Ghost Thread (Open Thread for Halloween)

A unique Open Thread for Halloween.

My fiancee and I moved into our current residence in April. Spacious, private, it's right up our alley at least until we can get an apartment. Soon after moving in I began to notice some strange things. In the living room, I would turn off the light and TV when going to bed. An hour later, they would be back on. Footsteps around 3am. Cold spots during the heat of summer. Odd things, but I tried not to give them much thought.

About a month in, my far better half started complaining she was being "woken up" by something in the night that would poke her arm. I joked it was probably me, until one night I couldn't sleep and found myself watching TV in the living room. Erinn started tossing and turning, then came into the room telling me she didn't appreciate me trying to wake her up. I told her I would turn the TV down, but she insisted "you know what I mean, poking me like that. Don't act like you've been in here the whole time."

I have spent some free time in the past year serving as a skeptic for a local paranormal group. I came to their investigations with the approach that everything has a rational explanation, and barring a few odds and ends, most of the "activity" being reported did. So now, I had the awkward situation of having this happen in my own house.

Curious, we decided to run the "flashlight test" in the bedroom. For those unfamiliar, you remove the front part of a flashlight away from the battery just enough that a "ghost" can still make the connection and turn the bulb on, but you can't turn it on yourself by bumping or blowing on it. Our question "is there someone here who wants us to know they are" was answered by both the flashlight on the floor, and our bedroom lighting, which simultaneously brightened then dimmed. Testing my initial reaction that it was just coincidence, we asked again, and again the flashlight and our room lighting brightened and dimmed.

Erinn asked more questions, and per the tedious yes/no responses we came to find out it was simply trying to get our attention, to acknowledge it was here in our house. The poking, the footsteps, and even audible name calling were all because of that. We eventually found out from our landlord that the previous owner had fallen in the kitchen downstairs and died from her injuries shortly thereafter, so perhaps that is who has been wandering in our room.

From time to time we hear the noises, but it has quieted down a lot since we had "talked" with whatever or whoever it is. We like the place too much to leave and it doesn't seem to mind us now that we have settled in. I suspect most "hauntings" run along these lines, as opposed to the Hollywood bed-rattling and full-body apparitions.

Have your own paranormal experience to share? Fire away, and Open Thread.

posted by CAC at 02:13 PM

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