Living in a Haunted House?

People seem to be most scared by the unknown. When the average person hears movement in the middle of the night in a dark room, their mind will tell them that they should be afraid because they do not know the source of the sound.

While it is very possible that the strange sound, faint voices or footsteps moving around could be nothing more than creepy coincidences and loose floor boards, it is also possible that something more paranormal is taking place.

The following is a list of experiences that have been reported in haunted houses and buildings. While it is impossible to declare an establishment haunted just by the existence of one of the below items, a collection of multiple listed items would suggest an increased chance of paranormal activity. They are:

-- Sounds coming from places where no sounds should be coming from. Movement in an empty closet or footsteps in the empty room upstairs.

-- The loss of important items that are not usually lost. Keys that are always hung on a particular hook all of a sudden go missing, or a book that is always on a particular shelf has been moved.

-- Is the electricity acting up? Do lights turn off and on by themselves? Does the television or radio do the same thing?

-- Does the mood of your pets change? It has often been taught that animals are more sensitive to paranormal activity, so whenever you hear a sound coming from an unknown source, your dog or cat may see an actual figure creating the sound. Watch for fear of entering certain areas of the home or barking/hissing at entities unseen by you.

-- Sudden negative changes in a person's attitude or demeanor? Does the normally happy-go-lucky child suddenly become depressed or agitated for no apparent reason?

-- Constant feelings of being watched. There's no way to describe it, people just know when it feels like a pair of eyes is peering at them.

-- Is there knocking or scratching in the walls...after you've checked for pests?

-- Do doors, cupboards, or drawers appear to open and close on their own?

-- Does a child have an imaginary friend? In most cases this is a healthy trait and encourages an active imagination, but there have been instances where children claim to know the difference between an imaginary friend and a real friend and they refuse to call their friend "imaginary". Children (perhaps because of their innocence) are also presumed to be more sensitive to the paranormal.

-- Are there any cold spots in the house? These are areas that maintain low degrees of temperature even though the air around them is room temperature or warmer.

-- The corner of the eye effect. This is when shapes, figures, and shadows appear out of the corner of your eye but vanish when you turn your head to verify their existence. This may be the cause of an eyelash, but repeated experiences may be something much stranger.

That's just a basic list.

Basically, any sort of unexplained event that happens in the home has the chance of being paranormal in nature. Before jumping to any conclusions, concerned home residents are urged to investigate every possible explanation before calling in an exorcist. In many instances, the "haunting" can be relieved by calling a repairman to fix the shaking pipes in the walls or by getting a prescription from a psychologist.

When every possible solution has been explored and the resident still believes that the problem is paranormal, a bit of research may shed some light on the problem. Search the Internet for any major stories that may have involved the address, location, or area in question. Remember that houses are built and torn down over and over again, so the problem may not be with the house, it may be with the land. Check for evidence of death or violence surrounding the area. If your research turns up positive results, don't be afraid of asking your neighbors if they have had similar experiences.

For further assistance in this matter a paranormal investigator should be called. A paranormal investigator is a professional researcher who investigates allegations of paranormal activity. The investigator may or may not be able to provide a solution but in many cases will be able to at least confirm or put to rest any suspicions the resident may have.

You may be asking yourself what's the point of hiring an investigator who can't fix the problem. In many cases, those with the skills/desire to help clear a house of its haunting will want the word of a third party investigator to verify the claims of the resident. Showing up to a house just to discover that it isn't haunted is a waste of time for the psychic or medium. Having the word of someone completely unconnected with the house often lowers concerns of delusion or paranoia. Some psychics or mediums may also perform the services of the paranormal investigator, but that's like asking the painter if your house needs to be painted. There are a lot of people out there willing to separate you from your money at any cost, even at the cost of making you believe your home is haunted just so they can "clear" it.

The equipment that paranormal investigators use is often times electronic and measures changes in the environment. Equipment may include cameras in empty rooms, sophisticated temperature measuring devices, or audio recording equipment.

Whether or not you believe in any of this paranormal stuff is up to you. One thing is for certain, that humans don't know everything there is to know about their environments. Evidence has been recorded that can at least substantiate the claims multiple concerned residents. While mainstream science calls paranormal investigators charlatans and illusionists, there are a great number of people who believe in their abilities to uncover evidence of a haunting.

When hard science and physical facts provide no explanation for the unexplained, concerned residents take comfort in the work of paranormal investigators because their answer is better than no answer at all. Many concerned residents use the findings of paranormal investigators to decide to move or to decide to bring in a psychic who can clear the house. What a concerned resident does with any information learned is entirely up to them.