The Story of a 'Haunted House'......

A Somewhat 'Rare' Perspective: 'Researcher' As 'Victim'.

Introduction:

Since moving into the property in 2003, many people, including myself, my family, friends and even a neighbour have all experienced, what now amounts to be, a considerable number of incidents of a potential paranormal nature, both within the house and its immediate proximity.

No one can explain, why these “happenings” actually occur, they just do, very randomly, and at times when we least expect. Months can actually go by without incident.  Initially, in the first year of residence at the property, although the “odd” happening did crop up, as a family we didn’t really stand up and take that much notice. It was only when the events became increasingly regular with actual “sightings” witnessed, that we finally realised “something was amiss” and from then on, observed the situation with a much more critical eye, meanwhile trying our best to remain impartial, objective and practical along the way.
 

I am now very thankful it was at this point, I decided to document the dates, times and details, as and when something out of the ordinary should arise. As a result I have now kept a “diary” which is now quite comprehensive, thankfully both acting as a “memory jogger” and a valid source of information, helping with my unsuccessful attempts to identify any patterns or trends.
As strange as it seems, as the years go by, as a consequence of the sheer amount of “Incidents” experienced, no matter how bizarre they may be, we do still forget certain things that may be of importance i.e. the time and date, sometimes even the incident itself!
 

The irony is that, Claire and myself both being members of the West Midlands Ghost Club, as part of the course, we always remain objective and rational on our investigations, and yet we are finding the events at home, much more inexplicable and perplexing than that on most actual
investigations.  

Many people do not believe in Ghosts and the paranormal, and to be honest, I feel, it is only those, who have experienced such things, that can truly appreciate and empathise with others experiencing similar kinds of events. As a family we are not attention seekers, delusional, naive or gullible and definitely do not hold any hidden agenda’s. I fully realise the attention and sometimes ridicule this type of thing can attract, and its only now at this point, that our experiences have been relayed outside of the group itself. Up until now, the West Midlands Ghost Club have monitored the events respectfully, and due to its very random nature, the events have always been treated as an ongoing “pet project,” for the group, it makes sense, that in this muddled, conflicting, theory clogged world of the paranormal, a true and honest account, of what may be a “haunted house or family”, should be given, for visitors to the West Midlands Ghost Club website and its forum to view and make up their own minds.

The details of the incidents have not been exaggerated or romanticized in any way, merely documented, as and when they have actually occurred.  It goes without saying rational explanations have always initially been pursued i.e. environmental factors, the presence of possible infrasound like vibrations, optical illusions, hypnopompic induced errors of judgment and influence from the power of suggestion etc. And I do feel, part of the reasons why these incidents have remained so remarkable is because no outside influences have so far come in to confuse and taint matters, such as psychics who would immediately try to put personalities to the “sightings” or on the other end of the scale, hard nosed sceptics who would immediately question everybody’s honesty, integrity and common sense throughout this period.

As far as I know, there is no “cut and dried” evidence to suggest what “Ghosts” actually are, or what kind of catalyst triggers these occurrences off, but the house and my family seem to be doing something. And the more we experience, the more we are baffled.  Although the odd, unsettling moment arises now and again, the atmosphere of the house has generally always been warm and welcoming.  Quite frankly, both Claire and I would not bring our children up in any environment that we feel would be threatening or psychologically damaging. Thankfully the children have never been really fazed by these incidents, and have always maturely accepted the fact, that these things seem to happen and that “Ghosts” are not things really to be
scared of, (easier said than done at times I must admit), and thankfully the incidents have often happened too quickly to be fully distressing to them.  Anyone wishing to visit the house would surely be disappointed, it is just a standard unremarkable modern semi detached, and we are just a standard modern family that remarkable things seem to happen around us, now and again, but never on demand.

Please see the following examples of the differing incidents documented throughout our time at the property, updates will be added over the months if anything should occur again.

The following is an account of the most significant. I have gone into greater detail with the more bizarre occurrences.

Happenings over the years:

Cold draughts, Footsteps, Feelings of being touched.

Knocks, bangs, rapping’s (once lasting at random points throughout the whole night and some time into the morning, never to reoccur again, the knocks at the time, seemed to respond to my movements, stopping when getting out of bed to investigate.)

Regular, very loud crashes and the sound of someone “messing around” from various points within the house and on investigation, nothing actually found out of place, (this occasionally still happens virtually up to date.)

Lighting and other electrical appliances turned on and off, and other electrical related irregularities. (Of course this may not be of paranormal origin, but it needs to be noted.)

Disembodied male and female voices heard by various family members, occasionally heard calling members by their actual names, and twice, two voices heard as if in conversation, coming from the kitchen. 

Growling, hissing, and other animal-like noises heard. Thankfully most of this was only heard in the early period of the activity.

