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Original poster

Can a new build be haunted? (Warning woo related thread, if you don’t like it please don’t post)

84 replies

givemecoffeenow · 28/04/2023 21:35

So genuine question. I live in a new build house. No one else has lived in the house before, no one’s died in it.

We have motion sensor activated lights in the hallway upstairs and on stairs. A few times now I will notice a light coming from upstairs and thinking I have left a light on go up to discover the motion sensor lights has been activated in one end of the hallway (I have swapped the lights around to see if they are faulty and it’s always the same area they come on in the hallway)

I don’t have any pets (well none that walk around the house freely) and have been in the house alone when this has happened. It also seems to happen late at night. Like between midnight and 3am.

So that’s the only physical evidence I have. The other things I experience in the house are hearing noises, sounds like someone walking in the house (I usually put it down to neighbours) and generally just feeling uncomfortable on the landing, sort of feeling as though I’m being watched and a general heavy sort of feeling in that space (I’m not someone who scares easy).

Anyone else experience anything like that in a new build?

(Again I know this is a woo thread, If you don’t believe please don’t be rude to others that do or me)

OP posts:
Escapefromhell · 28/04/2023 22:43

Your house is most likely built on and old Indian burial ground.

anunlikelyseahorse · 28/04/2023 22:51

A change in temperature can cause the sensor to activate, I assume you dont have heating through the night, or at least only on low? So that could account for the light being activated in the early hours. And whatever you do, don't read 'The Resident' by David Jackson!

Original poster
givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 01:32

I will order some sage and burn it in the house, maybe that will help. I might speak to the neighbour if I see him tomorrow, maybe he knows what the land used to be before or maybe they experience things too? … Hopefully he won’t think I’m a weirdo 🤞🏻

Hopefully it’s not a spider I hate them, think I would rather a ghost 🤣

And Im sure it’s not rodents, there would be signs like droppings and chewing… I keep the house pretty clean so I’m sure I would notice anything like that…

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Spooky & paranormal
AlphabetSue · 29/04/2023 01:41

BeesTreesSeas · 28/04/2023 22:23

Just an alternative and not very woo explanation…could it be a spider running over the sensor? The reason I ask is that we have motion sensor lights too and this kept happening one night. I got up to look (also spooked!) and saw it running across the sensor.

This happens to us all the time, the ones where we have cameras record them.

NotMeSecretFormular · 29/04/2023 01:49

A guy hung himself on the scaffolding of the new build estate we moved into when I was 14. I figured that people and animals had probably died at least nearby on the grounds plenty of times going back through time and wasn't bothered. Now living in a house built in the 50s. I doubt anyone's not died near or in here at some point, probably due to the fucking black mould Grin

NotMeSecretFormular · 29/04/2023 01:51

Also, my house is full of rodents. Pets though. 8 mice and 4 rats. Also 2 ferrets. Not squeamish 😂

Original poster
givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 02:01

NotMeSecretFormular · 29/04/2023 01:51

Also, my house is full of rodents. Pets though. 8 mice and 4 rats. Also 2 ferrets. Not squeamish 😂

Well I have a hamster if that counts 🤣

Definitely not her though, she has an alibi and was in her enclosure at the times it’s happened…

@NotMeSecretFormular aww no that’a terrible in regards to the man who hung himself… Hopefully nothing that bad has happened here. I think sometimes when a bad thing like that happens it can affect the feel of a place for sure.

OP posts:
sashh · 29/04/2023 02:22

One house we lived in when I was a child had something weird about it, mainly on the staircase.

No idea what but I did not like using the hall / stairs.

It was only years later that I found out my parents had felt something too, and my dad is not in the least 'woo'.

I do know my parents had to give permission to move a footpath that had been through where the house would be built.

Original poster
givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 02:40

sashh · 29/04/2023 02:22

One house we lived in when I was a child had something weird about it, mainly on the staircase.

No idea what but I did not like using the hall / stairs.

It was only years later that I found out my parents had felt something too, and my dad is not in the least 'woo'.

I do know my parents had to give permission to move a footpath that had been through where the house would be built.

Yes that’s exactly it in this house too, it’s just the hallway and then slightly on the stairs that feels wierd. Everywhere else in the house feels completely normal. It’s so strange how a certain part of the house can have a completely different feeling to it, right?🤔

The curious part of me wants to set up a camera on that spot the lights come on. But then I’m worried what I would see. If I catch something on camera it might freak me out even more and then I would have to move 🙈

OP posts:
vodkaredbullgirl · 29/04/2023 02:47

A friend of mine moved into a new build, which was on the site of an old workhouse. It had been turned into a small hospital, which many years later was demolished. She had a garage near her house that she owned. She told me that at night it was creepy and no animals would go near the garage. Then I told her that where her garage was, it had been the site of the mortuary. She moved few years later.

Original poster
givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 02:52

vodkaredbullgirl · 29/04/2023 02:47

A friend of mine moved into a new build, which was on the site of an old workhouse. It had been turned into a small hospital, which many years later was demolished. She had a garage near her house that she owned. She told me that at night it was creepy and no animals would go near the garage. Then I told her that where her garage was, it had been the site of the mortuary. She moved few years later.

That’s very eerie.

Theres a really old building on the outskirts of the town where I live. I got a creepy feeling from it as we drove by one day and asked DP what the building was. It used to be a mental hospital but has since been converted into luxury apartments.

