Should Yeardley Love's apartment come with a warning?
UVA student Love was found dead May 3 in her 14th Street Apartment.FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR/INSET: OFFICIAL UVA PHOTO
A report by the Charlottesville Newsplex suggests that landlord Woodard Properties re-rented the apartment of slain UVA student Yeardley Love with no warning to the new occupants about the place's tragic history. This raises intriguing questions about crime, memory, and real estate. Then Hook reporter Lindsay Barnes examined the real estate aftermath of heinous crime in an article he penned in the wake of the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall.
Hook Senior Editor Courteney Stuart also addressed this issue in a story after the murder of Jayne McGowan.
Story updated 10:33am with link to Jayne McGowan article.
Read more on: uva lacrosse murderwoodard properties
40 comments
I may be one tough dude but I do believe in angels. While camping in a campground with a common bathroom one morning I got up before my wife and 6 year old daughter and was tending the breakfast fire. My wife got up next and headed straight down the path toward the bathroom. The campground was still except for my wife and I, then my daughter got up, came out of the tent rubbing the sleep from her eyes, looked down the path at her mother, turned to me and said "That man is guiding mommy" Of course this alarmed me so I looked and could see no other campers awake anywhere in the campground just my wife walking alone down the path. I asked my daughter to repeat what she had said and she then said, "That man is guiding mommy, you know dad, the man that died in the car accident"
I related the story to my wife and she reminded me that her uncle with whom she was very close had died two months previous in a car accident.
...random people who without a doubt signed the lease WAY before May and, unless they spent the past 3 months on another planet, figured out that this was indeed the apartment they were moving into without the landlord having to tell them directly.
I say build a nice above ground garden on the property or a planter of some sort with perenials in it, put a marker near it that says simply "Loves Garden" and I bet it will be tended by someone who cares for many years.
boooo,
I understand. Although I don't go through life "looking for areas with a rich complement of energies",I do go through life paying attention and being generally observant. Those who do, WILL notice unsual occurances in some buildings, and places, even modern ones. For example, at Short Pump Wal Mart shopping center, someone clearly tapped me on the left shoulder as I and kids walked into the Radio Shack, and no one was there when I looked back.
This is a recent structure, but there is some residual energy there.
What's the big deal unless you believe that "Amityville Horror"-style cursed houses actually exist?
@S Jones...sorry don't believe in "ghosts" as such...I do believe that some places, buildings, etc can retain residual energy (sometimes negative)....but as far as E.A. Poe...ghost on the bridge? what bridge? Am I missing something?
What was with the guy on the local news on TV pounding on the apartment door to talk to the new tenant. What has the new tenant done to show that they agree to have their address or possibly their face put on TV? What good comes of them reminding the whole town of the address, in case anyone wants to come check it out and harass the new tenant too? There should be a warning about this apartment all right...a warning that small town media will be going through your garbage on any slow news day.
@manbearpig: "booooo!!”Š.hmmm, it’s quite a leap to assume that those of us who are skeptical of the premise of this article must be sleepwalking through life and waiting for our favorite TV show (South Park, of course!). I’m sure there are many skeptics (a la Michael Shermer) who could argue that people who believe in ââ?¬Å?lingering vibes” are sleepwalking through life and failing to think critically about what is and what isn’t verifiable natural phenomena."
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I haven't read Michael Shermer, but my experiences in reading skeptics' rebuttles to various "woo-woo" subjects is that they couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag. Not one skeptic I've ever read or listened to could provide an intelligent, fallacy-free, point-by-point debunking that *definitively disproved* various woo-woo subjects. Not one. So I doubt that Michael Shermer is going to be any different, whoever he is.
And quite the contrary - those who feel/sense lingering vibes are the antithesis of somebody sleepwalking through life, looking for their next beer and waiting for their favorite TV show or sports game. They're the ones who are actually paying attention to what's going on and sensing what others are too distracted to notice. I was an atheist skeptic when I did the requisite tour of Alcatraz on a trip to San Francisco back in the 90s. But you want to talk "lingering vibes" then take a walk into one of the five isolation cells that are open for the public. I had no flipping clue when I walked into it. I wound up fleeing the island, quite literally, afterwards. There's more to the story than that, but that's the gist. I'm not here to get into one of the infamous Hook Back and Forth Debates that go on for 100 posts. I'm just here because I saw people laughing off the idea about disclosing information to prospective renters/buyers in the wake of a murder (or suicide.) Personal experience has shown me on several occasions, not just with Alcatraz, that the concept of "lingering vibes" is very real, whether somebody chooses to believe in it or not. And if somebody can't feel these things, even if their mind is trying to be closed off to it (the way I was back in the 90s when I went through my atheist phase) then I don't know what to say to them other than that they must be sleepwalking through life to not feel the things that others can so clearly feel.
A story about the non disclosure of a past event that stirs the imagination with hauntings and such versus a story about attention ho's wanting their 15 minutes of fame. Tough one.
