18 Celebrities Who Say They've Lived in Real Haunted Houses

Photo: Ben Shattuck/Instagram

While the movie is a fun and fictional take on living with — and confronting — spirits, these stars claim to have dealt with the real deal.

Read on to learn more about these A-listers and the specters who have haunted their celebrity homes.

01of 18Courteney CoxSteve Granitz/WireImageDuring a March 2022 appearanceonJimmy Kimmel Live,Courteney Coxopened up about theparanormal encounters(and warnings that preceded them) at the home she once owned in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles.The first warning, Cox said, came from legendary singerCarole King, who previously owned the home.“So Carole King came over to my house and she said there had been a divorce that was really ugly, and there was a ghost in the house,” Cox told hostJimmy Kimmel. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ ““But other people who had stayed there with me — friends of mine — said they had an encounter with a woman who was sitting on the edge of the bed,” Cox continued, though she brushed off their concerns at the time as well.That was until one day the doorbell rang and Cox opened the door to a “UPS guy or something” who asked her, “Do you know this house is haunted?“Cox replied, “Yeah, why? Why do you think that?” to which the delivery driver responded, “Because there is someone standing behind you.“The star said that was enough to convince her once and for all, joking to Kimmel that she was ready to sell after that experience.

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Courteney Cox

Steve Granitz/WireImage

During a March 2022 appearanceonJimmy Kimmel Live,Courteney Coxopened up about theparanormal encounters(and warnings that preceded them) at the home she once owned in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The first warning, Cox said, came from legendary singerCarole King, who previously owned the home.

“So Carole King came over to my house and she said there had been a divorce that was really ugly, and there was a ghost in the house,” Cox told hostJimmy Kimmel. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ "

“But other people who had stayed there with me — friends of mine — said they had an encounter with a woman who was sitting on the edge of the bed,” Cox continued, though she brushed off their concerns at the time as well.

That was until one day the doorbell rang and Cox opened the door to a “UPS guy or something” who asked her, “Do you know this house is haunted?”

Cox replied, “Yeah, why? Why do you think that?” to which the delivery driver responded, “Because there is someone standing behind you.”

The star said that was enough to convince her once and for all, joking to Kimmel that she was ready to sell after that experience.

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Octavia Spencer

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Octavia Spenceropened up about her supernatural roommate during a December 2021 appearance onThe Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“I love him, because he kind of sorts out the bad people that shouldn’t be there,” Spencer explained. “He runs them out.”

“If they stay at my place, they don’t wanna come back. And that’s how I know that they don’t belong here,” she continued. “If you’re a person that belongs there, everybody is like, ‘Oh, your place is so welcoming. It’s so great.’ And that’s how I feel about it.”

When DeGeneres asked if she’s experienced any spooky moments at home, like doors closing on their own, Spencer said, “Well, when I leave for a long time he’s a little shady.”

“The doors close, the lights go off when I turn them on,” she said. “The only problem — I love my ghost, I just don’t want you bringing your ghost to my house. I don’t want anybody’s ghost thinking they can be friends with my ghost.”

03of 18Britney SpearsNicholas Hunt/FilmmagicBefore selling her Hollywood Hills home toBrittany Murphyand her husband —both of whom died in the housein 2009 and 2010, respectively —Britney Spearsallegedlyhad otherwordly experienceson the property, her former makeup artist, Julianne Kaye, shared on theWe Need to Talk About Britneypodcast in February 2021."[She] had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I’m just gonna say, this is really weird … She calls me … I had my friend do reiki healing on her, he had come up, I guess she’d had a crazy partying weekend and needed to relax. He left, and she swears to God that he opened some spirit portal or something, and these bad spirits had come in … and they were trying to, like, push her down the stairs or something crazy,” Kaye explained on the podcast.She continued: “It was so bad that she left. She went to the Casa del Mar hotel to stay there and never went back to the house. She goes, ‘I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. I know what I saw. I know what I felt.'“Though Murphy never had a supernatural encounter in the home, she often complained to her husband that something was “off” about the house, he recounted shortly before his death in 2010.

