Marianne Bornhoft is a real estate agent in Spokane, Washington, with a background in selling some of the area’s most haunted homes. In real-estate speak, “stigmatized” is the term for homes rumored to contain a Casper that isn’t memory foam, and the category includes on-site murders, deaths, and a whole series of unfortunate events.

We chatted with Bornhoft about this tricky business, and it was a real treat.

States have different rules around whether realtors are required to tell prospective buyers that a home is stigmatized. What do you think those rules should be?

In Washington state, we do not have to disclose rapes, murders, suicides, illegal gang activity, religious persecution, crime statistics, the list goes on and on. In addition to that, we do not have to disclose if there was ever the presence of a ghost. It's really up to the individual who is researching the property...which personally I like.

But there’s a difference between murders on-site versus ghosts. Honestly, as a realtor, I think we should disclose that there was a murder on-site or if there were dead bodies buried on the property.

You recently sold a home rumored to have a friendly ghost. What’s the difference between selling a home with a friendly ghost vs. one with an unfriendly ghost?

It's all about perception. I have been in homes where someone has recently died, homes where a body has been recently found, homes where we have found secret rooms and bomb shelters. I have been in homes with rumors of ghosts and I have personally had very interesting experiences. And I have witnesses for that.

Nothing has ever been negative toward me, but I have had the interesting experience of unexplained phenomena that you just can’t make up.

Go on...

For example, in the Polly Judd house, which is a very famous house that had three suicides in it, when I did that open house, I literally had hundreds of people come by and tell me their stories. The spirits could not let that house go.

After I had pictures taken to sell the house, I'm looking at this picture of the dining room, and the chandelier had a shadow behind it on the wall that was three upside down crosses...which is not a very good sign. At that open house, I was standing in the living room telling [my husband on the phone] a story and all of a sudden the chandelier, the one in the picture, started moving. So I turned on FaceTime to show him that it was moving and that there was no wind. Then behind me, the door to the bathroom shut on its own.

I couldn't get anyone to come and look at it after that, the market was terrible. So I kind of did a cleanse. And literally the next day I got a call from someone saying, “Hey, we want to show it. We love it. We're making an offer now.”

Would you live in a haunted house?

100%. I'm an antique dealer. I’m a historical home specialist, and I believe that we do not own homes. We are caretakers of the past. So it would be an honor and a privilege to be in a historical home at whatever level.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Each week, our workplace whisperer Shane Loughnane answers a reader-submitted question about work in 2021. Anything bothering you at work? Ask Shane here.

I recently switched jobs, and an old co-worker keeps reaching out to schedule time to “catch up” with me. We’re not very close and it feels like they’re only reaching out because I’ve landed a job at a prestigious firm and they want an in. I don’t mind chatting with them, but if they outright ask for a referral, how do I politely turn them down?—Anonymous

Sure, Halloween can be scary, but is there anything spookier than your email inbox? Deadlines and updates and syncs (oh my). Just when you think you’re safe, an ominous request from an old co-worker reaches out and grabs your leg. Scary stuff.

While it’s always great to pay it forward, you are wise to be judicious with your referral capital, as your own brand, by extension, is on the line. So when your ex-colleague pops the question, be honest and direct. While it may be tempting to decline based on your current lack of tenure, for example, how will that play when they ask again in six months? If you’re simply not familiar with them or comfortable enough with their work to serve as a reference, your best bet is to be upfront about it now.

In the meantime, consider if there’s anything else you’d be willing to do to help them out. Is passing along their resume without necessarily referring them an option? Perhaps you could offer to keep an eye out for other opportunities, or recommend networking events within the industry. If nothing else, providing some insight on what made you more attractive to your new firm may be a gesture they appreciate.

Good luck—and if anyone reading this emerges from tonight with a candy surplus, we should totally plan to “catch up” soon.

Have a question about work you want to ask Shane? Write in here. And if you’re super interested in how people deal with people, check out HR Brew.

