This post deals with the paranormal, just so you know before reading it

[Mishi]

I made a joke about Shae (our resident ghost) unlatching the door as I relocked it last night because it falls open after the door has been opened and closed lots. Just after I stepped away, the lock made a clicking noise even though no one was near the door and there was no drafts. Cheeky girl!

[chrislb]

When I was maybe seven or eight, my family lived in an old house in northern Idaho that was haunted.
Don't know who or what it was but I suspect it was a man, possibly a miner because that was the main employer in that area. Whoever it was liked to clomp up and down the wood stairs just outside my room.
It was a scary sound lemme tell you. My room was almost always cold even during the summer when it felt like hell outside. And I frequently felt like I was being watched by a very angry presence.
We moved out two years later after my mother couldn't handle being disturbed by the sounds and feelings of that house.
I went back to check the place out a couple of weeks after we moved out and I saw the window where my room was had the outline of a very small person broken through the window.
Like a foot and a half to two foot tall person had jumped through the window. Scared the hell out of me and I was deathly afraid for years after that I would be followed by whatever lived in that house.

[Racket_Man]

had a real strange one happen yesterday afternoon. GF and I were watching TV and all of a sudden there was a sound like a single flute note being played for about 3 or 4 seconds coming from accross the room. it was in the room not on the TV.

we both freaked at the same time. at first I thought it might have been my dog yowling in his sleep as he was sleeping behind her chair (he often twitches and quietly barks while dreaming) but even he popped up with a WTH??? look on his face.

So I may have another something around trying to say either "I am here" or "Pay attention to me".

At least most of the time it is small things like turning off the TV when no one is touching the remote or little balls of light dancing around the ceiling or the occasional "wack" to the back of my head or maybe some creaking sound in my office.

[blas]

I'm really worried.

Mom finally saw "the mist" that is the residual activity of an old woman (we think anyway) who every night, goes up the stairs and stops at the window of my brother's old room. We never saw her go elsewhere, but apparently, mom saw it in the kitchen.

Now she wants to play with the Ouija board. I tried to explain to her that a residual haunting or a "mist" like that is like a movie on constant loop, or a scene that keeps repeating, that it's not really the same as having a ghost who shows up and messes with your stuff. And I told her under NO CIRCUMSTANCE will they mess with that devil's play toy and try to conjure up and invite anything that wants to to show up and play at the house. There's already more than 1 spirit in that house, and that's too many for my liking already, even if they are all harmless so far.

[Amusement Gal]

I'm really worried.

Mom finally saw "the mist" that is the residual activity of an old woman (we think anyway) who every night, goes up the stairs and stops at the window of my brother's old room. We never saw her go elsewhere, but apparently, mom saw it in the kitchen.

Now she wants to play with the Ouija board. I tried to explain to her that a residual haunting or a "mist" like that is like a movie on constant loop, or a scene that keeps repeating, that it's not really the same as having a ghost who shows up and messes with your stuff. And I told her under NO CIRCUMSTANCE will they mess with that devil's play toy and try to conjure up and invite anything that wants to to show up and play at the house. There's already more than 1 spirit in that house, and that's too many for my liking already, even if they are all harmless so far.

Agreed, don't let her touch one of those. That's the worst thing you can do if you see a spirit in the house. If she truly wants to try to communicate to it (when not filtered through by an invitation), she should physically talk to it. If it does nothing, she's figured it out without making your home getting crashed like a party. If she wants to be really in depth, she can make herself feel better by getting a recorder, recording while she's asking a question, and go from there. Far more direct than saying, "Party at my house, bring the Ectoplasm!".

[taurinejunkie]

This post is going to be hard to type out, but I'll do what I can, and I would like to get any info/assistance on how to deal with this.

Around 6 months ago, I had just gone to bed when I suddenly heard the sound of a powerchord being played on my guitar with the distortion I normally use (which, of course, gives a sound I can recognize instantly). Problems with that: I'm lying down under the covers; I know for a fact that my amp is turned off because of the faint but audible buzzing sound it would do just from being on; my guitar is on top of my amp. At the time it happened, I was too terrified to do anything but pull the covers closer and shut my eyes as hard as I could, until I finally fell asleep. A few days later, sitting at my computer in my room, I got randomly hit by a feeling of intense sadness, which I managed to shake off, only to have it come back once in a while since. A few points of note: my bedroom is in the basement, and my father had the house built when I was around 3 years old, so that seems to rule out the whole "consequences of something horrible happening in the building" set of possibilities. The reason why I said that this is hard to type out is that the feeling of sadness seems to hit me every time I think about talking about it to anyone.

