Creepy house with connections to Salem witch trials listed for $US600k
A relic homestead with a chilling connection to the Salem witch trials has captivated and creeped out property watchers around the world.
The campaign for the 350-year-old house in Beverly, Massachusetts, brings to life the brutality of bitter winters in Puritan America.
It is time-worn in a spine-tingling way and has gone viral for its jaw-dropping past.
“What horror movie is this an advertisement for?” one fan of US-based property page Zillow Gone Wild said.
Spooky stuff aside, 22 Essex Street, built in 1675, is part of the fabric of old America.
With an asking price of $US550,000 ($873,564), it has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and only three families have ever called it home.
The foundations are older than Sydney, Australia’s oldest capital city.
The house was built by local fisherman William Cleaves, then 24, whose father-in-law was accused of being a witch and sentenced to death.
Cleaves’ wife died not long after and he remarried.
His new father-in-law, Giles Corey, was charged with witchcraft and sent to trial.
Corey refused to enter a plea and was executed by laying heavy stones on his chest.
By not pleading to the charges, a legal quirk prevented the government from seizing his land, and ensured it passed to his family.
Cleaves’ grandson fought in the American Revolutionary War, connecting the family’s name to a major flashpoint in US history.
The listing was shared to Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild, making headlines worldwide.
One Zillow follower, with the surname Cleaves, speculated he is related to William.
“If I’ve traced back correctly, William Cleaves is my ninth great-grandfather. Wish I could afford to buy it.”
Another sensed the harsh reality of daily life in such an aged dwelling.
“I’ve never felt a draft through my phone before,” she said.
One joked that over the course of 350 years it was “vampires”, not ghosts, who lived there.
Many expressed hope that the property is preserved and turned into a museum.
One Zillow devotee couldn’t see past the cold, hard facts of maintaining a very old home.
“Forget the ghosts – you’ll never find a replacement for that square-seated Kohler toilet anywhere,” she said. “They stopped making them years ago.”
Agent Diantha Phothisan, of Engel & Volkers By the Sea, is handling the campaign.
“This home comes with a history that’s been researched by the current owner and is ready to be shared,” she says in the listing.
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