The haunted house question in GQ reminded me of an occurence that haunted me (no pun intended) as a kid.
Setting: 35 story sky-scraper in HI. Reported by Glen Grant (an expert on ghost sitings in HI, and a former UH prof, IIRC) to have a higher suicide rate than any other building in HI, as well as supposedly being built on a sacred Hawaiian pool (a good change from buildings built on burial grounds, I suppose).
The story: When I was in grade school - fifth grade, or so - I had a paper route in the building I lived in, and described above. Every Sunday morning (I delivered the Sunday paper and the evening papers) as I walked the halls, there was a tapping (kind of like a fingernail tapping on hard wood) in the walls (solid concrete wallpapered with a textured vinylish wallpaper, as best as I could tell) that seemed to be following me, which is to say that it was right beside me at all times. The only time it stopped is when I stopped walking or when I crossed a doorway (which necessarily required a break in the wall). Nothing all that spooky, per se, but definitely very vaguely creepy.
What made it even creepier is that I never could figure out what it could be, short of something supernatural. Here’s some hypotheses of mine, and reasons they don’t seem to work for me.
It was part of my “newspaper bag” or something in it. Presumably I would have heard it even walking past doorways. But the sound stopped at doorways regardless. Plus I heard it even when I didn’t have the bag.
It was something on/in my shoes. It happened with different shoes and, again, I would’ve heard it while crossing doorways. FTR, the hallways were carpeted.
It was something (natural) in the walls. The walls were solid concrete. I suppose it could have been pipes, but then the sound would’ve continued (and been less localized) even when I stopped walking.
Insanity. My mom also heard it, and she’s not the type to humor me for the hell of it. Of course this doesn’t necessarily rule out insanity, but still…
Echos from me walking. The most plausible, in that it accounts for the silence at doorways, though still not perfect. For one thing, having discounted my bag, shoes, watch (which I sometimes wore and sometimes didn’t, and which was digital anyway), and the fact that I carried no keys (for efficiency’s sake we left our door unlocked) there really were no solid objects to tap against each other. Secondly, sound really doesn’t echo well in those hallways. Sadly, I forget if the tapping corresponded in time with my footsteps or not. I don’t think it did, but I could be wrong there.
Really lame ghosts. Due to a lack of an alternate explanation, I’m going with this for now. Any other explanations will be warmly embraced, of course.
Lame assed ghost, I’d say. Of course, I’m more inclined to nelieve that sort of thing than most people, so I’m probably not the one to ask. Can’t help you much, but there was a thread a couple of months back about ghost stories you might find interesting. I don’t have time to look for it now, but I think it was started by MagicalSilverKey, if that helps with the search.
I’ve been to the building KKBattousai’s talking about, so…
First guess: the flooring. I thought maybe your footsteps were making something creak or tap against something else. But then again, the flooring is carpet secured to concrete, so it seems unlikely. I can ask my dad (who often works in the building) exactly how the carpet is held down. If it’s glued, then it can’t be the flooring.
Second guess: the lighting. The flourescent lights in the office where I worked at UH made a tapping noise. But 1) the tapping noise was more metallic sounding, 2) it was pretty obvious the noise was coming from the lights, and 3) it was a fast tapping. There would be no way your footsteps could match its pace. You’d remember that it didn’t match your footsteps. Besides, if I remember correctly, the lights (flourescent or not) don’t go all the way down the hall; they’re just at each doorway. So they couldn’t make the sound.
Audrey’s right about the fluorescents. Just at the doorways and, in fact, there are no other light sources in the hallways in my building. There also aren’t any motion detectors as far as I can tell.
I’ll go see if I can find MSK’s thread. Maybe the lame ass tapping ghosts have friends…
The carpet is secured to a concrete floor or is there a pad? If they used glue and didn’t stretch the carpet properly, it could make a tapping noise as your feet pressed down on the carpet, compressing the glue, and then it would tap or pop as your foot came off and the glue released the carpet. This happens also when they use too much glue. In an entryway or doorway, the carpet would be joined using a carpet joining strip or whatnot, and would not be glued down. It wouldn’t necessarily have to follow your footsteps as you walked because the glue may not release the carpet immediately. This is where my money’s at. Improperly glued and stretched carpet.
There’s always somebody who uses the so-called “paranormal” to try to hide the truth. Everbody knows there’s no such thing as ghosts.
Seriously though, it’s interesting you and others heard a noise. Worth an investigation.
But it’s a very long way from that to assuming that:
some part of a human remains after death
they’re able to communicate by making a noise
but not in any other way (unless you count influencing suicides)
no-one is using this to make money* out of credulity
35 story sky-scraper in HI: reported by Glen Grant (an expert on ghost sitings in HI) to have a higher suicide rate than any other building in HI, as well as supposedly being built on a sacred Hawaiian pool…
*like this guy perhaps.
Glen Grant is an “expert” because 1) no one else in Hawaii is as well-known for their interest in supernatural phenomena, and 2) he’s never disputed it. Homer, my dad said they used double-stick pad under the carpet.
