I occasionally see Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures at the supermarket. The first time I saw him I didn't immediately recognize him as I was staring (blush blush) at his tatts and ripped arms (and, yes, in the silly too-tight T-shirt). Next time I see him I'm going to tell him about my parents' haunted house where I had a really eerie experience this last trip up to visit....
Actually, it was the third instance for me. The house is a converted barn and has been in the family for a hundred years. First occupied by my grandparents, it is where my mother grew up and when my grandparents died, she and Dad raised us kids there. She recently fell and was in the hospital for observation, so I encamped there to take care of details....paperwork, maintenance, etc. Normally I sleep in the back room which is located above the kitchen.
One night I was reading in that room when I very distinctly heard the cast iron chairs of the breakfast nook dining set being moved about the floor as if some one were getting up from the table, pushing the chair out to stand up and then pushing it back in.
On a couple of occasions at night I've heard the light switches being flicked. They're heavy metal brass things (not the like the plastic wallplates nowadays) with a very one-of-a-kind distinct sound of metal clicking and locking when they are flipped on or off.
This last trip up when Mom was in the hospital I decided to enjoy the creature comforts of the master suite...as in it is the only room with cable TV. I set up my computer on the desk for some work and when I was done I unplugged it and made sure that the extension cord that had all the desk electronics (answering machine, portable phone station, Life Alert) was securely plugged into the wall. At 3:03 a.m. on 10/13 I was awakend by all sorts of chaos at the in-suite desk. The answering machine was beeping and the portable phone was chirping. I unhooked myself from my CPAP (so, no, I wasn't sleepwalking) and went over to the desk and looked under.... The plug in the socket was nearly pulled out, dangling at an odd angle, and the electronics on the desk were reacting to the unstable electrical connection. Now, logic tells me that it wouldn't take over five hours for a plug to slip out of a socket due to gravity (if that's even possible). Logic also tells me that if the plug was in that condition when I went to bed, the chaos and noise would've happened almost instantaneously. I wasn't frightened, just annoyed as I do not like to have my slumber interrupted and I hadn't been sleeping well anyway. I didn't really think too much about it until I got a phone call the next morning from the Life Alert people who had gotten a signal from the unit the night before of perhaps a low battery. I then mentioned this to my sister and relayed to her my experiences and she postulated that maybe that was why Mom's companion dog of about a year was sooo freaked out being in the house. (Sis is taking care of Mom's dog who, with a change of scenery, has gone from being shy, timid and shaky to a jump-in-your-face happy tail-wagger.)
So who is it? Well, unless somebody was murdered in the barn before reconstruction, I'd hazard to say it was either Mom's folks or my dad...and I would probably bet on the latter as this stuff started happening after he died and Dad was usually the last one up the stairs at night to flip the light switches on the landing off. He probably didn't like the fact that Mom wasn't there and somebody else was sleeping in her bed.
Here's a question for you: I know that when selling the house you have to do a disclosure, i.e., physical defects in the house and if there had been any murders there, etc. Do you need to disclose paranormal activity? I am the only one who has stayed in the house who has noticed any of this, so it either comes off as I'm crazy or something weird is going on.
Actually, it was the third instance for me. The house is a converted barn and has been in the family for a hundred years. First occupied by my grandparents, it is where my mother grew up and when my grandparents died, she and Dad raised us kids there. She recently fell and was in the hospital for observation, so I encamped there to take care of details....paperwork, maintenance, etc. Normally I sleep in the back room which is located above the kitchen.
One night I was reading in that room when I very distinctly heard the cast iron chairs of the breakfast nook dining set being moved about the floor as if some one were getting up from the table, pushing the chair out to stand up and then pushing it back in.
On a couple of occasions at night I've heard the light switches being flicked. They're heavy metal brass things (not the like the plastic wallplates nowadays) with a very one-of-a-kind distinct sound of metal clicking and locking when they are flipped on or off.
This last trip up when Mom was in the hospital I decided to enjoy the creature comforts of the master suite...as in it is the only room with cable TV. I set up my computer on the desk for some work and when I was done I unplugged it and made sure that the extension cord that had all the desk electronics (answering machine, portable phone station, Life Alert) was securely plugged into the wall. At 3:03 a.m. on 10/13 I was awakend by all sorts of chaos at the in-suite desk. The answering machine was beeping and the portable phone was chirping. I unhooked myself from my CPAP (so, no, I wasn't sleepwalking) and went over to the desk and looked under.... The plug in the socket was nearly pulled out, dangling at an odd angle, and the electronics on the desk were reacting to the unstable electrical connection. Now, logic tells me that it wouldn't take over five hours for a plug to slip out of a socket due to gravity (if that's even possible). Logic also tells me that if the plug was in that condition when I went to bed, the chaos and noise would've happened almost instantaneously. I wasn't frightened, just annoyed as I do not like to have my slumber interrupted and I hadn't been sleeping well anyway. I didn't really think too much about it until I got a phone call the next morning from the Life Alert people who had gotten a signal from the unit the night before of perhaps a low battery. I then mentioned this to my sister and relayed to her my experiences and she postulated that maybe that was why Mom's companion dog of about a year was sooo freaked out being in the house. (Sis is taking care of Mom's dog who, with a change of scenery, has gone from being shy, timid and shaky to a jump-in-your-face happy tail-wagger.)
So who is it? Well, unless somebody was murdered in the barn before reconstruction, I'd hazard to say it was either Mom's folks or my dad...and I would probably bet on the latter as this stuff started happening after he died and Dad was usually the last one up the stairs at night to flip the light switches on the landing off. He probably didn't like the fact that Mom wasn't there and somebody else was sleeping in her bed.
Here's a question for you: I know that when selling the house you have to do a disclosure, i.e., physical defects in the house and if there had been any murders there, etc. Do you need to disclose paranormal activity? I am the only one who has stayed in the house who has noticed any of this, so it either comes off as I'm crazy or something weird is going on.