Can A New House Be Haunted? Or Are We Losing Our Minds?

[DMark]

We have had this house for 5 years. Built new. Watched it being built and and were the first to live here.

OK.

Of late:

A week ago, I was in the back yard and my SO was sleeping (he works nights) and suddenly he came downstairs and said, "What?!"
I looked at him and said, "what are you talking about?"
"You just yelled my name."
"Uh, no I didn't"
He could have sworn on bibles that I just called his name and it woke him up.

Two nights ago, while he was at work, I was fast asleep and at 1:15 AM I hear footsteps in the hallway of the house. Mind you, we have an alarm system that is very good, and if anyone had broken into the house, I would have known. I thought it was my SO who had come home from work early and called out to him. Nothing. I went out of the bedroom and looked around and saw nothing.

Tonight...sitting here reading through the threads at midnight, I hear "click" and went out and the lights in the living room next to the den were suddenly shut off! They are on a dimmer switch less than three feet from my computer!

This is very strange, but true. Any theories?

[pepperlandgirl]

Incident one: Audio hallucination.

Incident two: Dreaming or half-asleep. I hear all sorts of crazy shit and think I'm awake until I actually wake up.

Incident three: Burnt out bulbs or blown fuse.

[Gala Matrix Fire]

Just because it's a new house doesn't mean it wasn't built on an ancient, Indian burial ground. I'd wait and see if anything more colorful happens, such as blood pouring down the walls, then I'd get the hell out of there fast.

[Bad Samaritan]

What bluethree said. When skeletons show up in the pool, or the voice whispers "GET OUT!" - it's time to move.

Actually, me & the wife just moved into our 1-1/2 year old dream home 2 months ago and she claims it's haunted too. I chalk up the unusual noises to new house settling and whatnot, but she's not so sure.

[Marlitharn]

Do any of your closet doors lead to an interdimensional portal into an evil alternate universe where everyone wears a goatee?

If not, what pepperlandgirl said.

[Eliahna]

My mother's friend was convinced that her new home was haunted or possessed, so she got a priest in to bless the place. She seems to that that's done the trick.

YMMV.

(Personally, I think she could hire her daughter out to haunt houses, but the priest didn't even glance at the girl)

[Phlosphr]

newness or oldness of a house really doesn't matter if you have a poltergeist.

But thats rubbish as we all know.

On a serious note. Your mind can play some interesting tricks on your empirical senses. Why I once screams out when the door to my bedroom wouldn't open, and all I wanted to do was get out at 3 a.m. to pee. My wife calmly reminded me that it was humid, and the door just expanded over night because we had the window open...and all I needed to do was give a good tug... :rolleyes:

Don't worry D I doubt you home is haunted. :)

[DocCathode]

I've probably mentioned this before.

My apartment is haunted.

At first, it was just finding things rearranged, or that my antiques had been cleaned while I slept. Then, it was waking to find some one standing in my bedroom mumbling. Then, he'd appear for a split second as I walked around my place during the day. I began to build an image of the man. It was the birthmark on his left shoulder that finally did it.

He's me.

Oh, he's a few decades older. He's got several scars that I don't. He mumbles in either Yiddish or German. I speak neither. But, I recognize the coat he's wearing. One just like it, including the missing buttons and the many repairs I've made, hangs in my closet. And every time I look in the mirror, my face is a little more like his.

[CrazyCatLady]

You know, I used to think my parents' house was haunted. We built new, and about a week after we moved in, I woke up at the asscrack of dawn on Sunday morning to find a dark-haired woman in a blue gown sitting on the side of my bed. I figured it was my dark-haired mother wearing her blue nightgown. I rolled over to go back to sleep and thought "Hmm, Mom never sits on my bed unless I'm sick." Then I realized that I felt just fine and sat up to ask Mom why she was watching me sleep, and she was gone. A trip through the house revealed that nobody else was up, and nobody had been up and gone back to sleep. Odd, but not creepy until I went exploring the lot next to ours, which had an old family cemetary. There's exactly one headstone still standing and legible, that of a woman who died in her mid-thirties during the Civil War.

Then, a few months later, I started hearing the creaking upstairs when I was alone in the house. My bedroom floor squeaked, and my brother's didn't. I'd hear creaks progressing across my end of the upstairs, just like someone was walking across my room. Then it would be silent for about the time it would take to cross the hall, walk across his room and back, and re-enter my room. Then the creaks would go from the hallway to my exterior wall, and back, just like someone had walked from my door to my window and back. Silence again, then that pattern of creaks. There were other noises, too, things that sounded like the house settling. That rhythmic creaking, though, that didn't sound like the house settling. It sounded for all the world like someone was up there, pacing across our bedrooms, and it used to scare the crap out of me.

[Jodi]

"Can A New House Be Haunted? Or Are We Losing Our Minds?"

Couldn't it be both? ;)


Sorry. That's just my stock answer when anyone asks, "Am I crazy, or . . . .?"

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

It could be an Undead Chicken.







You know.



A Poltrygeist.



:D ;) :p

[elfkin477]

Just because it's a new house doesn't mean it wasn't built on an ancient, Indian burial ground. I'd wait and see if anything more colorful happens, such as blood pouring down the walls, then I'd get the hell out of there fast.

