In a twist on the old haunted house tale, a couple in San Diego found themselves haunted by the ghost of a woman in their present, who was convicted of stalking them after they won a bidding war over a house. Though the woman says she didn’t intend do to any harm, the loss of her dream home was “devastating.”

ABC News has a preview of a 20/20 story of the couple and their stalker, who was sentenced in January after pleading guilty to stalking in November. She’s facing a year of home electronic surveillance, five years of probation and has been ordered to stay away from the couple for 10 years.

“It felt like the house I always wanted to own, I just felt comfortable,” she says in the 20/20 interview. “And when I found out we didn’t get it, it was devastating. It was heartbreaking.”

When she was outbid in 2011, she decided to take her revenge through what she called pranks. But the winning homebuyers didn’t see anything funny about receiving thousands in bills for adult diapers and magazines subscriptions they said they never ordered.

Then there was the time their house was re-listed for sale online, as well as an online ad for New Year’s Eve party they didn’t plan. Or when all the married female neighbors found Valentine’s Day cards with his name signed to the, and online posts advertising sex with the wife in the couple.

“You get scared, you know, that’s your house. It should be a place of safety,” she said. “With that out there, that safety just disappears.”

It took getting the police involved and a year of harassment before their stalker was arrested.

The couple is still living in fear, despite the stalker’s sentence.

“Anyone coming up to the door, you wonder, ‘why is that person coming here?’” the husband says. “You know? It could be anyone.”

Woman Sentenced for Tormenting Couple Says She Was ‘Devastated’ Over Losing Bidding War [ABC News]

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