To think ghost stories are BS, but my experience was a bit odd?

[BigMoan]

I moved into a 1950’s house previously occupied by a couple. They were the sole occupants since it was built. The husband died, and a few years later the wife moved to a care home. The house was then put on the market.

Our first night in the house, we’d put a car seat centrally on a table. It fell off.
Few days later, I heard our piano being played - I went in the room and no one was there.
Then a week or so later - daughter went to the bathroom, froze and said there’s someone in there. She described the person as a male, like a shadow and wearing a suit. I hadn’t mentioned anything about ghosts to her, and told her it was just a shadow - perhaps Daddy had walked past when she was about to go in. For a few weeks after she was scared of the bathroom, wanted an adult with her. And now - if ghosts come up in a book/on TV - she always refers back to this experience.

A few other weird things happened. And then nothing else. The house felt ‘creepy’ for a while. Absolutely nothing creepy about it now.

If course it’s ridiculous to think it was a ghost, but what was I experiencing? Was it just the strangeness of moving somewhere new? Just wondered if anyone else had had a similar experience?

I do believe in ghosts. I don't know if they are what they're purported to be, but I do believe they are something that can be experienced.

My ex and I were tidying up our flat, she was in the bedroom and I was in the front room, both at the far end of the room from the door that linked them and we were talking and walking about doing stuff and then just as both of us turned to look at each other a pretty heavy model car, on a little plinth, flipped off the top of the TV and went skidding across the floor. We just stood there looking at it in silence for a while. Neither of us were within 5 metres of it. The top of the TV was flat, the car was a metal scale replica and was heavy, the little plinth had rubber feet, it had been sat there for about a year. Ex was very disturbed by it. Nothing else ever happened that I remember

I think there are something to these experiences as PP have said - I agree with @BigMoan that we just don’t have the science to explain it yet. However I don’t believe in ‘ghosts’ per se.

I’ve got two, neither of which happened to me. When DS was two, he was sat on his booster seat at the table. He suddenly started waving at the stairs, laughing and saying ‘hello Alfie’ He really was laughing and looked overjoyed. The only people we knew called Alfie were my grandma’s dead uncle (who loved kids) and her grandfather. My grandma was actually there at the time and was quite freaked out.
Second story. DSS was about three and was in the car with DH. They were driving along and all of a sudden DSS pointed out the window and said something along the lines of ‘I used the ride my bike along here’ DH asked him what he meant. DSS then said ‘I used to wear black clothes and then I rode into a tree and then I was with you’

DH was really freaked out and it turned out there was a motorbike crash there about 4 years previously where a young man rode into a tree. DSS never spoke about it again and has forgotten the conversation now.

The age of some houses there should be hundreds of ghosts wandering around the place. I'm surprised if they exist that we don't bump into them daily since more people have died that live currently

107 billion people have lived on earth (approximately, I haven't actually counted them), the earth would be a very busy place with all the ghosts wandering around/floating/whatever they do

@Subulter I totally agree… I can only imagine the number of (births and) deaths in our house! I’m not saying it was the presence of the previous occupant’s late husband I felt… but it was definitely a “him”. Anyhow, he’s gone now…

Why do people always claim to see only ghosts of people? Thousands more pets, animals die.

Where are the a ghost of a hamster from my deceased pet sat on my table in the morning or a gist of a cow walked through my living room we live in an d converted barn 🤣

We had a few odd things in this house. Shadow of a person whenever we do any work in the house. Lights on and off. Sighs when we are alone. I'm not scared it almost feels comfortable. Our last home had been the scene of a murder. Nothing odd happened there. In fact it was a lovely home, the family loved it. I always knew it wasn't a forever home. This cottage with its shadow person feels lovely too.

@Dottybackorcid I think that’s a very good point! If you lived on a farm surely you’d see thousands of ghosts of animals!