Emo kids of the early aughts, step aside: The next generation has one-upped you on the freaking-out-parents scale. Witchcraft has risen in popularity during the pandemic, particularly on TikTok. Actually all occult practices—including astrology and tarot—have seen a big bump in interest since March of last year.

Online mentions of the occult increased an average of 4% every week since March 2020, when Covid-19 shutdowns started to sweep the nation, despite trending down in the three weeks beforehand. Astrology and ghost mentions also swelled, and the tone of all these occult-themed conversations switched from mostly negative → positive, per Brandwatch.

When it comes to getting witchy, TikTok is the new Platform 9 3/4:

• The TikTok hashtag #WitchTok has 20.5 billion views.
• Top witch influencers have tons of followers: Frankie Anne (@chaoticwitchaunt) shares her life as a witch with 1.3 million followers and Val Louiee (@idiotmantra) reads tarot cards and sends “signs” to her 75.6k.
• And if you take a quick scroll, you’ll see the content isn’t Harry Potter fan edits. It’s witches teaching spells and young TikTokers trying to manifest their dream lives, selves, and lovers by commenting “claiming this” underneath videos.

The spells are at least summoning one thing: money. “Psychic services,” which encompass palm and aura readings, astrology, mediating with the other side, and more, is an industry worth $2.2 billion in the US. It's expanded about one-half a percent every year since 2016 and is expected to more than double that rate, with 2.6% growth this year alone.

What’s going on?

Adam Wethington, who reads tarot on TikTok to 1.5 million followers, told USA Today, “WitchTok content is so relevant right now because we learned last year we can't control (things). ...Many of us are looking inward.” And in times of uncertainty, people have historically looked to the occult to “get some kind of answer about the future...something that’s reassuring in some way,” Yale psychology professor James Alcock explained to CNN.

Not to mention that the aesthetic of occult items (think: crystals, tarot cards) are Urban Outfitters-esque eye candy, and with sparse G-Cals, people spent record amounts of time seeking inspiration on social media last year.

Zoom out: Baking banana bread, buying a Peloton, learning to knit...the list of ways people tried to cope with the pandemic is endless. A little “double, double toil and trouble” is just one method, regardless of whether it’s your personal cauldron of tea.—JW

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that isn’t giving in to any Halloween hullabaloo and will be doing things completely normal. No ghosts, ghouls, or monsters. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Blueflash Photography for Mott & Chace/Sotheby’s International Realty

That was a trick—today’s home is obviously haunted. So haunted, in fact, that it’s the inspiration for the 2013 movie, The Conjuring. The current owners of the 3,109-square-foot farmhouse in Burrillville, Rhode Island, say their experiences with the spirits haven’t been quite to the movie’s level, but there’s definitely something in the house. Amenities include:

• 3 beds, 1.5 baths
• 8.5 secluded acres of land
• Spirit of Bathsheba Sherman, rumored witch who was buried in the cemetery four miles away
• Vintage wood fireplace

How much to live your Ghost Adventures fantasy?

1. Culinary detectives try to recover the formula for a deliciously fishy Roman condiment. (Smithsonian Magazine)
2. Katie Couric is not for everyone. (The Cut)
3. Inside Amazon’s worst human resources problem. (New York Times)
4. Real-time reactions to the introduction of the iPod 20 years ago. (Slashdot)
5. What is it about Peter Thiel? (The New Yorker)
6. CarbonCapture is one step closer to pulling CO2 from the atmosphere. (Emerging Tech Brew)
7. A podcast series exploring the untold story of one of the biggest mistakes in Olympic history. (Blind Landing)
8. An economist chats about the Great Resignation. (Harvard Gazette)
9. The man who discovered 162 bowling balls under his house. (ESPN)
10. Good gourd content. (Gourdlandia)

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Welcome back to Morning Brew's Meme Battle, where we crown a single memelord every Sunday.

Today's winner: Kyle in Virginia

This week's challenge: You can find the new meme template here for next Sunday. Once you're done making your meme, submit it at this link for consideration.