# OK, I don't believe in ghosts, BUT... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704 "2006-08-07T16:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/1 "2006-08-07T16:44:50Z")
We have a house that is about 110 years old. From time to time, we have heard noises that…well, let’s just say that they do not seem to have a source. The other night, my husband (finally!) got the 2-year-old to fall asleep, but she was in her big-girl bed, not in the crib. He didn’t want to move her into the crib right away, for fear of waking her again, so he came downstairs to wait for awhile before going up to move her (the bed didn’t have guardrails on it yet, so I didn’t want to let her sleep in it the whole night). I was just commenting to my husband that I was a little concerned, leaving her up there (she has a tendency to roll around a lot), when suddenly we heard a loud THUD! from right over our heads. Her room is right above our family room, so of course, I jump up and run upstairs. I get to her room…and she is sound asleep, right in the middle of the bed, where he left her. No one else lives with us, except a cat and a parrot. Neither of them appeared to have made this thud. As I said, I don’t really believe in ghosts, but after that, I think I could become convinced. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/2 "2006-08-07T17:11:19Z")
At about age 10 I heard a laboured scratchy breathing noise in the house, opening a door to the next room it got louder. I slammed the door and ran upstairs to my mum. The house is 400 years old. It turned out that both my father and mother had heard this sound before, but had never mentioned it to us kids. It’s believed to be my father’s grandmother who died in the room where the noise was loudest. I would have liked to have put her to rest, why did this sound remain behind? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/3 "2006-08-07T18:33:22Z")
The thud was the cat. If you had two, you’d be waking in the middle of the night swearing that there were horses galloping through your living room. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/4 "2006-08-07T18:44:02Z")
Good point Count. It could also be the parrot imitating the noise of the cat’s thud. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/5 "2006-08-07T18:50:45Z")
> [@Bam Boo Gut](#): > > Good point Count. It could also be the parrot imitating the noise of the cat’s thud. Stick around, man. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/6 "2006-08-07T18:57:20Z")
> [@Count Blucher](#): > > The thud was the cat. If you had two, you’d be waking in the middle of the night swearing that there were horses galloping through your living room. It seriously was not her. We have had the same house and the same cat for 7 years (well, the cat for longer), and we had 2 cats when we moved in. We have never heard a thud like this…and the cat is a little elderly now, and is not prone to doing much other than sleeping on the bed (which is what she was doing when I ran upstairs). > [@Bam Boo Gut](#): > > Good point Count. It could also be the parrot imitating the noise of the cat’s thud. And IF the cat was prone to thudding, no doubt the parrot could learn to imitate it. But he was in the room with us, and while he can imitate pretty darn well, I have not yet heard him throw his voice to another room. Any other suggestions for what it might have been? ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/7 "2006-08-07T18:58:34Z")
> [@Count Blucher](#): > > The thud was the cat. If you had two, you’d be waking in the middle of the night swearing that there were horses galloping through your living room. I have only one cat, and he can do an amazing imitation of an entire heard of wildebeest running up the stairs ! ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/8 "2006-08-07T19:03:32Z")
Any trees or utility lines over the house? We often have a squirrel or a raccoon drop onto the roof from an overhanging branch and it sounds much like you describe. In a quiet house it could have come from the roof above you and sounded like the next floor. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/9 "2006-08-07T19:08:34Z")
Well, as the house is old, there are all sorts of creaking and groaning noises as boards swell and shrink. Very slim possibility that the kid fell out of bed and got back in again. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/10 "2006-08-07T19:13:14Z")
Old houses creak and groan and make seriously strange noises. It was not a ghost, I’m quite sure of that. Unless someone committed suicide in that room… Seriously, I’m kidding. My apartment complex is only about 30 + years old and when you sit in the spare room you can hear what sounds exactly like footsteps over head; that sort of creaking and groaning. And there is no apartment above us, just a crawl space for the attic. I am quite sure it’s not ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/11 "2006-08-07T19:17:02Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Any other suggestions for what it might have been? Demons… happens all the time. Found any unusual amulets lately? Read aloud an incomprehensible passage from a bit of parchment? Thrice chanted the name of an elder god? ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/12 "2006-08-07T19:20:58Z")