Twice, that we know of, things have gone missing to be found in both an odd inaccessible places and also in the spot they were initially lost, many months later.

The family on returning home once found an ornamental figure on the floor in the back room, it had moved from its original spot around 7ft and not broken.

A tall figure (possibly cloaked) as been witnessed in total over the four year span, around 27 different times by all the family and a guest in different parts of the house, however it has appeared mostly in the kitchen and the area of the stairs. It seems to follow the contours of the house, i.e. moving through doorways and up the staircase. Claire once encountered the shape, in the kitchen and it physically drained her energy, for some reason? This type of apparition has also been seen by the next door neighbour in their own house.

A small black/grey shape, approx 3ft high, usually quite quick moving has also been seen numerous times in various parts of the house by the family and a guest.

A little girl has been witnessed on a few occasions, once by my youngest son who saw “her” (if it is in fact the same little girl image) in the doorway of my daughters bedroom, in negative effect. i.e. Black with white contours and creases, from what he could make out, she
appeared in Victorian dress?

Two different little boys have been seen, on different occasions one with an old fashioned basin haircut, the other in modern fashion, the way we used to dress our eldest lad in the late eighties/early nineties.

A bald, smooth skinned, disembodied head has been witnessed by two guests, members of the West Midlands Ghost Club simultaneously in my front room, both parties were very distressed and shaken, I myself was present and saw nothing. Independently to this, Claire has also seen
what looked like a “head” on two separate occasions in the same vicinity.

Men and lady images and partial representations have also been seen by two of my daughters, on many separate occasions now. These seems to be no uniformity in their dress or appearance, and from documented experiences, seem to be the only images who may be interpreted, as trying to communicate, by their actions and facial expressions.

Strangely a “lady” that appears just like Claire in a night gown, and a figure that has been mistaken for my youngest son in his house coat, have been seen by my daughter’s three times separately in different parts of the house, the “real” members of the family where in other parts of the house when these incidents occurred, dressed differently.

Objects have “fallen” a few times, too far from where they were originally situated. And objects have actually been witnessed in mid flight on separate occasions. One object would have had to be unhooked off the wall to fall, but its trajectory appeared to move as if thrown i.e. moving in a straight line witnessed by Claire and my daughter. The other was a bouncy ball “forcefully thrown” into the kitchen when Claire was actually in there, nobody else was actually home, apart from my youngest daughter who was asleep at the time in the front room. It came from the direction of the adjoining room.

My youngest son once saw a pink “potato” shaped light with a black outer lining; appear near the ceiling of the kitchen. This slowly moved downwards then disappeared totally near the floor. On closer inspection, a needle and thread were found on the floor in close proximity to where the “light” appeared. The sewing box is kept out of arms length on top of the fridge, if indeed this is where it would originate from. No one had cause to use the needle that day and the kitchen had been cleaned fully many times since the last time the box had been opened. The thread attached to the needle was not an exact match to the threads in the sewing box and of course, may in fact, not be related to the light.

A fork was dangerously put inside the toaster, the strange thing about this was my eldest son was the only person present, and had just removed the first made pieces of toast and was in the process of putting in another piece of bread. The placement of the fork must have
literally occurred in seconds between these actions.

Once on returning to the empty house, all framed photographs on a low cupboard had all been “placed” face down.

Once on returning to the empty house, washing up liquid had been found in the kettle.

On returning home to an empty house, duvets and bedclothes had been removed from two beds, in separate bedrooms, and left in disarray on the floor. Both were previously made. Approximately 10 minutes later, after the beds were remade, I noticed a cuddly toy that previously lay on the floor, was now placed on my bed. Claire had remade the beds and had not put this toy on the bed. Everybody else present was actually situated downstairs and during this time, hadn’t ventured up the stairs.

A matchbox car was found, placed on top of the bedroom wardrobe, completely in line with the edge of the wardrobe front, on its back with wheels in the air. Claire and my three year old daughter were the only people within the house, and my daughter had last been playing with it at 4.00pm until her bath time at 4.30.The car was actually discovered at 6pm when the rest of the family returned. A similar incident also occurred with a square money box, balanced precariously on the edge of a desk.

Eldest son witnessed a “pair of ladies legs” wearing white woollen socks and a “bit of a piece of skirt” walking up the stairs, a short distance away from him, on reaching the top of the stairs they moved towards the bedrooms. All the girls were asleep and no one in the household actually wears clothes of this type. This is the first time I have witnessed a member of my family get physically angry over an incident of this nature, my son demanding an explanation, of which of course, he never got.

Claire on returning from dropping the kids to school was the only person in the house, on moving to the kitchen, she found the washing machine in the centre of the room. This was in its usual place at the time of leaving the house. The machine had never moved before, and
vibration as a cause has been ruled out due to its weight and the fact, the machine was not switched on at the time.

March 17th 2008 Update: