Real Haunted House - Wylie, TX

Twenty-nine years ago one house became legend on Friday the 13th, 1980, ironically not only a superstitious day but also the same month and year the popular slasher film by the identical name was released.

Though on the outside its looks are deceiving, mocking the exteriors of the other houses beside it in Collin County, Texas, this home was the scene on June 13, 1980 of a brick house murder and eerily the victim's death not only became legendary but her last name was Gore.

"Who would live in such a house?" questions reporter Jessica Sidman of the Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-murderhouses_26met.ART0.Central.Edition1.4abb8e7.html). "The laws are vague about disclosing a house's murderous past to perspective buyers."

When Sidman wrote a story a year ago about real haunted houses she reported that several people living in homes of high-profile crimes, including the residents of the Gore home, slammed their doors to talking about their house's history.

People still drive by the Gore house and some take pictures, according to the article.

"And then there are Friday the 13th and Halloween," says Sidman.

Teenagers have been known to cross the street to avoid walking by the house and once someone was caught looking through the laundry room window.

Despite its normal looking facade, the house remains trapped within its past and according to one neighbor the ax marks from the murder remain engraved into the concrete floor of the laundry room.

Pat and Candy Montgomery fled the area shortly after her acquittal for the murder of pregnant Betty Gore, a church-going housewife who was killed in the home with an ax. The crime was the result of an argument between the two women over an affair Candy was having with Gore's husband. Candy, mother of two, was accused of inflicting 41 stab wounds on Gore with the three-foot ax, according to The Dallas Observer.

Candy and Gore were friends and fellow church members and in her trial Candy claimed self-defense.

The murder is still the talk of the town in that county of Collin, research shows.

Though the affair was called off by the husband two years before the murder, apparently Gore was still suspicious that something was going on and confronted Candy. Before the sensational trial a "crazy cult" was reputed to have committed the crime and neighbors feared for their lives though in Candy's community she was "guilty as could be" and support turned against her.

Add to the weirdness the fact that Candy's attorney, Don Crowder, a married father, committed suicide in 1998.

With the recent downturn in real estate, a haunted house could become an even tougher sell, states one website.

For a list of 12 real haunted destinations, access http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Family-Lifestyle/Travel/12-Real-Life-Haunted-Destinations.html online.