.

Now Mr Bastianelli has engaged a lawyer, Antonio Francesconi, to sue the previous owners for failing to inform him that the house was haunted.

"We have a good case," said Mr Francesconi. "Under article 1490 of Italian law, you have to tell buyers if there is anything wrong. I think that the previous owners will settle out of court."

A local historian, Sergio Grifoni, confirmed that an exorcism had been performed on a girl in the house in 1977.

"The local papers at the time said a girl had been possessed by the devil and had been taken to the bishop. Nothing helped, until Pope John Paul II prayed for her."

The episode was confirmed by Fr Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican's senior exorcist, who said: "Pope Wojtyla carried out an exorcism on this girl who was rolling around on the floor of her house."

He could not confirm whether the house was the same one in Santo Chiodo road.

Boy. I'd be rich if I sued for every haunted house we've lived in....

lmao Sharon, yeah you and me both!

Well, it sounds as if they DID GET the deal of the century after all then, I wonder how much they'll settle for?

I guess this also posses the question as to how far this will go, some people will do anything to score free money, often without concern of the costs from other people. geeze!

Could you imagine if this became a trend or led to a change in the Law - All those people that brought a house and found out it was haunted after they'd moved in - they'd then be stuck with it, as they'd have to claim it was haunted or had been haunted (if it had been cleansed etc..)to any prospective buyers. Most of the houses in the UK would be unsellable pmsl.

Here in Australia, if a house is on the market and a murder occurred on the premises, the real estate must disclose this fact to prospective buyers.

There was a case where this bloke killed his parents and sister in their family home and eventually gound guilty and gaoled for their murders. the family put the house on the market and this Asian family brought it, only to discover the murders took place their and they got out of the deal when they went public with their story.

Must admit, I wouldn't want to have lived their either!

wow Sharon "murder" how disturbing, I would have slept in the backyard if someone inform me.