To think my newbuild is haunted?

[forsythekt]

Outing so have namechanged.

I live on a smallish council estate which 5 years ago was extended with a development of 15 new council houses. I moved 2 months ago as I houseswapped with an old couple and their adult son who needed a first floor flat. I was delighted to swap as it was 3 bedrooms so both my DC (DD 3 and DS 15 months) had their own bedroom and it was on the nicer end of council estates. The reason the past owners are relevant is because I want to clarify that nobody has died in the house.

About 1 month after moving in, we began experiencing a few weird things that have been escalating. It started with little things, like hearing noises downstairs when everyone was in bed and DD's toys randomly going off in the night. After changing DS one night (after opening a new bumper box of nappies) the box fell off the changing table and nappies were all over the floor. It was the early hours and I couln't be bothered pick them up so put DS back in his cot deciding to clear it up in the morning. The next morning I went back in and the nappies were all in the corner of the room. DP thought I was being silly as it's a tiny box room so there was nowhere for them to have moved to, but I remember them in front of the changing table which is in the centre of the room.

It was then quiet for awhile until things picked up again 2 weeks ago. Our dog has been very frightened and is starting into space and barking at the walls. DD keeps coming into our bedroom in the night saying someone is whispering her name. Our usually calm good as gold DS keeps waking up in the night in hysterics and we've had to move his cot into our room. DP's older daughter (14 from a previous relationship) came to stay for the first time last week and shared with my DD. The next morning she said she'd felt a strange presence in the room, but we hadn't told her of our experience. DP was still always skeptical until what happened last night.

Me and DP are in bed cuddling poorly DS and DD was asleep in her room and we heard our dog bark and then a loud bang. Come downstairs to find the cast iron table has moved half way across the living room! And the floor is fluffy carpet so impossible for our lab to have moved it. And a few hours later a door slammed. DP admits that has made him question things. I was utterly bewildered, especially with it being a newbuild so contacted the previous tenants (with it being homeswap we still talk occasionally) to ask if they had experienced anything to which they were insistent they hadn't.

I've been doing my research on the area. It's used to be a quaint
countryside village but a lot of the old cottages, pubs and the post office etc were demolished after the war to build a city overspill estate to get people out of the inner city slums. A few other nearby estates have the same origins. The village still has a few old feautures such as a church and even some old stocks (where people used to have their hands locked in while others threw things at them for punishments) near a playing field! I think our house must be built on top of what used to be a cottage or perhaps people were buried here? Though why didn't they bother the previous tenants?

Eek! Someone tell me I'm going mad.

This post was edited by MNHQ

Noh, not mad. Previous tenants still have a key..change the locks.

Now...should I tell the near neighbours who bought the plot of land & built their super posh dream home that it was once a well known suicide spot - wooded area, (last death about 15 years ago)

Well def check keys
But as for no one dying there, that doesn’t mean anything
But check re keys first!!

I'm honestly not concerned about people breaking in. Previous tenants both very ill and their adult DS has to care for them. And everyone else on the estate is very nice, not much crime at all.

@Ariela Goodness! I'd wouldn't be able to resist telling them

My first flat used to have a very lively spirit/s old council flat and my first place after moving out of family home. I lived alone and worked long hours on a market stall ( it was in the 80s) the lounge door would never stay closed and used to fly open and one night I lay in bed and heard a loud scratching noise from the kitchen table next to the adjoining wall it was like someone had dropped a heavy cat on it and it had scampered away! I'd leave in the morning for work and come home and ALL the lights would be on when I got home ( I lived alone) after a while I met my late husband and he moved in he was a real sceptic and laughed when I told him about our 'lodger' until one night we were laying in bed and there was an almighty bang on the bedroom door we both froze and when DH opened the door no one was there! Another time I had one of those Pyrex cups on the bedside cabinet and woke up the next morning picking splinters of glass outta the bed where the glass had 'fallen' onto the bed and shattered.... that was really scary! We had a pup who barked at the walls 🤭 and several years later the retired policeman upstairs asked me how long had I been there when I said 3 years he raised his eyebrows and said that's interesting, most peeps move out of that place after about 6 months it was like something out of a horror film when he said that but I was young and was adamant I was staying ( I'd prob run a mile now). Once my DH lived there he became more convinced that we were not alone and when the activity increased he once said you can live with my DM and DD if you like? 😵🤬 I joked I'd rather live with the poltergeist 😬 I often wonder how many residents have moved in then left.

