Imagine moving into a house you really love, but after moving in, you find out about an elaborate tradition the previous homeowners had that the whole neighborhood really misses.

Would you keep the tradition going to please the neighbors, or would you refuse?

In this story, one woman is in this situation. The tradition is creating a haunted house every year for Halloween. She doesn’t want to do it, but she’s wondering if she should anway.

Let’s read all about it.

AITA for not carrying on a neighborhood tradition in the house I recently purchased?

I purchased my home a couple years ago.

My neighborhood is mostly families with children as there is both an elementary and middle school in walking distance.

I am childfree.

Here’s some information about the previous owners.

The previous owners of my house (“The Smiths”) were a beloved couple in the community.

She was the elementary school librarian and he the middle school health teacher.

He was also the announcer for high school football games.

They had one daughter who was offed by a drunk driver in the late 90s when she was 16 and it was a huge thing – the high school theater is named in her memory because she was active in the theater and choir programs.

When they retired, they named the HS football field after Mr. Smith.

OP learned about one of the Smiths’ traditions.

The Smiths moved to Florida, I bought their house.

Apparently, the Smiths also LOVED Halloween and went ALL out, building elaborate, themed haunted houses in their garage every year, sometimes even going into their home for the kids to walk through during Trick or Treat.

Planning started as soon as the school year ended and Mr. Smith spent all summer building structures/props for it.

They would take suggestions from the neighbor kids on what the theme should be.

She was excited to celebrate Halloween with the neighbors.

I did not know any of this when I purchased the house, but people have been sure to let me know since I moved in.

Last year was my first Trick or Treat. I was excited to pass out cans of pop (something I remember getting a couple times as a kid and thinking was SO cool).

I wore a witch hat and had a little battery operated light up cauldron from Spirit Halloween and dressed my dog up like a dragon and had a little setup at the end of my driveway with different buckets for the different pops.

Here’s how she found out about the previous owners’ tradition.

All night EVERYONE was commenting about how amazing the haunted houses used to be. Reminiscing about the different themes. How nice it was that the Smiths did it for the neighborhood kids year after year even though they didn’t have kids. How much the Smiths were missed.

I had people who told me they drove in from other neighborhoods because of this haunted house and they were so disappointed it was no longer there.

This probably sounds stupid, but I was feeling kinda crappy by the end of the night.

A bunch of neighbors want her to keep the haunted house tradition going.

For the past several weeks, my neighbors (kids and adults) have been asking me if I’m going to do a haunted house this year.

One woman even offered that her husband would help me.

Then today, someone wrote an (anonymous) post on our neighborhood Facebook group about how much the neighborhood has changed with so many new people moving in, how the kids have had such a hard time the past couple years because of Covid, and how it’s important that we come together as a community and help them make memories because of their “time lost”.

They specifically called out “the haunted house on [my street]” in addition to a couple other neighborhood events (block party, 4th of July bike parade) that went away during Covid and never came back as examples.

She asked her mom for advice.

I read the FB post to my mom, she said that I am being a grumpy old lady, I “don’t know how hard it is to be a parent” and thinks I should try to do something like the Smiths used to to keep the tradition going.

I want to be a good neighbor, but I’m kinda annoyed by the post and don’t feel I should be obligated to spend my time or money to build a haunted house, or generally give strangers access to my house, even if the previous owners were generous in that way.

So, AITA for not wanting to carry on this tradition?

Potentially relevant: While people in this neighborhood decorate their houses more than any other place I have lived (lights and fake graveyards most prominent, a couple of the more decorated examples include a 12ft Home Depot skeleton, and someone had a Stranger Things themed yard display last year) no one I have seen has any sort of walk thru experience.

No, she does not need to keep the previous homeowners’ tradition alive. Someone else in the neighborhood can create a haunted house in their home if it’s that important to them.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

I completely agree with this comment.

This person points out that the neighbors will probably still complain even if she does have a haunted house.

This is a good point.

I wouldn’t be surprised!

Here’s a good suggestion.

Let someone else step up!

If you liked this post, check out this story about a babysitting uncle who got totally reamed over his food choices.