I think I’m going crazy! Spooky things in house.

[Bobbybear10]

So this might be a long one and my phone hates me so there may be a fair few typos! Apologies in advance.

It’s also a bit of a possible spooky post so best not to read if you have delicate sensibilities.

Within the last 8/9 months DH and I have moved into a new house.
It’s a lovely place, we are really happy with it. It is very old in places and has a nice warm feel most of the time.
Neighbours close-ish but nobody right next door iyswim.

Now for the point of my post.
I am really quite concerned either I am going crazy or DH is trying to make me feel like I’m going crazy, honestly I am not saying this in a jokey way I am deadly serious.

The first couple of months in the house were quiet and busy! But it all felt ‘right’ like the house clicked and was warm and welcoming.

The last few months some strange things have started.
I want to prefix this post with I don’t believe in ghosts or similar. I have had a few close loved ones die and if there was such a thing they would’ve been the first to make contact, as they haven’t I don’t believe there is an ‘afterlife’ as such.

It started with some odd noises. One time we were sat in the living room and a noise louder than a knock but quieter than a bang went off twice upstairs. We just ignored it thinking, old house, floorboards settling etc. These noises would probably average 4 times a night.

After a week or so of the noises upstairs when we were downstairs we started to hear noises in the kitchen which is down the hallway and to the left of the living room. Again they were quite loud clicking/thudding noises but when we checked nothing had moved or fallen and we just couldn’t see where the noise could’ve come from.

I started to get an odd sensation of someone behind me most of the time but put this down to being a bit creeped out by the noises.

Occasionally we would hear creaking on the stairs when we were in bed. This wasn’t like footsteps literally just a creak. The bathroom door would also be open in the morning when we had closed it and not used it during the night.

One night the TV turned itself off.

The volume on our tv’s sound bar turned itself up and the remote was right in front of us. It turned down again when we used the remote and hasn’t done the same thing again.

The Dog will occasionally act strange and if I’m home alone will start to randomly run to another room and bark like somebody is there. TBH I find this the most frightening as he is a very good guard dog but absolutely soft as shit if someone was actually in the house. I also leave all the doors locked when I’m inside alone.

The most frightening thing that happened two nights ago, we were walking from the garden back into the house and I looked at the dining room. The light was shining through the door as we had left the hall and living room lights on.
In the dining room we have two windows that face each other, one side faces the garden the back other faces the front garden.

My DH was slightly behind my shoulder and we were on a path about 15ft from the window. I was looking through the window and saw a person walk from one corner of the room past the window and out the internal door. I asked DH if he had seen someone and he said no. He said he was looking though the window too and saw nothing. I went in with him to see if someone had come up the path or broken in but no one was there. The dog was with us but didn’t bark at any point.
I got DH to come back outside and stand where we were in case it was his reflection. We walked up and down the path twice checking.
I got him to go inside and walk past the window as the ‘figure’ had. As he did I could vaguely make out the colour of his clothes but the figure I saw was completely black.
It was a fully formed figure and was the size and shape of a regular person.

I honestly felt like I was going mad! It didn’t feel particularly cold or unfriendly in the house but I was a bit uncomfortable.

Last night I heard a strange noise like metal crashing together in the garden when we were in bed. It was fairly loud but DH said he heard nothing.

Today three different light bulbs have blown when I have gone to turn them on. One a side lamp that was ours and two ceiling lights.

I got DH to check the attic hatches as well as the actual attics and there is nothing there.

We have two carbon monoxide detectors and both are working fine.

DH has started to get angry when I talk to him about all this. I’m not sure if he is scared and being defensive or just thinks I’m an idiot.

I still don’t know who the person was and where they are now. Strange noises are still happening.

I don’t know if I am seeing things and should see a DR. I’m honestly questioning my sanity. I saw a person it was no reflection. I do believe what I saw that if it wasn’t an actual person which obviously it can’t have been then I really do wonder if I need to be sectioned.

I feel quite upset and worried, although it does feel better to write this all out.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Do you think I might be going mad?

All houses creak and make funny noises. Wood expands and contracts with temperature changes, the pipes for heating and plumbing can make clunking banging noises. The "person"will have been a trick of the light and your mind simply translated it as that. You've become sensitised to the noises and your mind is going someplace it shouldn't and you're scaring yourself.

What concerns me most though is why would you think your husband is trying to drive you crazy?

Go onto a website called Your Ghost Stories. Search for a poster called Rook Dygin. He has a protection and cleansing ritual that I have used in similar circumstances. It works.