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Britney Spears

Nicholas Hunt/Filmmagic

Before selling her Hollywood Hills home toBrittany Murphyand her husband —both of whom died in the housein 2009 and 2010, respectively —Britney Spearsallegedlyhad otherwordly experienceson the property, her former makeup artist, Julianne Kaye, shared on theWe Need to Talk About Britneypodcast in February 2021.

“[She] had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I’m just gonna say, this is really weird … She calls me … I had my friend do reiki healing on her, he had come up, I guess she’d had a crazy partying weekend and needed to relax. He left, and she swears to God that he opened some spirit portal or something, and these bad spirits had come in … and they were trying to, like, push her down the stairs or something crazy,” Kaye explained on the podcast.

She continued: “It was so bad that she left. She went to the Casa del Mar hotel to stay there and never went back to the house. She goes, ‘I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. I know what I saw. I know what I felt.'”

Though Murphy never had a supernatural encounter in the home, she often complained to her husband that something was “off” about the house, he recounted shortly before his death in 2010.

04of 18Jenny SlateLloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesJenny Slatesays that living in a haunted house “basically shaped [her] entire personality.“Slate opened up about it in herNetflix standup comedy special,Stage Fright,but firsttalked about the experienceonEllenin 2014.She told DeGeneres, “I grew up in Massachusetts. I grew up in a genuine haunted house … I knew it was haunted. My parents, when they moved in, they bought it with all the furniture in it, the people had died, and — I’m getting scared even telling the story…“Then, the comedian recounted how her parents pulled up the runner on the stairs, only to find a stack of old letters that had been hidden there. The letters were from a man who was not the previous owner’s husband, but a sea captain.Slate said that her father ended up actually seeing the sea captain’s ghost: “My dad went out into the hall, and he looked onto the stairs, and standing there was this sea captain, looking at him, pleading.“Eventually, the family burned the letters and the sea captain never returned, though they did continue to see other apparitions. Spooky!

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Jenny Slate

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Jenny Slatesays that living in a haunted house “basically shaped [her] entire personality.”

Slate opened up about it in herNetflix standup comedy special,Stage Fright,but firsttalked about the experienceonEllenin 2014.

She told DeGeneres, “I grew up in Massachusetts. I grew up in a genuine haunted house … I knew it was haunted. My parents, when they moved in, they bought it with all the furniture in it, the people had died, and — I’m getting scared even telling the story…”

Then, the comedian recounted how her parents pulled up the runner on the stairs, only to find a stack of old letters that had been hidden there. The letters were from a man who was not the previous owner’s husband, but a sea captain.

Slate said that her father ended up actually seeing the sea captain’s ghost: “My dad went out into the hall, and he looked onto the stairs, and standing there was this sea captain, looking at him, pleading.”

Eventually, the family burned the letters and the sea captain never returned, though they did continue to see other apparitions. Spooky!

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Jennifer Aniston

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When she first moved to Los Angeles,Jennifer Anistonrented an apartment that came with a ghost who just so happened to hate her roommate.

“All of the sudden things started to [happen]. This dishwasher would start to go, or the coffee maker would start to go, or the stereo would just turn on at full volume. And it was terrifying,“The Morning Showactresssaid onThe Late Late Show with James Corden.

“They had frankincense and they put it in a little dish, and sort of started saying all these things. And the first corner that she went to, the dish cracked,” she recalled. “When we got to the really thick, thick, thick 1975 ashtray that was sitting on the table and then that cracked and she asked me to leave then I [really believed it]. She had to have a talking to [with the ghost].”

The ghost expert was able to pinpoint the problem after chatting with the spirit. “[The ghost] hated my roommate,” Aniston said. “I moved out. I feel terrible, but I couldn’t say, ‘It doesn’t like you.’ I mean, that would be terrible.”