Woah! Boooo! you got my attention...Alcatraz???? I can see where you might of had feelings of lingering vibes there. Scary, violent place.
But to all, my wish is that the residual "negative energy" everyone seems to be afraid to be lingering, disapates with the ending of GH's trial.....as far as whether the new tenants should have been made aware...unless it's a real estate law issue (which has been a few years since I went through the course so I would have to look it up), the only issue would be the morality of the landlord and whether he/she would feel the necessity of making the information available.
HAHAHA! "Vibes linger?!" So, like you won't walk by the courthouse where the slave auctions were held for fear you might be stripped naked, chained to a post, and sold off by ghosts?
Interesting that most responses are to laugh this off like it's no big deal. You all just keep sleepwalking through life, waiting in ernest for your favorite TV show to come on and rooting for your favorite sports teams. Sorry to say but there is a valid reason to be concerned, and "Yeardley haunting the place" isn't actually it. It has to do with the residual vibes that linger. For those who aren't intuitive and sensitive and will laugh this off, like I said, go back to rooting for your favorite sports teams and watching your favorite TV shows and guzzling your beer. zzzzzzz. I would want to know if I'm sleeping in a room where an enraged guy kicked in a door then beat up his young girlfriend then repeatedly slammed her head into the wall until she died. You know, I think I'd want to know that something like that happened in that exact spot where I'm standing...and where I might even be putting my own bed. You don't live in the same exact spot where something like that happened. And you don't put your own bed on top of or near where that occurred. Sorry if people don't seem to understand this. Vibes linger. It has nothing to do with "Yeardley Love's ghost." And where vibes linger, other stuff can be drawn in.
I totally agree Yes. Slow news day?
@ What? - Exactly. It brings to mind room 118 of the Quality Inn. I'm wondering, do they still actually rent that room out in light of what transpired there? If so, did they replace the bed? If I was the motel owner I'm not sure what I'd do in that instance. Probably nail the room up and never use it again.
All the murders, rapes, attacks in Cville-- does each location have a tag to inform those that follow
Give me a break
Call me silly, but I think parts of the road where people have been killed should be closed off for a period of time proportional to the violence involved. Shrines offset on the road verges just aren't enough to ward off the palpable disturbance and taniwahs involved here.
Booooo!, it's not a skeptic's job to definitively disprove an idea. It's the job of one with a "woo-woo" idea to offer evidence that supports his or her claim, and to offer evidence that may be examined/tested by others.
I really just wanted to call attention to your huge leap that paints non-belivers of "woo-woo" ideas with such a broad stroke. Besides, there are so many "woo-woo" ideas in sports, it's ridiculous.
Anyway, it's clear we part ways on this point and I agree there's no need to get into a protracted debate. You'll be happy to know that I asked my wife if there were any ghosts in our house when we moved in. She said no.
"..it would be refereshing if the news media focused on stories of individuals making a difference in the community, transforming lives, ..."
BORING.
@ jeezlouise
No more "boring" than yet-another Yeardley Love "story" fabricated out of nothingness in order to fill space.
Why not just demolish the entire building and turn it into a shrine? If Morgan Harringon can have a shrine dedicated to her memory on a bridge, Yeardley Love deserves no less a tribute.
Better still -- and continuing on-point -- it would be refereshing if the news media focused on stories of individuals making a difference in the community, transforming lives, engaging in philanthropy to improve this wearisome world. Surely they are equally deserving of memorials, tributes and attention?
booooo!!....hmmm, it's quite a leap to assume that those of us who are skeptical of the premise of this article must be sleepwalking through life and waiting for our favorite TV show (South Park, of course!). I'm sure there are many skeptics (a la Michael Shermer) who could argue that people who believe in "lingering vibes" are sleepwalking through life and failing to think critically about what is and what isn't verifiable natural phenomena.
Morgan Harrington has a shrine because she is like the 1000th girl in the area who ended up dead with the case unsolved. if LE were as incompetent in our area, we would put up a shrine too in order to remind everyone that there is a killer in the area who remains at large and will probably kill again.
@disgusted
The difference between you and me is that I wasn't looking for anything. I didn't "want to see" anything. I was just some tourist when I had my experience at Alcatraz, totally immersed in my atheist phase, and thinking it would just be this fun way to pass the afternoon. You know, go on a tour of this super famous and historical place. Then it happened. I've since done research online and found that I'm apparently not the only one who's had an experience like that at Alcatraz. But at that time I didn't know. And I certainly wasn't looking.
Some people are looking, but they find nothing. Others aren't, and yet they find it.
Also, if you were actually reading the exchange you would have seen that it was already clarified that the issue is not about "spirits."
A lease doesnt promise nothing bad ever happened there. What if someone was killed 100 years ago? Then it's just a cool fact to tell people. But if it was last year...well, then there are "residual vibes"...booooooooooooo!!!!! Residual vibes=haunted=tooth fairy=imaginary. This is such a nonstory. In other news, I spilled the milk at breakfast but my cat helped clean it up. Photos at 11.
