Old house, strange happenings?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Hi guys I'm looking for some advice. First off, I'll explain that I've always been aware of spirits around me, so much so that it doesn't bother me in the slightest any more. The only thing that scares me is if I sense a negative presence. My OH would be what I would call an 'empath', ie, he is very aware of and affected by other peoples emotions and atmospheres in general, but he wouldn't have much experience with spirits or ghosts.

We moved in together recently. The house we live in is 150 years old. Naturally, because of the age of the house, I would expect that it would have a little character The first week, I scrubbed the whole house down and smudged sage in every room to cleanse any negative atmosphere. Job done, or so I thought. I love the house, I spend most of the day here on my own and I feel very comfortable and cosy here. My OH isn't as convinced as me unfortunately. There is one room in the house that he doesn't like. Its a spare bedroom with 2 single beds and he says that every time he goes in there, he gets the image of the 2 beds being 2 coffins. He says he feels very uncomfortable in there and gets the feeling of someone watching him intensely. He went in there yesterday to put new sheets and duvets on the beds. One of the mattresses had the label at the bottom and the other had the label at the top (I had noticed this earlier also). He came downstairs to get something and when he went back up, both of the labels were at the top of the beds. Something had moved a whole mattress 180 degrees on the bed. He also says his glasses have been moved. He leaves them with the legs open on the ground beside the bed every night and sometimes when he gets up, he finds them neatly folded on the dresser. I have told him not to worry about these things, I genuinely don't sense anything sinister or negative in the house and things moving around like that don't really freak me out because they're not doing any harm. He insists that the spare room really gives him the heebiejeebies though. He is ok in the rest of the house. I am wondering if its just the matter of the mattress moving that has unsettled him. It did really frighten him and I think my response of 'its no big deal' surprised him even more. He wants me to buy more sage and give the spare room another once over..... Has anyone had any experiences like this? I would be very surprised if there is a negative presence in the house that I can't sense.

Melodi

Yes, we have, our house is over 200 years old and there were a couple of places that needed serious clearing. We converted one room into a library so people wouldn't usually be sleeping in it, these days both areas are fine because we "cleared them" (though in the case of the really bad area it took a couple of sessions).

I wrote this for someone on another thread but I'll re-post it here, later I'm going to write it up as a hand-out because this seems to be a common problem. The main thing to remember is: ANYONE can clear their own home, unless they are very ill or mentally disabled in some way. Ninety-Nine percent of the time you don't need to pay someone to do this, the one percent is much rarer and shouldn't even be thought about until a couple of clearings are done first.

Here is what I wrote to another poster with a similar problem:

Also, when you moved in (or any time afterwards) did you "clear" you house?

Clearing is a term used for doing a small ceremony (can be very private and personal or involve others in your household) to clear out energies of any sort that may have been left from previous owners. In the case of a new house, it is simply to clear out anything that might have been hanging around the general landscape or even the unhappy emotions of a builder or two.

When I say thing, I don't necessarily mean ghosts; though that's always possible. But more likely it is just that buildings, tend to pick up energies and impressions from all the people who live and visit there.

The older the house (mine is over 200 years old) the more likely it is to have such energies good and bad. Some can be very good and you don't want those to go away, which is why when you do your clearing, it is best to invite anything good, wholesome, lovely, kind and truly helpful (etc) to stay but ask anything hateful, harmful, nasty or even simply bothersome, to leave.

Ninety percent of the time, you don't need an expert to do the clearing for you; in fact it is best done by yourself if you are going to be the one to live there.

An easy way to to walk around each room of the house using table salt (earth), incense (air), a tea cup of bottled or well water (water) and a candle (fire), walk around each room clockwise with the items (you can do it one at a time) saying pretty much "I ask that anything harmful, nasty, bothersome, ill wishing or that otherwise does not belong here to leave, by the power of ....(earth, air fire or water).

Then when you finish, go back to each room and invite in (and ask to stay) anything wholesome, helpful, loving, cheerful, useful, (etc you can use your own words) to please come and stay.

This second part is very important as you don't want to "clear" an area and not invite good energies in to stay.

If you are not comfortable with the earth, air, fire and water idea; you can do the same thing with prayers, chants, mantras etc; whatever tradition makes you comfortable. It is the INTENT that is important, not the objects themselves. I once had a friend do this in a rather public situation using a coffee cup, coffee and a cigarette and it worked!

While it is easier to clear and refresh a building (or location) when empty, it is perfectly possible to do this after you have moved in and have furniture in the way etc. The important thing is to visualize the clearing (and later inviting) going to all four corners (and floor and ceiling) of each room.

