These random things articles are designed as quick idea generators for time-pressed GMs who want to inject some additional details into their game, in this article we look at random rumours that you might hear about a haunted house.
When you need some inspiration just roll a D20 and consult the table:
| No. | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | A number of previous residents have killed themselves after complaining that they were being haunted by something unseen following them on the stairs. |
| 2 | The previous owner is believed to have murdered a number of people when he ran the building as a guest house, their angry spirits now prowl the hallways seeking vengeance. |
| 3 | Rumour has it that a hidden gateway to hell lies somewhere within the grounds of the building. |
| 4 | Local children dare each other to spend a night alone in the house, normally nothing happens but occasionally one of them goes missing and is never found. |
| 5 | The owner has reported seeing wet footprints appear and then disappear in the hallway. |
| 6 | There is a bloodstain on the lounge carpet that is believed to have belonging to a young man who was stabbed in the building, it has been cleaned numerous times but always re-appears. |
| 7 | Set in the wall over the the fireplace is a human skull, it is believed to have belonged to one of the previous owners and was cemented into the wall as per instructions in their will, legend has it that when someone is going to die in the house, the skull screams. |
| 8 | A phantasmal black hound haunts the bounds of the property, the locals say that anyone who sees it dies shortly afterwards. |
| 9 | Villagers at the local tavern make religious gestures and grow silent when the house is mentioned, saying that the place and the family that once owned it had an evil reputation. |
| 10 | Rumour has it that star-crossed lovers died in the house, according to local legend their souls wander the property trying to find each other. |
| 11 | One certain occasions a spectral figure of a woman, hair and clothes moving as though she were underwater manifests in the drawing room, this apparition has been witnessed by numerous people. |
| 12 | Odd knocking sounds are often heard from the walls, sometimes whispered voices can be heard as well. |
| 13 | There is a door that must once have belonged to a chapel within the ground, although the rest of the building has long since crumbled to nothing. Oddly the free-standing door is always kept locked with a fresh chain and padlock, a crude sign in-front of it warning trespassers to stay away. |
| 14 | During the last bad winter it's said that a vagrant froze to death outside of the building, since then the temperature inside the house has be noticably colder than outside. |
| 15 | Furniture often re-arranges itself inside the house, although never when anyone is looking. |
| 16 | Sometimes at night, a light is seen bobbing along in the distance, it disappears if anyone gets close. |
| 17 | The old rocking chair on the porch sometimes moves on it's own. |
| 18 | The original building on this site burnt down many years ago, sometimes the smell of charred wood and another sickly, sweet odour can be smelt throughout the house. |
| 19 | It's said that evil cultists once performed blashpemous ceremonies within the grounds and that the spirits of their victims (or perhaps the things they summoned) linger here. |
| 20 | The spectre of a man wrongly executed for a crime is said to wander the halls carrying his severed head under his arm. |