Strangely quiet

Considering the time of the year, the house has been strangely quiet. Normally around Christmas we have several episodes of strange. I've used the recorder in several areas of the house without picking up anything new that couldn't be explained. BTW when you get down to the last entry, hit "Link to this entry"; the last entry will reappear, but if you look to the bottom left of it; it will take you on back to earlier entries. Some of these earlier entries discribes events of the weird that have occurred here since we moved into this house roughly 27 years ago.

Dog reacts violently

     This occurred last night. I was downstairs in the library, on the computer. My wife and dog had gone upstairs to the front bedroom. My wife has been fighting a cold for a few days now. This house is rather cold and drafty; so she went to bed early and was reading a book. Our dog went upstairs with her and was lying on the bed. She said the dog suddenly looked down the unlit hall and started growling. Figuring he heard me coming up the stairs or something she didn't think much about it. But his ruff stood up and the growls became vicious and he was standing in a very defensive stance. Scared her, she never saw our dog this agitated. She said he was really scared and she was afraid to touch him to settle him down. He was intent on the upstairs hall. She said the stand-off lasted a good 10 minutes or so before he slowly relaxed. Once he was back to normal she got up and they came downstairs. My wife asked if I had done anything to upset the dog. "No," I said, "I've been at the computer since you went upstairs." I heard nothing of the upstairs uproar; but thats the nature of this house. Sound does not travel well in it. Someone shouting at the foot of the stairs might be heard in the front bedroom, if the shout is loud; otherwise it isn't likely. They say animals sense things we do not. I have to wonder what my little mutt sensed or maybe I'm growing a paranoid pooch.

Phantom phone

     Last night my wife experienced an unexplained anomoly. We turned in around midnight. My wife said she was feeling twinges that sometimes are precursors of leg cramps; so we read for a while. Shortly before 1 am she felt the episode had passed and we (rather I) went to sleep. She said that shortly thereafter the twinges were back and she felt a cramp coming on. So rather than wake me, she had gotten up and gone downstairs to hopefully walk off the cramp. After a bit the episode eased up but she thought she'd read for a bit to be sure. Reading a book in the library she was suddenly aware of a phone ringing. As our phone is in the library, beside the chair she was using, she immediately knew it wasn't our phone. The time was 3:10 am; It rang four times and quit. Thinking maybe she imagined it; she schrugged it off. A few minutes later it again rang. This time it was picked up on the third ring and a short muddled conversation took place.So obvious was the whole matter that she picked up our phone to be sure it wasn't coming in that way. She got a definite dial tone. She couldn't make out what was said but suddenly decided that maybe she better come back to bed. Keep in mind this house of ours is not only almost soundproof  our dog's barks carry from inside and fire sirens and loud mufflers can sometimes be heard inside), but besides this the house sets well away from our neighbors. The neighbor on the right is at lest 200 ft from us, the one across the road is 150 ft or better away and the ones on the left are 700 ft or more away. Even if the windows were open here and at the neighbors, you couldn't hear their phone. Last night was unseasonably cold (mid 30s) and I can guarentee you no one had any windows open. Where this phone sound originated or how is a good question. Mice don't use the phone. I think maybe it would be interesting to stay up all night sometime and see just what does go on in this place.

Strange

   This was just strange, to me at lest. I was sitting at the computer looking up some items on E Bay. My attention was on the monitor and what I was looking up. I thought I felt my dog place his paws on the arm of my chair, the chair even shifted slightly like added weight was added. He does this sometimes when it is about time to take him out. I placed my arm down, to encircle him and say "just a minute"; but he was not there. My hand and arm met only empty space. Looking into the den from my place in the library I could plainly see my dog lying on my wife's lap. I definitely felt something that automatically elicited an appropriate reaction from me. But obviously, it hadn't happened. I suppose theres a logical explaination for this. It just seems strange to me.