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Jenna Bush Hager

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Hager reassured a creeped-outKelly Clarksonthat the ghosts were musical, not evil, and “came with no harm.”

07of 18Kris, Kendall and Kylie JennerDimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesKendall Jennerrevealed in a Halloween-themed 2018Voguevideothat she and her younger sister,Kylie Jenner, had some creepy experiences in their mom’s house.“I do believe in ghosts. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one, but I’ve experienced some pretty ghost-y situations,” she said. “In the house my mom lives in, Kylie and I would always hear footsteps on the roof while no one was home. Kylie’s shower used to turn on all the time and we never knew why. So yeah, I’m convinced it was a ghost.”

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Kris, Kendall and Kylie Jenner

Kendall Jennerrevealed in a Halloween-themed 2018Voguevideothat she and her younger sister,Kylie Jenner, had some creepy experiences in their mom’s house.

“I do believe in ghosts. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one, but I’ve experienced some pretty ghost-y situations,” she said. “In the house my mom lives in, Kylie and I would always hear footsteps on the roof while no one was home. Kylie’s shower used to turn on all the time and we never knew why. So yeah, I’m convinced it was a ghost.”

08of 18Matthew McConaugheyTristan Fewings/Getty ImagesDuring an interview aboutMatthew McConaughey’s 2009 movieGhosts of Girlfriends Past, the actortold the tale of Madame Bleu, the not-so-friendly spirit who lived in his Hollywood home.“I was not even under the influence and she was there,” he recalled. “She wasn’t that happy, it didn’t seem like she was going to be much fun to hang around or have in my house, so I went ahead and stood my ground. I opened the door and said, ‘You can move around all you want but I’m not going anywhere.’ For weeks everyone that came to the house said the same thing: ‘There’s someone down in that hall, there’s somebody down in that hall.'”

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Matthew McConaughey

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

During an interview aboutMatthew McConaughey’s 2009 movieGhosts of Girlfriends Past, the actortold the tale of Madame Bleu, the not-so-friendly spirit who lived in his Hollywood home.

“I was not even under the influence and she was there,” he recalled. “She wasn’t that happy, it didn’t seem like she was going to be much fun to hang around or have in my house, so I went ahead and stood my ground. I opened the door and said, ‘You can move around all you want but I’m not going anywhere.’ For weeks everyone that came to the house said the same thing: ‘There’s someone down in that hall, there’s somebody down in that hall.'”

09of 18Ellen DeGeneresAlberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images"I have seen [a ghost]. It’s weird,“Ellen DeGeneressaid while interviewing Melissa McCarthyon her talk show. “It’s a very strange thing — I didn’t see anything that disturbed me. And then my mother saw the same thing. I lived in that house and then I moved — because when I saw the ghost, I moved out and I put her in it. And then she saw the ghost as well. It was a man that was in, like, turn-of-the-century clothes and a hat and a three-piece suit.”

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Ellen DeGeneres

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“I have seen [a ghost]. It’s weird,“Ellen DeGeneressaid while interviewing Melissa McCarthyon her talk show. “It’s a very strange thing — I didn’t see anything that disturbed me. And then my mother saw the same thing. I lived in that house and then I moved — because when I saw the ghost, I moved out and I put her in it. And then she saw the ghost as well. It was a man that was in, like, turn-of-the-century clothes and a hat and a three-piece suit.”

10of 18Miley CyrusKevin Tachman/MG19/Getty Images for The Met Museum/VogueThe singer and her family had a terrifying time staying at a haunted rental apartment in London.“I was having really crazy dreams and really scary things, and one night my little sister — it sounds crazy to tell you — but she was standing in the shower and all of a sudden I hear her scream. I run in there and the water had somehow flipped to hot but it was still … It wasn’t like the water had just changed, the knob had turned but she hadn’t turned it and it was burning her. She was really red,“Miley CyrustoldElle UK.“Before I felt this, I thought I had seen a little boy sitting on the sink watching me take a shower so I felt really freaked out.“The star added that her mom, aunt, and exLiam Hemsworthall had “crazy experiences” in the flat after the shower incident, and that she eventually felt forced to find another place to stay.

