Haunt, Haunted

Do you ever think about going back to a place where you grew up or where you went to school? Do you think of going back going back to visit your old haunts? Is there a place that you never want to go back to? Haunts, that is, the places and neighbourhoods where you used to live.
 
The word haunt has its origins in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root tkei (to settle, dwell, be home), the source of Proto-Germanic haimaz (home) and haimatjanan (to go or bring home) and Old Norse heimta (bring home). The verb ‘to haunt’ comes to English in the early 13th century meaning to practice habitually or to busy oneself with; from Old French hanter (to visit regularly, be familiar with, indulge in). By around 1300, haunt also meant a place frequently visited.
 
In Middle English, haunt scole meant to attend school. Haunt also was used to mean ‘to have sexual intercourse with’—this gives another meaning to the term ‘haunted house’.
 
The use of haunt in reference to a ghost or spirit returning to the house where it had lived may have been of Proto-Germanic origins; however, if so, it was lost or buried until revived by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1590).
 
The contemporary meaning of haunt meaning the spirit that haunts a place or a ghost is first recorded in 1843 in African American Vernacular English.
 
The word haunted has evolved in meaning over the years. In the early 14th century haunted meant accustomed, by mid-14th century it meant stirred or aroused, by early 15th century it meant frequent. And then much-frequented (1570s), visited by ghosts (1711), and haunted house (1733).
 
Haunt could be said to be the spirit of a place which might explain why we like to return to our old haunts, to the places that have some good memories for us. We probably would not want to visit those ‘haunted’ places which hold negative memories.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/