Strange recorded sounds

     A couple of weeks ago, I had the sound activated recorder set up in the Green room. I had a lot of my dogs barking on it, and a few household voices could be heard coming from elsewhere in the house. Then I got the sound of what sounded like a bell ringing, like it was being carried. It had the sound of a pretty good sized bell. The sound appeared to be in the same room as the recorder, that is, it did not have a far away or outside sound. I figured since it was so lound and clear I'd find its source. The only bell anywhere near the Greenroom is a small shipsbell that hangs beside the western rear entrance to the house. I tried ringing it with the recorder on; the result was both higher in pitch and sounded farther away; much much further away; the first attempt didn't activate the recorder; hitting it really hard did, but the results were not the same. So I have no immediate explaination for the ringing bell. HOWEVER, I had the recorder ,last week, in an alcove in the wall in the turn of the wall of the front winding staircase. The recorder was located beside a lamp we keep in that alcove. The external mike was a good inch from the wall and hanging just about 4 inches up from the stairway carpet. We rarely use the front stairs so I felt that external noises would be at a minimum. The recorder was on sound activation for three days before I got around to checking it. It had about 4 minutes of tape that had run. When I ran that four minutes of tape I had my own voice on part of it as I was setting it up. Then a silent period of a few seconds, then the strangest sounds; almost, but not quite like a stringed instrument being plucked. I have no explaination. I'm sure there must be one. But I don't have it. I'm going to try again the same place this week and see if it should reoccur.

A long loud moan

  First weird sound in a while and where was my recorder? Upstairs in the green room of course. My dog and I have the house all to ourselves this week. Well, not quite, we do have workmen remodeling the downstairs bath, but they leave anywhere between 2:30 and 4:30. So tonight, about 5 minutes before 9:00 pm, I'm reading at the computer and my dog is lying not three feet from me. From the diningroom comes a long low moan; startles me, the pup looks up toward the diningroom then lies his head back down in a nonchalant manner. Of course I have the recorder set up in the upstairs green room unstead of the diningroom. Tonight...I'm going to try the diningroom again; I'll set it just before I retire for the night.

Recordings

So far no unexplained noises have shown up on the recorder. The wife went to see friends this week. Now I can record with noone but me and the dog. I'm going to try the green room first; then the front hall and stairs. Actually the house has been very quiet since I tried recording. Timid ghosts?

Recorded sounds

     So far the recorder I purchased is sensitive enough to pick up the sound of my walking to it. It also picked up the firetruck siren and two loud mufflers. Thats all so far. So unless I get something worth talking about; I won't. I will continue trying the recorder in different parts of the house; but unless I get results that are not readily explained I'll not discus it further.

Tape recorder

    Well running the old Wecor reel to reel tape recorder didn't record anything that wasn't easily explained and the hours of just sitting and listening for something is downright boring. So today, I purchased a General Electric tape recorder with automatic activation and a seperate microphone. It has volume control and sensitivity control. I set it up in our Livingroom, on the table, with the external mike dangling about a foot above the floor. I have the volume on maximum and the sensitivity set at maximum. Now well see what transpires if anything. I chose the livingroom over the dininroom primarily because the livingroom can be closed off from outside sounds. My wife has the livingroom set up in total victorian fashion, so its rarely used unless we have company and once those massive oak doors are closed, very little sound is heard from the outside. The fire siren, and a very loud muffler can be heard but talking or even shouting from outside doesn't penetrate. If I get no satisfaction in the livingroom I will move the recorder to the diningroom ; but will have to activate it after dark because the diningroom is the hub of the house and we are constantly moving through it to go to other rooms such as the kitchen, library, or Den. There are two other areas I might try later on; the Green room and the Frontstairs and upstairs hall. The attic was mentioned when I was still trying to use the old Webcore, but I'm not sure how sound isolated it might be. Still a possibility ,as is the basement.

