Haunted homes: Roommates living on the other side

If you’ve ever had an inconsiderate roommate, you already know the story. They keep strange hours, wake you up in the night banging stuff around, break your electronics, borrow things and never give them back, move your special chair out of its designated spot, never pay the rent, pester you constantly but refuse to take on any corporeal form – oh wait, those are ghosts. And you probably don’t want to live with them, either!

Stories of haunted homes and otherworldly disturbances abound in Canadian cities, where older homes are often converted into apartments. If you’re living in one of those, there’s a very good chance that someone has died in the building at some point, either by accident, natural causes, or foul play. Newer buildings can ostensibly claim their fair share of supernatural residents too. There’s unfortunately no shortage of stories about construction workers falling down elevator shafts, or suicides from highrise balconies.

That’s the case for Edmonton resident Kimberly, 38, who has been documenting paranormal activity in her newer rented condo for the last year. Chair and object movements – classic “poltergeist” stunts – have been witnessed by family and friends, and her 8-year-old daughter converses with an unseen presence in her closet. After a visit from Edmonton Paranormal, who “identified” the responsible spirits as a well-known pair of pre-teen twins, she and her partner have decided to stay in their home and deal with the haunting themselves, rather than move or appeal to their landlord.

“We got some blessed Buddha items for the house, and placed holy water and salt crystals in every corner. We do our best not to react if we see a chair moved or something, and just put it back in its place,” says Katherine.

But what if you can’t remain calm when the chairs start stacking themselves on the kitchen table? Is there any legal recourse for the tenant of a haunted apartment who wants out? Unfortunately, as such phenomena cannot be officially acknowledged, there is no legislation in Canada that addresses the issue of haunted real estate. Only certain U.S. states count reported paranormal activity as an “emotional defect” of a property that must be disclosed. A customer service rep for the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, speaking on condition of anonymity, says:

“I’d be lying if I said I’ve never taken such complaints. Some of my colleagues claim to have heard multiple complaints about the same properties. Those ones you feel bad about, because there probably is something going on there. But people will also say outrageous things to get out of a lease, and we have to deal with the law and the facts. With something like a haunted apartment, the law doesn’t cover it, and facts really can’t be proven. You’re going to have to find something else really wrong with the property, or the landlord has to be demonstrably negligent in some other way.”

Or you could call Ghostbusters. Toronto-based Cold Spot Paranormal Research has been investigating and “cleaning” haunted houses all over North America since 2002!