Octavia Spencer Claims Her Home Is Haunted by the Ghost of a Western Star

Octavia Spencer believes her house is haunted by a specific kind of person, but she also has a surprisingly relaxed attitude about it. In a new interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she said that she bought a house that was previously owned by an actor who starred in western films. She said that she believes this entity still lingers at her home, but that he is her “protector.”

“I love him, because he kind of sorts out the bad people that shouldn’t be there,” Spencer explained. “He runs them out… If they stay at my place, they don’t want to come back, and that’s how I know they don’t belong there. Because, you know – if you’re a person that belongs there, everybody’s like ‘oh, your place is so welcoming! It’s so great!’ And that’s how I feel about it.”

DeGeneres pressed, asking Spencer if she had observed any unexplainable phenomena like doors slamming shut without being touched. Spencer said: “Well, when I leave for a long time, he’s a little shady. Like, the doors close, the lights go off when I turn them on.” She then said that her only concern with this haunting was the way her “ghost” interacts with other people, and the “ghosts” that those visitors might be carrying with them.

“I love my ghost, I just don’t want you bringing your ghost to my house,” she said to the audience. “I don’t want anybody’s ghost thinking they can be friends with my ghost. My ghost can haunt me, but he doesn’t haunt me. We have boundaries, you know?”

Spencer and DeGeneres both said that they earnestly believe in the existence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena, but they were willing to joke about the subject too. The audience seemed to take it the same way, with general laughter that didn’t seem to mock Spencer’s sincerity. The actress did not reveal which old western star she believes is keeping her company. However, she did say that she “grew up watching Westerns” and that she is pretty sure she was a fan of the actor who previously owned her house.

Spencer is originally from Montgomery, Alabama, but presumably, the house she’s talking about now is in the Hollywood area. Spencer moved to L.A. in 1997, she once told The New York Times, after working as an intern on one movie, The Long Walk Home. She had a degree in English with minors in journalism and theatre, but she found steady work with small parts in movies throughout the late 1990s and early-2000s.

These days, Spencer is an A-list star with an Oscar to her name and perhaps more in her future. At the time of this writing, she has three upcoming projects announced including the new musical adaptation of Spirited by directors Sean Anders and John Morris, due out sometime in 2022.