Ghosts don’t haunt property disclosures

By Richard Courtney
October 27, 2006

As Halloween approaches and the ghoulies and beasties and things that go bump in the night become more cantankerous, the presence of such spirits and the like are not mentioned on a Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure.

The residential real estate market is myth laden and burdened with misinformation. One example of this concerns the movies and books pertaining to the Amityville horror. While purported to be true, or based on truth, several Amityville Realtors have recently debunked the entire episode.

Nashville, however, is a hub of paranormal activity. When a seller reluctantly admits there are unexplained noises in the house he will be putting on the market, he often asks, “Who ya gonna call?” And, of course the answer is: Ghostbusters.

One such ghostbuster, although she is not fond of the term, is Pat Morton, a former Nashvillian who recently relocated to Murfreesboro. With all of the new construction there, one may surmise the spirits are being inundated with noise from the machinery.

Morton, some will recall, is the psychic who assisted Nashville Realtor Steve Fridrich and his builder, the late Steve Jones, in the removal of three spirits — two of which who lived in the home for 100 years, and one for 50. And they were none to happy with the plans to demolish the home.

Jones, one of Nashville’s finest contractors, instructed his superintendent Allen Harrison to disconnect the electricity from the home and Harrison complied. Located in the den of the home was a wagon wheel chandelier that was going to be demolished. Jones asked Fridrich if Harrison could remove the fixture for his own use and Fridrich agreed.

When Jones and Harrison tried to remove it, the lights flickered causing Jones to chastise Harrison for failing to follow his instructions in removing the electrical connection. Harrison then escorted Jones outside where they observed that the home had no electrical connection. They returned to the chandelier and again attempted to remove it. Again, it flickered. The dog began to wail and the twosome fled.

The next day, Fridrich called Morton who advised him the home contained three spirits and she had convinced them to leave. Ever the skeptic, Fridrich then asked Morton to read his fortune. She said she felt strong feelings about Mexico and Russia. He admitted that his girlfriend from Russia was meeting him that afternoon to go on vacation in Mexico.

Then she told him he would be involved in a political campaign that would receive national attention and that the entire world would see him on television. He rebuffed the prediction as he had absolutely no political aspirations.

The next week, his college roommate Ross Perot, Jr. called to see if Steve could accompany his father to the Nashville courthouse as Perot had decide to enter the race for president and needed a man in Tennessee to help him get on the ballot.

Since the ghosts were gone, Fridrich did not disclose their presence to the next buyer. However, the neighbor across the street was most irritated as they took up residence in his home.

Location. Location. Location.