The Ghostbusters Ruling

In 1991, the Supreme Court of New York State had a decision to make: do ghosts legally exist? And if so, who you gonna call when you move into a so-called haunted house?

The Ackley House at night

1 LaVeta Place

It was 1967 when George and Helen Ackley knew they had found their dream home. Standing at a dead-end road overlooking the Hudson River, the nearly 5,000-square-foot house had three levels, a basement and attic, and 18 rooms. The Queen Anne Victorian era house was complete with elaborate woodwork, stained glass fixtures, a turret, and even a pool in the back. It was more than enough for the couple and their four children, who would be moving from their Maryland farmhouse now that George had found work in New York City.

Just over 30km from the city, Nyack was a small town of about 7000 residents. Right across the river from the quiet town was Sleepy Hollow, the setting of Washington Irving's famous stories. The area was more than just Irving's backdrop, though, having first been occupied by Indigenous peoples for centuries before they were displaced by Dutch and British settlers. Later, it became a site of battle during the Revolutionary War, and both before and after the Civil War, it was frequented by enslaved people. Some of the local cemeteries even house the graves of these formerly enslaved peoples, who are said to now haunt the land.

The earliest history of the house is seemingly unknown, along with the identities of those who occupied it. It is known that before the Ackleys moved in, the house was used as both a single-family home and a boarding house, but had sat empty since 1960 and had begun to fall into disrepair. It was a project, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. With no history of any undue events happening in the house, it seemed the perfect place to raise a family.

So, with no past including murder or suicide, where exactly the rumours of the house being haunted started is unclear. It was already urban legend by the time the Ackleys arrived that the house was haunted, and the neighbours on the block watched in surprise as Helen and George began moving in. George had been the first to move, with Helen following shortly after as the kids waited in Maryland.

As Helen made work of renovating their new home, she claimed that some of the neighbour kids had come over to question her. When she invited them in to come inside and check out the house, two of the kids hung back, only staring on. When Helen asked why, one of the kids apparently asked, "Did you know you bought a haunted house?"

And it began not long after that. A plumber re-rigging the water in the house's basement worried about leaving Helen alone in the home, claiming that while he had been alone in the house that day, he had heard footsteps going up and down the steps and running overhead. Every time he'd gone upstairs to check who it was, no one was there.

After Helen recounted the story to George that night in bed, she noticed a lamp was still on in the hallway. As she got up to turn it off, George stopped her. Helen was surprised as she'd never known George to sleep with a light on. He shut the conversation down quickly, though, saying he'd started doing it since moving in. He rolled over in bed, and that was goodnight.

That was just the start, of course. Disembodied footsteps, voices, and knocking were common occurrences in the house. Some doors refused to stay closed, and there was a constant feeling of being watched. A set of French doors was often found open, and windows would slide up on their own. Sitting at the dinner table, a light fixture's pullcord would start swinging, even with the windows closed and the air in the house still. Even weirder, it would stop mid-swing, as if someone grabbed and stilled it.

At one point, George claimed that he'd seen moccasin-clad feet walk past him from the upstairs hallway. Another time, one of the sons came face-to-face with an apparition. This was no problem for the family, though, who talked openly about the phenomenon with their neighbours. They even invited guests over, who claimed to witness these occurrences themselves. If it ever became too much, they simply told the spirits that enough was enough, and the phenomena would stop for a period.

When George travelled for work, she took to wandering the house late at night. Standing at the window one night, looking into the Hudson River, Helen claimed that every hair suddenly stood up as she felt a presence close beside her. Turning, she of course didn't see anyone, but still felt the presence.

"It's beautiful on the river, isn't it?" She asked. With that, she relaxed and felt no threat from the presence. As she began walking towards her room, she knew it was following her. At the doorway, she wished it goodnight, and slept throughout the night.

Helen believed that it was a trio of spirits who inhabited the house. In 1974, Helen's cousin came to visit, bringing his wife, Ingrid, and their daughter. At breakfast after their first night in the house, Ingrid sat at the table with shaking hands. She'd woken earlier that morning before sunrise, and felt that someone was walking around the room. When she looked over to the French doors, she saw the silhouette of a man. He was dressed in a long jacket characteristic of the revolutionary period and wore a white powdered wig. He came to the foot of the bed and sat with his back to Ingrid. She felt the mattress dip and watched as he opened a book with pages that seemed to glow. After flipping through a few pages, he closed the book, stood, and was gone.

While doing renovations, Helen had a glimpse of her own. Feeling eyes on her while she painted, she turned but didn't see anyone. After asking out loud if the spirit liked the paint colour, she turned to see a man sitting in midair, smiling at her. He was cheerful-looking, with piercing blue eyes, a light blue suit with ruffles at the ends of the sleeves and a stock at the nape of his neck. He wore breeches, white socks and shiny black shoes with buckles. He nodded and faded slowly from view.

