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The paranormal

Why do ghosts only come out at night?

66 replies

lurchermummy · 28/12/2024 16:37

Having a nice chilled afternoon and reading some old threads on this topic. I love a spooky tale! So I was just wondering why it is that when people report ghostly goings on like hearing footsteps in the house, why it is always at night? Or has anyone had any daytime ghostly encounters?

OP posts:
Pinkissmart · 28/12/2024 16:42

Nothing to add, but curious!
Every ‘encounter’ I’ve had was at night

OurChristmasMiracle · 28/12/2024 16:43

Maybe it’s because our senses are naturally on higher alert of a night than during the day? Also noises etc are more likely to be heard as night time is quieter (traffic, noise from other houses etc)

ssd · 28/12/2024 16:43

Ive had a day time ghostly encounter

FloofyPaws · 28/12/2024 16:44

Because you’re not scared during the day so less likely to imagine things like ghosts.

lurchermummy · 28/12/2024 16:44

Do tell....

OP posts:
VarneytheVamp · 28/12/2024 16:45

Tons of daytime ghost accounts to be found.

its most likely be a noise travels weirdly at night so its not obvious it has a mundane source. That and tiredness.

slightlydistrac · 28/12/2024 16:46

I've had several disconcerting things happen during the day.

SirChenjins · 28/12/2024 16:46

My sister and an early morning encounter and I had a daytime one.

DatingDinosaur · 28/12/2024 16:47

I think that during the day our minds are more distracted, busy, doing, thinking and daytime is generally noisier. The ghosts are still there, just that we're too busy to let our minds run away with us.

On a night, things quieten down and we start our down time and by bedtime, when you're laid quiet, the world's quiet - that's when normal housey noises are amplified and our minds go into overdrive.

I call those noises the house going to sleep (central heating cooling down causing creaks and clanks).... but it might not be....

Chaseandstatus · 28/12/2024 16:47

Because they are Maneaters a la Hall and Oates. (Watch out boys she’ll chew you up)

Frowningprovidence · 28/12/2024 16:47

People are more likely to have had a drink.

Elphame · 28/12/2024 16:49

A lot of the activity here is during the day.

GothicCrackdown · 28/12/2024 16:50

People are more likely to think they encounter ghosts when they’re in certain circumstances or frames of mind. I guess it makes sense that this would often (not always!) be at night, when visibility is lower and we sometimes feel more vulnerable.

I don’t believe in ghosts as such but still really enjoy the stories and a proper discussion about what might really be going on 👻

Barleysugar86 · 28/12/2024 16:52

We got married in an old heritage property with attached guest rooms... My aunt (artistic lady in her 50s but generally a pretty sensible sort) told me she saw a ghostly figure pass behind her in the mirror when she was getting ready in her room alone. This was in daylight/ afternoon hours. So I believe it can be at all times. I think some people are more sensitive to seeing them though, as she had reported the odd thing when she lived in an old cottage too over the years, but only in these two places.

ANiceBigCupOfTea · 28/12/2024 16:52

I've had a strange day time encounter!
I was staying at my BiL and SiL's house to house sit when they went on honeymoon.
A few weird things happened. I was putting groceries away alone in the kitchen when the kettle starting boiling by itself. I thought it was weird but could be some sort of technical glitch.
The next day, my younger BiL came to help DH (who was then just my boyfriend) with some motorbike repairs so he and DH are working away downstairs. I hear the door opening, footsteps up the stairs, the bathroom door open and the tap start to run in the bathroom. I called to my little BiL and there was no answer. So I go to the bathroom and the tap WAS running but he wasn't there. I look out the window and they're both stood outside.
There was lots of little things in that house like feeling someone brush past me, thinking I heard my name called, all kinds of little oddities. Funnily enough when BiL and SiL moved out of the house I'd asked her if she ever experienced anything strange in the house and she had felt loads of things.

lurchermummy · 28/12/2024 16:53

Interesting, would love to hear more about these daytime encounters. I've never seen a ghost - as far as I know! I don't think I would like to. But the idea interests me.