Oh and get the electrics checked out, you could have too strong a current going through.

I don’t think you are going mad. I think mental illness requiring you to be sectioned would manifest in a very different way.
I also don’t believe in ghosts etc but it does sound a bit spooky. Do you think your DH is a bit spooked out hence his reluctance to discuss it?
Are all windows and doors lockable and secure? Any chance previous owners could still have keys?? Change the locks? Call a priest in?
I honestly don’t know what I’d do. I too would feel upset and a bit scared.

I’m also concerned that you believe your husband might be behind these happenings. Can you tell us more about your relationship?

A friend of mine "cleans" houses. Where about are you?

Good point about the electrics too.

Any idea how old the wiring is? I would have it checked out as a first port of call. Re the person. There is a psychological phenomenon where by the human brain is wired to sport human faces/figures as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this means that we sometimes 'see' faces and figures that aren't there because that is what our brain makes of a slightly uncertain image that could be a person. I know that you think you know what you saw but the reality is that the majority of what you see isn't actually real. If it were your vision would be really shakey like a hand held camera. Instead your brain creates a composite image out of the various angles you see so that you get a nice smooth image. Because of our need to be able to spot fellow humans quickly this creates a bias where your brain will often incorrectly include a human face or form in the composite image you see.

*It started with some odd noises. One time we were sat in the living room and a noise louder than a knock but quieter than a bang went off twice upstairs. We just ignored it thinking, old house, floorboards settling etc. These noises would probably average 4 times a night.

After a week or so of the noises upstairs when we were downstairs we started to hear noises in the kitchen which is down the hallway and to the left of the living room. Again they were quite loud clicking/thudding noises but when we checked nothing had moved or fallen and we just couldn’t see where the noise could’ve come from.*

Our TV speaker makes a noise, it sounded like a book or something being dropped on the floor upstairs and spooked us until we realised what it was. Also heard noises in the kitchen but it was the wind blowing through the cooker hood. And houses do creak at night as they cool down.

Replying mainly to bump for you. Also because you sound frightened and worried very understandably.
Apart from this problem are you going through any major stresses at the moment? That can cause the brain to play tricks on us. Are you feeling well physically? Have you any history of anything like depression, anxiety etc?
I don’t believe in ghosts but did experience some very odd happenings when we rented a 1970s house between house moves. I can only think that I was depressed and very unhappy that my state of mind was a major contributor to the sounds and feelings I had in there.

I can’t begin to explain what the noises you hear or the figure you saw are and I do know some things seem very hard to explain away. Has your DH honestly not seen or heard any of the things you have ? Could he be pretending he hasn’t or do you believe he genuinely hasn’t? Just to rule out anything physical it might be worth seeing your GP but other than that I’m not sure I have any suggestions. I’m sorry you are feeling so scared and worried about this. I think it’s natural because at present you have no explanation.

I didn’t believe in ghosts until I lived with one. I was lucky, she was young and really nice to me...only picked on my then husband, who was a wanker so I quite liked her! She would have the fires lit when I came home in winter!

I’d use the ritual mentioned above.

Exactly race car driver. The brain translates images into something it recognises, it will simoly have been light angles and shadows.

I have a friend who has just went through this, she's moved house after 20 years in her last place, decided the place was haunted, it's just the house creaking, the plumbing but her mind went there, and she scared the shit out of herself. Fortunately she's settled down and adjusted to it and her brain now recognises it's just house noises.

Exactly what Bluntness said. You’re neither mad nor haunted, you’re just stringing together unrelated noises and electronic oddities and tricks of the light and have got yourself thoroughly spooked.

Thehop

Please share more if you are willing too.

Sorry for not replying sooner.

I will try and answer all the questions.

My DH has heard the ‘noises’ but he just tends to listen then look at me then ignore it like it didn’t happen. I have on occasion said ‘did you hear the’ but he just grunts or says it was just nothing and carries on with whatever he was doing.

Our relationship is pretty good normally but he does make me feel like I’m going crazy about the noises etc. If he just said he heard them too and was a bit creeped out then that would be fine but he really does make me feel like I’m being stupid. It’s almost like he wants to make me believe it’s not happening when clearly it is.

The wiring in the house was very well checked when we bought the place as it is an old house and we wanted to make sure everything fine.

The ‘figure’ I saw was more than a glimpse. I stood and watched it pass from on corner of the room to the door. It must have been about 4 secs which doesn’t sound long but when you’re watching someone move it’s quite a long time.

