Emergency spiritual help needed!

[GrrrlPwr]

We are moving house. This house has a 'presence'. It is not a happy presence. And we would rather not move house with it!

Have already had a priest round to bless the house which helped.

But it's still not gone. The presence not the priest. He went after a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Removal men commented they could 'feel' the presence too.

So. Any ideas?

Any leaving the house ceremony type thing from another culture we could borrow?

We are white British Christian background. So open to any ideas! Thanks

You know what OP, you've taken the teasing in good fun and good on ya for that.

I stand by the Fanta though...

Happy new (presence free) home, OP!
If the new owners of your old place get in touch about any ghosties, you can now direct them to this thread for full on proper advice on how to tackle them
I'm gonna get some spare fig rolls, just in case...

Yesitsbess I've been on Mumsnet for about 10 years, you don't go posting on AIBU about spiritual stuff without knowing the bun fight that will ensue! Don't mind at all.

Such feeling of peace in the house house this morning. I never once felt like that in the old house. I think the presence just didn't want us there. No idea why.

I did feel an odd whoosh of air at one point when I was upstairs cleaning. And the gust went out of the house, rather than in. Could have been a gust of wind as all the doors downstairs were open. Who knows.

I had had a few odd experiences in the house, maybe it opened something up? Obviously thinking Ghostbusters stylee fridge

And YES to getting in the female Ghostbusters, best movie ever.

Thanks to all who are able to wade through the piss-taking and post practical advice. I do have some sage I dried. But I didn't do anything with it as I don't feel I know what I'm doing.

As for the Christian stuff & holy water. The priest was from CofE tradition, he has done house blessings before. He said anyone can make holy water by praying over it about the love of Christ. Interesting, not heard that before.
But he was too nice. I wanted him to tell it to piss off and leave us alone!

The removal men commented ? Ok then..

IDK about other religions but as a Christian I don't think there is any magical or spiritual power in the cross symbol or the letters J-E-S-U-S. What's powerful is the belief in the force these things re-resent. So for me using a cross or asking for something in the name of Jesus could work because there is something powerful and elemental behind my doing it. For a non believer to say or use the same thing would be pointless. They would just be meaningless artefacts and sounds.

I think the same goes for the practices and habits of other faiths. So for me it would be pointless and meaningless to have a spirit house outside my front door. It would be very pretty but it wouldn't give me any spiritual benefit because there would be no faith in it. Similarly burning sage of any colour - if there is no faith or belief behind the practice you might as well burn privet or dandelions.

Interesting Confusedandshaken you have articulated it well. Thanks

However I shall make a list of all the suggestions on here, an amazing effort thanks all

Wish I'd bloody posted when we were in the house!

@knittingaddict

I'm willing to bet that this house with the "presence" is old. Is that right? A house with creaking floorboards and slightly resembling a house from any number of haunted houses in fiction? It's not a 1980's semi?

I think there's your explanation. It's never a modern house that's haunted is it? Overactive imaginations I think.

We had a newbuild that was haunted once. Even people who we never told used to comment about a strange feeling in a certain part of it.

We moved after a year. Was horrible.

Even recently, my mum stayed in her newly renovated childhood home alone with my cat, who kept to upstairs.
She could swear glass had broken upstairs, but I found nothing.
The builder explained that the roof insulation can often sound like glass breaking when it cracks. 🤷‍♀️

It's been renewed but it has a lot of wood in it, like UK houses often have. And it's very noisy.

Sometimes you get mice or other animals living between boards.

At work we once had a family of mice living inside a door.

Sometimes nature is stranger than fiction.
If you look for a natural explanation you'll probably find it. Or if it's your feeling, then it will probably disappear with a little suggestion. Like taking a placebo pill to help with anxiety, even pain.

@ConstanceGracy

The removal men commented ? Ok then..

Yes they do that. Normally they do it on their first assessment of the job. They look at areas and weights, any boxes and packing materials required and then - usually the junior worker- has a walk through for spirits or anything otherworldly. It’s at the stage when they prepare the invoice that you see it in black and white.

@Confusedandshaken

If you need it really quickly you could try DeliverWoo.

I think I love you.

I honestly thought this was one of those annoying threads where the OP posts a storyline from a TV show pretending to be the main character...

@GrrrlPwr I would love to know what happened in your old house, how did the presence make itself felt and how long did it go on for?
I really hope that the feeling of peace in your new home continues.

PollyPepper lol no, those threads annoy me too.
Not sure our old house would constitute being interesting enough for a TV show!
It is (was) unfortunately real

Some of these replies did make me chuckle.

