Ten of America's most haunted houses

(Photo credit: Anna Fox, aka HarshLight, on Flickr)

Creaking floors, inexplicable cold drafts and eerie sounds usually don’t top the list of dream house features.

Unless, of course, we’re talking about dream haunted house features.

It’s October, and we’re forgoing the usual roundup of eye candy in favor of some cobweb-draped places most people wouldn’t dare put a down payment on.

Tales of horror, glimpses of ghosts and a bevy of cobweb decor — it’s all here.

[Related: Step by ghoulish step, see how to trick out your yard for Halloween.]

And if these homes don't slake your Halloween appetite, creep on over to Zillow Blog's post on dead celebrities and the houses they haunt.

Winchester House, pictured above
San Jose, CA

It’s as if original owner Sarah Winchester wanted her home to be haunted. The eccentric widow of William Winchester, founder of Winchester rifles, held nightly seances to gain guidance from spirits and her dead husband for the home’s design. The end result?  A maze-like structure that took 38 years to build and includes twisting and turning hallways, dead ends, secret panels, a window built into a floor, staircases leading to nowhere, doors that open to walls, upside-down columns and rooms built, then intentionally closed off  — all to ward off and confuse evil spirits.