Be gone the evil house spirits

I haven't used this word since I was about seven years old, but the house that we just purchased and are remodeling had the "cooties."I even had to look up how to spell it. It's funny that when you tell people that you just bought a house with cooties, everyone gives you a sympathetic eye. It's not unheard of here in Los Angeles. If the walls could talk, etc. My husband gives me the evil eye. He's sick of hearing about it. He remembers our first house in Laurel Canyon, where the builder burned candles in the fireplace every time there was a leak in the ceiling, and he's not buying it. But I want to rid the house of the cooties and in this day of new-age remedies there has to be a down and dirty answer. L.A. is the land of multiculturalism, but when you realize the breadth of diversity amongst your own friends on a topic like this it's fascinating. First, I must reveal that my own remedy (and probably the most popular) is the burning of a bunch of sage. It turns out that this is ...