I just thought to myself, Gawd imagine living there!? 😫

I can only imagine the creepy stuff that happens in those flats lol.

OP posts:
vodkaredbullgirl · 29/04/2023 03:00

givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 02:52

That’s very eerie.

Theres a really old building on the outskirts of the town where I live. I got a creepy feeling from it as we drove by one day and asked DP what the building was. It used to be a mental hospital but has since been converted into luxury apartments.

I just thought to myself, Gawd imagine living there!? 😫

I can only imagine the creepy stuff that happens in those flats lol.

Show quote history

The hospital was creepy enough, when I worked there. Especially when I worked a night shift, scared the shit out of me one night. Was up in the staff room having my break, must have nodded off. Someone can in the room and told me I need to go back to work. When I went back everyone was surprised I was back down again. I said someone came in and told me I needed to be back, they all said no one had been up to tell me. Turns out that there was an old matron who walked the wards at night, she had passed away many years before.

Ogara79 · 29/04/2023 03:28

I don't really believe in ghosts. But I lived in some relatively new build flats for 6 months. I kept smelling a really horrible dirty smell but my chap couldn't. It kept happening so I had all the guttering and drains checked cus we thought it could be a dead rat. Nothing was found. Then someone said that it could be a ghost. The smell only appeared to me and it would come into the room and then disappear like there hadn't been any smell, nothing lingering. I ended up having to talk to it when I was on my own so it didn't freak me out! Anyhew, my dad already knew it was previously a factory but then he did a search and found that there was a monastery there before......Still don't believe in ghosts but I can't explain what else it was

applewines · 29/04/2023 03:39

Yes, it depends what it was built upon. In one new build estate the ghosts had originated from an improperly relocated cemetery beneath the neighbourhood.

🙂

CorsicaDreaming · 29/04/2023 04:35

BeesTreesSeas · 28/04/2023 22:23

Just an alternative and not very woo explanation…could it be a spider running over the sensor? The reason I ask is that we have motion sensor lights too and this kept happening one night. I got up to look (also spooked!) and saw it running across the sensor.

My money would be on this one!

Julietand · 29/04/2023 05:13

Of course a new build can be haunted! Loads of the most famous haunted places are not haunted because of the previous residents of the physical house, but rather the land that the house was built on. I love paranormal investigations and I watched one recently where a house was build on an area where an execution site had previously been, another where there had been a battlefield, another where there were old graves under the land. Someone could have been killed on the land, or just suffered there. I’d recommend putting a camera in the area where you think the action is happening first and see if you can capture anything.

CurlewKate · 29/04/2023 05:27

New houses settle and creak. That's why they do-and that's what's going on here.

CurlewKate · 29/04/2023 05:28

Oh, and check that your carbon monoxide monitors are working properly.

useitorlose · 29/04/2023 05:34

Having read a news article this week about someone in south London who had moved into a house and builders found skeletal human remains in the garden, I think anything's possible.

loislovesstewie · 29/04/2023 06:13

BTW, C of E priests can do blessings and exorcisms , not just RC ones. There is quite a faff until you get to the exorcism stage, but they will bless houses. And to be pedantic to other posters,a person who has killed themselves is hanged ,not hung. Pictures are hung, people are hanged as in execution etc.

sleepsuit · 29/04/2023 06:28

givemecoffeenow · 29/04/2023 02:52

That’s very eerie.

Theres a really old building on the outskirts of the town where I live. I got a creepy feeling from it as we drove by one day and asked DP what the building was. It used to be a mental hospital but has since been converted into luxury apartments.

I just thought to myself, Gawd imagine living there!? 😫

I can only imagine the creepy stuff that happens in those flats lol.

Show quote history

You're not talking about Stone House Hospital are you? A very, very eerie building. How anyone can live in there I don't know!

TheShade · 29/04/2023 06:59

There’s something called sick building syndrome - which I believe can be related to poor airflow/materials/chemicals/, can make you feel heavy/not right in certain spaces.
Also low level carbon monoxide poisoning. Do you have a alarm for that?

Could the motion sensor be activated by an open window/wind moving a open door?

I would basically rule out all the logical reasons first cos I’m a sceptic (that enjoys ghost stories)!

Brendabigbaps · 29/04/2023 07:01

Have you ever seen the film Poltergist!

AspidistraFlying · 29/04/2023 07:26

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/04/2023 22:31

New houses are often a bit crappily built and shake when people move around. They also have deficiencies, including electrical.

I'd be far more inclined to call a sparky than a priest.

This. Or the spider activating the sensor.

Daffodilsandtuplips · 29/04/2023 08:04

I concur with suggestions of getting a sparky to check the electrics. Our house was a new build, the day we moved in I turned the hall light on and the lounge light came on. It was a Friday, the site manager went through the usual checks with us as required on handovers of new builds, it was daylight so we had no reason to turn the lights until later. By this time the builders had gone home for the weekend. No weekend work going on, so we had to figure out which light switch corresponded to which light fitting. DH (an actual sparky) took the cover off the light switches and light fittings in the hall and the lounge found it was wired in a loop (or something) the hall light shouldn’t have had the loop circuit, it should have been a straight connection to the hall light fitting. The loop circuit should been on the switch at the bottom of the stairs and the upstairs landing to enable the landing and stair lights to be switched on or off from upstairs or downstairs. DH was furious, he went round with his test meter checking every electrical fitting before letting us touch them. That was top of the snagging list.