17. Move Into A House Where Someone Died
OK, there's no logical reason not to move into a house where someone was horribly murdered (or committed a tragic suicide). There is, however, a massive history of supernatural hauntings, demonic possessions and ghostly manifestations in horror literature and cinema that's enough to convince me to just steer well away. The tale usually goes: many years ago, the residents of an old, dark house die in mysterious circumstances. Ever since then, any new occupants of the house are scared out after witnessing unexplainable phenomena or, are driven mad or coerced into performing acts of murderous rage by evil spirits lingering in the building. This narrative archetype forms the basis of The Shining, The Haunting and The Amityville Horror, but even when the source of the haunting turns out to be decidedly non-supernatural as in The Cat & The Canary and The House On Haunted Hill this is little comfort, as the ghostly protagonist is merely replaced by a no less murderous human character using the house's supernatural reputation as a smokescreen to hide his own evil deeds.