If you feel a bit silly doing this, don't worry; no one else is going to see you except any other family members of friends you have with you and they are all doing the same thing.

Trust me, usually this really works and if it is the rail road vibrations or a small earthquake a clearing won't solve that but it won't hurt anything either. If it is stale, left-over energies, then it will.

Once in awhile, a clearing doesn't work; that's when calling for outside help is a good idea. But most of those occasions are rare, most simple things like house clearing and basic psychic self defense can be learned and performed by anyone.

Hope that helps, there's probably lots of good material on line out there; though avoid anything that starts with offers to clear you house for a large sum of money or suggests that you need a serious ghost busting visit without talking to you for a long time first.

Melodi in the Midlands

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Ya, I did a clearing ceremony using sage, incense and charged salt water. I was also careful to ask the positive energy to remain and only for anything negative to be cleared. Like I said, I don't feel the negative atmosphere that my OH claims to be picking up on so I'm not sure what to make of it. Hopefully, he's just frightened because things are moving around and he's never experienced anything like that before.

Melodi

OK, if you've done a clearing; then there are several possible things going on (and the reason I asked about the age of your daughters).

You could very well have a poltergeist situation going on; while called "Noisy Ghosts" most poltergeists don't seem to be real ghosts at all, but rather created (totally un-knowingly in most cases) by the excess psychic energy of someone in the house. While adults, especially those under severe stress, can create poltergeist "activity;" it is most often associated with young boys and girls going through (or about to go through) puberty.

Typical poltergeist activity is usually stuff like glass falling from shelves (either breaking or not), furniture that moves when it shouldn't, books that open and close on their own etc. It can also include things like knocking sounds on ceilings and walls, or electronics that go on and off without human action.

Most of the time, the activity is mild and tends to go away when the effected child reaches maturity or the adult is no longer as stressed. Sometimes it doesn't, and it may be one situation where you do want to call in an expert; the best person would that rare combination a psychologist with paranormal training. Since these tend to be few on the ground, your next best option is probably contacting one of the older paranormal organizations for a reference. Most of the good ones will have (or know of) a reputable expert in this field (and it isn't me), you want some one who will talk to each member of the family and gently try to access the situation, before trying to uncover the best solution.

The next possible option is: you just won the psychic lottery and you really do have a ghost on your hands. Clearings will get ride of a lot of things that go bump in the night, but sometimes real ghosts seem to pay not attention to them. Again, this might be a case where you need a real expert and again contacting one of the older paranormal organizations for a reference is a good idea. Beware of anyone wanting to charge huge amounts of money for their services, anything much more than a doctor's visit is probably a red flag.

Finally, maybe your partner really is just trying to stir things up a bit; in which case giving him something else to think about may be the answer. Let him know how much less time you'll be spending on the paranormal boards (and can pay attention to him) if he knocks it off?

Good luck and feel free to PM me if I can be of anymore help,

Melodi in the Midlands

Riamfada

Can I just state that the fact that you went into the house expecting it to be haunted means it is hAunted.

Melodi

Riamfada wrote: »

Can I just state that the fact that you went into the house expecting it to be haunted means it is hAunted.

Riamfada, most old houses have "energies" left over from previous owners and sensitive people can pick that up.

Also, your right, most old houses in our culture are expected to be haunted; that's how the movie scripts always go.

There's an old, boarded up, mansion near my office that I call "The Haunted House," when friends and I walk by it. But in reality I have no idea if it is haunted or not, but it sure looks like a Hollywood set for a Haunted House movie.

People do sometimes find what they expect to find, but hauntings can show up anywhere. A close friend recounted entering the kitchen of her parents, newly built house in Colorado when she was around 16 years old. She saw, clear as day, a young women in 19th century frontier dress standing by the kitchen window; but her feet were somewhere underneath the floor and she could not see the girls shoes or feet. Her dress was partly under the floor as well, as if the girl was standing on an earlier ground level.

She gasped and the girl just faded away and she never saw her again.

That has all the hallmarks of a classic ghost story, especially of the non-scary (but somewhat disturbing kind). There's just no way to know if that one was a real "haunting" (person who does not know they are dead or choses not to "go on") or just an "image" left over from an earlier time. Perhaps the spot where a young frontier women experienced a terrible or deep emotion and it was forever imprinted on the psychic "TV" screen.

The point of that story though is, few people expect to see "ghosts" of any sort inside their newly built home; but the earth being what it is; there are few places where someone hasn't lived or visited there sometime in the past. So, "real" ghost sightings can happen anyway, though old houses can really set the "atmosphere" to where people are more accepting of them.

