Is there a ghost in my house?

Hello all,

I strongly believe there is a ghost present in my house, I would really like your opinions etc. on the subject.

In the month of January this year, my friend came to my house for the first time and said he sensed somebody being in the house, other than him and myself. I didn't really believe him at first, but I was willing to give him a chance to prove it.

He began talking to the person for a while (asking him to show himself etc.), we then decided we should see if this person could move something in the house. I placed an un-lit cigarette in an ashtray, we then began asking the person who was apparantly present to move the cigarette in some way. After about one minute of asking, the cigarette floated about an inch in the air and then was put back in the ashtray, by this time my heart was racing with disbelief and shock. He then asked the ghost to move it again, the cigarette then wobbled and fell onto the floor... (Its times like these when I really wish I had a camcorder! )

I was pretty much convinced that somebody was present in my house and wanted to find out more. A few days later, I took some pictures of the rooms in my house to see if any thing unusual showed up. I took countless pictures and the pictures of the stairs and upstairs seemed to show very unusual stuff.


I'm not too sure if the face was something to do with the the camera flash, but it did seem abit odd. Notice the orb, too.


There is another face coming through the door, this, too, could be light but the face seems a different shade than the reflected light above it. It also appears to be coming through the door and facing towards the camera, with the farside of the face appearing to be fully out of the door.


Here is a close-up of the face.





Seven orbs on my staircase..

Eight months later, odd things are still happening in my house, especially in the kitchen. The computer I am on is in the dining room, there are no walls between the kitchen area and dining room. During the night, always between 12am and 3am, the kettle would turn on by itself, tapping on the kitchen surfaces would be heard, the curtains behind me would blow outwards, as if somebody pulled them outwards (the window is shut and there are no gaps for a breeze to blow through). Every now and then when I look in the kitchen area, I would briefly see a figure standing there but soon disappear. Just now, I saw a figure move very fast across the kitchen.

One time, I was heading towards the stairs and I saw what looked like a pair of legs walking down them and a hand on the banister, sliding downwards.

It may sound as if I have already come to the conclusion that there is a person other than me, my mum and sister in the house. But I would like to know if anybody has any reasonable explanations for all this? Also, if you have any suggestions on how to get any more evidence on the presence of this person I will do so, witthin reason ofcourse.

Thanks for reading.

If you are pretty sure that their is an un human entity in your house this is what i would do. I would light a candle and call upon it and ask it what it wants. Also it sounds like it is a fairly friendly spirit so I would be negative towards it our you could be in for some trouble. If you are a religious person I would have someone from you place of faith come out and bless your home.

Thanks for the reply.

I should be negative to the person, even though it sounds friendly? I'm not sure I understand what that would do, besides make it angry?

Also, I'm not religious, no. I kind of want to know more about this person though, maybe it needs help in getting to the place it's meant to be?

But I would like to know if anybody has any reasonable explanations for all this?

Forgive me, but is it not possible that at least some of the activities you are describing may be attributed to suggestibility? After all, you describe the incidents starting after your friend suggested that there may be a presence in your house. Were you aware of any of these things before he said anything? Have your family members noticed anything or does it just seem to be you? Not that I do not believe you, but you asked for any other reasonable explanations and this seems the most likely to me.

Discounting this however, I would do nothing, unless you feel uncomfortable. If there is one thing that many years of looking into haunted houses and ghosts has revealed to me, it is the impotency of ghosts to cause any lasting harm. Lifting cigarettes? Tapping? These things are very minor and do not seem to be overtly hostile. You say yourself that it sounds friendly so I would live and let live.

Might I suggest setting up a camera or camcorder in a place where you have noticed strange phenomena - the stairs, for example. I realise you said you do not have a camcorder - can you borrow one from a friend? However, if you are convinced that these incidents are not the result of suggestibility and if you feel no malice from this entity, then I would say you have no problem.

Before my friend mentioned anything, I did often notice that some places of the house were colder than others during certain moments. I do remember one thing very well though, and that was I was upstairs playing my guitar and I felt something breathe down my neck and pull at my hair. I didn't really think much of it back then, however.

