[kate_dawg]

Hey guys,
So I just moved into my friend's apartment and I just wanted to get this off my chest/get some feedback.
The apartment is really nice. I think it was built in the 70's or 80's so it's not very old. But ever since I moved in on Sunday, I haven't been able to get a sufficient amount of sleep because I am so scared.
The first night I moved in, my friend was telling me how glad she was that I moved in and she didn't have to stay a night alone (her boyfriend moved back home to Georgia for a month). She and her boyfriend have apparently had some crazy stuff happen there. She told me they would always hear the sound of someone walking around upstairs (which is where our bedrooms are). For the most part, they just experienced sounds but her boyfriend claims to have seen someone who looks exactly like my friend twice.
The first night I stayed there, I slept with the light on because I was a bit creeped out (the room he saw the "ghost" in is the room that I moved into). The room has a strange vibe to it anyway... hard to explain. I ended up having very restless sleep and woke up every hour at exactly the same time until 6am when I had to wake up for work. The only thing that really happened is that when I woke up at 4:33am (again, not sure why), I heard birds chirping outside my window. All of a sudden, I was aware of what felt like a cat jumping up onto my bed and lightly walking up to my pillow where my head was laying. This happened the first two nights. It was a little unnerving but I also didn't feel threatened and I thought perhaps it could be attributed to my mind playing tricks on me or still being half-asleep.
What happened two evenings ago is what is really making me feel crazy. I came home from work around 5:45 pm and my roommate was still at work until 7:30. I had asked my friend if he wanted to come over and play music because I don't like being there alone. He was on his way but had to wait for the next bus. I turned on the television and started watching a show to relax. It actually worked for a little while and I didn't feel uncomfortable being there alone. Then I heard what sounded like a tapping sound. Thinking my friend somehow managed to catch the first bus, I went to answer the door. As you could probably anticipate, no one was there. Suddenly, I felt really uncomfortable and decided that to go sit in the stairwell outside my apartment.
I sat there for a couple minutes and calmed down. I decided that I had to get used to living in this apartment and that the noise could have been anything. I went back inside and resumed watching TV. I, again, got lost in the show and felt at ease.
After about ten minutes, I started to hear sounds coming from upstairs. It sounded like someone was walking around my roommates room. I tried to brush it off and tell myself I was just imagining things, but the steps and creaking only persisted and increased in volume. Then, I started hearing sounds coming from the kitchen. It sounded like someone was playing with silverware or something. Then, I heard the tapping sound again.
Once again, I quickly moved to the front door. I paused briefly to stay "STOP." in a firm voice, figuring if this were indeed a ghost, maybe that would help. I shut the door behind me and went to sit at the bottom of the steps. It sounded like something tried to force the door closed even more after I shut it. It also sounded like someone was messing with the handle.
This is the part that bothers me the most for some reason. I was sitting at the bottom of the stairwell (which is indoors and leads straight up to my apartment) and the noises were SO loud that I could hear them from the bottom of the stairwell! For the next ten minutes that I could stand to sit in there, I could hear the sounds of someone walking around loudly, banging, tapping, someone messing with the front door, etc. I felt like I was in a horror movie. Then it sounded like someone rammed the front door with their whole body. That's when I went outside because I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like I was going to go insane. By the way, we do not have any neighbors in our building. I live in a ski town and most people are seasonal and went back to where they came from for the summer. We are the only ones in our building.
Finally my friend got there and I told him about everything that happened. Of course, when we went inside, the noises ceased. I was really upset because I wanted someone to witness this and investigate it. I eased up and we sat down and started talking about other stuff.
After a little while, we both heard that tapping sound. It didn't last very long but it was long enough that we stopped talking to listen. He kind of shrugged it off and we started playing some music. After a while, we both heard a very loud "bang" that sounded as if something extremely heavy had fallen onto the floor in the room above us (my roommates). Of course, nothing had. When my roommate got home, I told her all about it and she told me that she had heard the tapping noise when she was getting ready in the morning. She also thought it was someone at the door but when she checked, of course, no one was there.
It hasn't been as bad since then but I feel extremely uncomfortable and uneasy in my own apartment. I haven't slept well since then and last night, my roommate and I even slept downstairs on the couches because we were too scared to sleep in our own rooms. I still heard faint noises throughout the night until I finally fell asleep.
What do you guys think? Do you think there could be some obvious explanation I'm overlooking? I hate feeling afraid to be in my own home and I can't keep losing sleep over this. Any advice/potential explanations would be SO appreciated. Please help!

[JudyKayTee]

Sorry, but this is more blog and less question.

The advice in these situations is to contact someone who believes in ghosts or a clergyman to "inspect" the property, order the "ghost" out.

Have you researched to see if anyone has died in the builiding?

There are also cameras and sound recording devices which you can use to catch the ghosts on tape.

[kate_dawg]

Yeah, well I don't have money to buy a bunch of equipment. I guess I was more so asking for feedback as to whether anyone else had similar experiences/ideas of what it could be/ideas of what to do.

[JudyKayTee]

Either use the search feature or simply "walk" down this category and you'll see a LOT of posts similar to yours. The suggestions for the "cure" are pretty much always the same.

[kate_dawg]

I did read a bunch of these. I wanted to share my individual experience and get it off my chest. I don't understand why that bothers you.

[JudyKayTee]

I never said it bothered me. I said to research other posts and see how it was handled. I thought I made some good suggestions. Apparently you don't think so.

You asked what people think. That's what I told you.

The rules of AMHD say to keep it brief. We are all volunteers here, some for thousands of hours. No one who is a regular (I believe) is going to sort through this. At any rate - let's see who else responds.

[kate_dawg]

And I'm telling you that I did read many other posts and wanted to share my own individual experience because it's been really upsetting me and I saw helpful feedback on some of the other posts. That's fine if you don't really feel like reading through it (I know it's long) and I do appreciate the feedback you gave me, but perhaps there is someone else out there who will want to read it and respond.

[hauntinghelper]

Since the building is empty I wouldn't say there are a LOT of obvious explanations. I find your story perfectly acceptable... these things do happen. If you've read through other's posts you will most likely see the theme in my responses.

I won't offer any explanations other then you very well could be experiencing a legit haunting. I do, however, offer advice.. and that would be to not play with it. As was mentioned earlier you might want to try and capture something on camera or recording... and those devices are fairly inexpensive. However, this won't SOLVE the problem. It really depends what you want... if you don't really care and just want to know what is going on, there are plenty of people out there to believe. If you want it gone and your sanity and sleep back ;)... I recommend you and your roommate talk to a local church. Is that something you would be open to?