When Danielle Witt began the hunt for her dream home with partner Ben Rockey-Harris, she says the intensely competitive market "felt like a contact sport".
Having witnessed fights almost break out at open houses, the couple jumped at an opportunity for a "nice, affordable home" they stumbled upon in Maryland, US.
Danielle did background research on some of the building work that had been done at the property and the couple decided to put in an offer.
They said the three-bedroom house was going cheap and was on the market for $377,000 (£278,000) - more than $50,000 below its value - due to previous interested buyers bailing out of the deal.
A few days later, the couple were delighted to learn their offer had been accepted - but when Danielle decided to Google their new neighbourhood to find out more about where they would be living, she "screamed" when the results popped up.
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The couple quickly discovered their new home had an infamous past as the property where a Catholic priest had performed an exorcism on a teenage boy, and the event had inspired the 1971 novel and 1973 movie The Exorcist.
An article in The Washington Post reported the exorcism that took place in 1949, with the headline: 'Priest frees Mt. Rainier boy reported held in devil's grip', with the article stating that after 20 to 30 performances of the exorcism the devil was "finally cast out of the boy".
It said ministers witnessed furniture sliding across the floor and the teen yelling and cursing in Latin phrases.
Danielle told NPR : "Honestly, the first thing I thought was, 'oh God, this is going to tank our resale value'.
"And then the next thought I had was, maybe I better rewatch that, start learning more about what it is that we just bought. And also, I had no idea that that was even based on a real story."
Thankfully, Danielle has not been put off by their new home's haunted past, saying that she is knowledgeable about the occult and believes demons haunt people, not properties.
Ben is also embracing the history, adding: "I'm thinking I'm going to get a Catholic priest Halloween costume this year and get an amplified speaker and have The Exorcist soundtrack just playing on a loop on our front porch for trick-or-treaters."
Danielle and Ben's new home is different from the one featured for the external shots of the house used in The Exorcist film, which is nearby in Washington D.C.
And although they are relaxed about its past, they aren't willing to tempt fate as Danielle turned down a friend's offer to bring over a Ouija board to recreate the scene from the film.
She said: "The last time someone did that, they made a movie about my house."
