Haunted

Origin

Middle English, from Anglo-French hanter, probably from Old Norse heimta to lead home, pull, claim, from heimr home

• 14th Century

Definitions

• 1a : to visit often : frequent

b : to continually seek the company of

• 2a : to have a disquieting or harmful effect on : trouble <problems we ignore now will come back to haunt us>

b : to recur constantly and spontaneously to <the tune haunted her>

c : to reappear continually in <a sense of tension that haunts his writing>

• 3: to visit or inhabit as a ghost

Description

A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Parapsychologists attribute haunting to the spirits of the dead and the effect of violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide. More scientific explanations for the perception that a house is haunted include misinterpreting noises naturally present in structures, waking dreams, suggestibility, and the effect of toxic substances in environments that can cause hallucinations.

See also

• Ghosts