Anyway, my friend has a camcorder, I will borrow it and set it up infront of the stairs. Is it best to have the lights off or on whilst filming?

If anything interesting pops up, i'll let you know.

I did ask my mum if she noticed anything, but she looked very uncomfortable with me asking her and she said to me, "I don't want to know." Maybe she knew something was in the house but she didn't want reminding of it or something...

Is it best to have the lights off or on whilst filming?

I honestly think that it doesn't matter, although many people I have spoken to within the parapsychology field argue that night-time is better than day when examining hauntings. I have heard numerous explanations for this ranging from the esoteric ("Night and day are reversed in the spirit world and they find it easier to cross over") to the more scientific ("Certain energy waves travel more easily at night or there is less interference in the enregy wavelengths that constitute the ghost"). So I would set it up at night with the lights off if you have night-vision mode on the camcorder. If not, put it in one of the areas where you felt the cold spots.

If you find anything, let us know.

Okay, thank you.

Yeh, i'll let you know.

Xeroxed... quite an interesting story, and to me your pics seem truly authentic. My cousins house has many strange happening similar to what you are experiencing. After one encounter (the whole story in which I'll not bother with right now) my cousin has said that someone her aunt worked with said to leave a written note in the area of the house that has the most activity. I was about 15 at the time and figured we should give that a shot... I wrote a note to whomever/whatever. I told them my name, said that what they had done to me earlier that evening was kinda cool.. yut freaky. Asked if it had a name, and some other random things. I then put the letter face up in the center of the floor of a spare bedroom they had ( you would hear the sound of breaking glass in this room) placed a pen on top of the note, and then my cousin and I did some running in town for a while. The doors were all locked and we were gone for approximately an hour. When we got back and I opened the bedroom door, the letter was turned over to the backside, the pen was gone , and written in what seems to be lipstick were the words.. "Got U!" I was left speechless and to this day I won't stay over at my cousins house. Anyway though... perhaps you can try to leave a note somewhere as well, and if you're lucky you'll get a lot more feedback than I received.

Ugh, I'm sorry but those aren't orbs! I'm not gonna tell you you don't have a ghost in your house, but I took a photos class in high-school, and those are just spots of the photo paper that got over exposed. Christ, they're just balls of light!

You should not ask a ghost to show itself because if you do you invite them to have control over you. That was some advice i got of the TAPS webitse (Trans Atlantic Paranormal Socity).
However this is usually only a bad idea with hostile spirits particulary demons. Demons are much rarer than ghosts but its thought that they can posess a ghost and the only reason is to get to the living.
So messing about might not be such a good idea, maybe you could cause the ghost and yourself harm.

On the other hand who knows? But bet it became more active when you asked it to show itself and thats not a good sighn.
Great post, and i would'nt say those pictures where just defects. How did you do them? Digital camera or film?

Liberal - The pictures were all taken with a digital camera.

Evilgenyus - Thank you for the suggestion, I will do that!

Herman - I thought they were also just light too but I dunno... there's alot of weird stuff that happens on those stairs.

Also, the pictures are definately authentic, I hate hoaxes as much as the next person, and I have nothing to gain from those pictures so I have no reason to fake them.

I live in an old house in the south of England, approx 900 years old in fact. Seriously, when you live somewhere like that you can't help but feel like a guest in your own home - A mere blip in its history.

Anyway... we have a priest's hole (where the Catholic priests hid in the walls during the reformation etc.) and there is some serious energy and vibe that you get around that area. Really cold and fearful kinda feeling, but not malevolent.

Some of the things you mention, such as the kettle boiling and curtains billowing happen ALL THE TIME here. Its not malevolent, but persistent.

The only entity we have actually seen is a cat. Sometimes you can feel it brush past your legs but you won't see a thing, other times you can follow it to a dead end and it'll just vanish - not in front of your eyes, but you'll turn a corner and it'll be gone.

