Use of depuis with Passe Compose?

Question

Based on the lesson ¨Using depuis (since/for) with Le Present and NOT let Passé Composé (prepositions of time)" In a related kwiz I translated the phrase: The Woman in Black has haunted this house for centuries, into : La Dame en Noir hante cette maison depuis des siècles which was incorrect although I used the present tense as stated in the lesson.

The correct form should have been: La Dame en Noir a hanté cette maison depuis des siècles which is using le Passé Composé.

Can someone explain this to me please?

Answer

I have just done the quiz and 'hante' in the present tense is marked correct, as it should be. Maybe there was a technical error at the time, or you may have had a 'click' error (been there, done that). Better to report these directly from the test through the report button, because it links directly to your response.

Answer

Hi Jorge, 
Elle hante cette maison depuis des siècles. -- She's been haunting this house for centuries (and is still doing so today).Elle a hanté cette maison depuis des siècles. -- She's haunted this house for centuries (but not anymore).
To sum up, below are the two most frequently met cases:
Something started in the past and continues up until the present.English: present perfect continuous tense ("has been haunting")French: present tense (elle hante)
 
Something started in the past and also finished in the past.English: present perfect tense ("has haunted")French: passé composé (elle a hanté)

Answer

Just adding something else to the witch’s pot, does « La Dame en Noir hantait cette maison depuis des siècles. » mean she had been haunting the house for centuries (and still is?). Merci.

Answer

Jorge, I believe in your sentence, the passé composé is used when the with did haunt this house IN THE PAST, but no longer is.  (She’s been exorcised ; )