A woman in Melbourne, Australia, claimed her house was haunted to try and decrease its value during divorce negotiations.
The 52 year-old woman said a ghost had been seen in her home and that her neighbours were well aware of this. The haunting was confined to her bedroom but she had definitely “felt something”, she insisted.
Despite the reported ghost, the woman wished to stay in the house, the former couple’s marital home, while her ex-husband was pressing for it to be sold,.
According to the Herald Sun, the woman wrote to the official property valuer via her solicitors, to ask how the haunting might affect valuation of the house. They told her they had failed to spot the spook during their inspections.
The value wrote:
“Exorcism is not one of our many speciality services and unless the ghost was held captive in the room to which we could not gain access, it must have been at lunch.”
The woman claimed the property had other problems too, including a leaking shower, termites, and a noisy nearby freight line.
Federal Magistrate Stephen Scarlett was unimpressed. He said:
“I found this account of the alleged haunting to be unbelievable and I am satisfied that the claim was fabricated for an ulterior purpose, namely, as an attempt to influence the valuer to return a low valuation of the former matrimonial home.”
