Share Weird Open House Experiences

05/16/2008 vuForce Fresh "galactic dubjive" x. says:

dude prob had a little too much fun in the 70s

05/16/2008 superduperpooperscooper T. says:

where was this?!?!

05/16/2008 Linda "the ORIGINAL foodmonster" C. says:

Ew serious!? I would have left after I got the note! Glad you guys got out safe! you should tell people not to come to this open house.  

Hella Freaky!

05/16/2008 Sharon "Missy" J. says:

That's very odd.

05/16/2008 Jasmine D. says:

That's super strange.  I've never had anything close to that weird happen to me.

05/16/2008 Lindsay "can someone yelp me out?" L. says:

I wouldn't be surprised if you were actually being taped throughout the ordeal. Maybe it was some kind of experiment?

05/16/2008 Gregor "I do all my own stunts" G. says:

You sure you weren't being Punk'd?

05/16/2008 Donkey K. says:

Haha....   yeah it sounds like the beginning of a horror movie.   Poor us SF renters that have to deal with stuff like this.

05/16/2008 Jaime "Not Bulimia, Just Good Business Practice" L. says:

you should PROBABLY report that to the police. just sayin.

05/16/2008 Brenda Kaye "B.K. Whopper" W. says:

It was a test to see how much people would be willing to put up with in this rental market.

05/16/2008 Brenda Kaye "B.K. Whopper" W. says:

I don't think creepy is a crime, Jaime.

05/16/2008 Kevin P. says:

he probably wants to masturbate to the people on the tape.

05/16/2008 Jaime "Not Bulimia, Just Good Business Practice" L. says:

i think it is when it gets to THAT point. there are people who study the mental psychology of that shit. haven't you seen NCIS?!

05/16/2008 CINDY K. says:

wait - so what were the roommates filmed doing?

05/16/2008 Jack H. says:

Ileana,

There are some incredibly bizarre living situations in this city.

Good move on getting the hell out asap.  Many years ago, I lived at a bizarre building in SF.  It was just so out there and Insane, I can't get into all of it without writing a book.  The building had a fairly extreme nutcase live-in resident manager.  Many things happened.  But the killer was: In the basement there was a small gym we could all use. One night I kind of took a wrong turn in the catacombs of hallways down there, and I was having trouble finding my way out.  

I came to this sort of dead end hallway with a door at the end.  Didn't look quite right, put I figured I had to try to get out that way.  I tried to open the door, but something was against it on the other side.  The door wasn't locked though.  This was kind of weird in itself, but I pushed it open.  It revealed a very big room with a sort of temple at one end, looked like where royalty would sit.  Weird I thought.  And I started getting a creepy feeling, because I always sort of felt the manager of the place had a sort of egomania/dictator vibe going.

The walls of this room were the creepiest:  covered with endless murals of 6 foot high flames.  Interspersed were paintings of dark figures the whole thing can only be described as a sort of image of Hell.

But, the nail in the coffin:  Near one end of the mural, near the throne, was a picture of a human-like being lording over the Hellish world.  The painting was unmistakably the resident manager.  I was frozen there for like 15 seconds.  My mind was just focused on figuring out how to move out of that building asap.  I was out within 3 days.

Again: there are some incredibly bizarre living situations in this city, mixed in with all the thousands of unremarkable buildings.

05/16/2008 Jack H. says:

p.s. - I know what you mean re Horror movie.  I felt like I had fallen head first deep into a bad B-Horror Movie!

05/16/2008 Justin M. says:

I went with my Dad to an open house in Foster City in the mid 80's. My Dad took one look at the 200k price tag and thought those people were crazy and asking a lot for the house! Anyway, 20 years later that same house is worth over a million dollars and my Dad still can't get the "WHAT IF" scenario out of his head.

05/16/2008 Mitsi "laaa-leeee" H. says:

ick! was it a craigslist ad?

05/16/2008 Ileana S. says:

The place is located on Oak between Buchanan and Laguna. The roommates were basically getting interviewed about who they were and what they did for a living. And yes, it was a craigslist ad. :P

05/16/2008 Ileana S. says:

The place is located on Oak between Buchanan and Laguna. The roommates were basically getting interviewed about who they were and what they did for a living. And yes, it was a craigslist ad. :P

05/16/2008 Alan S. says:

We should ALL go there and have a field day with the guy. =)

05/16/2008 Jennifer "Bibulous" L. says:

cuh-reepy.

05/16/2008 Mitsi "laaa-leeee" H. says:

Awful! you may want to flag the craigslist ad. Good luck on your search!