Monty Burnz

Melodi wrote: »

Riamfada, most old houses have "energies" left over from previous owners and sensitive people can pick that up.

What kind of energy?

Melodi

Monty Burnz wrote: »

What kind of energy?

Not something I can scientifically "prove" if that's what you mean, but in my experience places tend to pick up "psychic" imprints of things that have happened or been experience by people who have been in them.

For example, the first time we entered our house to view it; I had a sudden mental image of happy children, skipping down a stair case.

I learned out house had been a rectory, so thought maybe it was a large family or something?

But several years later an old women came by and wanted to see the house. It seems it was an orphanage at the time and she had grown up here, she also said that some of her happiest memories were in our house.

So, call it what you will; but I'm satisfied that whatever it is, its exists and some people can pick up on it.

zuroph

you imagined children living in a house. hardly amazing, considering the size of the place. kids had a happy upbringing, again not the greatest shock in the world.

Monty Burnz

Melodi wrote: »

So, call it what you will; but I'm satisfied that whatever it is, its exists and some people can pick up on it.

I don't want to drag this thread o/t, but I'll just say that I don't doubt your experience at all, but I'd say that it comes from within you rather than from the environment, which is why these things can't be scientifically detected or objectively measured.

O/P, I hope you enjoy the new home when you settle in.

Melodi

Monty Burnz wrote: »

I don't want to drag this thread o/t, but I'll just say that I don't doubt your experience at all, but I'd say that it comes from within you rather than from the environment, which is why these things can't be scientifically detected or objectively measured.

O/P, I hope you enjoy the new home when you settle in.

Could be, I don't really try to argue much with people who want a scientific basis for all this stuff. There probably is one, but I think our current technology isn't anywhere near to figuring out a way to do it yet.

Although one thing already has been born out, when I was younger I noticed that if I was very angry or upset, I could sometimes "break" or "mess up" machines, if I was near them. My husband jokingly calls me "Harry Dresden" and won't let me near an ATM if I'm not a happy camper.

This "effect" only seemed to happen if I was within a few feet of the object in question, the closer the better.

Recent scientific research has now shown that even disabled monkeys can manipulate some cursors and small objects, using the electrical wave patterns in their brains. It works better with attached electrodes to magnify the affect, but there is no way the monkey is responding just to suggestions. This new field of study is now considered cutting edge for helping "locked in" and other seriously disabled people communicate with loved ones and even surf the Internet.

If you had said thirty years ago that such a thing was possible, most scientists at the time would have suggested you go write a science fiction story. Forgetting that today's science fiction, sometimes turns into tomorrows science facts.

But meanwhile, I leave a lot of stuff up for people to decide for themselves; but if someone posts a problem on the board and I think I may know a way to help; I'm going to pass it on. It may or may not work; but at least it is something to try and see if it does.

Antikythera

Melodi wrote: »

when I was younger I noticed that if I was very angry or upset, I could sometimes "break" or "mess up" machines, if I was near them.

Young people make stuff up.

Some people make stuff up throughout their lives and they end up believing their own makey-uppy stuff.

Melodi

Antikythera wrote: »

Young people make stuff up.

Some people make stuff up throughout their lives and they end up believing their own makey-uppy stuff.

I'm not going to continue arguing, if you feel that way, well you do. However, when I said "young" I meant twenties and thirties (it has gotten better as I've spent more years doing various sorts of psychic work and meditation but it still happens sometimes). Which is why I'm banned from the village ATM machine, its always breaking down when I get near it, lol!

Seriously, I think the machine probably is probably a totally natural extension of the "electrical brain waves" that scientists are now learning about and teaching the totally disabled to use in order to communicate when they can't even move an eye lid.

Other stuff like ghosts, extra-dimensional beings, dowsing, card reading etc; is pretty much a matter of personal belief and/or experience. I prefer a middle ground on many subjects; fanaticism in any form makes me nervous.

But that's just me, your own opinion is your to hold.

Antikythera

Melodi wrote: »

I'm banned from the village ATM machine, its always breaking down when I get near it, lol!

A whole village full of people who believe makey-uppy stuff?

Wow!

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Riamfada wrote: »

Can I just state that the fact that you went into the house expecting it to be haunted means it is hAunted.

Eh?? I expected the house to have CHARACTER. So no, you can't state the fact that I went in there expecting it to be HAUNTED. In fact, I didn't mention the word haunted at any stage in my post.

Still puzzled as to how the mattress moved though! Himself has calmed down a bit too thank god, although I think he might just be repressing the memory

Oryx

Can the more skeptical posters here please not drag this thread off topic by asking for explanations of things like 'energy'. Such discussions can take place in another thread if you want.