[protege]

The reason why I said that this is hard to type out is that the feeling of sadness seems to hit me every time I think about talking about it to anyone.

I think I know what you mean. When I'd feel the 'touch' on my shoulder, I'd also feel some sadness in the room. I don't know if it was because my grandfather wasn't around...or if he was trying to tell me he was sad because he missed his grandchildren growing up, and possibly because he wasn't able to protect my grandmother when she was involved in a serious auto accident in '94. I hope he's not still feeling responsible. Nobody can blame him, he died of a heart attack 5 years prior

As for his former home (built in 1864, BTW), I'm not sure why he'd hang around there. He didn't die there--he died in the hospital. The only thing I can think of, is that he wanted to 'oversee' his family. Plus, when you consider that the land had been inhabited by various tribes for centuries, it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't the only one. I'm sure there were other spirits of ancient peoples lurking about. Again, not surprising--several settlements had been uncovered, all over that county.

[blas]

My brother and I already learned about residual hauntings, and for more proof, we've tried talking to it (nicely stating that we don't mind sharing the house, but could she please walk a little lighter footed at night), and guess what? Not a change at all. Tried to explain that to mom, that even though it's there....it's not really like something you can talk to or interact with.

[Amusement Gal]

My brother and I already learned about residual hauntings, and for more proof, we've tried talking to it (nicely stating that we don't mind sharing the house, but could she please walk a little lighter footed at night), and guess what? Not a change at all. Tried to explain that to mom, that even though it's there....it's not really like something you can talk to or interact with.

If she still insists that she wants to use the board, you might just have to tell her to talk to it herself even though you guys already did. Like you said, nothing will happen, but maybe if she does it personally, it might be a good kick to the head. I've known several stubborn people, and that's been the only way to get them to see my way of an argument. >.o

[Maria]

Does anybody know how to make a spirit go away?

I've lived in this house since I was a teen, and there is something menacing in my kitchen/den area, that occasionally ranges into my master bathroom (all of those rooms are along the back wall of the house). I've seen it on rare occasion and it scares me half to death. My husband has never seen it, but he just today told me that he often buys me fast food when I want a midnight snack, because he senses "the thing" and is afraid that he'll see it if he goes into the kitchen to grab an apple -- and I was asking him to do it because I'm afraid of the kitchen, too! And we're both generally confident in extremely dark environments, except in our own house.

The husband also said that one time he stayed overnight when we were teens, and crashed on the rug kind of between kitchen and den, something attacked him in the night and left bruises. I remember this; I thought he'd gotten bruised up playing with the younger kids or something, but he says "the thing" did it. I found all this out after my youngest sister, a few days ago, confessed to us that the "hobo yeti thing living in the sink" was why she elected to live with her mother when we were kids, instead of staying with our family. That's the most accurate description I've ever heard, for the thing.

My dad wants to sell me the house at a hefty discount, but now that I know for sure it's not just me, either that thing goes or I'm moving, and Dad will just have to find another buyer. So... anybody got any ideas on getting rid of it?

[Amusement Gal]

Does anybody know how to make a spirit go away?

Keep note, I'm not an expert. At all. I'm only going to mention what I'm familiar with. Get someone else's opinion before you go straight to using my advice.

Considering what exactly you'd be dealing with...I don't know if smudging would do anything substantial. As in, it sounds too aggressive for something as passive as sage (which is great for negativity, but something of the other nature is worrying). You could get someone of your religion of practice to bless and cleanse the house, and hopefully that would do the trick. There are also other things you can use, such as stones, prayers, and religious objects like a cross and whatnot. Sea salt and spring water are also your friend, and do well to absorb negative energy.

For stones, Quartz is a very good one to start with. Negativity gathers in corners, much like dust, so putting a quartz stone in each corner of the room you're trying to clean will help a lot. Tiger Eye is also a good thing if you intend to try to cleanse the house by yourself. It is a powerful protection stone and repels the negativity back to the source. It's best worn on a necklace to protect yourself, though, since the source of the problem is inside the house itself.

