As Halloween approaches and the ghoulies and beasties and things that go bump in the night become more cantankerous, it should be noted that the presence of such spirits are not mentioned on a Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure.

The residential real estate market in myth-laden and burdened with misinformation. One example of this concerns the movies and books pertaining to the Amityville horror. While purported to be true, or based on truth, several Amityville Realtors have recently debunked the entire episode.

Nashville, however, is a hub of paranormal activity. When a seller reluctantly admits embarrassedly that there are unexplained noises in the house that he will be putting going the market, he often asks; “Who ya gonna call?” The answer, of course, is “Ghostbusters.”

One such ghostbuster, although she is not fond of the term, is Pat Morton, a former Nashvillian who recently relocated to Florida. Morton was one of the best in business.

Steve Fridrich is one of Nashville’s most successful Realtors and had purchased a house on Hampton Avenue to be demolished so that he could build another house. Fridrich had hired the late Steve Jones as his contractor. The house was to close on a Monday.

Jones, well known for his quality work, had visited the home in preparation for its demolition. He instructed his superintendent, Allen Harrison, to disconnect the electricity from the home. Harrison was a free-spirited fellow and had complied, or at least he thought he had.

Located in the den of the home was a wagon wheel chandelier. Jones asked Fridrich if Harrison could remove the fixture for his own use, and Fridrich agreed.

When Jones and Harrison tried to remove it, the lights flickered, causing Jones to chastise Harrison for failing to follow his instructions in removing the electrical connection. Harrison then escorted Jones outside, where they observed that the home had no electrical connection.

They returned to the chandelier and again attempted to remove it. Again, it flickered. The dog began to wail, and the twosome along with the dog fled.

Enter Jerry Patterson, an attorney with First Title and Escrow and a college fraternity brother of Fridrich’s who knew of Morton and some of her work. Jerry arranged for Fridrich to meet Morton at the house.

As Fridrich approached the house, he ran into Steve Jones in the front yard with his dog in tow, not to be confused with Allen Harrison’s dog, who refused to return to the site.

Fridrich asked Jones if the ghostbuster was there, and Jones said she had been there for an hour or so. He then asked Jones what he thought of her, and Jones nodded toward the dog and said Morton had said he, the dog, was pregnant and that the house Jones was building for himself would flood unless he moved it.

Upon meeting Morton, Fridrich – ever the skeptic – asked Morton to read his palms. She informed him that she did not read fortunes or fortunes. However, she said she did feel an aura about him, with strong feelings of Mexico and Russia. That added some validity to her claims, as Fridrich admitted he had a fraternity brother in Russia, and that they were considering a trip to Mexico.

She then told him that there had been three spirits in the house – two Civil War soldiers and a caregiver – who had sworn to take care of the former owner until the owner died. She was able to convince all of them they could pass into the great beyond, and they were gone for all eternity.

It was at that point that Morton told Fridrich he would soon be involved in a political campaign, that he would receive national attention and that the entire world would see him on television. He rebuffed the prediction as he had no political aspirations.

The next week, however, his college roommate, Ross Perot Jr., called to see if Steve could accompany his father, Ross Perot, to the Nashville courthouse, as Perot had decided to enter the race for president of the United States and needed a man in Tennessee to help him get on the ballot. Fridrich agreed, and was at Perot’s side when he announced his bid for the presidency as the cameras rolled.

About that time, Jones received a phone call from his wife that a deer had been shot on their farm where the new house was under construction. When Jones arrived, he met a veterinarian his wife had summoned.

As he cleaned his hands, he notified Jones that the deer would survive with proper care and then congratulated the couple. “Your pet is pregnant.” Jones realized she had not said his “dog” was pregnant, but that his “pet” was pregnant.

Jones wasted no time in contacting his surveyor to reshoot the property lines, floodplains, setbacks and anything else that could require the house to be moved. The surveyor returned the next day, scratching his head.

“Somehow, I missed it by about 7 feet,” he admitted.

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty and can be reached at [email protected].