Could you live in a 'haunted' house?

[Mr.Obvious (OP)]

Perhaps this isn't the proper section to place this topic, if so I'm more than willing to move it.

Last winter my family was having a pre-new-years-eve/post-christmas-party. I don't remember how we got to the topic, but somehow we got to talking about the houses of murderers and serial killers and such. (Our topics of conversation are not usually that gruesome, mind you.)
My entire family and my girlfriend too stated that they couldn't live in a house previously owned by a serial killer or in which people had been murdered etcetera. I was the only one that stated that I wouldn't have any problems with it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not actively looking for houses of serial killers and kidnappers and such out of some morbid fascination. I just don't see how such a past influences me or the house should I live there after such things occured. I don't care if something like that happened because I don't care about any of the things that happened in the house before I would live there, unless it affected the house itself. (Of course I feel sad that people died and such, but I don't see how it affects the house.)
Most of my family were atheïsts and only one or two there believed in spirits actually existing in the world. But yet all of them looked at me as if I was crazy for not being bothered by what happened in some old house that has nothing to do with me. As if it was monstrous and psychopathic to not see the house as tainted because of this. But when I look at a house I see only that; bricks and wood and stuff. Something you can make your home and give it a meaning that is personal to you, what it means to someone else does not matter in that picture.
I said like I felt that I was just being rational, to which my sister replied I was being too rational. What do you think? And could you live in a house in which people were murdered or which was owned by a serial killer or something?

[SGOS]

I'm not superstitious about it, but if I lived in such a house, I think I'd be compelled to think about it's history more than I want.  I'd prefer a house where those thoughts would not enter my mind.  Now, if I could buy it cheap, I might consider it.

[Jason78]

What do you think? And could you live in a house in which people were murdered or which was owned by a serial killer or something?

Easily.   I'd even spend the night alone in a haunted house and say "Kent Hovind" into a mirror three times before walking under a ladder and sleeping in the path of a black cat (or something).

[GSOgymrat]

I think it would bother me more to live in a house where people were tortured but didn't die than a house where someone happened to just die. It would be upsetting to go into the basement and think "this is where that girl was chained up and raped." For me it isn't about ghosts but being reminded of something terrible in a place that is supposed to be my home.

[stromboli]

I grew up in a haunted house. There was only one (apparent) apparition ever seen, by me. The house during the day was quiet, but at night it made sounds like people walking down the upstairs hallway, and there were two closets that were really freaky. One of them, in my brother's bedroom, had a gap behind it of nearly two feet between the inside dimension and the outside dimension at the end of the hall at the staircase. we never did find out if the space contained anything.

It was really creepy in that closet. It was always cold in there, even in the summer time. The other closet, in my room, had a door that wouldn't stay closed. It had a secure latch, but at night it would open itself. The only way to keep it closed was to put a chair against it.

There was also a gap on the outside where a stone was missing from the front Northeast corner, and behind it, nothing visible. There was a space there that, when the basement light was on, no light shone out. Again, we never knew if anything was in there.

The apparition I saw at twilight one evening from the West. We had a small apple orchard, and just after a rainstorm I was standing at the end of the lot looking at the West upstairs bedroom window, and saw what appeared to be a very pale person looking back at me, a child size shape. At the time the house was only occupied by me and my mother, so it was pretty scary.

And other stuff happened, including "visitations" my mother had in her dreams. My brother got in trouble in France on his mission- long story- and she had a visitation by a spirit, supposedly, informing her that he was ok- this before we knew there was a problem. She claimed that the spirits in the house were benign, so for the most part it wasn't unsettling living there.

There was also lots of creepy shit in the house like an old steamer trunk. It turned out the builder of the home was a polygamist, and had a "hidden" family within the home, so there may have been hiding places in the house we never found. the house, when it was built (about 1890) was almost a mansion- 2 stories and a full basement with an out building behind it.
I always thought of it as an old house that was simply loosening up from age.

I don't believe in ghosts per se, but I keep an open mind. 

[KUSA]

It was really creepy in that closet. It was always cold in there, even in the summer time.

Sounds like free air conditioning to me. I'd put an air handler in that closet and pump cool air to the rest of the house.

To the OP,  it would be a non issue with me if the house was in good shape and especially if I got a good deal on it because no one else wanted to live there.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Easily.   I'd even spend the night alone in a haunted house and say "Kent Hovind" into a mirror three times before walking under a ladder and sleeping in the path of a black cat (or something).

I actually got a discount on a house of 25% back in 1997 because it had a reputation as being haunted. Lived there for ten years. The landlady was very happy that I didn't report any "incidents".

And then my wife died there.

[stromboli]

I actually got a discount on a house of 25% back in 1997 because it had a reputation as being haunted. Lived there for ten years. The landlady was very happy that I didn't report any "incidents".

And then my wife died there.

Yup, that counts as an incident.

[Solitary]

I lived in a house and been in a house with a killer still living there and it didn't bother me (Long story I don't want to talk about.)...So it would make no difference to me in the least. I have an excellent imagination and have been spooked in my life, but I don't believe in anything supernatural. Solitary

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yup, that counts as an incident.

It gets "better". I was in the hospital and unconscious for over a month. She came to see me every day, and then one day she didn't show up. I had just come to a few days before, saw her three times, then didn't see her for five days. They had the cops check out the house and they found her on the sofa, TV on. I've since heard  that the current residents report that their TV comes on by itself now.

I also know that their kid is a real joker, and has bought a second remote they don't know about.

[phattmatt]

I would love to live there.  Life would be more interesting and you could get a lot of freaks that would like to party thee

[stromboli]

Oh, and btw, I never had any visions or any other phenomena that couldn't be explained by imagination or a rickety old house.

[PickelledEggs]

I wouldn't be able to. Not because I'm superstitious, it's because my imagination usually gets the better of me when I go off to dreamland... Nightmares are a BITCH.

[KUSA]

Oh, and btw, I never had any visions or any other phenomena that couldn't be explained by imagination or a rickety old house.

But what about the cold closet?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

But what about the cold closet?

You westerners call it a "fridge".