When describing this spirit to her daughter, Cynthia, she claimed she had seen a different spirit. On several occasions, Cynthia had seen the figure of a woman appear in her room, dressed in a hooded cloak. Every morning at the same time, Cynthia's bed would shake, only shaking harder if she didn't get up.

Still, she wasn't scared, just disappointed when the Christmas holidays arrived and she wanted to sleep in late. So, she explained the situation to the seemingly empty air of her room, and the bed didn't shake for the rest of her holiday break. Other kids experienced bed shaking, including son William while he was home from university.

In May 1977, Helen published an article in Reader's Digest detailing their experiences. In her article titled "Our Haunted House on the Hudson", she explained how the family acknowledged the spirit's presence as much as the spirit acknowledged their presence. Two more articles following in local newspaper the Nyack News and Views in 1977 and 1982, one of which described the home as 'a riverfront Victorian (with ghost)',

Their relationship was even cordial, though, and the ghosts apparently never went out of their way to intentionally scare the family. Helen was open about these unexpected houseguests, later writing that she would even unlock the windows that were often found open. She claimed that every time she heard the footsteps, she felt as though it were a watchman on duty for her.

Over the years, the house was occupied by a variety of Ackley family members, including kids, spouses, and grandchildren. When Cynthia became engaged to her future husband, Mark Kavanagh, and the two moved into the home, he experienced his own spooks, detailed in his blog.

His first encounter came on Christmas Eve, when he was left alone in the house to put together gifts for the younger children. He claimed he heard a muffled conversation from the other room, but found nothing after investigating. Still, he could feel he was being watched and was so frightened that he went through the house, turning on every light, never relaxing until someone else returned home.

Another encounter occurred during the night. While drifting off to sleep, Kavanagh heard the door creak open, and the floorboards squeak as if someone was walking on them. He could feel the bed dip beside him and pressure on his torso as if someone was leaning against him. When he turned to look, he saw the figure of a woman in a dress, looking straight at him. After a moment, though, she got up and walked out. Reflecting on the encounters, Kavanagh claimed that he felt the spirits were checking him out, ensuring he would be a good husband to Cynthia.

Objects even materialized over the years, assumed to be gifts from the spirits. This included a pair of silver tongs for sugar cubes given to Cynthia when she was married, coins for the wife of one of the sons, and even a small, embossed golden baby ring when the first Ackley grandchild was born.

In her article, Helen wrote that, "We have come to savour these happenings. They give a sense of the continuity of the past with the present and with the future. These elusive spirits seem gracious, thoughtful - only occasionally frightening - and thoroughly entertaining."

Stambovsky v. Ackley

The Ackley family lived in the house for more than 20 years. After George's death, Helen remained in the home, but by the late 1980s, property taxes in Nyack's Rockland County rose steeply, making it difficult to keep the family home. With Helen getting older and the children moving out, it was time to leave. In 1989, the house was listed with Richard Ellis of Ellis Realty at $650 000 and sold quickly.

Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky were a young couple from the city and with Patrice pregnant, they wanted to settle down. Jeffrey worked as a bond trader, and the couple put down $32 500 in escrow. Like the Ackley's, it was their dream home, a scenic place that had a history of housing a loving family.

It was while Jeffrey was in the process of preparing the house that he learned about its supposed haunting. He apparently learned it from either a neighbour or contractor, but no matter what, it was not information that came from the Ackley's themselves. This quickly caused the couples minds to change and when it came time to close on the house, the Stambovsky's did not appear and the agreement was made null and void.

However, Helen retained their payment of $32 500, and the couple felt the contract should be cancelled and the money be returned on the basis that she and Ellis had fraudulently misrepresented the home. The Stambovsky's filed an action, against the two, but the court dismissed it under the basis that Helen did not have a duty to disclose this information. New York operated under the principle of caveat emptor - essentially buyer beware.

Caveat emptor stated that the responsibility was placed onto the buyers to do their due diligence before they agree to buy a property. The seller was under no obligation to do so, not if a death had occurred on the property, or a murder, or even a haunting. If a buyer failed to do so, and did not recognize defects before their purchase, then the burden was still on them. Therefore, the Stambovskys were not owed the return of their deposit.

Still, the Stambovskys appealed, and the case was taken to the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division. Jeffrey explained to the judges, "My feeling is that Mrs. Ackley is a very neat old lady who likes to spin tales. But if my wife is influenced enough by that stuff to feel uncomfortable, that's a good enough reason not to sink our life savings into the place." Jeffrey concluded were victims of "ectoplasmic fraud".