> [@Count Blucher](#): > > The thud was the cat. If you had two, you’d be waking in the middle of the night swearing that there were horses galloping through your living room. LOL so true, sometimes I wonder if there’s a stampede going past my bed at 6am. You know these old houses have a lot of wood in them that can creek and crack, and as the house swells and contracts through the seasons the boards slip past each other and can make loud thuds. Maybe it was this? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/13 "2006-08-07T19:21:30Z")
> [@Bam Boo Gut](#): > > Well, as the house is old, there are all sorts of creaking and groaning noises as boards swell and shrink. Very slim possibility that the kid fell out of bed and got back in again. > [@Anaamika](#): > > Old houses creak and groan and make seriously strange noises. It was not a ghost, I’m quite sure of that. Unless someone committed suicide in that room… > > Seriously, I’m kidding. My apartment complex is only about 30 + years old and when you sit in the spare room you can hear what sounds exactly like footsteps over head; that sort of creaking and groaning. And there is no apartment above us, just a crawl space for the attic. I am quite sure it’s not ghosts. I completely agree that old houses (and not so old houses) make noise…this is how I have always managed to dismiss the idea of ghosts, but I’m telling you, it was a THUD. It sounded like someone fell out of bed (except, maybe someone heavier than a 2-year-old). No chance she fell out and got back in again…she was sound asleep, and it took all of 30 seconds for me to run up the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/14 "2006-08-07T19:22:55Z")
> [@Bobotheoptimist](#): > > Demons… happens all the time. > > Found any unusual amulets lately? Read aloud an incomprehensible passage from a bit of parchment? Thrice chanted the name of an elder god? Now, don’t freak me out, man. Ghosts I can handle, but demons…AACK!!! I just read a novel about demonic possession. Scared the heck out of me. I know you are teasing me, but STOP!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/15 "2006-08-07T19:23:46Z")
Here’s one for ya…my wife and I heard a noise from upstairs-it was a very pronounced "thud’-lie something being dropped on the floor! This would happen every few minutes-so, plucking up my courage, I walked upstairs. The explanantion? Our dog wanted to drink from the toilet bowl-and he was pushing his snout under the seat. he would get it up a few inches, then "thud’it would drop back down! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/16 "2006-08-07T19:24:28Z")
Baby Monitor! With a video feed. Bet you can get it cheap from Goodwill or Salvation Army. Then you’ll know what horrors lurk upstairs. Plus you can check on your baby. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/17 "2006-08-07T19:28:46Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Now, don’t freak me out, man. Ghosts I can handle, but demons…AACK!!! I just read a novel about demonic possession. Scared the heck out of me. > I know you are teasing me, but STOP!!! 😃 Ok, I’m sorry! It’s probably just ghosts… well, “ghost”. They don’t tend to congregate in herds, IIRC. Demons are messy, noisy, smelly, much like small children in many respects, mut this doesn’t sound demonic to me. I wouldn’t worry. I also wouldn’t do any chanting nor reading aloud from… Well, you know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/18 "2006-08-07T19:30:05Z")
ralph124c - I’ve got one of those: Rhythmic knocking on the door, I look out and there’s no-one there! Woooohoooohoooo I look down, and there’s the neighbours dog wagging his tail heartily against the door! Bats make odd noises too, but thudding - is it one thud at a time or many thuds. Does it happen without warning - thuddenly like? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/19 "2006-08-07T19:31:06Z")
Our house is 100+ years old, too. We have walnut trees in our yard, and with this extremely hot summer, the walnuts occasionally drop early. Sometimes it sounds like a bowling ball was dropped on the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704/20 "2006-08-07T19:32:24Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > I completely agree that old houses (and not so old houses) make noise…this is how I have always managed to dismiss the idea of ghosts, but I’m telling you, it was a THUD. It sounded like someone fell out of bed (except, maybe someone heavier than a 2-year-old). > > No chance she fell out and got back in again…she was sound asleep, and it took all of 30 seconds for me to run up the stairs. [Maxwell Smart] OK…so the Cat and the Parrot had an alibi. But, before your child was born, to your knowledge, they were your sole heirs. The sound was of something approximating the weight of a child hitting a floor hard. This could well have been a ‘dry run’ for an attempt on your child’s life. Now then, who could the Cat and the Parrot have hired to do the job? Have there been any strange animals or pets hanging about your propery? Personally, I smell a Rat. Unless that’s your aftershave, and then I think its Wonderful![/Maxwell Smart] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-i-dont-believe-in-ghosts-but/367704.md?page=2)