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AIBU?

to think something supernatural is going on and want to move house? (Any rational explanations much appreciated!)

218 replies

GoldLetter · 30/03/2015 13:05

6 months ago DH and I bought a detached 4-bed Victorian Vicarage in isolated spot on edge of village, no other houses in sight, woods behind. This had always been our dream. House seemed beautiful and peaceful until we moved in.
Soon after we moved in I started feeling really uneasy when alone during day,as if being watched, but I put it down to house being so big and isolated until bizarre things started happening. In upstairs bathroom there's a trapdoor leading to attics, I've never been up there but one morning I noticed trapdoor was slightly ajar. When DH came home from work I asked him why he'd been up in attic, he said he hadn't been up since putting some boxes up there when we'd moved in months earlier. He was freaked out by the trapdoor being ajar in case we'd had a break-in but he checked attics, nothing amiss. No explanation, and we would have noticed if he'd left it ajar the first time as I used to take bath in there everyday.

A week later, we heard a bang, like explosion, from upstairs and found one of glass shower doors in same bathroom had shattered! Luckily it's safety glass but was all over floor. Its quite new and company who fitted it had no explanation, said it had never happened before. They replaced it but I'm now too scared to go in that bathroom in case it happens again. No window was open and there'd been no sudden change in temperature. Is there anything that causes this to happen?

Last month DH went away for a week and I was nervous about being in house alone at night, but I'm skeptical about supernatural and an Athiest, so I convinced myself I was being silly. The first night he was away, there was a power-cut at 11pm, which tripped all the burglar alarms! The second night I was on phone to friend and heard lots of banging and crashing in attics, like piles of books falling, it was so loud she heard it down phone and asked what the noise was! Was a nervous wreck until DH came back.

My female friends also find the house very creepy, they say they can't sleep and that its always really cold with strange atmosphere.

Other strange things include a long hallway leading to an (unused) porch with outside door that's always locked, there's something so creepy about it I can't bear to walk past hall at night and twice DH thought he heard knocking on the door in eve, shouted to the person to go round to other door, but no-one came and no-one was out there when he checked. We put security lights all around house and garden, but they constantly flicker on and off, DH says they're just oversensitive and get triggered by bats or the wind. He's quite chilled about it all and says it just feels spooky because its an old house, he likes it here and can't understand why Im so scared. He's going away for another work trip soon, I said i'd stay at my friends' and he thinks I'm being totally unreasonable and got angry. He thinks I'm joking when I say I want to move again.

AIBU? Im not usually an anxious person but I'm constantly on edge!

OP posts:
StillStayingClassySanDiego · 30/03/2015 13:11

Well I'm nervous by nature so I'd be upping sticks and moving if I lived there.

Sorry I know that isn't helpful ,someone will be along soon to give reasonable explanations for the things you've experienced.

Did you find a reason for the banging and crashing in the attic?

MonstrousPippin · 30/03/2015 13:11

Sorry if this is a pretty weak suggestion, but is there a hole in the roof or something which is letting the wind in, causing the trap door to perhaps blow open, things to blow over, maybe even blow through to the shower door which made it bang and shatter?

I bet you're freaked out though! Try to relax and go through the place with a fine toothed comb to find possible explanations e.g. animal droppings in the attic, things blowing against the back door etc. Do it in the daytime!!

Griffineater · 30/03/2015 13:13

I am the same as you. A sceptical atheist! But I would also be very freaked out by what you are describing. I think that you can get special people to come and visit your house and release any bad spirits I guess. Try the local yellow pages. Anything is worth a try surely as movng is quite a drastic solution. Even if you get a placebo effect, that's also fine. Did you get a good feel about the house when you viewed it?

Griffineater · 30/03/2015 13:14

I also wondered about a draft, missing roof tiles or hole etc as it is an old property

maliaki · 30/03/2015 13:17

What about having your friends over to stay? Seeing what they notice without telling them everything you've found? I think you do what you want, sounds creepy to me. Have you been in the attic? I'd be looking for reasons why like dodgy shelves up there.