OP posts:
ShinyPrettyThings87 · 28/12/2024 16:54

I used to work in a pub, morning shift. Many times throughout the day, different people/groups of people would hear footsteps walking behind the bar. So, imagine that the bar is in the middle, there's two separate areas either side, one for darts/TV on, the other with the pool table. There's a hallway behind the bar which is where the toilets were, between the two rooms.

One morning, I was sitting at one end, talking to a couple of friends. There was maybe four others in our side too. I noticed at the far end of the bar, in the pool table room, someone sitting, waiting to be served. When I went over to serve him, there was no one there. Clear as day, I can remember the way he was hunched over an empty pint glass (I don't remember the glass specifically but that was the position he was in.) when I went back, I mentioned it and everyone confirmed it was just us there.

He was a notorious ghost. He'd hide things and it'd would turn up months later in places it definitely wasn't. For example, the landlords mobile went missing. Sometimes we'd hear it ring but couldn't find it. One morning, it was ringing... From where the backs of the sofas met the seats. No chance it had been there all that time, as they were cleaned daily and obviously had patrons in. The phone just turned up there one morning before opening.

We lived above it and often would hear our names being called. When we were alone.

The cellar was the most creepiest place I've been in. Always felt watched from the shadows, but it's a massive dark cellar so I think that just goes with the territory 🤣

Barleysugar86 · 28/12/2024 16:54

sorry internet glitch double posted

VarneytheVamp · 28/12/2024 16:56

I’ve just remembered that my old junior school was “haunted” and that obviously happened in the daytime for us to notice it. One of the TAs even acknowledged it and called it Casper!

very old village building. The taps would turn themselves on, you’d often hear a sound similar to a shovel scraping in the corner of the room when nothing was going on there. Keyboards would type random words (probably gibberish more likely), a weird vibe generally, and stuff like that. No idea what was causing it and I’m skeptical but open I suppose… So, nothing startling but it happened in school hours.

DatingDinosaur · 28/12/2024 16:56

You don't see them OP. You sense them...

A fleeting cool breeze. Seeing something out of the corner of your eye. Misplaced items that turn up in odd places. Unfamiliar perfume smells.

EmeraldRoulette · 28/12/2024 16:57

Daytime encounters are pretty common.

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 28/12/2024 16:58

It's because people get spooked more at night and are more likely to imagine things or notice noises.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 01/01/2025 12:53

I’ve seen my DCat (now dead) during the day.

Friend’s young DS saw a grey lady during the day/early evening in their old Victorian house.

Vignoble · 03/01/2025 21:11

We bought this old farmhouse after the matriarch died in it and only one daughter left to look after her. It took ages to buy because they needed to check we were the right people to live there.

That first Summer the elderly lady would often visit me in the kitchen to make sure we were doing things right. I wouldn’t acknowledge her, but I did see her three times standing behind me or moving round the kitchen table at 5:30 am. She was short, grey haired, light eyes, and wore round glasses which reflected in the new windows. They are double-glazed and north-facing so they gave a good reflection back.

After that first year, she never visited us again.

HoobleDooble · 10/01/2025 10:15

I had a daytime encounter on a railway platform. It's a very old station in a tourist spot, there's a big car park as there's a few shops at one end and the station is at the other. (If you want a tiny clue it's on an island off mainland Wales and has a rather long name)

We were the only people on the station, I was on one platform and my DH and DS had gone over the ornate bridge to look for a geocache on the other side, I was looking at the posters etc. on the windows of the (closed) station building when I was aware of a man wearing jeans and a bright red tshirt approaching me from the direction of the entrance on my left (basically a gap in the fencing and the only entrance/exit from the car park onto the platform). He walked behind me as if to go to the railway bridge but, when I glanced to my right there was nobody there, I looked back to my left thinking he must have turned round and gone back but he wasn't there either. I then looked over the fence into the car park and couldn't see anyone at the station end, then sat down on an empty bench and tried to make sense of it.

My DH and DS then came back over and asked why I looked puzzled, I told them and DS said he'd seen someone in a red top sat on the bench next to me as they'd come back over the bridge but, when they'd got to me he'd gone and DH hadn't seen anyone at all!

I've had other experiences but never someone looking so solid and modern in broad daylight.