Are most ghost sightings associated with a ‘home’ or church/hospital/castle/pub type building/buildings where a lot of emotional activity takes place? Animals do feel emotions of course, but there is a distinction between humans/other animals. Humans manipulate the environment to an extraordinary degree, we are ‘conscious’, ‘civilised’ - we put a huge amount of energy, love, emotion into our homes/other buildings. Do other animals put so much emotion into their lives, is it potentially something to do with that? Do animals dream, do they have near death experiences?

@Dottybackorcid my grandma saw, a few times, the ghost of her uncles cat on the stairs

Dreams are ‘real’ they definitely happen to people. But what exactly are they? How can you do vividly see and feel something that isn’t there?

I had some bad experiences in a previous home. We were the second inhabitants, first ones had moved and no one had died there. By still….flickering lights in bathroom, shadows in the attic and experienced a few times that it was like somebody was trying to push me off the stairs. Dog would bark endlessly and would get very defensive at something that I couldn’t see. The only other time I had seen her so wary of apparently nothing was when I took her with me to walk trough a WWI trench somewhere in Belgium.

I think dreams/ghosts/near death experiences are all related. Dreams being a proven phenomena. Do animals dream?

Yes, animals dream. Anyone with a pet will tell you that but I think there have been some scientifically backed studies in recent years that prove it

@BigMoan yes animals dream, I think most people with pets watch them dreaming. Also animals like house rabbits often die if their bonded partner die and they are left alone. Other species do invest considerable time investing in their homes, take badgers for instance they pass there setts down through generations many are 100s of years old. Also alot of species manipulate their environment quite considerably eg beavers. I would recommend looking up on YouTube "how wolves change rivers" it's short and amazing. Sorry I'm putting your post of subject 😊

I think you could possibly reason that a mammal would dream? The poster here who said about a ghost cat - surely an animal that you would possibly associated with dreaming, could also possibly be associated with having a ghost. I wouldn’t think that a snail would dream, so therefore highly unlikely to see a ghost snail!

@BobbieT1999 @Dottybackorcid

I think a pet yes to dreaming, but also yes to potentially having a ‘ghost’.

Mammals -probably do dream. Possibly could be associated with a ghostly sighting.

A snail - no!

I don't think ghost stories are bullshit at all. There are a lot of things that people don't understand and cannot explain for which a reason will be found in times to come.
I saw ghosts for years, then it turned out I was actually hallucinating because I had a mental illness.
That is one explanation.

@Dottybackorcid

Why do people always claim to see only ghosts of people? Thousands more pets, animals die.

Where are the a ghost of a hamster from my deceased pet sat on my table in the morning or a gist of a cow walked through my living room we live in an d converted barn 🤣

I’ve got a doggy one! Have probably posted here before.

Friends lived in a semi detached stone barn, but so solid, you forgot there was anyone next door.
Their beloved flat coat retriever was very ill with cancer, the vet was coming the next day to put him to sleep.

That evening, next door’s adult son (young and utterly down to earth) came to visit with his girlfriend. This was before smartphones - he went upstairs to check his emails on his folks’ computer.

While checking he saw out of the corner of his eye a dog - not their current one, a Dalmatian, but the former one, a Weimaraner, dead for a few years.
No such thing had ever happened to anyone in the family before - he was so shaken by the experience, he headed for the village pub for a quick one to settle his nerves!

He was not aware at the time of next door’s dog Charlie being on his very last legs, but their old dog and Charlie had been very good friends, so we all like to think he’d come to keep Charlie company on his way.

I can’t believe I’m trying to discuss ghost snails.

With regards to pets dreaming my cat was dreaming on my lap the other day - it must have been a good one because all of her fur was standing on end as she twitched, she looked like a little dandelion

Has anyone seen the ghost of an invertebrate? If not, why not?

My cat was seriously ill at the vets and kept there overnight. Early morning I heard him come upstairs as usual and felt him land on my bed, but obviously he wasn't there when I looked. He passed away later that day. I definitely didn't imagine it.

I think this proves it might be something to do with : the more conscious an animal, the more likely to dream or appear as a ‘ghost’.

@BigMoan

Has anyone seen the ghost of an invertebrate? If not, why not?

How would you know if it was a ghost?