Up Next - A Podcast Up FrontCriminal: How to Sell a Haunted House
In this special episode of Criminal, Phoebe Judge, host and co-creator of Criminal, gives us a
sneak peek into their hit show and special hand-picked episode, “House on the Haunted Hill.”
In 1989, Helen Ackley decided to sell her old Victorian house in Nyack, New York at 1 Laveta
Place. It didn’t go as planned. There were stories of ghosts, and the house became the center
of a case that’s referred to as “The Ghostbusters ruling.” The judicial opinion read: “as a matter
of law, the house is haunted.”
We speak to Mark Kavanagh, Cynthia Kavanagh, Richard Ellis, University of Chicago law
professor Lior Strahilevitz, and Randall Bell, who specializes in real estate damage economics.
Randall Bell has onsulted on the property where 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult died by
suicide in 1997. He also consulted on Nicole Brown Simpson’s condo, and one of the sites of
the Manson family murders. Part of his work is evaluating how the psychological stigma
attached to these properties affects their value.
To learn more about sponsorship on Criminal, please reach out to sponsors@prx.org
sneak peek into their hit show and special hand-picked episode, “House on the Haunted Hill.”
In 1989, Helen Ackley decided to sell her old Victorian house in Nyack, New York at 1 Laveta
Place. It didn’t go as planned. There were stories of ghosts, and the house became the center
of a case that’s referred to as “The Ghostbusters ruling.” The judicial opinion read: “as a matter
of law, the house is haunted.”
We speak to Mark Kavanagh, Cynthia Kavanagh, Richard Ellis, University of Chicago law
professor Lior Strahilevitz, and Randall Bell, who specializes in real estate damage economics.
Randall Bell has onsulted on the property where 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult died by
suicide in 1997. He also consulted on Nicole Brown Simpson’s condo, and one of the sites of
the Manson family murders. Part of his work is evaluating how the psychological stigma
attached to these properties affects their value.
To learn more about sponsorship on Criminal, please reach out to sponsors@prx.org