*sorry that was meant to say DM and DF not DD.

All very scary OP.

First things first though. Have you seriously not changed the locks? You always change the locks when moving in. You have no idea who has been given a key.

Scrumptiousbears Locks not been changed, nope. Am certain nobody is getting in but after reading your comment will get that sorted anyway. No good reason not to.

Burn some sage and then ask the spirits to leave your home and tell them they aren't welcome there. Tell them to move on. Problem solved.

If no one is letting themselves in, it sounds like you might have a poltergeist. No one needs to have died in the house for one to be present. A poltergeist is thought to be a ghost that has been around long enough & amassed enough energy to move matter.

You could do a space clearing. Burning sage is thought to make spirits flee. You could Google energetic space clearing.

If it is a ghost/poltergeist, they are not necessarily scary or evil, they are just spirits of the deceased, who are stuck and lost.

Burn some sage, clear the energy in the house.

No one needs to have died there for such things to occur. It is thought that spirits can be attached to anything, an area, a house, an object etc.

Clear the house energy. Go around the house clapping - it sounds daft but you can definitely hear where energy is sluggish, particularly in corners of rooms. Clap, drum or ring a bell until the sound is clear. Sprinkle some water with sea salt in all around the perimeter of each room, paying attention to windows, doors and other openings - cheaper and more traditionally British than sage!

I would choose a spot where you feel is the centre of the house, not necessarily the physical centre and talk to anything you feel is there. Tell them that you live here and that they are only welcome if they behave themselves. I often talk in my house, telling whoever to put that back as I need it!

Incidentally, every Cof E diocese still has an exorcist though called the Deliverance ministry now so there is always help if energy clearing and laying down house rules doesn't work! Have you got a video monitor for the baby's room? Sometimes relatives have been known to pop in to check up on their family. Ghosts don't need to be scary; they're just people. I used to work in a haunted building (police building!) and it was just taken in everyone's stride as there wasn't anything menacing about it.

Read how to burn the sage stick, use a feather to waft the smoke, a shell for the ashes and open the windows. You have to chant something or other too, get all up in the nooks and crannies behind big furniture etc each corner of each room.

I would be changing the locks. I wonder if it is the older son, looking after two old people on their way out would take a toll on anyone

Can't wait to hear about the exorcism- placemarking

If it's not totally alien to you I would get a priest/vicar/holy person of choice and ask them to come in and bless the house.

Use sage or santo wood to cleanse the whole house. Burn and ask the spirits to leave. The indigenous of canada do it and since doing regularly at home, a sense of calm prevails. I’m a scientist but some things are beyond my depth. Don’t fear it . You shall feel better too

Agree, burn some sage.

I woke up in the night once to see my sister stood in my room, asked her if she was ok, turned over to go back to sleep, she ignored me so I turned back around she she was gone. So I got up and went until her room to ask of if she was alright (she usually comes to me when shes sick or gets a really bad nosebleed)
When I went in her room she was flat out asleep, was definitely not my sister.

Makes me feel sick thinking about it.

Whatever it is has been so bloody quiet tonight! Typical! Feels normal again. Can't sleep though.

Don't think I could have an excorsism, goodness. Hoping it just gets bored.

But what happens when it gets bored...

I once had my grandad sat on the end of my bed asking me to take care of my grandma for him and I thought I must still be asleep.

He had passed away that night but I didn't know that until the next day and he hasn't been Ill or anything

The night my gran died she was in my bedroom. (Lived about 5 miles away) it was as if she was saying good bye as the timing matched up with what the carer told us.

I don't believe in spirits per se but I do think there are forces we don't understand.

My mum can feel things in people's houses, really freaks people out when she's tells them they have visitors when they haven't mentioned the strange goings on.

No suggestions on how to get rid of your potential house guest apart from trying the above.... it cant hurt after all

See if it was an old house I'd just pass it off as a past resident but with it being new it feels a lot more strange and malevolent. Like it's seeked us out.

I know it sounds ridiculous but do you have someone living in your loft? I've heard a few stories of this happening and they come down only at night etc .. It would be worth checking maybe?

I had this in a new build.

Would come home from work and the heavy super king duvet would be in the middle of the hall. I saw things moving with my own eyes.

I lived alone and was terrified.

I bought sage and burnt it; opened the windows, told it to leave.

Things quietened down after that.