My aunt believed strongly in spirits and she always used to tell me that if you ask them nicely to Leave they do. Couldn't hurt I guess?

MythicalChicken · 30/03/2015 13:17

Oh, how interesting your house sounds! I am a bit envious. But you know there's no such thing as ghosts, right? It probably is just the combination of wind and an old house.

Thebluedog · 30/03/2015 13:17

Old houses creak and groan a lot, lots of draughts make doors open and shut, movement in old houses isn't unusual which can cause glass to break etc. It can be quite disturbing if you're not used to it.

That said, if I didn't feel comfortable alone in my own home id up sticks and move.

maplebaconchips · 30/03/2015 13:18

I would be tempted to say "hello, we live here now, we dont mind you staying but you have to stop bothering us and breaking things", and seeing if it calmed down. Ild also be checking no one was living in my attic....

GoldLetter · 30/03/2015 13:18

Thanks for replies. DH has looked in attic several times, said there are no holes or signs of rats, just some boxes of junk left by previous owners but no sign of anything having fallen over or been disturbed. He thinks maybe a bird got in and thrashed around, but it sounded like something much bigger and heavier.

The trap-door is like a loft-hatch, has to be reached with a ladder and lifted up. Its heavy so unlikely to move unless lifted from attic-side or pushed open from inside house.

OP posts:
sparkysparkysparky · 30/03/2015 13:18

Monstrous is right. You are not familiar with the house and all its little quirks. Things get shifted in a breeze, contract in hot sunlight that kind of thing. Materials act in a way you do not expect.
You are clearly trying hard not to freak out. Donâ??t do analysis at night.
You are a rational person and just because the practical explanation is eluding you at the moment doesnâ??t mean there isn't one.

FenellaFellorick · 30/03/2015 13:20

I think that if you're on edge then every little bump or knock is going to spook you and become yet more 'evidence' that something spooky is happening. It's human nature. Probably the fact it's isolated, the fact there's a wood, the fact there are no neighbours nearby, etc, predisposed you to feel a certain way about it. Let's face it, it's the plot of about 9 10ths of spooky films Grin

The trapdoor, well, I've walked past things for yonks and then all of a sudden noticed something about them. Or maybe it slipped. Is it above your head? Maybe you just didn't notice. You can't know that you noticed or be certain that you would have noticed. Get a bolt on it or something.

The glass? Sometimes glass breaks. A tiny imperfection is all it takes. Have you ever read of so called unbreakable glass tables shattering for no reason? And the company always says gosh, that's never ever happened before.

You were nervous about being alone. You were already on 'high alert'. When you look for things you'll find them. The power cut was just a power cut. They happen. We live in a village and we've had 8 of the buggers this year so far.

If you heard a bang in the attic - chances are something banged in the attic! Maybe animals. Perhaps you've got a dicky roof. Maybe something fell over or banged against something somewhere and it echoed.

If the house feels cold - get some improved heating. Underfloor heating or something. If it feels dark, get lots of lamps and place them all over. Make it more homey. Get some nice smells going. Take a good look at the hallway and porch in particular. Make it lighter, brighter and nicer looking.

You say you are not an anxious person but you have got yourself into a right tizzy about this house. It's an old house. Things will bump, timbers make some right noises.

If you start to tell yourself there's something wrong with the house and it's haunted or something, you will see lots of evidence of that. If you tell yourself it's an old house and shit happens, you will see lots of evidence of that.

I am not criticising you. Not at all. I don't believe any of this haunting crap but I still won't come upstairs on my own in the dark because I am suddenly shit scared of the dark behind me Grin we are animals. We have thousands of years of evolution that programmed us to be scared of the dark and of noises in it. And we see things that aren't there because of that.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 30/03/2015 13:22

Good post Fenella, I like it.

Asheth · 30/03/2015 13:22

Birds or squirrels in the loft? Could be an animal at the back door. My grandad lived in an old isolated house and often heard knocks at the door which turned out to be deer! I've also seen sea gulls tapping at doors.

worserevived · 30/03/2015 13:22

The glass thing is likely to be a fitting problem. We had the same with a large roof panel of toughened glass - it just shattered without warning. In our case a tiny screw done up too tightly combined with slightly warping of the roof beam caused by moisture.

