[1dra7]

It's been a long time since my family and I moved into this small apartment complex. Ever since I can remember, I've believed in Ghosts. And no, I'm not crazy.

It all started when I was a newborn, still in the crib. My mother told me this story.
1. She says, that one night, she was alone. She was on our old desktop computer, looking up colleges and such. She said she felt something staring at her. She turned around to our back porch and noticed someone standing there. She knew who it was.
His name was Ryan, if I'm not mistaken.
She was friends with him. One day, he was drunk, wandering along the street. He dropped a beer bottle, and ran out to get it. Next thing he knew, a truck was in front of him. His arm was destroyed. It was amputated before he passed. He died in the hospital.
Anyway, she claims to have seen him staring at her. He was transparent. He had no arm on his left side. His right arm was hanging down at his side. He turned and walked away.

2. I was still in the crib. Perhaps... about a few months old. Not sure.
Another story from my mother, by the way.
She got hungry at night. She went downstairs and made some 'grits' in the microwave. When she got them out, she walked next to our back porch (it's a sliding glass door), and she saw three hands climb up the door. Quickly, like a dog running up it.
It took a few hours to clean up her mess of food, according to my dad.

3. Now, this next story takes place just after my family and I returned to the beach. I was seven, I believe. ANOTHER story by my mother. Very simply put, she was outside reading on a lawn chair. She looked up and saw a man, just like Ryan, but older and in a painter's outfit. He disappeared.

4. Enough about my mother, this story actually happened to me. I was in the fifth grade. My parents, on my birthday, bought me a toy claw. (You know, those things you put a quarter in at the arcade to win stuffed animals/candy?)
Anyway, we put it in my room. We stuffed it with Candy so we could just play around and try to get some whenever we were bored. Of course, you could just reach in and get the candy yourself, instead of using the claw to pick it up.
Well, that night, we sat it on an empty table.

I was sleeping, waiting for school the next day. I woke up at about 2/3 o'clock in the morning, on accident.

You see, the claw machine had turned on.
The machine played this... 'clown' music whenever it turned on. I don't know where to find a song file, but this is close enough. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0&feature=related at 0:40)

It played that tune, and it was LOUD. So loud, it woke me up. And the claw was moving. NOTHING could have set it off. You have to physically put something in it to turn it on. (Coin)

Me being a kid, I thought my mom or dad were trying to get candy. I looked up and said, "What are you doing!?" And looked at the hallway just by my bedroom door. Nobody was there, and the claw hand was moving and dangling.
Like someone had been messing with it.
My mom came in and said, "(My name)! Go to bed!" And then I barely opened my eyes to seem like I was sound asleep. She looked at me, and gawked. She was as terrified as I was. She saw it had turned on by itself, and she immediately grabbed it and pulled out the batteries, and took it downstairs and put it in a closet.
Don't worry, I wasn't upset. I didn't want that thing back after that.

5. Maybe this is out of pure luck, but who knows? My mom's phone had a ghost detector (by Spud Pickles) on it. I got bored and decided to play around. A dot appeared on it, (symbolizing a ghost) and showed that it was right on us. My father was in the room at the time, and the phone just said nonsense stuff.
"By." "Train." "Horse."
Well, dad went to the store to buy some stuff for us to eat for dinner.
My mom decided to change out the towels and such in the bathroom, since they were a little dirty. (You know, stepping out on towels after a bath. Dog disobedience causing them to pee on the towels. Gross.)
Well, anyway, she went into the bathroom with two towels and shut the door.
I had the detector on still, and the dot remained set on the phone. I stick my back to the bathroom closet door.
"Back."
I jump up in excitement and slight scare.
"What?" Mom asks from the bathroom.
"This thing just said back and I stuck my back to the closet!" I shout.
"Change."
"It said change." I say to my mom.
"...I'm changing out the towels." She says with a gawk. She opens up the door.
"Open."
The dot turns red, showing it had a sign of strong energy.
By now, we're laughing because it's saying these things.
"Laugh."
And that did it. We ran into my parents' bedroom and sat on the bed.
"Run." The phone says, and the dot goes away.

6. My dad's phone was with my mother and I that day. He left it in the car.
We were going to the bank to deposit some money to pay some bills.
I say to mom, "I feel like there's something in the car." Kidding, of course. She laughed.
I jokingly said, "If there's a spirit here...make a song play on Dad's phone."
You know what? A rap song turned on. The phone was closed, so nothing could have activated it. Mom just opens her mouth wide, and I look at her in amazement.
"...Okay, if there's one now, turn the song off." I say.
The song turns off.

---
Of course, there are other instances that are really too small to put on here. Such as hearing walking, seeing shadows out of the corner of my eye, etc. I remember one time, our Radio always turned on by itself at about 9:00 at night. I also always feel like I'm being watched when I'm alone.

And no, we're not crazy. My mom and I really are the only ones in the household who believe in the paranormal.

Anyway, I just want your opinion. Could all this be explained by natural causes? Or is my house haunted?

[hauntinghelper]

Could it be explained as natural? Yes.. although explaining the sight of those who have passed is hard to do... but still do able. Could have been someone window peeping and it just reminded her of him.

Could these things be paranormal? Yes, they could.

And nobody has to be crazy to experience these things. It doesn't sound like you're desperate to get rid of these experiences, but I'll add that these things don't have to happen and there is always hope in removing them.

[1dra7]

Could it be explained as natural? Yes..although explaining the sight of those who have passed is hard to do...but still do able. Could have been someone window peeping and it just reminded her of him.

Could these things be paranormal? Yes, they could.

And nobody has to be crazy to experience these things. It doesn't sound like you're desperate to get rid of these experiences, but I'll add that these things don't have to happen and there is always hope in removing them.

Nobody could have been window peeping. Our porch is high off the ground, and the apartment we live in separates each porch from the neighbors. Nobody could have been on it. And I'm not really desperate to rid of them. I actually kinda' like them here.

[hauntinghelper]

Have fun with that then...