05/16/2008 Jack H. says:

Ileana, O.M.F.G.!!!  My place was on Oak also!  But it was a couple blocks down, toward Gough.

God damn.  Unreal. But in the time I liver there, the area was slightly known to have some small cult activity in the area.  But this was like 10 years ago.  Perhaps some of it hasn't changed that much in 10 years?

Creepy.  I'm staying the hell out of there.  Bad memories.  I don't necessarily believe in ghosts.  But I feel the presence of something like that whenever I've happened to be in that area at the wrong time of night.  Probably just imagination.  Yeah, thats it.

05/16/2008 Ileana S. says:

Jack, Maybe the guy owns several apartments on Oak St. Crrazy.

05/16/2008 Otter T. says:

Like Mark Twain said 'Truth is stranger than fiction'.

05/16/2008 Kenny "The Gambler" R. says:

Near one end of the mural, near the throne, was a picture of a human-like being lording over the Hellish world.  The painting was unmistakably the resident manager.  I was frozen there for like 15 seconds.  My mind was just focused on figuring out how to move out of that building asap.  I was out within 3 days.
.....................

MOMA in the future for this guy...

05/16/2008 Sharon "Missy" J. says:

Jack that's very scary. :(

05/16/2008 Jack H. says:

Heh, yeah Ileana (and the rest), here's a handy list of places you might want to avoid (or not)  http://www.yelp.com/to...

05/16/2008 Jack H. says:

Not to get too dark, but some may have noticed my postings a few months ago asking about the Infamoust  Black House of SF (origins of the nation's largest Satanic church  - Church of Satan).  My experience living at this place reminded me too much of a documentary I had seen as a kid re: SF's Black House -- and obviously these two places, and the oddity I happened across them ...well...it pops up my mind sometimes.  The entire exterior and interior was painted 100% black.  Somehow that right there was enough to scared the crap out of us then - very exorcist-like.  They did things like animal sacrifices...
http://en.wikipedia.or...
http://www.sfgate.com/...
http://churchofsatan.c...
"The Black House was a Victorian mansion that formerly stood at 6114 California St. in San Francisco, California, in the United States. Though some people refer to the building as a mansion, photographs of the building taken just before its destruction show that it was a moderately sized single family home, considerably smaller than the two small apartment buildings on either side of the property.

The house was used by Anton LaVey as the headquarters of his Church of Satan from 1966 until his death in 1997. LaVey conducted Satanic seminars and rituals at the house; one of the most notorious such rituals was the Satanic baptism of his daughter Zeena Schreck in 1967, punctuated by LaVey speaking the words "Hail Satan!" over the nude body of a female acting as the 'Satanic Altar'.

Public ceremonies were performed at the house until 1972. LaVey lost ownership of the house in 1991 as the result of a court settlement resulting from his separation from Diane Hegarty, but LaVey was allowed to reside at the Black House until his death.

Following LaVey's death, members of the Church of Satan unsuccessfully attempted to raise funds to repurchase the house, and it was demolished on October 17, 2001. As for May 2006, there is a new development being built on the lot where the Black House once stood."

However, the contrived over the top aspect of this may actually take away just  a bit from its scariness...jury is out.
In any event, I guess they tore the house down now.

Still, Bottom Line:  I'd avoid living around 6114 California St.  ;-)

05/16/2008 ryan y. says:

want this room?  you have SEVEN DAYS...

05/16/2008 P A U L. says:

Ileana, that's not very nice... *I* am one of the current roommates of the aforementioned house you visited! ): (

05/16/2008 Sara "Woefully Unemployed" F. says:

it sounds like an art installation actually.

05/17/2008 Denise "I Heart Vegas" M. says:

That house on California street...  I used to pass it all the time!  I had heard some of the stories and would always walk on the opposite side of the street from it.  One day, I saw the gate open, and an old man standing near a car.  Then a little girl (cute thing) came running out of the house calling him "grandpa."  I totally didn't expect that.

05/17/2008 danielle p. says:

I've never had to deal with Houses of Satan or anything, as I've only searched for roommates instead of trying to find a room.  Once, though, when I was looking for someone to fill the second room in my apartment, I had this dude over, and he went into the bathroom and stayed there for a loooooong time.  And it's one of those water closets.  Just a toilet.  He never flushed.  I assume he was just sitting there.  Creepy.

I learned never to invite craigslist people into my home when I'm all alone.  Except eventually I found a bitchin roommate (not that guy).  So it goes both ways, I guess.  Good thing there was more than one person interested in the place.  That would have sucked to be all alone watching some shitty video.

