strange happenings at home

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-27-2004
strange happenings at home
7
Sat, 03-05-2005 - 11:50am

Hi everyone. Just wondered what you all thought about recent events that have happned in my home. About 6 weeks ago dd and I were away for the night and dh was the only person in the house during the evening when he is convinced he heard someone going upstairs. He went and checked but no one was there. To be honest I didn't take too much notice when he told me about it but then the other night me and dh were sitting on the couch when we both heard what sounded like someone stomping along the hallway and going upstairs. Again he checked but no one had come in and we were the only two in the house. I don't feel in any way threatened or uncomfortable with this but we have lived in this house over 3 years now and 6 weeks ago is the first time this happened so far as we are aware so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about why it would be that we have only heard this recently?

Carol

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 03-05-2005 - 5:03pm

Hmmm... how old is the house and are you the original owners? Have you done any recent renovations? The town I grew up in is famous for the local Gold Rush era hotel being haunted. The hauntings didn't begin, however, until an old well was uncovered. Have you recently purchased any antique furniture or jewelry? Sometimes a ghost will attach itself to something besides an actual building. My great-grandfather moved along with his favorite chair when it was passed down to me.

Since you say you don't feel threatened by the presence, I personally wouldn't worry too much about it unless the noise becomes a problem. My parents' house had a poltergeist for a while. No idea where it came from since they built the house and are therefore the original owners. But when Mom consulted our parish priest about exorcising it, he said to first try just telling it to leave. That it had worn out its welcome and was not wanted. It worked. If you don't actually want it to leave (what house is complete without a ghost? lol) try just telling it to keep the noise down. I asked Great Grandpa not to smoke in my house and he's respected my wishes for over 10 years.

Just a few random thoughts. Keep us posted on how it goes. :-)

Edited to add that I found a link about the hotel. It doesn't mention the ghosts, but it does talk about the 3 times (yes, 3!) it's burned down and it mentions the well.
http://www.ionehotel.com/history.shtml

And here's a little blurp specifically about the ghosts. 'George' is the most famous of the group. My Mom once saw one of the 'vapors' when we were having lunch there when I was about 6 or 7.
"Ione Hotel
41 Main St
Ione

Guests have seen a dark figure passing through the rooms of the second floor. Clouds of etheric vapor have been seen in the living room, where candles have relit themselves. Mary Phelps who lost her baby in a fire in 1884 has been seen and another ghost named George keeps popping up in his old room at the hotel."




Edited 3/5/2005 5:19 pm ET ET by ginger.cookie
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-12-2003
Sat, 03-05-2005 - 5:33pm

Hi there Carol,


Have you been to the Paranormal Experiences board also?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-27-2004
Sun, 03-06-2005 - 7:44am

The house is around 100 years old, so no we're not the original owners. The family we bought it off had lived here for 14 years but before that I don't know. We did have some work done on the house last Sept/Oct when we had new windows put in (which turned out to be a major job due to the age of the house) and had a room that had originally been two but a wall had previously been taken down put back up and a doorway opened back up so that there was access to the room so I guess we might have distured something or disgruntled it a little (lol). The family we bought it off had done most of the major renovations to the house, extending it and opening up the loft to make another room.

Now that I think about it there have been sevaral occasions when I have heard what sounds like someone moving around upstairs when I have been in the house alone but as we are in the middle of a row of houses I have assumed it was my neighbours, which it may have been but now I am wondering.

Carol

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-27-2004
Sun, 03-06-2005 - 7:45am
Thanks gnd, will check it out :-)
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-26-2004
Sun, 03-06-2005 - 9:53am
I grew up in New Jersey in an old Revolutionary War village. They mined iron ore for cannons and muskets. Some of my ancestors that came over in the late 1600's were the first settlers of my town. Our current library there was a fortress and barracks in the war and the Nun's rectory was an Inn at the time and housed George Washington. The house I grew up in was 120 years when we moved from there seventeen years ago. It was a 3 story colonial and one of the first houses built in our town.
I used to see and hear things often. Especially in the attic and basement. One day when I was about 7, we had some friends over playing hide and seek. The attic door was in my sister's room and it was an extremely heavy door that happened to open by itself all the time, even if you locked it. My sister was hiding in the stairway and 4 people were in the room also when we opened the door. My sister came out and ALL of us besides my sister saw a hand and part of an arm grab hold of the door. We were all literally having panic attacks! To calm us, my sister told me that she did it as a trick. Years later, she told me she said that because everyone was so scared and that, after it happened, she started investigating footsteps she heard, etc...Come to find out, she had seen a figure in the attic window a few weeks after this incident. She got scared one day and ran accross the street and saw it from the next door neighbors' house.
The basement always just felt weird sometimes I would see something out of the corner of my eye or hear things move. Like someone or something was around. It seemed to me that whoever this was did not care for people being in the attic, but was tolerable and never tried anything remotely dangerous. Although, I never really went up to the attic alone. It felt like I wasn't welcome.
Maybe you are only hearing things now because you are more receptive because of your path of spiritualism. They say kids are more receptive and maybe that is why I had seen and heard things then and not now. It would definitely be nice to understand why!
Love and Blessings,
R-
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-11-2004
Sun, 03-06-2005 - 2:35pm

Hi Carol.


I feel for you. I have had the same problem in my home. I thought I was just plain crazy. My home was built 1900. It usually happens in 2 rooms in my house. When I had animals they used to completely wig out...my dog would drag me upstairs and would stand there howling. Or I would sense it or see something and the cats would

 

"In short, all good things in life are wild and free."  ~Thoreau

Avatar for dustbunny48
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 03-06-2005 - 4:58pm

This is