The ‘Poltergeist’ Home Is Up for Sale; Listing Assures Potential Buyers That ‘This House Is Clean’
The famous house where much of director Tobe Hooper and producer/cowriter Steven Spielberg’s 1982 horror classic Poltergeist was filmed (parts of which were likely re-created on a soundstage for certain scenes) recently went on the market for the first time in 45 years, since it was built in 1979.
Listings for the single-family residence, located at 4267 Roxbury Street in Simi Valley, California (not the infamous fictional Cuesta Verde subdivision of the film), appeared on Zillow and Realtor.com (and likely other places) on Aug. 12, 2024.
The listings offer details and photos of the home, and, of course, its asking price, which may be the scariest thing about the house to most people nowadays: $1,174,999.
© MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
That feeling when you get hit by the Poltergeist house’s $1.2 million price tag
The person who did the writeup for the listing had some fun with the house’s cinematic history, jokingly assuring potential buyers that “This house is clean. Seriously, it is!”
Of course, in the movie, medium Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) was also serious when she told the Freeling family that their house was clean. But it wasn’t long after that before things really went to hell. Just sayin’ …
The writeup continues: “Well-loved by its original owners, this charming 4-bedroom, 2 ½-bathroom home is ready to welcome a new family, without the ghostly antics, we promise!”
It also talks about the “good energy of this well-taken-care-of home” and its “warm and inviting atmosphere.”
“Don’t miss out on your chance to own this iconic piece of Hollywood history,” the listing hypes near its conclusion. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in a home with a story, minus the spooks.”
CRMLS/Screenshot from Realtor.com
Naturally, the house has changed a bit since the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Most notably, it has returned from whatever dimension it was sent to when it collapsed upon itself and was sucked into the closet at the end of Poltergeist.
Also, the trees around it seen in the photos, like the one just above, look to be a lot more benign than the one that attacked poor Robbie Freeling (Oliver Robins):
© MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
But aside from all that, on a more realistic level, there have been décor alterations, of course, and remodeling.
Despite the changes, fans of the film should still be able to immediately pick out some recognizable elements in the shapes and layouts of the home’s front exterior and certain rooms when looking at photos on Zillow or Realtor. These likely would feel familiar even without knowing this was the house used for the movie.
One big change is this fully completed and pretty sweet-looking swimming pool and Jacuzzi located in the backyard:
CRMLS/Screenshot from Realtor.com
I’m not sure if there was a pool originally built with the house that may have been hidden for the movie’s purposes, but a plot point in Poltergeist features the Freeling family just beginning to have the ground dug up to put one in.
The pool that is now there is a far cry from the muddy, slimy, skeleton-filled hellhole that Diane Freeling (JoBeth Williams) fell into:
Here are a few other descriptive highlights from the listings that I couldn’t help but associate with the movie (and, like the listing writer, I’m just having some fun and am not trying to dissuade you from putting in an offer on the home if you happen to have a million-plus dollars on hand):
“Primary bedroom boasts magnificent vaulted ceilings, creating an airy and open atmosphere of tranquility”
© MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
“Formal dining room leads to the infamous kitchen, where fans of the movie will love to see it’s still in its original form, but with updated appliances, of course!”
CRMLS/Screenshot from Realtor.com
“Large walk-in closet”
© MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
“Cable available”
Having cable television availability is a positive development, and one that might have helped the Freeling family avoid their problems, given how the Beast initially spoke to Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) through the dead-air static of their old-school antenna TV (right after the “Star-Spangled Banner”-accompanied station sign-off).
The home at 4267 Roxbury has a lot size of 15,976 square feet (0.3668 acres) and a total living space of 2,373 square feet, so it seems to be more expansive than what we saw in the movie (of course, it was likely added on to over the past four decades).
There is no confirmation or denial that the house was built on top of a cemetery whose bodies were left behind and only the headstones removed back in ’76, however. So buyer beware, I guess!
Remind Some cool blueprints, layouts and overhead maps accompany the house’s listing, along with bright, cheery-looking photographs of the inside and outside that make it look not-so-scary. Of course, that was one of the triumphs of the movie, bringing haunted house horror to the modern homes of sunlit suburbia for one of the first times on the big screen, and this house really played its part well.
Just on its own merits, but with the added bonus of also having close ties to one of my favorite ’80s movies, this home would be an enticing buy for me if I only had the resources to finance it. I wouldn’t mind even just going in and having a look, but the real estate agents wisely saw that there would certainly be many curious onlookers like myself anxious to stop by, gawk around and take our own pics.
So, there are no open houses being offered for the Poltergeist home. You have to schedule a private tour, and before you can even do that, you must send along your pre-approval for the mortgage.
Most of us will probably have to settle for just enjoying the home’s listings, which also feature video tours of the house along with the pictures.
I’ll leave you with a different sort of video tour of the house in its creepy 1982 glory that offers a cool look at its front exterior, yard and garage, and a bit of the kitchen (likely created with a combo of real shots of the home and soundstage production):