Presented by EA GameChangers.
A whole new lot type has been introduced with the release of The Sims 4 Paranormal Stuff. Sims can now live in a Haunted House Residential, where things aren’t always what they seem… In this guide I’ll help you uncover the mysteries of a Haunted House and explain how to overcome them. Let’s get started!
How to create a Haunted House
Just like with any other lot, you can change the lot type while you’re in Build & Buy mode. There you can click on the Venue Info button (upper left corner) and change the lot type in the dropdown menu to the Haunted House Residential type. You can always change it back into a regular Residential if you wish to do so.
There is something… special about this place. While living in a Haunted House adds an extra bit of risk, it’s not without rewards! Just a fair warning, things are gonna get weird. Good luck!
Lot Features
A Haunted House Residential comes with its own set of lot features, which you can view by clicking on the cogwheels in the venue information. This will tell you what to expect when living in a Haunted House.
 | Ghostly Assistance Meet Guidry the Ghost, he’s quite the charmer. |
 | Specters Floating apparitions roam the lot at night! They can range from friendly to hostile. |
 | Haunted Treasure Specters have all sorts of strange valuables on them! |
 | Paranormal Activity Things get weird around here, especially at night… Your Sims will definitely take notice. |
 | Accursed Objects Occasionally strange artifacts find their way into your house. Keep your eyes peeled! |
 | It’s Alive! Try keeping the entities of the house on your good side. |
 | Be Brave Each successful night yields Reward Store Points for all Sims. |
 | Aspiring Investigators Welcome Become a Paranormal Investigator with the help of Guidry. |
 | ???????? SHE’S COMING FOR YOU! |
Tip: If you wonder why all your lights are off in the Haunted House, it’s because the settings for lights are turned to auto-lighting. It’s no use turning them on normally as it will just get reset back to auto-lighting as soon as you unpause the game.
Create the Scariest Haunted House ever!
You could just turn any lot into a Haunted House Residential and leave it there OR you could take it a little step further and create the ultimate Haunted House experience. Here are some tips to make it even scarier for your Sims.
Pick the right Lot Traits
Lot Traits can add that extra bit of spooky spice your Sims need in their life, even when they probably wholeheartedly will disagree with it. They just don’t know what’s good for them. Silly Sims! Here are some great choices:
- Creepy Crawlies (Jungle Adventure)
It seems that some creepy pests have taken up residence here. Be prepared, when they hit you’ll never see them coming! - Cursed (City Living)
Lots of things seem to go wrong here. - Gremlins (City Living)
Stuff breaks here a lot. It’s like there are tiny goblins that come out at night and smash things…. But that’s ridiculous, right? - Spooky (City Living)
For some inexplicable reason this lot attracts wandering Ghosts! - Vampire Nexus (Vampires)
A dark void envelopes this lot in the upside down. Vampires are more likely to visit the area.
You can also choose to put the lot on Heroic Mode to make things even worse for your Sims.
Prepare your Sims for Life in a Haunted House
Your Sims will become Scared and sometimes even Terrified from their haunted surroundings. You’ll see that as your Sims’ mood gets worse their fear will start to take over, interrupting anything they are supposed to do. Sleep gets filled with nightmares and Sims might be too stunned to eat a meal, running around frantically looking for someone to help them.
Before you move into a Haunted House Residential there’s a few things you can do to help your Sims prepare better for their new spooky lifestyle. Here are some tips:
- Unlock the Brave Reward Trait
Give your Sims the courage to face their new reality by unlocking the Brave trait. You can buy it in the Reward Store for 8.000 points. - Level up the Medium skill
Use the Séance Table to improve your Medium skill and to help cleanse the house of evil entities.
Paranormal Activity & Spiritual Serenity
The spiritual serenity of your house will decline over time. Specters will become unhappy, accursed objects will appear and at its worst you’ll have to deal with the Poltergeist called Temperance. Get rid of anything out of the ordinary before things get out of hand! Your Sim can check the paranormal status of the house by using the Sense Spiritual Volatility interaction of the Séance Table. If it’s getting bad use Perform Ceremony to cleanse the house of evil spirits, this will restore the spiritual serenity of the house.
When you turn on the Haunted House Residential lot type you might notice things start happening usually around 9PM, but as the serenity worsens it will become more active throughout the day. The first night in the house you’ll get the following message:
If you pick the I can handle this! interaction your Sim will become Confident, ready to take on their new journey. But if you pick the Why am I here again? answer your Sim will get Scared and contemplate their life choices. The message will tell them to blame you, the ‘deity controlling them’, for their misfortune.
Dealing with the Paranormal
A lot of things can happen while living on a Haunted House lot. Make sure to place Sacred Candles around the house to keep your Sims calm and protected. If you see weird things popping up in and around the house, make sure to get rid of it as soon as possible. Your Sim will stomp creepy dolls, wild-growing tendrils and other things to make them disappear. Just click on the accursed object to remove them from your home.
You’ll also see some cute apparitions floating about, usually minding their own business. These little guys are called Specters. As long as the spiritual serenity of the house is okay, so will they be. Try giving them homemade gifts, like your Sims’ cooking, they will appreciate it!
The worse the state of the house is, the more paranormal things will happen simultaneously. Specters become angry and will scare your Sims, even putting unwanted visitors on fire. Other hauntings will happen more frequently.
Temperance the Poltergeist
When the spiritual serenity of your Haunted House is all the way down the drain it will lure a certain Ghost to your home. Her name is Temperance, an angry ghost who will break any utilities and electronics that comes in her path. She holds grudges easily, especially against a certain ex-boyfriend, and can become aggressive when you interact with her. Coincidentally Guidry the Ghost always seem to be on edge whenever she’s around… How bizarre!
As soon as she spawns get one of your Sims to summon Bonehilda to help you out with a quick emergency summoning. Bonehilda is very skilled in martial arts and will gladly kick Temperance’s butt for you. To summon Bonehilda you will need level 3 Medium skill. If you happen to have more than one Sim I recommend one of them keeps Temperance busy to distract her while the other Sim summons Bonehilda, otherwise she’ll interrupt your Sim from completing the séance.
Another thing you can do to stop Temperance from breaking down the house is to place down a Bizarre Idol in the same room as her. She hates them and she’ll be stunned with fear of these things! You can get one by asking Guidry, using the Someone terrible appeared! Help! interaction in his personal Social Menu.
Activate Heroic Mode
You can worsen the spiritual decline of your Haunted House even faster by clicking the Enable Heroic Mode interaction on the Helping Hand clutter item. This little statue also has the option to disallow Guidry the Ghost from visiting your house at night. You can always (de)activate these two interactions if you change your mind.
The Rewards of Living in a Haunted House Residential
So with all these bad things happening, why would any Sim live in a Haunted House? Firstly, you made them, but all joking aside there are upsides to living in such a house too. All Sims will be rewarded with 250 points (doubled during Heroic mode) to spend in the Reward Store for every single night they spent in a Haunted House. Each night ends at 6AM the following morning and if your Sim is still there they’ll get the points as a reward for their courage.
When your Sim lived in the Haunted House for 7 days, they’ll be rewarded with Guidry’s favorite jacket. Don’t be too flattered… He briefly mentions he died in it. Gee, thanks Guidry! You shouldn’t have. No, really… You shouldn’t.
