Van Ness House Ghosts

Van Ness House Ghosts
Season(s)	7
Species	Ghosts Humans (formerly)
Status	Deceased (killed by Whitman Van Ness, spirits laid to rest by Sam and Dean Winchester)

“	We're merely food to him – food and perverse entertainment. (...) Whitman killed all of us. (...) And now, even in death, every soul he traps here makes him stronger.	”
	— Victoria Dodd tells Annie Hawkins about the ghosts' situation. in Of Grave Importance

The Van Ness House Ghosts were the ghosts of people murdered by Whitman Van Ness and trapped in the Van Ness House following their murders.

History

As a human, Whitman Van Ness began murdering people, including his fiancé and several prostitutes. Van Ness framed Dexter O'Connell for the murders and then murdered Dexter too when he returned to the Van Ness House following Dexter's escape from prison.

After dying himself, Van Ness became a very powerful ghost who bound the souls of all his victims to his home. Van Ness enjoyed tormenting the ghosts of his victims and using them to make himself more powerful. If a ghost ever stepped out of line, Van Ness would drain them, absorbing their energies into himself and ending the spirit forever. Over the years, teenagers would enter the house and be murdered by Van Ness who would force them to join his other victims. Over time, the ghosts degraded, developing a condition where they would lose their memory and all sense of self, becoming empty mindless shells.

In 2012, when teenagers started disappearing again after the Van Ness House was added to an online registry of Most Haunted Houses in America, hunter Annie Hawkins investigated. During one of her visits to the house, ghost Victoria Dodd reached out to Annie through EVP on her cell phone and begged Annie to free her. On another occasion, Annie arrived shortly after the murders of Debbie Tellen and Dudley Scott who Dexter tried to warn away. Dexter also tried to warn Annie without luck and she was murdered by Van Ness as well and became a ghost trapped to the house.

Having traveled to the area to meet up with Annie, hunters Sam and Dean Winchester investigated the Van Ness House when Annie failed to show up. Unknown to them, they were accompanied by the ghost of Bobby Singer who, along with Annie, attempted to get answers from the other ghosts, only succeeding in getting some tips on using their ghostly powers from Haskel Crane before the Winchesters left, taking Bobby with them. During this time, Annie met Victoria's ghost, but was unable to get much from her.

While the Winchesters and Bobby were away, two more teenagers arrived at the house. Despite Dexter's attempts to warn them, the teenagers were murdered by Van Ness. Annie witnessed the murder as well as Van Ness destroying Dexter in retaliation. Afterwards, Annie learned from Victoria the truth about how Van Ness was the true culprit instead of Dexter as was always believed. Victoria explained to Annie the situation in the house with the ghosts and Annie managed to convince Victoria to stand up to Van Ness and help her so that they could destroy Van Ness and free the ghosts of his victims.

When the Winchesters returned to the house thanks to Bobby managing to leave them a message, Victoria tossed them the teenagers' camera which showed Annie's ghost. Victoria then manifested and explained to the Winchesters about what Vann Ness had done. In retaliation, Van Ness burned Victoria's bones and destroyed her, but not before she was able to give the Winchesters the information they needed to destroy Van Ness. As a result, Van Ness attached himself to a key he put in Sam's pocket and used it to follow the Winchesters out of the house.

With Van Ness gone, Bobby and Annie took the chance to try to locate the bodies of Van Ness' victims and finally found them in a secret room in the house. Van Ness returned before they could do anything with the bodies and attempted to drain Bobby. However, his bones were salted and burned by Dean and Van Ness was destroyed. When the Winchesters returned, Bobby had gained the ability to become visible to them and he was able to lead the Winchesters to the bodies of Van Ness' victims. The Winchesters salted and burned the bodies, including Annie's and put all of the ghosts to rest.

Known Members

• Whitman Van Ness (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Dexter O'Connell (deceased, spirit absorbed)
• Victoria Dodd (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Haskel Crane (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Annie Hawkins (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Debbie Tellen (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Dudley Scott (deceased, spirit laid to rest)
• Debbie and Dudley's Friends (deceased, spirit laid to rest)

Appearances

• Season 7
  • Of Grave Importance