Owners of American Horror Story "murder house" sue previous owners over nosy fans, ghosts
Now that the novelty of throwing pizzas on the roof of the Breaking Bad house has worn off, there’s a hot new trend among TV tourists: Trying to break in to the “murder house” from American Horror Story. Driving by slowly, wandering up to the property, and even unlawful breaking and entering all appear to be on the agenda for nosy fans. That’s according to a lawsuit filed against the previous owners of the house, as well as the real-estate agency that brokered the sale, by the current owners, as reported in the Los Angeles real-estate news site The Real Deal. “A week before I first visited them, they had been awakened by the sound of glass breaking—someone came in through the window in the kitchen,” their attorney, Doug Vanderpool, says.
Dr. Ernst von Schwarz and Angela Oakenfold—neither of whom are apparently Ryan Murphy fans—bought the house at 1120 Winchester Place, also known as the Rosenheim Mansion, in 2015, four years after it was featured on season one of the popular horror anthology series. They claim to have had no idea about the house’s TV connection, and that its fame was not disclosed either by the previous owner or the real-estate agent when they bought it. (The owners also claim the house is occupied by two ghosts the previous owners failed to tell them about, although that’s not part of the official complaint.) They’re seeking punitive damages, as well as compensation for their pain, suffering, and/or kitchen window.
Ironically, under California law, if a real murder (or any death, for that matter) had taken place in the house in the past three years, the owners would have been required to disclose that as a condition of the sale. TV murders, though? Not so much.