And that was where the real issue came in. Jeffrey was adamant that they didn't believe in ghosts, but that it attracted people who did. For over a decade, the house had been promoted as haunted and could attract sightseers, thrill seekers, and those who claimed to be ghost hunters. They had already been given an invitation to invade the privacy of the home and the couple through the articles published by Helen, and if they ever tried to sell, the value would decrease. The house was already one of five featured in a haunted Nyack tour.

Both Ellis and Cynthia later claimed that Helen had disclosed the haunting in passing conversations with the Stambovsky's. Ellis claimed that Helen had even refused to sign her end of the contract without discussing the haunting with the Stambovsky's. However, this was never properly documented if true.

The court ruled in favour of the Stambovskys in a narrow decision, with the five judges settling three to two. In a final statement, Justice Israel Rubin wrote that unless the psychics or mediums were called in alongside home inspectors upon buying, then caveat emptor could not apply in this case. No matter the home inspection, it would never uncover a haunting.

Rubin ended his statement by saying, "Whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen by Ackley are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their presence in both a national publication and the local press, Ackley is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted."

Had Helen not made the repeated claims of hauntings, she might have won. Essentially, she had reported it was haunted, and could not say on the stand otherwise that she had indeed reported it haunted. As a result, neither could she deny that it was haunted when selling it to buyers.

And so, the Ghostbusters Ruling was made.

Aftermath

It was only a few months before New York State passed the 'Haunted House' Statute. Whether or not the house was haunted, the property was stigmatized. Some properties are impacted by events that occur within them, and a lack of physical impact didn't mean that it didn't have an impact at all.  Past crimes, death, or other occurances that changed the homes or locations reputation devalued it. It affirmed that if a house was considered so haunted that it had earned the reputation it did, then such information on stigmatized properties should be disclosed if asked for. Essentially, information about a home's past did not need to be disclosed to potential buyers, and sellers were under no obligation to do so. Non-disclosure could not bring any law suits, but that buyers could make an inquiry in writing to ask about a property's history. Though it didn't mention any haunted houses in its ruling.

Pennsylvania later faced its own similar case, Milliken v. Jacono, which followed after a murder-suicide occurred in a house before it was renovated and put up for sale. It was later concluded that such an event could not be deemed a defect requiring disclosure to the buyers. In Alaska, if the seller knows that a murder or suicide occurred on the property within the last year, they are under an obligation to inform the buyer before an offer is made or accepted. In South Dakota, a similar law requires that sellers answer on a property disclosure statement if they are aware of any human death by homicide or suicide that's occurred on the property. Of course, finding out a house's history is much easier now than in 1989.

The Stambovskys did apparently get back most of their deposit, though the exact amount is unclear. Kavanagh reported that Helen kept $5000, though others report she kept $15 000.

Following the ruling, Helen moved out, finally able to sell the house. Despite concerns the haunting would devalue the property, up to 50 buyers showed interest when selling the property. This included the mentalist the Amazing Kreskin, who was seeking out a haunted house for his memorabilia.

Helen eventually sold it to filmmaker Adam Brooks, co-writer of Practical Magic, and moved to Florida in 1991. According to some, she exclaimed that she hoped her ghosts would follow her. It seems, though, that they didn't.

In 1993, Helen was contacted by a paranormal researcher from Portland, Oregon, who was interested in her ghosts. Working with another researcher who claimed to be able to channel spirits, Helen travelled to meet with the two. There, they apparently contacted two of the spirits from her former home.

One of the spirits introduced himself as Sir George, and the other introduced herself simply as Margaret. They were the admiral and woman that had apparently been seen, and were even a couple. Through the researchers, the ghosts apparently explained some of the history of the Nyack area along the Hudson. The story was later published by the researchers, and historians claimed that, while the facts were true, most were highly obscure, and others were just too difficult to fact-check.

Most of all, the spirits expressed that they missed the Ackley family, and that the home had not been the same without them. In another meeting, the spirits said that they were prepared to move on.

Maybe they did just that, as no subsequent homeowners reported any paranormal activity. The home did change hands a few times and Ellis (who served as co-defendant) claimed that so many changes was unusual. Although the seeming increase in property expenses may mean this is not as unusual as it seems.

Apparently, the home no longer ranks as a top haunted site in the Hudson Valley among investigators as no subsequent owners have reported any ghosts. In the late 1990s, filmmaker Adam Brooks, co-writer of Practical Magic, lived in the home, reporting no spirits. Musician Ingrid Michaelson followed, selling the home in 2015 without a mention of any paranormal events. The home sold again in 2019, with the scariest detail being the $1.9million asking price.

Helen Ackley passed away in 2003, and family has expressed that they hope she returned to 1 LaVeta Place.