I'd say the creepiest/scariest looking type of abandoned house is one that is dark, hard to see, in the woods and generally creepy.
I was just speculating, I'm not entirely for certain why Second Empire became the definitive horror house style. It's possible that since a lot of turn-of-the-century buildings had a lot of fine detail, they were harder to maintain (and easier to be inclined to leave in disrepair) and easier to wear down.
I just can't deal with getting payed minimum wage in a crappy area to delete 1 or 2 files off of some idiot's computer.
Interesting. Like I said, my guess is because of their appearance, especially when they're old and abandoned.
It wasn't before (British-rule era) and it won't be again (Marathon bombing + winter blizzard flood ).