And that's about all I know. I'm going to say this: don't tackle it by yourself, if you fear physical harm will occur. There's always a possibility of this happening, especially with a spirit that causes cuts and bruises. Consult someone of your religion and ask them what you should do, or what is most effective. Go from there. These are also suggestions on how to handle it, but I think it would be best to use those afterward as a just-in-case measure, not a means of attack.

Stay safe, please.

[Mytical]

I also am not an expert by any means. I would like to add to the above. Buy a couple of white roses, and stew the petals in some water..while it is getting warm (slowly, low heat..until it first boils and then stop)..grab some salt. Next some white candles, and some incense. Go room by room. Light the candle and incense, and sprinkle the water..should purify the room..do so for about 5 or so minutes..after which sprinkle the salt on all entrances. That is windows/doors/etc. This is to prevent the spirits from getting back in once the cleansing wears off.

No need for any chanting/etc. Salt and white are purifying elements in just about every belief. Normally will not affect any friendly/helpful spirits..but any malicious ones should depart.

[Maria]

Get someone else's opinion before you go straight to using my advice.

Yes, I'm definitely just in the idea-gathering stage, and I'm not really taking anybody's opinion as fact! My family really appreciates the thoughts and ideas (yours too, Mytical!) so we have some directions to go in, and research to do, instead of just floundering aimlessly.

The husband and I decided, after a discussion of the house's construction and history, to also contact our local TAPS-affiliated organization. I feel kind of sheepish about that, but the builder cut enough corners when our neighborhood went up, that it's possible that we're dealing with phenomenally cheap, bad wiring, or something along those lines that ought to be fixed. I doubt it's that simple, but better safe than sorry, and all that.

[blas]

With the ghost in my house I had growing up (the activity got to be really obvious when my parents remodeled the kitchen), my mom told the spirit that we meant no disrespect to her and we would take care of the house and make it look great in her honor (it was another old lady ghost, seem to be the theme at every place we live), and the activity ceased until we started packing up to move away. It was as if she didn't want us to leave.

[Misanthropical]

blas when my grandmother told us a couple of years ago she was coming to visit, we started cleaning the house up, took out the old furniture we had to make room for the new furniture we were having delivered. We boxed stuff up to take to storage and that is when the activity of my home started picking up. Things like lights going on and off, more pacing the usual from Ethan and other things. I realized he thought we were moving and not telling him.

I explained to him that we weren't leaving, we were just cleaning up for my grandmother's visit. He immediately calmed down to his normal behavior. When we move my daughter and I plan on asking him if he would like to come with us.

I have been smelling perfume lately when my daughter isn't home and I'm not wearing any. It's just the smell of perfume and then it's gone. I don't know what that is about.

My little guy sees and interacts with spirits at his middle school. He has had his shirt tugged when no one else was around. He saw a shadow person in the bathroom/locker room. He has had his backpack pulled on in an empty hallway. He saw a boy looking in the window who vanished when the boy realized my little guy could see him. He has had another little boy's spirit run from him and disappear when the spirit realized my little could see him. My little guy has picked up on spirit's and living people's emotions, he hates that the most.

My daughter sees spirits more than the rest of us. Sure, we can sense them, but she sees them more. She doesn't talk about it much not even to me. I don't know why, I wish she would.

Mr. Mis is a sensitive in his own right, not as strong as the rest of us but it is there. He has told me he has felt our bed shake when I wasn't even on the same floor let alone in bed.

Right now, I am hearing people running up and down a stair case that sounds like it's coming from the other side of a wall that has nothing on the other side of it but the outdoors.

When I or my daughter are in the bathrooms, doesn't matter which one, we hear someone running up the stairs. There are loud fans in the bathrooms that turn on when the lights are turned on, so we shouldn't hear anything. Only once was someone actually running up the stairs. It was Mr. Mis who scared the bejesus out of me because I figured I was just hearing the usual sound of someone on the stairs. The boys and Mr. Mis never hear anything when they are in the bathrooms. My daughter and I have heard spirits talk to us through the fan. We usually ignore it. Only once did I respond because the man was screaming at me "DO YOU HEAR ME?" I said "yes, stop yelling at me" and that was it he didn't say anything else.

One of the houses I lived in as a child use to be the small town hospital. My mother has always had pet birds and still does as far as I know. Anyway, none of the birds that she had ever lived long while we lived in that house. They would just die. It freaked me out but I didn't say anything, since like I said, it wouldn't do any good. My dog nearly died in that house too but manged to pull through by the skin of his teeth.