If you want some evidence I think that your best bet, and something that can yield rather scary results, is to leave the a 35mm camera in a pitch black room with the shutter fully open, overnight. I've seen some crazy results taken from a family friends house - faces, streaks and orbs etc. Really cool, but a little unsettling!

Try it and tell us what you find! In fact everybody should give it a go...

Woah, that sounds weird, man.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll be sure to do that.

Sounds like there could be something there, but I do doubt it. From what I've seen about orbs...the ones in your pic are probably just dust reflected or spots on the lens. The things on the door is probably a reflection also, but it does seem to be a "mist" of some sort. Random photography of "haunted" areas can be useful. Just don't fall into Matrixing if something shows up.

If you have a camcorder I would set it up to view the room, hallway, or just general area where stuff happens to record a few nights (with a night view feature if it has it). I believe the night is best do to this because its quiet and most things have settled down and won't cause problems.

Also if you have a sound recorder put it in a few places over the course of a few nights recording and ask questions like "Is there a presence in this room with me(/us if there is more then one person with you)?" Don't use the word spirit/ghost due to some may not know that they are dead. These are called residual hauntings.

And I say best of luck to you if you futher investigate this.

And Liberal its "The Atlantic Paranormal Society" not "Trans Atlantic Paranormal Society".

[edit on 8/8/2005 by hatchedcross]

Here are some ways to tell:1)The house may have certain incense or smell that comes during certain times of the day or night.
2)You may have cold chills or pains in your body from a ghost passing through you.You all of a sudden have headache,backaches,etc..
3)Some spirits will knock things over or move things that (symbolise )something.Or they will make tapping sounds or clicking sounds.Lights will flicker when coming into a room.They can manipulate water along with any other element, fire,air,etc.
4)Close your eyes and you can see a fleeting image go by you.Meaning something has corpereal essence and blocks out the light.
5)females tend to stick to more feminine smells and males seem to more masculine smells.
6)If you can silence your mind you might be able to hear them "speaking" to you.
7)Some will shake the bed when you are asleep to wake you up.You might even see an impression in the bed were one is laying.I have had one slap me with my own hand across my face.Not hard just enough to wake you up.

[edit on 10-8-2005 by menguard]

[edit on 10-8-2005 by menguard]

Originally posted by menguard
3)Some spirits will knock things over or move things that (symbolise )something.Or they will make tapping sounds or clicking sounds.Lights will flicker when coming into a room.They can manipulate water along with any other element, fire,air,etc.

I've heard of ghosts rapping on things, moving things, knocking things over, and making lights flicker, but I've never heard of them controling elements. Where did you hear that at?

4)Close your eyes and you can see a fleeting image go by you.Meaning something has corpereal essence and blocks out the light.

If you close your eyes, are you not already blocking the light out? I've never heard of this either, could you tell me where you found this out also?

6)If you can silence your mind you might be able to hear them "speaking" to you.

I wouldn't rely on this. You might think you've silenced your mind, but you might still hear what you want to hear.

The rest of your advice I agree with, and have heard numerous people, including family, tell me about things like that happening to them.

I am use to spiritual contact, but yes they have their ways of manipulating things in our enviroment.

Try closing your eyes and wave your hand by your face and tell me what you see.This will help you understand, why it is so easy for them to go by us when our eyes are focused on them.I found this on my own behalf.

You will know when your voice is silenced, the world around you will sound and look different.Not always, but usually dream like.Everything wavers and pulsates, and no this isn't a good trip taking place.When our eyes are (unclouded) we will see things as they truly are.If we were to observe things without jugdement our world takes a whole different panoramic view of reality.

[edit on 12-8-2005 by menguard]

Install a motion sensor...see if it goes off.

Yes there is, and she wants you to put the toilet seat down after going to the bathroom!

i really do think that there is a ghost present in your house but be careful......because the paranormal are very clever. if you actually SEE a ghost it might try to trick you( it once happened to me) and later on if the ghost trys to hurt you in some way then that is definetly a demon, i had the same experience. Wish you the best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!