Electrician Refuses to Enter Home After Seeing Previous Wiring, Describes It as 'Haunted'

Licensed electrician Marla Joule walked off a residential service call within four minutes Monday after opening the main panel and encountering what she described in her incident report as 'an abomination that has somehow not burned this house to the ground through what I can only assume is divine intervention.' The home, a 1962 ranch in suburban Milwaukee, had been purchased by new owners who called Joule to investigate why every light in the house flickered when the refrigerator turned on. 'I opened the panel and the first thing I saw was aluminum wired directly to copper with no anti-oxidant and no proper connector,' Joule said. 'Just electrical tape. Multiple layers of electrical tape from what appeared to be different decades.' Further inspection revealed knob-and-tube wiring in the attic that had been spliced into Romex with wire nuts that were, in Joule's words, 'more of a suggestion than a connection.' The breaker panel cover was secured with a bungee cord, and one circuit was labeled in crayon with the word 'maybe.' 'I've seen bad wiring,' Joule said. 'I've seen dangerous wiring. This was something else. This house is haunted by the ghost of every code violation ever committed. I told the owners I'd come back with a quote for a full rewire, a priest, and a larger van.' The homeowners have reportedly received quotes ranging from $18,000 to $34,000. One electrician simply replied with a photograph of a dumpster fire.