A neighbors experience

     Our neighbors across the street moved into their 1830s brick residence just a few years ago. They are relatively new to the village but not to the area. He is a professional photographer and his wife teaches school here. The couple have one child, a son, and another on the way. They told us today about their strange experiences in their house. His wife admitted that when they first moved in they had heard the stories about my house and thought we were "putting people on", or were very superstitious. They also confessed they had totally changed their minds. For the past year, they said, it had become a joke between them, that some one; they both pointed fingers at each other, was moving the chair at the foot of the stairs that led to the front door. The chair was always placed backing onto the stairs and against the wall. Every morning it would be sitting facing the front door. Every day they moved it back into its original spot. They even got to the point of thinking their son (3 years old) was in some way responsible; but really a three year old isn't too likely to continually pull such a stunt over and over? But this past week climaxed the whole affair and they are now solidly in our camp...wondering whats going on. Junior went to spend three days with gramma and grandpa. The very first day he was gone they were awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a child running up the stairs and through the hall. They were both outta their bed, hearts pounding, wondering what on earth happened that the grandparents would bring their grandchild back so soon, and so very early in the morning before the sun was even up. A search of the house revealed no child but the chair again faced the front door. A call to gramma revealed the child was still in bed asleep. The same thing happened the third night the child was gone, but not since he returned. But the chair is still found facing the door of a morning. Keep in mind these are people who thought such weird activities was bosch or hoaxters. I suspect other places in town have stories to tell; but most locals only tell them to each other; never to an outsider who might think them crazy.

Voice

     Again a voice out of nowhere. I was at the computer in the library and my dog was lying on a rug between the library doorway into the diningroom and the library doorway into the den. My wife had taken some items into her shop in town several miles away. Other than my neighbor mowing his lawn, the area was very quiet. Had I wanted total quiet, I'd only needed to close the den window. Both the dog and I heard my name called, once, in a normal tone, coming from the diningroom. Thinking my wife had arrived home and was telling me as much, I answered. The dog immediately reacted to the "voice", his head coming up and looking into the diningroom. I got no answer, so I got up and followed my dog into the diningroom. There was no one there. My wife's car was not in the driveway. We both heard the "voice" and we both reacted to it. But what was it?

Oppression and chill

   As related to me by my wife, this morning. She told me that she could not sleep last night so she got up and went downstairs to the library to read, and perhaps get sleepy. I knew she had gotten up but supposed it was a bathroom trip. I was quickly back asleep. She said she entered the library and picked up on a book she had started earlier. As she sat there the room got stuffier and more humid. The night temperature was about 70 here last night which is a bit warm for sleeping. We had the window fan going but that is most effective in the upstairs. Then rather rapidly the room grew cool, then cold.  At first she thought perhaps a storm was brewing and caused the sudden influx of cold air but rather than feeling relieved by the coldness she began to feel horribly depressed. The depression grew until she got up and left the room. Going to the kitchen, she said she sat at the table for a time reading, the depression had not followed her, nor the cold clammy feeling. Feeling drouzy, she came back up to bed. She has experienced this coldness once before, many years ago, as noted in an earlier entry in this journal; but the depression was new and she said it was so tangible you could almost see it. But as soon as she left the library, it was gone.

Again Phantom dog and coughing fit.

     This time it was my wifes turn to experience the strange effects in this house. My wife and I had spent most of the day at an auction, we had taken our dog with us. We returned to the house in the late afternoon, had supper, discussed our purchases for a bit when our dog informed he had to go out. The fact he was out most of the day was beside the point in his mental schedule; after supper you take the dog out for his walk and to do his necessary things. So I was out of the house, as was the dog. My wife said she was quietly doing some book work at the kitchen table when she distinctly heard a dog come running down the back stairs. For a moment she thought nothing about it and then suddenly realized the dog was out for his walk. Then before she could really react to that someone or something had a coughing fit that sounded like it was at the foot of the rear stairs. Now really unnerved she called my name thinking perhaps the dog and I had, for whatever reason, come in the front door, up the winding front staircase, through the upstairs and had come down the rear staircase. That wasn't the case and she could find nothing that could have made these sounds. A few minutes later my dog and I came back through the rear door into the kitchen (the same way we had left). My wife was quick to recite the episode. I mentioned to my wife that had a dog really ran down the rear staircase it would have run into the gate at the bottom of the stairs which was closed at the time. She said the coughing really didn't sound like me either. Old houses can be very entertaining.

