Weird activity in my house (again)

[MozzchopsThirty]

At the risk of sounding totally insane we have spirits in our house.

Dd (21) has always heard people talking at night, going up and down stairs, walking the landing etc
After my divorce it got worse and lights were going on and off, doors closing etc.
I had a priest round who blessed the house, then a clairvoyant 'cleaner' which made things much better.

Now things are starting again, dd hearing things and now ds1 has told dd he often feels like there's someone in his room.
Last night I woke to him screaming from his bedroom that there were people whispering outside his room and walking along the carpet! He was too afraid to even come out. Now ds1 is a no nonsense rugby playing teen who is certainly not hysterical at any time. He ended up sleeping with his sister (he'd generally rather die than this!)
There was also a cross knocked off a shelf and down the back of cupboards in ds2 room when I was here alone.

Don't know what to do? Do I get cleaning lady back?
Are we all going crazy?
(Sorry didn't know where else to post this)

Our ears will turn unidentifiable noises into voices. That's just what they do to make sense of a noise.

Oh don't rise to it OP. There was always going to be extreme views on this subject. If I were you I would take all advice, carbon monoxide detectors, Latin speaking priests, all of it. After all, none of it can do any harm.

As no one has been able to prove spirits do or don't exist, no one is actually right or wrong here.

What would I do with the guard dog all day when everyone is out?

True Only, but I would try to put ghosts and ghools out of my mind first the other road is where madness lies surely!

Auditory pareidolia.

"Oh don't rise to it OP. There was always going to be extreme views on this subject."

What, like attributing perfectly natural things, which have been replicated a thousand times to the supernatural, and getting ridiculously angry with anyone who tries to offer a rational explanation?

You can get a dog walker for them in the day and walk them in the evening. I'm sure your boys would enjoy a dog. I would recommend a small female Boxer or if that's too much a Standard Poodle can be quite good and as a smaller option a standard Szchnauzer they are pretty cool small guarding dogs.

I think you are being naïve if you think the youngest 2 children don't know everything about the spooks
I work with children and even the 3 year olds know everything that happens in the house
Of course the eldest has kept them in the loop

You don't need anyone to come and do anything. Simply sit down and talk to them everyday as if they were guests in your home. Tell them they need to move on now and it isn't healthy for them to be here when they are dead. They will go. Worked for me in my old house.

They re actually right or wrong here. And it can do an awful lot of harm, and has done.

I can not think of anything more scary than a Latin speaking Priest actually walking around my house - for the love of God, no just no!

language is a powerful theme within Christianity. Words are said to be 'spirit'.
I'm interested to hear more about this pondering.

Here is an example of one reference in the Bible.

John 6:63King James Version (KJV) says, "63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

I think it is helpful to understand what is meant by 'spirit'. If you look at the function of the word and the way it is used the means does necessarily denote just dead people. It can be used to describe a state of mind, as in 'low spirits', the essence of someone or something, a common, cultural way of thinking, as in 'Zeitgeist', distilled alcohol (originates from the alchemical practice of trying to extract the essence of plants). There are accounts of 'bad spirits' causing illness, physiological and psychological. The idea of 'spirit' is wrapped up with the way our spoken language has evolved. The exact nature of what the people were trying to describe is elusive. If you think of spirit being connected with the way language and communication (including the biosemiotic kind) effects us, you can see how a connection was made between spirits and language.

My point is, the current cartoon ghost is not necessarily what people originally meant when they referred to 'spirit'. Added to this if you make a connection with subliminal perception of physical phenomenon in the natural environment, a kind of perception of biosemiotic communication, with the idea of spirit, the concept does not seem so outrageous.

You say it got worse after the divorce (traumatic time for DD). Are you sure your DD isn't starting to develop a psychotic disorder? They kick in around early twenties but prodromal signs occur in teens.

As for DS, his nightmares could be due to anxiety too.

I'd look at their mental health closely and rule everything out before assuming ghosts.

I wasn't picking on you in particular. But to pass on absolute nonsense to your children is a failing. It's not at the top with abuse etc but allowing or encouraging children to believe in things such as spirits and religion is doing them a disservice. You're children are scared. You should be reassuring them that there aren't ghosts, not encouraging this as if it's something from a movie.

Give them the scientific rational explanation and their fear and the issues will go away.

well if passing on absolute nonsense to ones children was a failing then the whole industrial myth complex around Father Christmas would go kaput. near everyone does that one, at least OP sincerely believes the ghost whoo stuff unlike those people who deliberately deceive their children about where the presents at Christmas come from knowing full and well its hogwash. all that anxiety about naughty/ nice lists and some man creeping down the chimney into the house at night wouldn't freak some kids out? tradition and custom is powerful.

as to your problem OP maybe your children are after your attention. ignore the woo stuff, do all the other things mentioned to rule out physical causes of all the noises but also, give your kids some quality time alone with you separate to each other. be attentive, postive, just not about these bumps in the night etc. but about everything else, lots of positive reinforcement even with your 21 year old.

"Whether you believe in spirits or not things can still happen"

No, they can't.

In YOUR experience, not in mine.

I AM right here, sorry to burst your bubble...

"I AM right here, sorry to burst your bubble..."
You are not right. There has never been a single incident of paranormal activity that cannot be explained in a perfectly rational manner. None. Zero. Zilch.

Hissy, of course things can happen! What we gave here is just something the OP has not got to the bottom of, what is actually happening is unknown. There may not be a simple explanation. Aspects in the environment can affect some people. People's perceptions vary. Some of our perceptions are pretty subliminal. It does not mean there is nothing to perceive, just that a person's senses are not giving them clear information regarding what it is that is being perceived.

Sorry, Bertrand, there has in my direct experience, and I really don't tend to the dramatic.

Op: can I reiterate what greenheart said: check the house for draughts, rats, all that stuff. Look at the practical stuff first - it's more likely something like that.

If not, emotional difficulties and mental health issues can cause some of this kind of disturbance. It's amazing what our brains can do and come up with. But there are also spiritual realities. The C of E has a good system set up with safeguards in place for things like this, so worth getting in touch with your local vicar. She won't charge any money, either.

Hope things improve for you.

Thank you pondering that's interesting

100% believe you OP. I've seen the ghost that most of my family has also seen in my house. Activity seems to have stopped for now thank goodness, seems to come and go.

I'd get the person back who made it all die down if I were in your shoes.

Good luck, it's very unsettling.

You are not right. There has never been a single incident of paranormal activity that cannot be explained in a perfectly rational manner. None. Zero. Zilch.

In YOUR experience.

Not in mine.

I'm not woo, I'm the least woo person you'll meet.

"I'm not woo, I'm the least woo person you'll meet."

If you believe that you witnessed something paranormal then you are woo. Completely.

The thing is, the divide between what is paranormal and what is not is rather arbitrary. The paranormal is simply phenomenon which cannot be explained by scientific understanding. However scientific knowledge is not complete. Things which now might be considered paranormal might be explainable in the future, with more knowledge. Science is just a methodology for exploring what is there.

Our perceptions and senses are quite amazing. There are variations between individuals and whole culture of people. A lot of what we sense can affect us quite subliminally. We cannot always fully consciously process it or verbalise it. Biosemiotic systems are amazing. Communication within organisms and between species can occur even on a chemical level.

So is it really that outrageous that environments can actually appear to effect people, even when there is nothing tangibly unusual about them?

"The paranormal is simply phenomenon which cannot be explained by scientific understanding"

No it isn't. The paranormal is stuff which goes against what we do know. That is different from stuff we don't know yet.

Obviously we don't know everything. But we do know lots.