Antikythera

Esteban Victorious Clam wrote: »

Still puzzled as to how the mattress moved though!

That's easily explained.

Option a: One of you moved it.
Option b: It didn't move.

Dude111

Riamfada wrote:

Can I just state that the fact that you went into the house expecting it to be haunted means it is hAunted.

Well it means you are OPEN TO THE SPIRIT WORLD

It amazes me many ppl who are PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS go into places DEEMED HAUNTED and they are scared when they encounters spirits inside,i find that very bizarre!!!

Its like they dont believe spirits exist and when they are shown proof,THEY CANT HANDLE IT!!

Why is the spiritual world denied so much?? --- THERE ARE MANY THINGS IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT ARE NOT ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE!! -- You must believe and have faith if you want contact with them!

zuroph

Dude111 wrote: »

Well it means you are OPEN TO THE SPIRIT WORLD

It amazes me many ppl who are PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS go into places DEEMED HAUNTED and they are scared when they encounters spirits inside,i find that very bizarre!!!

Its like they dont believe spirits exist and when they are shown proof,THEY CANT HANDLE IT!!

Why is the spiritual world denied so much?? --- THERE ARE MANY THINGS IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT ARE NOT ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE!! -- You must believe and have faith if you want contact with them!

contradiction.

Show me proof. I've not seen any comprehensive proof, and as far as I know, it doesnt exist.

KeithAFC

Dude111 wrote: »

Well it means you are OPEN TO THE SPIRIT WORLD

It amazes me many ppl who are PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS go into places DEEMED HAUNTED and they are scared when they encounters spirits inside,i find that very bizarre!!!

Its like they dont believe spirits exist and when they are shown proof,THEY CANT HANDLE IT!!

Why is the spiritual world denied so much?? --- THERE ARE MANY THINGS IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT ARE NOT ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE!! -- You must believe and have faith if you want contact with them!

You also have to be wary of things like suggestion etc. That is why people do like going on ghost hunts etc. I ain't saying it isn't real but people do get effected. It works in many forms too.

viadah

Professional researchers encountering spirits...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal

I'm open-minded to it, I've seen 'ghosts', can't explain it all away, doesn't make me rich though. 'Professional researchers' have no excuse.

KeithAFC

viadah wrote: »

Professional researchers encountering spirits...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal

I'm open-minded to it, I've seen 'ghosts', can't explain it all away, doesn't make me rich though. 'Professional researchers' have no excuse.

I would doubt any of those prizes will be taken by a medium/psychic as I still am to see one which really does impress me. Some really nice ones, doesn't mean they are what they say they are.

maccored

what is a 'professional researcher'?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Just a quick update guys

It's been 3 eventful months! Every week it seems that something major breaks or goes wrong. We have had 2 pipes burst, a brand new washing machine break, terrible problems with the electrical circuits and serious mould spontaneously popping up all over the place. Of course, all this is explainable- it's a very old house in a state of disrepair.

Some more inexplicable stuff has happened too-

Doors literally opening and then closing themselves with no draught in sight.

Doors opening fine one minute and then sticking hard in the door frame the next. We had a carpenter come in who reckoned that they had warped because of the weather, he shaved them all down and they were fine for a whole day before sticking spontaneously again.

Televisions switching themselves off for no reason. Took the batteries out of the remote and the problem persisted.

Electrical appliances literally plugging themselves out. The plugs come out of the wall themselves and the plugs also come out of the back of the appliances themselves.

Taps turn themselves on. There may be some explanation for this but I can't find any.

I saw a dark figure move across the hall one day. There was no light source around that could have caused it. Didn't say anything to himself cos I didn't want to freak him out but a few days later he told me he had seen the same thing only the figure appeared clearer to him. He has seen it once again since.

There are constant sounds of somebody moving around in all parts of the house. Footsteps can be heard upstairs when we are both downstairs. There are no mice/birds etc. About 10 minutes ago I heard a sound like a load of dishes being put into the sink but when I went up to check, there was nothing there.

Twice, my boyfriend opened the cupboard and the big bottle of salt came flying out past his head and landed on the floor 3ft across the room. I always keep it at the very back of the press behind everything else.

Whenever anybody has come to fix anything that has broken in the house, they have had tools and equipment suddenly break on them. Every time. The boyfriend went drilling a hole to put up a tv bracket and his brand new drillbit burnt out in about 20 seconds.

I suppose you guys will be able to explain some of the stuff that I can't In any case, I'm moving out next week because of the damp/mould problems we have been having. I wouldn't mind staying, if it weren't for the damp but the boyfriend is delighted to be getting out