Was the house empty for a while before you bought it, or did the previous people keep it fairly cold? Old houses creak, beams warp and cause movement/cracking noises/piles of stuff to fall over when temperature changes, or moisture levels change. Water pipes also make some pretty impressive noises when there is an air lock.

The loft hatch thing happens here if a window or door is left open causing a gust of wind through the house. Very common, and definitely not super natural.

Our security lights are triggered by the steam from the boiler, foxes, cats, the dogs, other animals, and one of them by some ivy leaves that needs to be trimmed back.

Spooky feelings - no explanation, except maybe you are freaked out by the other things so on edge.

Random knocking - no idea. Sorry.

Old houses have their own character, nothing sinister, just a creaky structure, drafts, damp, and the like. You'll get used to it!

maliaki · 30/03/2015 13:22

Oh and sure you change your locks too. We were shocked when the previous tenant 'just popped in to pick up mail' one morning. People are weird.

FenellaFellorick · 30/03/2015 13:22

you deserve a ruddy medal for making your way to the end of it.

I swear it only looked half as long when I pressed post. Grin

paxtecum · 30/03/2015 13:24

Get in touch with your local Spiritualist Church.
Someone will come out and sort it out.

2boys1girl1dog · 30/03/2015 13:24

Boxes of junk left from previous owners!!?! ...whatever you don't dont look in the boxes!! That's the number one mistake people in movies always make.
Get your DH to grab the lot and take it to the tip ASAP Grin

MythicalChicken · 30/03/2015 13:25

Boxes of junk in the attic? Aren't you curious what's in them?

GoldLetter · 30/03/2015 13:26

Yes got a good feeling about house when viewed it, it felt peaceful and calm at time.
Good idea about having friends over and seeing if they can sense it too.

One other thing... I was lying in bed once (alone, not sleepy) and heard a strange faint high-pitched 'tinkling' sound behind the headboard, like the ringing of a very tiny bell. I turned round to see what it was, but the sound seemed to float past my face and across the room before fading away. Didn't see anything but had a very strange feeling... i wasn't scared that time just bewildered and in awe, as though i'd just witnessed something magical and unusual.
DH thought it was hilarious and insists I imagined it, but it seemed so real.

OP posts:
Griffineater · 30/03/2015 13:27

Great rational post Fenella

Battleshiphips · 30/03/2015 13:29

Have you looked in the boxes the previous owner left behind. Nothing helpful to add sorry just being nosey!

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SaucyJack · 30/03/2015 13:31

It's probably the ghost of a previous owners ex-wife who pretended she was mad and locked her in the attic to starve to death to hide the fact that he and his mistress murdered her children in a Satanic ritual. If you can find their bodies and give them a decent Christian burial then she will pass through to the afterlife and leave you in peace.

Or it might just be a loose tile.

Toooldtobearsed · 30/03/2015 13:31

We live in an old house and for a couple of years I thought we were sharing! I often heard footsteps, very light, but there, loud bangs and a horrible feeling of 'something not right'.
We checked and checked the attic, nothing.
One day, I opened the bathroom door and a bird flew out. To say I nearly wet myself would be an understatement!

Birds in the attic. They hide when you open the hatch. They come and go through gaps in the eaves. The little shits wear hob nail boots to runaround upstairs! One had managed , somehow, to get into the bathroom via a gap behind a vanity unit.

Worth a check - when we realised what the cause was, the bird shit on the side ofthe house made sense Blush

Honsandrevels · 30/03/2015 13:32

Great post from Fenella. Try to make the place lighter, brighter and warmer.. Put a lamp in the hall, maybe a runner, a few pictures.
The noise in the attic could be squirrels. My in laws had them in their roof space and they were v noisy. Also a friend's roof hatch blew open during not v strong winds breaking the bolt!

I don't believe in ghosts at all but still feel the hairs standing up on my back when going into the cellar at night! Try not to let it ruin the house for you. Maybe the lighter evenings and familiarity with the house sounds might put you more at ease.

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