It’s the escalation that is worrying me a bit and also the fact that I honestly think I saw a person. If DH didn’t either he is lying or I must be seeing things, if I’m seeing things for that long and not just a shadow but a solid, firm ‘thing’ then I must be going crazy.

I was going to ask if you're going through any unusual stress right now OP? (apart from moving house). You say you've had a few close loved ones die

What would comfort you? With regards to the house i mean. I can well imagine that the fact that the person you want to talk this through with is rebutting you means it all feels 100 time worse. Is he/was he supportive in your grieving when you had your losses?

Ah an old house makes sense. I live in one, they make weird noises. Nature of the beast. It's just the house settling.

I think what's more concerning now is you've convinced yourself. You know your house isn't haunted. That's possibly why your husband isn't reacting, it's just house noises to him and he's not sensitised to them so his mind doesn't register them like yours is. He also didn't see anyone so logically you know if someone was there he would have seen them and reacted, in addition you don't just see ghosts walking around like that. You know that don't you?

I think laiste asks some valid questions. But in addition how do you pull yourself back from what you've convinced yourself of. Because you will need to rebalance yourself to accept that it's just house noises you're not used to as you live there through the different seasons.

I’m not under any particular stress tbh.

I’ve had some very stressful and sad times but things are pretty good and probably have been for a couple of years now.

The deaths were a while ago now and I’ve done my grieving. I just know that if ghosts were real they would’ve made themselves known.

I would actually find ghosts being real a comfort as it mean there was an afterlife and we would see loved ones again etc so it’s not that I’m frightened of it being a ghost it’s more that because I don’t believe in ghosts I’m frightened as I don’t know what it could be other than a real person who could pose a real threat or I’m slowly going insane.

I don't think you are going crazy, but I am loving this thread, and am very open minded about stuff like this!

@Bluntness100

I think I need you to come and live with me for a while!
You would talk me round to reasonableness in a matter of minutes

Op, pk you know there is no ghosts, that's good.

So then what's the logical explanation? You are in an old house. It's new to you. You have not lived there a year yet, so you've not been through all the seasons and become accustomed to the noises it makes as temperatures change, as it gets wet or dry, as the heating cools down, as the plumbing settles.

I don't know your husband but I don't know any human who would see a person in their home and do nothing, ignore it. So this tells you he really did see nothing and you've just scared youtself so shitless that you're mind translated it to a person and you can't let it go.

Just accept your house makes noises, like all houses do. Genuinely they do. Plumbing, electrics, wood, metal, it all creaks and cranks, bangs and rattles in old houses. Your husband knows that, that's why he's not reacting.

My house does it, the stairs creak for example , but I know it's just the wood expanding or contracting with temperature fluctuations.

Wasn't there a very similar thread to this the other evening??

I think I need you to come and live with me for a while!

It's difficult in an old house when you're not used to the noises. As said I've a friend who went through this recently, except she convinced herself it was haunted.

Least spooky house I've ever been in 🤣

I can probably help with the dog! Dogs "seeing ghosts" or whatever is actually really really common, and our close relationship with dogs tends to push us to interpret their behaviour in a way that makes sense to us from our own perspective.

What people forget is that dogs see and hear things totally differently than we do. And we actually now know that not only do they hear on a spectrum of sounds that are inaudible to us, but they also see things that we can't see. But they are actually real things! Dogs can see on the ultra violet spectrum. That's totally invisible to our eyes.

So there's no reason to assume that the dog is seeing anything at all that, for it, isn't perfectly normal. Bearing in mind that a dog's most common reaction to something it had no experience of is fear, not barking, unless he's been seeing ghosts all his life, it would suggest that he's not seeing them now.

I don't believe in ghosts anyway, but I try to keep an open mind about what people experience or think they do. My question would be, if this was some kind of presence, what evidence do you see that suggests it had any bad intent towards you, or can even really interact with you? It doesn't sound really like there is any. So what's to worry about? Even if there's something to it, which I doubt, so what - there's no reason to assume it's malevolent. It's quirky and a great story for guests! True or not!

So you'd like there to be ghosts, and aren't afraid of that scenario, but are scared you're going mad because you're hearing noises and have seen something and you don't believe in ghosts.

Would it be easier to decide you have a ghost and make peace with that idea? See how things go? :) (only half joking)

Are you 100% satisfied that it wasn't a real person in your home that you saw that night. Would changing the locks ect. help you relax about that?