Heh. My mother and I were talking about this last week- our house being built for us so it couldn't be haunted. But then she said " You know, though, this land used to be a state park. It's in the middle of no where....what better place to bury a hitch hiker you picked up and murdered?" :p

[Sunspace]

I'd check out the "Sacred Baptist Burial Ground" angle... just in case.

Also, check whether any old roads or trails went through your property. Might be good to know whether there was a three-hundred-year-old crossroads inder your garage...

[dnooman]

The only people that might have an encouraging word for you, are the people that have experienced what you have.

Find them. Talk with them. Then seek therapy collectively.;)

Most people accustomed to our current mode of reality are quite sceptical (to say the least) to new modes of reality. Proof is the best way to keep these people from hanging out too long here.

[KRC]

I'd say that the first two experiences you described were probably hypnogic hallucinations (a very vivid waking dream.) The last may have been a fuse problem.

But, if it persists, yell at the ghost "Get the (blank blank blankety blank) out of here right now, you (blank blank.) Throw stuff at him and let him know this isn't his house anymore. I mean, just because somebody has the misfortune of being dead doesn't give him an excuse to harass the living. Being dead doesn't give you special rights. ;)

[danceswithcats]

Being dead doesn't give you special rights. ;)

[Monty Python voice]But I have an official permit for haunting.
Where did you get that?
From the ministry of haunting.
It's nothing more than a card that's been filled out with crayon!
But that's still official enough. [/voice]

[Largo62]

I once woke up to see a thin young man standing in my bedroom doorway. He began telling me of his travels to out-of-the-way places and conversations with interesting people like farmers, blacksmiths and rodeo bull riders. Then he gave his opinion about each of them in a flat midwestern twang.












Turned out he was a Bill Geist.

[Beauty Personified]

Phlosphr - When ya gotta pee, ya gotta pee. :D

Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor - Poultrygeist (http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=Poultrygeist#)?

Anyhoo...

[glee]

If you can prove your house is haunted, you will be the first person ever to do so. :eek:
I hereby offer to act as your agent to deal with the incredible wealth that will flow your way from TV companies, paranormal investigators and tourists. :cool:

Or, as others have pointed out, it could all be mundane. :o



Being dead doesn't give you special rights. ;)

Classic! :D

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Things could be worse. CLICK HERE. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1259672,00.html)

[bughunter]

Do any of your closet doors lead to an interdimensional portal into an evil alternate universe where everyone wears a goatee?
I have an armoire with a window that looks into an alternate universe where the men all wear goatees, and the women are all silicone-enhanced bisexual nymphos.

Does that count?

[Abbie Carmichael]

I'm going to pretend you're sincerely asking this question and answer it accordingly.

It's possible you're just paranoid.

But to answer your question, yes, I think a new house can be haunted. Evil spirits have to be invited in, but it's not like you have to consciously invite them (it's not like they play fair). Coulda been you had a house guest that had a few of 'em hanging around them and at least one of them decided to stay. Got any Ouija boards in the house? Demons love 'em (tarot cards too). If you seriously think something's hanging out in your house, look around and see if there's anything questionable that could be attracting evil spirits and get rid of it.

If you've still got problems and think something's there, call a priest.

[Zebra]

You house was built by a...Construction Company?

Constructions Companies sometimes have...MOB TIES?


Some body was poured into your... BASEMENT WALL?



Or your new house has much settling to do. Anyway keep a diary of the weird and unexplained. You know for the investigators to find when they find your house empty with a half eaten breakfast still on the table.

[DocCathode]

Things could be worse. CLICK HERE. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1259672,00.html)

Bah! That's nothing.

I have to deal with a pissed off domovoi.

[bughunter]

You mean one of these (http://www.houseofhotsauce.com/img/blog/0304/domokun.jpg)?

[DocCathode]

Nyet. I mean one of these (http://www.sunbirds.com/lacquer/readings/1052)

My domovoi looks more than a bit like Grampa Boris of the Rugrats (http://www.cust.idl.com.au/boyd/pics/s06.jpg) (Not surprising as they often resemble dead male relatives), though he is shorter, more furry, and has larger ears and nose than Boris.

[I Love Me, Vol. I]

I have an armoire with a window that looks into an alternate universe where the men all wear goatees, and the women are all silicone-enhanced bisexual nymphos.

Does that count?Naah... my apartment window looks out on the same place. San Francisco.

[MaryEFoo]

bughunter, your armoire opens to a display of goatee'd men and enhanced bisexual nympho women? How much plot or characterization do you get, is there any socially redeeming value? :D

[glee]

But to answer your question, yes, I think a new house can be haunted. Evil spirits have to be invited in, but it's not like you have to consciously invite them (it's not like they play fair). Coulda been you had a house guest that had a few of 'em hanging around them and at least one of them decided to stay. Got any Ouija boards in the house? Demons love 'em (tarot cards too). If you seriously think something's hanging out in your house, look around and see if there's anything questionable that could be attracting evil spirits and get rid of it.

If you've still got problems and think something's there, call a priest.

Given this is the Straight Dope - dedicated to stamping out ignorance, you're scaring me slightly.
Did you mean any of the above post?

If so, I have some further questions for you...