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Miley Cyrus

Kevin Tachman/MG19/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

The singer and her family had a terrifying time staying at a haunted rental apartment in London.

“I was having really crazy dreams and really scary things, and one night my little sister — it sounds crazy to tell you — but she was standing in the shower and all of a sudden I hear her scream. I run in there and the water had somehow flipped to hot but it was still … It wasn’t like the water had just changed, the knob had turned but she hadn’t turned it and it was burning her. She was really red,“Miley CyrustoldElle UK.

“Before I felt this, I thought I had seen a little boy sitting on the sink watching me take a shower so I felt really freaked out.”

The star added that her mom, aunt, and exLiam Hemsworthall had “crazy experiences” in the flat after the shower incident, and that she eventually felt forced to find another place to stay.

11of 18Lea MicheleStefanie Keenan/Getty Images"I really, trulyhad a ghost in an old apartmentthat I lived in in New York,“Lea Michelesaid onA Little Late with Lilly Singh.The actress recalled hearing a “burst from upstairs” when she was on the bottom floor of the unit, only to go check it out and find it “silent” with “nothing out of place.“She added, “I’m like ‘It’s all in my head,’ and just as I say that, the window [flies open] right in front of me … And also, weirdly, I would hear someone singing in the apartment.”

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Lea Michele

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

“I really, trulyhad a ghost in an old apartmentthat I lived in in New York,“Lea Michelesaid onA Little Late with Lilly Singh.

The actress recalled hearing a “burst from upstairs” when she was on the bottom floor of the unit, only to go check it out and find it “silent” with “nothing out of place.”

She added, “I’m like ‘It’s all in my head,’ and just as I say that, the window [flies open] right in front of me … And also, weirdly, I would hear someone singing in the apartment.”

12of 18Megan MullallyRob Latour/REX/ShutterstockMegan Mullallyis convinced she and husbandNick Offermanonce shared a house with the spirit ofNicole Brown Simpson, who was murdered in 1994.“It wasn’t the same house, but it was on the same property where had once stood a house thatO.J. Simpsonhad rented for Nicole Brown Simpson,” Mullally said onBusy Tonight. “We would have in that house, in one corner of the house, like maybe where the bedroom used to be in the old house, we would have all these sounds and weird things all the time. I would be like, ‘That’s Nicole and she’s pissed because Nick doesn’t get it.'“According to theWill & Gracestar, the spirit’s activity stopped after Offerman watched documentaries and theAmerican Crime Storyseries that covered Brown Simpson’s murder: “Ever since then, no more sounds. She just needed Nick to understand what happened.”

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Megan Mullally

Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

Megan Mullallyis convinced she and husbandNick Offermanonce shared a house with the spirit ofNicole Brown Simpson, who was murdered in 1994.

“It wasn’t the same house, but it was on the same property where had once stood a house thatO.J. Simpsonhad rented for Nicole Brown Simpson,” Mullally said onBusy Tonight. “We would have in that house, in one corner of the house, like maybe where the bedroom used to be in the old house, we would have all these sounds and weird things all the time. I would be like, ‘That’s Nicole and she’s pissed because Nick doesn’t get it.'”

According to theWill & Gracestar, the spirit’s activity stopped after Offerman watched documentaries and theAmerican Crime Storyseries that covered Brown Simpson’s murder: “Ever since then, no more sounds. She just needed Nick to understand what happened.”

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Demi Lovato

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

“I believe that everyone can tune into that part of their mind. I think I have a really strong connection to the afterlife,” the singer continued. “When I walk into a room, I can tell if something has happened there or not, or if a hotel is haunted.”

