In the past there have been many court cases involving the paranormal. The most famous of these being the “devil made me do it” case from 1981. There is one in particular that really changed the course of law specifically in the United States. This is the case of Stambovsky v. Ackley, or more commonly referred to as “The Ghostbusters Ruling.”
The case revolves around a property in Nyack, New York. The property originally belonged to Helen Ackley. During her time in the home she reported multiple poltergeist events and claimed that the home was haunted by several poltergeists. These reports included direct communication between family members and the poltergeists as well as what she called “gifts”. She claimed that the poltergeists would leave gifts for her children which would shortly after disappear. There were even reports of the beds being shaken. During her time there the supposed poltergeist haunting was serious enough that she reported it to Reader’s Digest who published an article about it. It was also reported to multiple local newspapers in the years between 1977 and 1989.
When the house was put on the market Ackley as well as her real estate agent decided not to formally disclose the information regarding the believed haunting of the property. Stambovsky was living in New York City at the time and was unaware of the various publications regarding the home. Having fallen in love with the home Stambovsky signed a contract of sale and put down a substantial down payment on the home. After the down payment had been paid and the contract had been signed the paranormal history of the home made its way to Stambovsky. Not wanting to spend his money on a home that had unusual and negative publicity around it he took the matter to court.
Stambovsky’s case was worked through the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. Stambovsky had filed an action requesting cancellation of the sale contract as well as damages for fraudulent misrepresentation by Ackley as well as Ellis Realty. Along with this he also wanted the money from his down payment returned to him. The case was interesting and tricky, especially when it came to majority opinion of the jury. The majority opinion agreed that because the haunting had widely been reported as real on various platforms the home should legally be regarded as haunted. This meant that the majority opinion felt the information should have been disclosed to Stambovsky well before point of sale. They also made a point that something like a haunting is not a defect that can be seen or tested and listed on a defects list, this factor played against them.
After much deliberation and legal research the court ruled that Ellis Realty and Ackley were under no obligation to disclose the haunting and therefore no damages were made available to Stambovsky. However, in support of Stambovsky’s case he was under no legal requirement to go through with the sale of the house. Unfortunately for Stambovsky though, he did not attend the closing of the case and had to forfeit his down payment. The Supreme Court dismissed the actions of the case and Stambovsky later filed an appeal.
Because of the fragile nature of the case with regards to property law it is now widely used as a teaching example. It is found in many textbooks that are used to study US law and it often cited in court when dealing with similar cases regarding property law. It outlined the difficulties you could face when buying property as there are some things that are not legally required to be brought to the buyer’s attention, with the seller and estate agent facing no consequences in court. In the end, Ackley and Ellis Realty got to keep the down payment and could still sell the home to another buyer, however I am sure the damage to their reputation was fairly large.
