[dorisdaughter]

My elderly mother and older sister bought a house in a quiet subdivision together three years ago and started having unexplained things happen. The house itself it about 15 years old. They started hearing what they thought was the bathroom door beyond the kitchen slam every night while they were sitting in the family room watching TV. At first this alarmed them and they would go check it out, but never found the door closed, and they learned to live with the noises. It got so the door would slam and they and their dog would glance that way and go on about their business.
My sister told me she figured there was an explanation for it, until one day when she was home alone she heard footsteps upstairs and that really spooked her.

My mom's bedroom is directly over that area and she would hear other loud crash type noises at night, while my sister who slept down the hall with her door closed would hear nothing. My mother crept down the stairs several different nights in the dark to look to make sure no one was breaking in, but nothing would be out of place and the noise would stop.

At one time, the three of us went on a trip together and had my 22 year old son spend the week there to watch the dog. I had never mentioned anything about the noises to him. About a week after we got back I remembered and asked him if he had had anything strange happen while he was there. He looked directly at me and said

" That's the creepiest damn house I've ever stayed in and I'll never stay there again."

He then went on to tell me that after the first night of hearing what sounded like someone clearing off the counters , he was totally spooked and had a friend come stay with him for the rest of the week. He said that the crashes were unbelievable and he fully expected the kitchen to be a mess in the morning, but when he went down nothing was out of place. After not finding a reasonable explanation for the noises he would simply go to bed and turn on the TV, LOUD so that he wouldn't have to hear it. He said that the dog was always right by him, so that wasn't it. He also believes that it's all the "old stuff" (antiques) they own, not the house itself.

Fast forward two years. My mother is living there alone now and hears noises most nights. Some nights she leaves the TV on so she won't have to listen. I've told her to keep a diary of the occurrences and compare them to see if there is a pattern. I'm not sure she has done that, she brushes most of it off, but I believe she is somewhat spooked.

Today she told me she awoke at 2 am last night to use the bathroom and as she was walking by the hallway door she heard music. I asked her what type of music? Big band? Rock? Could it have been outside?
She said it was "just a little melody" directly over her shoulder. She slipped downstairs in the dark again to look around and the music stopped.

I have stayed there on 3 different nights and heard nothing. I'm not really sure I want to though...

Has anyone else experienced anything like this and what do you think we should do?

I don't want to scare her out of living there, although I have offered to have her move in with me, but being the practical, independent woman that she is, she refused.

[Clough]

The first thing that I would do is check to see if there is a logical explanation to the things that are being heard. If this is a quiet subdivision, then it's possible that some of the noises could be coming from neighboring homes, and your mom and sister's home could be acting like some sort of resonating chamber from the sounds of a home or homes that are nearby. It happens in my home, where sounds from the outside are amplified on the inside.

How close are the homes to each other?

I am wondering how the dog reacted?

I don't want to discount that something paranormal isn't happening because I have had plenty enough unexplainable evidence for things happening in my own life and the places where I have lived. But, the first thing that I would do, is to check for the logical explanations.

Those are my thoughts, anyway...

[dorisdaughter]

Thanks for your response Clough,

Our first thoughts were that there had to be a logical explanation for the noises that happen, especially the door slamming. Suction created in the house when the furnace/ac kicked on etc. but if that's the case why doesn't it happen during the day? Also, There was a full house inspection when they bought the place and no critters are in the walls or anything like that. It is a very well taken care of house.

I probably would still believe there was a logical explanation, had it not been for my son staying there and hearing the same things. We had not told him ANYTHING about the noises for fear that he would not stay there and watch the dog for them.

Their house is on about a 1/2 acre so the houses are not on top of each other. Mom really feels that the noises are coming from inside the house, actually directly below her bedroom which is the area that they hear the door slamming each night.

She never really said how the dog reacted other than when they would hear a door slam he would become alert and look in that direction. When my Mom would hear crashes coming from downstairs during the middle of the night the dog was always behind a closed door in my sister's bedroom, and she never heard the night noises, so we don't know how the dog reacted. Also, the dog was old and probably couldn't hear too well anyway.

There is one thing I just thought of. Three weeks ago my husband and I were having renovations on our house and had to spend two nights with her. We didn't hear a thing, and Mom said she didn't hear anything either . I had my 2 cats with me and they continued to stay with her for another week. One of the cats would not come out from under the couch in the living room while the other one stayed upstairs most of the time.

[rainmonkies]

Ok, Im definitely no where near an expert on this subject but I do have an opinion.

It seems that if there is indeed something paranormal going on in this house and has been for the past 3 years, that there is most likely no big threat going on. But then again because of the way the animals behave when they are there almost contradicts that thought. Not saying that there is something bad existing there and could possibly cause harm, just saying that whatever is there is lost in reliving their old life and not very happy.

Who knows, maybe there was something like an alcoholic that had lived there before and accidentally passed away from something and their life before they passed was just a miserable existence, but they continue to not 'pass on' and stay there in a time warp, looping again and again every night.

But like I said, definitely not an expert on these types of things. Just giving an opinion. And don't really know what to say on what could help the situation except if it hasn't doesn't anything besides giving everyone bad nights of sleep, I would say not to try anything further.

My grandma used to have a ghost. At first it used to scare the crap out of her. Opening and closing doors, pulling up the blinds on the windows, turning off and on lights. But after awhile she came to just live with him. Even named him Harvey. When he would mess around with something she would yell at him 'Harvey cut it out! Im not in the mood!' and the occurrences would stop until the next day or evening. They were almost a weird pair of friends.