14of 18Gigi HadidMatt Baron/Shutterstock"I’ve had a lot of unexplainable experiences with the supernatural,“Gigi Hadidsaid inVogue’s 2018 Halloween-themed video. “When we were kids, we lived in this really old house, and I was given the attic as my room. We used to hear this weird sound in the closet, and then we asked my dad, and he said this old lady used to live in the house.““We convinced ourselves [it was her], and we would talk to her. We’d be like, ‘Girl, we’ll bring you some tea,’ " she added.

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Gigi Hadid

Matt Baron/Shutterstock

“I’ve had a lot of unexplainable experiences with the supernatural,“Gigi Hadidsaid inVogue’s 2018 Halloween-themed video. “When we were kids, we lived in this really old house, and I was given the attic as my room. We used to hear this weird sound in the closet, and then we asked my dad, and he said this old lady used to live in the house.”

“We convinced ourselves [it was her], and we would talk to her. We’d be like, ‘Girl, we’ll bring you some tea,’ " she added.

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Jessica Alba

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

“I had no idea what it was. I felt this pressure and I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t do anything,” she said.

“Something definitely took the covers off me and I definitely couldn’t get off the bed, and then, once I did, I screamed, ran to my parents’ room and I don’t think I spent many nights in that house ever again … There was definitely something in my parents’ old house — I don’t know what it was. I can’t really explain it. But they got it blessed and they burned sage and stuff since then.”

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Lucy Hale

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“Doors close, not slam, but they close. And I have a motion sensor that lights up in my apartment and I swear it lights up sometimes when there’s nothing under it. And my dog barks a lot. I don’t feel threatened, that threatened, but it definitely freaks me out.”

17of 18Claudia SchifferDoug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages.comFormer residents seem to have trouble letting go of the Tudor mansionClaudia Schifferand her family call home.“We had a medium go around, and she told us that actually all the ghosts in the house are lovely. No one needs to be scared,” shetoldArchitectural Digest. “We welcome all the ghosts, basically … We hear creaking noises and strange things happen sometimes, like the music comes on.”

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Claudia Schiffer

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Former residents seem to have trouble letting go of the Tudor mansionClaudia Schifferand her family call home.

“We had a medium go around, and she told us that actually all the ghosts in the house are lovely. No one needs to be scared,” shetoldArchitectural Digest. “We welcome all the ghosts, basically … We hear creaking noises and strange things happen sometimes, like the music comes on.”

18of 18Alyson HanniganJon Kopaloff/FilmMagic"I have a ghost in my house. I saw him a couple of months ago,“Alyson Hanniganoncetold theSan Francisco Gate.“I don’t think he died there because there’s a law in L.A. that when you buy a house, if somebody’s died there they have to disclose that. And nobody did. So I don’t know why he’s there. But he’s very friendly. My friend saw him first one night. She said, ‘I don’t mean to alarm you but I just saw a man follow us out of the house.’ And I said, ‘Well, at least he’s gentlemanly, he let us go first.’ Later that night, I saw this silhouette of a man standing in the bathroom doorway. I was like, ‘Sweetie, what are you doing?’ I thought it was [now-husband] Alexis [Denisof]. But then I looked and Alexis was asleep next to me.”

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Alyson Hannigan

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“I have a ghost in my house. I saw him a couple of months ago,“Alyson Hanniganoncetold theSan Francisco Gate.

“I don’t think he died there because there’s a law in L.A. that when you buy a house, if somebody’s died there they have to disclose that. And nobody did. So I don’t know why he’s there. But he’s very friendly. My friend saw him first one night. She said, ‘I don’t mean to alarm you but I just saw a man follow us out of the house.’ And I said, ‘Well, at least he’s gentlemanly, he let us go first.’ Later that night, I saw this silhouette of a man standing in the bathroom doorway. I was like, ‘Sweetie, what are you doing?’ I thought it was [now-husband] Alexis [Denisof]. But then I looked and Alexis was asleep next to me.”

source: people.com