Haunted houses aren’t totally new to The Sims 4. The Spooky Lot trait included in City Living has welcomed ghostly strangers into your Sims homes since 2016, and Paranormal Stuff eventually added the Haunted House Residential Lot type in 2021. However, The Sims 4: Life and Death introduced two new haunted rabbit holes to Ravenwood: The Golden Oldies houses.
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Sims who are brave (or foolish) enough can explore the vacant properties and try to expel the ghosts of the Oldie Twins to restore some balance to Crow’s Crossing. If successful, Sims will be rewarded with a spectral Laganaphyllis Simnovorii.
Where Are The Golden Oldies Houses?
The Golden Oldies houses can be found in the Crows Crossing neighborhood of Ravenwood. You can find them near the playpark and next to the town center, where most of the world’s festivals happen.
You can reach the houses from any Lot in the neighborhood. If you don’t already know any Ravenwood locals, then it would be easiest to head to the Eternal Hollow cemetery, as it’s a public lot.
If you’re moving a new family into the area, then Moppy Manor is a starter home found right next to the Golden Oldies houses.
How To Tell If The Houses Are Haunted
When the houses are occupied, the windows will glow and pulsate a light blue color. Whooshing sounds can also be heard if you zoom in.
If a house is haunted, the Cleanse Ghostly Infestation interaction will be selectable. If it’s empty, it’ll be greyed out, and you won’t be able to select it.
Exploring The Golden Oldies Houses
Sims who take the plunge as urban explorers will get moodlets depending on their experience inside and their personality traits.
Sims can explore the houses whenever, whether they’re haunted or not. Exploring the houses when they aren’t haunted will give all Sims a Bored +2 moodlet. If the house is haunted, it’s a different story.
Most Sims come out of the haunted houses with a Scared +2 moodlet that lasts for around four hours. Sims with the Macabre trait get a Playful +2 moodlet instead of becoming scared.
Skeptical Sims will always be bored at the end of their exploration, even when the house is clearly haunted.
Exploring the properties doesn’t do much for your Sims besides changing their mood. The main benefits come from cleansing the houses of ghosts.
How To Cleanse Ghosts From The Houses
When the Golden Oldies houses are haunted, you can use the Cleanse Ghostly Infestation interaction. Your Sim will go inside, and a few minutes later, you’ll get a pop-up telling you whether or not they were successful.
Success when cleansing the properties is mostly luck-based. With The Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff, Sims can increase their chances of success by leveling the Medium skill. The skill builds while trying to cleanse the property, too.
Sims with levels 4 and 5 Medium skill almost always cleanse the house successfully on the first try. If a Sim fails to cleanse the house, they will become Dazed. The Lost in the Oldies moodlet gives +2 Dazed for one hour.
We found it quicker to cleanse the houses with Paranormal Stuff disabled, as it left it more up to chance without needing to factor in skill building. The Medium skill is only five levels though, and builds fairly quickly when interacting with the houses, trying to hold séances, and reading skills books. It seemed like the chance of cleansing the house successfully increased from Medium skill level 3 and up.
Make sure the Sim you use to do this is still in the land of the living. Ghost Sims can’t expel other ghosts from the houses. They can, however, haunt the properties themselves if they aren’t already occupied. After a ghost Sim has haunted the property, the house can be cleansed again.
Ghost Sims don’t get a moodlet from using the Ghostly Infestation interaction on the houses, but it does sometimes build their fitness skill a little.
Benefits Of Cleansing The Golden Oldies Houses
Sims who manage to expel the Golden Oldies’ ghosts are well-rewarded. Successful Sims will also get a +2 Energized moodlet for their victory against the ghosts.
Reward: Residue Of Fear Essence
While cleansing the house, your Sim will find some Residue of Fear Essence.
If you take the essence to Ravenwood’s Mysterious Salesperson, Waylon Warez, you can sell them to him for five simoleons each. He’s normally hanging around Crow’s Crossing, so you don’t have to look far to find him.
You can find the option to sell the Residue of Fear Essence under the Mysterious Merchandise menu. The amount of essence your Sim finds varies from cleanse to cleanse, so it’s hard to predict how much cash you’ll make from it each time.
The houses will become haunted again automatically, so this can be used as an unconventional money-making method. If you have a ghost in your household, you could even work together to turn the houses into a business. This could be particularly useful if you’re trying to pay the huge bills for the nearby Old Ravenwood Estate.
Reward: Undead Cowplant
If your Sim manages to temporarily expel the Oldie Twins from their former homes, then an undead cowplant will be added to your household inventory. You can access this via build mode.
As you might expect, the undead cowplant is very similar to its living companion, meaning it can be played with, milked, and responsible for a Sim’s untimely demise.
A key difference is that it’s technically immortal (despite being dead) so you don’t have to worry about feeding it on time.
The undead cowplant can also be unlocked using aspiration points. It costs 3,000 and can be found in the aspirations panel’s reward traits and potions menu.
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