The List

Anime's 6 Most Haunted Homes

I don't know about you, but I watch series like House Hunters and other HGTV real estate programming to debate which home most likely has a few spectral residents. By contrast, I don't usually watch those paranormal investigator shows because I can only stand so many dudes standing around in the dark pretending to hear things. I guess what I mean is, when it comes to haunted houses I'm both an enthusiast and a skeptic. Both Mulder and Scully. I want to believe it and also explain it.

Personally, I've encountered almost no plausible hauntings, but there was one incident in my previous rental where both myself and my husband thought our young son had gotten up from a nap in the late afternoon. We were sitting on the bed in our bedroom when we both heard short, scurrying footsteps go from the family room toward our bedroom door. There was no one on the other side of the door. Our son was staying at my parent's house. The cat was asleep at the end of the bed.

Some places just aren't worth the cheap rent, guys. Always be suspicious of a three-bedroom home with rent under US$1,000.

Yuragi Inn (Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs) Kogarashi Fuyuzora is homeless before he finds a "too good to be true" offer at Yuragi Inn. The former hot spring resort is now a cheap boarding house, primarily because its packed to the brim with ghosts. You may think to yourself, "with ghosts like that, I wouldn't mind a little poltergeist action!" to which I say, have you not seen American Horror Story? According to noted television scholar Ryan Murphy, ghost and human relations will lead to the birth of the Antichrist. The rest of mankind is not going to forgive you for the downfall of mankind no matter how boobalicious the ghost you shacked up with happens to be. The rest of the show's female harem include vessels for gods and alcohol-drinking oni, which seems like way more trouble than it's worth.

Schrödinger's Cat Mansion (Myriad Colors Phantom World) The story's inhabitants can already perceive beings dubbed "phantoms" thanks to a brain-altering virus, and fortunately most of these non-human beings co-exist with mankind peacefully—except in one particular mansion. The house looks ripe and ready to be flipped for some decent cash, except it's completely overrun with cats. What, that's not a deal-breaker? Okay, but the house is literally possessed by really needy cat spirits, which causes other people to adopt increasingly feline-like behavior. So if you want to never leave and literally become a cat, no big deal.

The Doll House (Ghost Hunt) This house is straight-up a poltergeist playground, and its ghostly resident has no trouble targeting and murdering kids. So many kids have died after the initial incident that the Shibuya Psychic Research has to exorcise all of them on top of the original dead residents to alleviate the current homeowners' concerns. Going in, it seemed like an average case of furniture shaking and an overactive oven. Then a possessed doll becomes the prime suspect and all hell breaks loose. It takes four different cleansing attempts to get the place anywhere near normal.

Inn (Mononoke) The first arc in this series feels like a new take on Rosemary's Baby. The medicine seller seeks shelter at an inn when another patron arrives. A pregnant woman named Shino is allowed to stay in a large empty room that's haunted by Zashiki Warashi. Zashiki Warashi are child-sized spirits known for inhabiting storage rooms. Traditionally, having one move in was considered fortunate even if the spirits are known as pranksters. But when the residence is a particularly cruel brothel, I guess we can assume its zashiki warashi will be too. The Medicine Seller discovers that the inn used to be a brothel not that long ago, and its workers would be forced by the Innkeeper to abort any conceived children. Now their spirits are trapped in the building forever.

Oshikiri's House (Junji Ito "Collection") Oshikiri's house isn't exactly 'haunted' in the traditional sense. It just contains extra-dimensional portals where doppelgangers are attempting horrible experiments on one another. Humans are literally melting onto the floor and turning into flesh monsters. Come for the Western castle aesthetic, stay for the Battle Royale to win dimensional supremacy. On a mundane front, it also has anxiety-inducing wallpaper throughout the whole place.

Tower of Terror (Pokémon) It's all in the name. This tower is located in Lavender Town where Ash, Misty, and Brock encounter Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar. The place lures you into a false sense of security, since it's only haunted by Ghost Pokémon, and those are monsters from a kids' show. Oh, but you'd be surprised, because Gengar's Pokedex entries reveal that he's not just messing around. The phantom is known to attack or kill lost mountaineers, he'll hide in your own shadow while sapping the life from you, and he loves to punish bratty children. The Old Chateau and its infestation of Rotoms seems delightful by comparison.

The new poll: Which is the best original starting Pokémon?

The old poll: What's your favorite currently airing American cartoons?

1. Steven Universe
2. Rick & Morty
3. Voltron: Legendary Defender
4. RWBY
5. South Park
6. Futurama
7. The Simpsons
8. Bob's Burgers
9. Adventure Time
10. The Amazing World of Gumball