OP - I agree in that it's not the house that has a presence. It's you (or someone in your family). They tend to attach themselves to people so will go where you go. Just a thought x

Who you gonna call? Ghost busters! (sorry couldn't resist)

Yes they do that. Normally they do it on their first assessment of the job. They look at areas and weights, any boxes and packing materials required and then - usually the junior worker- has a walk through for spirits or anything otherworldly. It’s at the stage when they prepare the invoice that you see it in black and white.
Oh come on! The last time we moved the workers weren't looking for ghosts but seeing how much we had to take with us. If he had said anything about spirits I would have asked him what he was on! And then told them not to bother.

Omg do you think Deliver Woo could sort me out some fanta and a bug box, I'll get then delivered to my old house. Perfectly innocuous welcome to your new home gift eh? Perhaps more practical than the bottle of bubbly we left them!

And a ghost. Possibly. I do feel a bit bad, but they might not be affected by it. Not really the sort of thing you put on the contents form at the solicitors eh.

It's not an old house. 1950s
It is on a very old bit of London though, so who knows went on in the past.

I think I'll ditch the sage. Don't want to inadvertently offend anyone on another continent sure.

As I see the whole religion thing, this is the human physical world. And there is the spiritual world. Some are aware some are not. Do the non-woo really disbelieve every church minister?

Oh and I didn't believe in it either. Till freaky deaky stuff was happening in the house.

Sorry for not posting all day yesterday. I did check once but it looked like the thread had no replies. So I thought, oh well I'll do my best. So we did the thanking the rooms thing. But no! We have many helpful ideas and some batty ones.

Now, where do I start my witch training??

I asked one of the removal men jokingly if he'd ever been in a house that was haunted. He gave me a funny look and went yeah actually I have a few times. He didn't offer up the info it only came up because I specifically asked.

I'd say he was about as non-woo as you could possibly stereotype.

JustJustWhy

Monestera
May I politely suggest that people refrain from giving ill-informed advice? Presences are serious business. Please do not offer advice unless you have done the necessary training,qualificationsandApprenticeShipping

I can't breathe!

Are you the OP’s ghost?! Have you got a message for them?

@knittingaddict

I'm willing to bet that this house with the "presence" is old. Is that right? A house with creaking floorboards and slightly resembling a house from any number of haunted houses in fiction? It's not a 1980's semi?

I think there's your explanation. It's never a modern house that's haunted is it? Overactive imaginations I think.

@knittingaddict "I think there's your explanation. It's never a modern house that's haunted is it? Overactive imaginations I think."

You've obviously not seen The Poltergeist then

I'm not a believer in woo stuff at all - not religious, spiritual, superstitious, or anything else.

But my friends moved into a house a few years ago, different bit of the country, I'd never been there before. Went to stay, and just felt awful the entire time I was there. I just felt incredibly sad and on edge all night, a really preoccupying, dragging sad feeling that I couldn't shake off - really couldn't put my finger on why. We hadn't been drinking, I wasn't tired, nothing else going on in my life that explained why I felt so unhappy as soon as I got to their house. Ignored it - then visited again a month or so later, same thing.

I mentioned the next day I'd slept badly (without saying "Your house has given me a sense of dread and wanting to cry all night, happy new home!") and my friend burst into tears. Turns out the previous owner had died in very tragic circumstances and despite not telling anyone because they didn't want it to be all anyone thought about, quite a few of their friends and family who stayed had all felt off like I did. They lived there 13 months before they sold it, and it's always stuck with me.

@LoislovesStewie

Yes they do that. Normally they do it on their first assessment of the job. They look at areas and weights, any boxes and packing materials required and then - usually the junior worker- has a walk through for spirits or anything otherworldly. It’s at the stage when they prepare the invoice that you see it in black and white. Oh come on! The last time we moved the workers weren't looking for ghosts but seeing how much we had to take with us. If he had said anything about spirits I would have asked him what he was on! And then told them not to bother.

They were looking for ghosts. They always do. It’s just that they don’t tell you at the time. It’s not in their interests to unnerve you but they have to do the check because it’s part of health and safety for their men. It’s when you get your final invoice that they declare any otherworldly spirits or sightings. It’s down at the bottom of the form after the bit where they add the plastic bubble wrap quantities.

[quote Yesitsbess]@NeverDropYourMooncup

Or half a bitter shandy and a ham roll.[/quote]
In Ireland I would say Poitín would do the trick.

The illegal good stuff would knock them on their ghostly arse so badly their hangover would keep them from completing their haunting schedule.

What a load of bollocks 😂

@Cissyandflora 😁😁😁