Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Pity me not but lend thy serious hearing to what I shall unfold.
Hamlet, Act 1 Scene V (Ghost)

This is a true story. Jeffrey Stambovsky and his wife Patrice decided to leave New York City and move to the beautiful Hudson Valley. They found the quaint Village of Nyack and fell in love with an 18^th Century Victorian at 1 LaVeta Place at the end of a Dead End street. The listing broker, Ellis Realty, wrote the offer for $650,000 and the Stambovsky’s paid the $32,500 down payment. They were all excited until they ran into a local architect who said: “So, you’re buying the haunted house”. Patrice’s face dropped. She was used to living next to weirdos in NYC but ghosts were another thing. She wanted out of the deal. The Stambovskys called the broker and asked for their money back. “No way”, said the seller, Helen Ackley. She was all set to move to Florida. “A deal’s a deal.”

“Who we gonna call?” thought Jeff and Patrice. They decided to call someone more frightening than a ghost—-a lawyer. They tried to throw a scare into the seller and the listing broker by threatening to sue. The reply was “Go ahead. You don’t have a ghost of a chance. Besides, you can’t prove the house is haunted”. The Stambovskys filed suit in New York. The result was as predicted in everyone’s crystal ball. The case was tossed out faster than a plate pitched by a poltergeist. Caveat emptor was the law of New York. Tough luck youz guys.

Now, you’d think the Stambovskys would see the writing on the wall, give up and learn to live with the undead. No way in hell. They decided to appeal to a higher power, the Appellate Court. They claimed the contract should be cancelled & their down payment returned based on the seller’s misrepresentation. It seems Helen Ackley had made quite a name for herself and her haunted habitat by giving her story to Reader’s Digest as well as the local newspapers. She was even proud to be on the Nyack ghost house tour. It seemed everyone in the area knew about the “Nyack Ghost House” except those city slicker out-of-towners Jeff and Patrice Stambovsky.

The Court heard it all and made their decision. Caveat emptor was still the law of the land and the broker had no duty to disclose the residence’s haunted reputation. Helen Ackley sensed a feeling of success while the Stambovskys a feeling of nausea. Then, it was as if some other-worldly force entered the courthouse and took possession of the judges. To everyone’s shock, Justice Rubin said he was “moved by the spirit of equity” and speaking in tongues (Latin) he said “Ex facto jus oritur” which means “law arises out of facts”. The judge went on to say because Helen Ackely had promoted the house as haunted and did not deny it, as a matter of law, the house WAS haunted. Because she had intentionally kept the Stambovsky’s in the dark, she would have to exorcise their money from escrow & make it reappear in their pockets.

And as if seeing the future, the judge declared that owning a haunted house greatly affected its value. Because of its reputation, creepy ghost hunters from across the country would be unwelcome visitors for years to come. Tourists, as everyone knows, are worse than hobgoblins. According to local legend, Judge Rubin fell under a trance in his chambers just before the decision and was heard to mumble “hauntedness is an unzillowable”. But the legend has never been proven.

The case has gone down in legal lore as the Ghostbusters Case. It is taught in law schools and is often cited and followed by other courts.

After the case, Helen Ackley did finally sell her house for $20,000 less and moved to Florida. Over the years, she came to miss the ghosts, 2 women and a man who wore Revolutionary garb. It seems the spirits had the habit of bringing her children small gifts and keeping her company. With the help of ghost hunter Bill Merrill and channeler Glenn Johnson, she tried to contact the lost souls. Mr. Johnson must have been a good channeler because he located 2 ghosts who claimed to be from Nyack, Sir George and Margaret (the third ghost moved leaving no forwarding address). It seems the ghosts missed Helen too and told her the house wasn’t much fun to haunt since she moved out. In January 2003, Helen Ackley passed away. Believers say she went all the way back to 1 LaVeta Place in the lovely Village of Nyack. Happy Halloween to all.

Sources: Stambovsky v. Ackley; The Kavanagh Webpages