05/17/2008 Jason T. says:

I went to view a place in Noe Valley.  I go up to the unit, meet with the landlord and look around.  At this point I am the only person there.  I ask where the laundry room, and she tells me it's outside downstairs.  So I go down the stairs and check out the laundry room.  When I walk up back to the unit and enter back into the unit, the landlord tells me, "It's been rented to this young lady here.  Sorry."  Her loss...

05/17/2008 Susan "Princess Pinkie" R. says:

WOW!  Were you on candid camera?

05/17/2008 Cynthia "What it do baby boo?" B. says:

We were looking for a roommate and a 70 year old man and his 17 year old boyfriend came to look at a room and expected us to accept them and treat them like a normal couple.  The old man was willing to pay cash for like a year's rent and said he wasn't going to live here, just the boy.  Oh hell no, I don't want to have to deal with that.  The boy looked so proud that he had a sugar daddy.  

Another guy came to look at the room and he started to make random demands and no matter how nice we were he tried to turn everything into an argument.  We could hardly get the guy out the door.  I mean, if you want a room, don't make crazy demands, treat us like s4it and act like a psycho, you know?  lol  

When it comes to Craigslist it's hit and miss.

05/17/2008 Jon H. says:

this is easily the coolest open house story i've ever read.

05/17/2008 John "Da Bull" G. says:

Sounds like a Twilight Zone episode.

You did the right thing by bolting outta there.

05/17/2008 b h. says:

Submit a tape, moon them...no second thought don't do that. They might like?

05/17/2008 ben h. says:

5 hours ago Paul H. says:

Ileana, that's not very nice... *I* am one of the current roommates of the aforementioned house you visited! ): (
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hahaha- why is this not surprising?

05/17/2008 Sun E. says:

That is very freaky. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!

My story isn't freaky...it is a pisser.

Our agent took us to open houses when we flew out here to find a cool casa.

As per the fliers she sent via snail mail- we found one home we wanted to see right away after flying to CA from the east coast.
The agent kept refusing to show us the place...until we yelled at her to show it to us, dammit!

We finally got to the place, our current home.

We knew it was the house we wanted the second we walked through the front door.
The agent followed us through the house and said everything in her power to make me think it was a bad home.

She criticized EVERYthing about the place.

Yet,  we told her we wanted to buy it. She seemed angry...weird, huh?
She didn't say a peep during the drive to her office or while writing up the offer.

A few months later, we moved across country to our new home here.

A couple weeks later the agent called and asked to come over- I was hesitant, yet let her.

WOW! She admitted that after I had pointed out the home to her when I got the flier,
she fell in love with  the place and was trying to get it herself!

NOT good!

Out of the goodness of my heart, I didn't Yelp her!
Sure feels good to write about it here!  :)

05/17/2008 Ileana S. says:

To those who want to relive the freakiness: http://sfbay.craigslis...

05/17/2008 Jessica "Bullshit detector" L. says:

wait there was a Black House with creepy stories in the Sunset on 17th between Santiago and Quintara. Tons of stories about that house too. last year a new person moved in and it was painted nice and pretty....

05/17/2008 Mark G. says:

that kitchen looks haunted!  is that 70s-looking guy in the pic one of the ghosts?

______________________________ _______________________
Ileana S. says:

To those who want to relive the freakiness: http://sfbay.craigslis...

05/17/2008 John "Da Bull" G. says:

I don't have a freaky one but a funny story but it's got nothing to do with a open house. Well...sort of.

My cousin, (Boy) was driving home one time after playing basketball. He saw a bunch of furniture on the lawn in front of a house with the garage door wide open. He decided to park and look at the furniture thinking it was a yard/garage sale. He proceeds inside the garage and starts browsing. The female owner, startled, suddenly appeared and asked, "Can I help you?"

My cousin replied, "No, thanks, I'm just browsing around." Then the husband shows up and there was a weird pause. After a while, my cousin realized it wasn't a yard/garage sale but they were moving.

He sheepishly returned to his car and was embarrassed as heck.

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha.

05/19/2008 R V. says:

I might take my 4 yr olds class for a field trip there..... Welcome to SF

05/19/2008 Sharon "Missy" J. says:

Cynthia "What it do baby boo?" B. says:

We were looking for a roommate and a 70 year old man and his 17 year old boyfriend came to look at a room and expected us to accept them and treat them like a normal couple.  The old man was willing to pay cash for like a year's rent and said he wasn't going to live here, just the boy.  Oh hell no, I don't want to have to deal with that.  The boy looked so proud that he had a sugar daddy.  
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I just threw up a little in my mouth.