In this day and age, that would probably be a selling point sad as that may sound.
Those who do not know the past are . . . Hey this is the town that tore down the house where artist Georgia O'Keefe lived and first learned to paint in what became her distinctive style--not far from the Love Murder apartment. So instead of accomplishments, we want to make architectural history out of murders? The coal tower has seen two murders, a rape and a suicide within recent memory. Should we put up a sign: crime-o-rama, and charge admission?
I think some of you are missing the point. This article was not written about the hauntings of YL.
It is about disclosing the information of a brutal murder happening just months earlier to the new tenants.
And yes, if I unknowingly rented this apartment I would be upset. I would want to see a list of the new items in the apartment ie carpet, blinds, paint, doors, bathroom items.
This isn't years later we are discussing. This JUST happened. He should have been honest.
Had the new residents raised the issue and attempted to get out of the lease I would hope the landlord would be reasonable and perhaps make some accomodations, however, the circumstances were out of the landlord's control and they are under no obligation to do so if the lease was already signed. I haven't heard particularly good things about that particular company. I'm told my apartment building downtown is haunted, but haven't had any run-ins.
In NC the real estate agents have to tell you if a place is supposedly haunted. I am not positive, but I think they have to tell you if it is a place that had been a crime scene. I would have asked the question about being haunted and possibly asked if anyone had died in the place. To some people it does make a difference. I would not want to live in a place that someone was brutally murdered. Of course, I could not even feel at peace at my parents home after they died. Some people's senses are much more intense than others. And, yes, I do believe in spirits since I stayed at a friends home years ago and found out it was haunted through the actions of the spirit. But, we should be more afraid of the mean people we share this earth with than the spirits that taunt us.
No--what, a warning that if GH gets out of the clink and you happen to be the reincarnation of YL who happens to live in this apartment that events will unfold in a certain way? What would the warning be, really? I could imagine a disclosure as opposed to a "warning", but I doubt landlords are under any obligation to disclose previous crimes that occured on their properties.
Of course not. The only persons who will be haunted from this grizzly murder are GH and those that didn't step up and help Love when they had the chance, not some random people who happen to rent the apartment.
Right, Yeardly is haunting the place...get a life! I certainly hope this girl is resting peacefully! Hook try to find some REAL news!
Wow, they call her a "Diet Coke angel" on another article on here. Is it putting too fine a point on it to call that some really "saccharine" journalism? No disrespect to Yeardley at all...just...wow...diet coke angel?! Are you serious?!
Wow! Try reading an article before you comment. Her teammates called her that.
When I moved into my 100+ year old house in Charlottesville, the women next door came calling to say, " do you know what has happened here", then proceeded to tell me that 2 former owners had committed suicide, one on the living room couch and one in the backyard. Her next remark is what truly stunned me " and I wonder if there will be a third ?" Fastforward multiple decades, all present occupants, at last report, alive and well, at least, for now.
In all honesty, I think it would be difficult if not impossible, to avoid living in homes where something sad or violent happened. In Europe, for example, there are homes that are hundreds of years old and where people unquestionably died, possibly violently.
This said, there are people who can enter a place and feel deeply unsettled and uncomfortable being there. Sometimes this is because an energy based imprint may be left of a difficult or tragic event. It doesn't really explain how some of us become ill in a place where something awful WILL occur. I have felt this way about the Tower of London in 1971 and 2000. I could not enter some of the areas on the tour. I felt profoundly unsettled to the point of nausea at the World Trade Center in 1977 as well,long before the losses of so many.
Once, as my husband and I were househunting, we looked at a lovely home, which also disturbed me. We passed on it.
I don't know that disclosing that a tragic event actually occured within the confines of a particular apartment or building is necessary. I would always encourage anyone to enter a home they are considering renting or buying, and see how they feel. If they can't even imagine closing their eyes and sleeping there, or showering, then they should keep looking. Realtors know this.
There is only one circumstance where I think advance knowledge might be helpful. For example, if a drug kingpin for the Eastern US were gunned down on his porch, and Bank of America foreclosed afterward and sold the house at low cost, the people moving in should know that they could have other drug kingpin visitors who may not have heard that the the former owner is gone. The new owners should have this information so that they may evaluate the cost of added security (perhaps a system) that they might not otherwise have needed.
if they gave me a good break on the rent, i'd put my kid in there in a heartbeat. no problem.
As much as we would probably want to know such a thing from a prospective landlord, I don't believe there is any legal obligation for them to do so.
Boooo...I went to Savannah looking for ghosts in the most haunted city and didn't see or feel any "lingering vibes"...and I wanted to see things move, lights flicker and footprints down the old wooden stairs...
Death happens, and it is everywhere. I doubt the new tenants will have any issues other than drive by lookers interested in where she was murdered. Death is a natural occurance and even in a case of murder, life goes on for those of us left behind. If someone is scared of spirits, perhaps they have their own demons to exercise.