- If you’re trying to sell your house in New York, you’re legally required to disclose its haunting status.
If Dracula started lurking around your home, would you sue him for harassment? People have certainly tried.
It’s surprisingly common to find laws and court cases involving mythical creatures. In some cases, people try to collect their dues from ghosts and goblins, while in others, they try to protect them.
And then there are the people with enough cajones to summon both the Devil and God to court.
Here are seven strange legal cases involving various legendary beings — and the aforementioned Prince of Darkness and Lord Almighty themselves.
1. Bigfoot is Protected in Washington…
Bigfoot is probably the most famous mythological American creature. Although it’s been sighted (supposedly) in many places, the Northwest is particularly strongly associated with Bigfoot.
As such, it’s not a surprise that some counties in the state of Washington protect Bigfoot. The first of them was Skamania County, which in 1961 enacted a law punishing anyone who kills Bigfoot with a $10,000 fine and up to five years in jail.
This regulation was passed after so many would-be Bigfoot hunters congregated in the county that they became a public hazard. After the Bigfoot craze calmed down, the law was amended to an up to $1,000 fine and/or a year in jail.
A similar law is in place in Whatcom County, which made the act of killing Bigfoot a crime in 1991.
2. …But Not in Texas
Washington is off-limits if you want to hunt Bigfoot. Texas is not.
It has been legally recognized that Bigfoot is fair game to hunters in Texas. In 2012, somebody asked the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) whether the state’s laws protected Bigfoot.
The answer was a resounding “no.” As an exotic, non-indigenous mammal, Bigfoot is, in all likelihood, not protected in Texas.
“If Bigfoot did exist, and wasn’t human, then it would [be legal to shoot it]. Bigfoot would be a non-protected wild animal,” L. David Sinclair of the TPWD said.
It’s not just Texas wanting to catch Bigfoot, though. Read about the time an Oklahoma state rep wanted to introduce a Bigfoot hunting season.
3. Iceland’s Elf Church Dispute
There are some places around the world where building anything is a real pain. In Rome, for instance, virtually every construction project gets halted by the discovery of previously unknown Roman ruins.
In Iceland, meanwhile, elves tend to get in the way of all construction.
Belief in huldufolk, or “hidden people,” is widespread in Iceland, with more than half of the population stating they think there are supernatural little elves out there. Considering this prevalence, Icelanders can be quick to challenge construction projects to protect their elven friends.
Perhaps the most high-profile case came in 2013, when self-professed seer and “elf garden owner” Ragnhildur Jonsdottir sued the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration. A road the government was planning would’ve destroyed a large rock formation, which, according to Jonsdottir, was an “elf church.”
The lawsuit dragged on for a year and a half until the government agreed to move the elf stone away from the road. Jonsdottir claimed that this was an agreeable solution to the elves, who were apparently in regular communication with her.
4. The Ghostbuster Ruling
In 1991, Jeffrey Stambovsky sued Helen Ackley over a house he had purchased from her. According to Stambovsky, the house was haunted and he wanted out of the deal.
Ackley, however, was well known in the local and national media for owning the haunted house. She argued that she had informed Stambovsky of the ghosts and he’d agreed to still by the house.
The local courts sided with Ackley, stating that due to New York’s caveat emptor laws, Stambovsky should’ve done his due diligence to find out anything wrong with the house, including possible possession. Stambovsky appealed, and the case reached the New York Supreme Court.
They overruled the lower court. According to the Supreme Court, caveat emptor didn’t apply because no amount of inspection could’ve helped Stambovsky discover whether the ghosts were really there.
“Having reported [the ghosts’] presence in both a national publication… and the local press… defendant [Ackley] is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted,” the court decreed.
This makes the Ackley the only one in the country that is legally haunted. The case also established the precedent that New York homeowners are required to disclose any hauntings to house buyers prior to the sale.
5. Loch Ness Monster’s Legal Protections
The Loch Ness Monster may be the most famous cryptid in the world. With that in mind, it makes sense that there are multiple layers of laws protecting the mythical creature.
The first legal decision concerning Nessie comes from 1933. After learning that a college professor wanted to catch and kill Nessie for display, the U.K. Parliament ruled that the 1912 Protection of Animals Act also protected the creature.
Later, perhaps not-so-serious government memos cautioned lawmakers that Nessie may be in danger again. The 1912 law was replaced with the 1951 Salmon and Fisheries Protection (Scotland) Act.
However, under that law’s text, Nessie didn’t fall under the protected category of “freshwater fish.” So, in 1981, the Wildlife and Countryside Act explicitly made harming Nessie (if it exists) illegal.
6. Gerald Mayo v. Satan
In 1971, 22-year-old Gerald Mayo was serving a prison sentence in the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh. He felt that it wasn’t his fault that he was in jail, and that the deck of life had been stacked against him by the Devil himself.
So, he sued Satan (and his staff).
In his lawsuit, Mayo argued that “Satan has on numerous occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats, against the will of plaintiff, that Satan has placed deliberate obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff’s downfall.” Doing so, Mayo claimed that Satan had “deprived him of his constitutional rights,” violating U.S. law.
U.S. District Court Judge Gerald J. Weber dismissed the case. However, he didn’t deem it frivolous and instead determined that Satan couldn’t be properly sued in the case.
Ruling that Satan was a “foreign prince”, Judge Weber noted the Pennsylvania court didn’t have jurisdiction over him. He also argued that Mayo hadn’t provided sufficient directions for legal authorities to find Satan and serve him his court summons.
And let’s not even speak about actually summoning Satan to the courtroom. That’d probably require a ritual that’d violate several laws in itself.
7. Betty Penrose v. God
It takes some serious stones to sue Satan. But to sue God himself requires a special kind of confidence most people probably don’t have.
In 1970, a lightning strike destroyed the home of Betty Penrose from Phoenix, Arizona. She wanted reparations for the damages, so she sued God for $100,000.
In her complaint, Penrose argued that “the maintenance and operation of the universe, including the weather in and upon the State of Arizona.” Considering the lightning, she claimed God had been negligent in his duties and therefore responsible.
Penrose also strategically filed her lawsuit in Sonoma County, California. That’s because, in 1969, an eccentric hippie landowner called Louis Gottlieb had legally transferred the ownership of his ranch in Sonoma to God.
As such, God owned land in Sonoma and could be sued in the county.
That was the idea, at least. In the end, the court threw the Penrose case out, as God had never legally taken possession of the land and therefore the case had no legs to stand on.
Want more court weirdness? Check out our list of people who sued themselves.