the.com/haunted house

means A house believed or pretended to be inhabited by ghosts or restless spirits, usually trading on its own spooky reputation.

from Straightforward compound of 'haunt' — from Old French 'hanter', meaning to frequent or visit a place regularly — and 'house'. Originally 'haunt' just meant a place you went often, no ghosts required. Only later did it narrow to mean the specific habit ghosts have of frequenting somewhere, and the phrase settled into its current use around the rise of gothic fiction, when readers developed an appetite for old houses with unfinished business.