A Strange Report from a Strange Area

     Last March, a local newspaper photographer and his wife and dog were picnicing in the quiet area that was in my last report. It was later afternoon and the gentleman and his wife were eating supper at one of the back, nearest to the woods, tables in the picnic area. He said he was kinda surprised when his dog didn't seem interested in eating or taking hand-outs. After they finished eating they decided to take a stroll into the woods on one of the well marked paths. The said their dog was rather subdued, not his old bouncy self. They said they hadn't walked more than 70 or so feet into the woods before they started hearing something heavy moving through the brush. They stopped and tried to see what it was. Deer are common in the park and bears are not unknown but are rare. The dog definitely had ideas of his own about going back toward the car. Just as they turned to return to the car, they saw it. Standing not more than 50 ft away, beside a large tree was a huge dark hairy apelike creature that scared them very badly. Making a hasty retreat back to the car they claimed the creature followed them and let out a most fearsome noise. Once back in town they reported the incident which resulted in the typical jokes, jibes, and an avalanch of people tramping out any possibility of evidence. Because he worked for the local paper, the story made page one. Discusted by the bad publicity he had experienced, our newspaper man decided to investigate whether any other such reports from the park had ever occurred., What he found was a bit disconcerting. There were no less than 30 reports of a large hairy biped somewhere in the park area. One of these reports is logged at the local sherriffs office where a ranger at the park reported a huge hairy biped scared him so bad he ran his arm through a plate glass window that required 60 stitches to close. After this report, which couldn't be hid, the park employees were ordered, on threat of their jobs, to tell no one of futher reports. They check out such reports when they are made, blame bears (which  really rarely enter the park) and not to unduley upset campers. Also, they do not want a bunch of wild-eyed nutcases looking for bigfoot in their park; thus causing no end of problems. A friend of mine, works in maintance at the park. When I asked him about these reports, he just grinned and said, "I can't tell you, I need this job".

Strange area

     This has nothing to do with this house or town. A few miles north of this village is a State Park. There is an area in that park where there is almost no sound. My wife first brought it to my attention at lest 20 years ago. Back then we were much younger and more ready to hike and explore the wilderness that makes up much of this park. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the area was quite silent as compared with other parts of the park that we visited. Over the years, this area has become a favorite of ours because ot is an easy walk, has an old interesting ruins of a house and deep picturesque gorge. We have never gone through that area when it was not totally silent. Oh, if the wind is blowing you can hear that. Sometimes a noisy motorboat can be heard on the park's distant lake. But the normal noises that you should hear on a wooded walk, birds singing, insect noises, animals scurring about, are simply not there ,and haven't been, at lest during the times we have been there. The area is bordered by a road, on either side of which are picnic areas. When children are present their voices are heard; but actually this area is not heavily used by picnicers. We have sat on fallen stones at the ruins of an old house and just listened to the silence. The area is certainly peaceful. Once you walk back to where you parked your car, you need only walk on across the road and ten feet into that wooded area for the normal sounds that you expect to hear in the woods to again assert themselves. Why this area is so quiet is a question that has been bugging me for years.

PHANTOM DOG STEPS

 Nothing like my last post, thank goodness. Yesterday, early in the afternoon, I was coming down the back staircase I could hear a dog padding down the stairs behind me. Turning to look and expecting my dog, I was surprised to see nothing. My dog then appeared out of the kitchen and was headed for the den. My dog was not upstairs. I do not know what I heard, but it sounded like a dog does as they come down a stair.

Growls

     This is a first and one I do not like. I was in the library working on the computer, my dog was lying on a rug between the library and the den. My wife was working in town. The house has been very quiet of late, but I'm not surprised as the house is often most quiet in the spring and summer. This all ended yesterday. As I sat reading at the computer a growl, really more than a growl, its hard for me to discribe, it was loud and menacing. My dog went erect and issued a growl of his own but he immediately moved over to beside me in the chair. Then a series of thumps and bumps occurred, very loud and sounding like ,whatever ,was in the next room which is the dining room. Frankly I did not know what to do. I couldn't imagine that a large animal had gotten into the house, but whatever it was, it sounded big enough that I didn't want to tangle with it. Apparently my dog had no desire to tangle with it either. I sat there, not doing anything. The noises stopped, I waited, then quietly got up and backed up to the fireplace where a sword that my father bought me many years ago was displayed. I unsheathed the sword and quietly as possible entered the dining room with it. There was no sign of anything, nothing out of place, no place anything bigger than a mouse could hide. Still unnerved, I passed into the kitchen, all doors were locked or tightly closed. I checked out the whole house. Nothing indicated an intruder of any kind. My dog was at my heels all the way. Whatever caused this racket had his attention as well as mine. That growl or snarl or whatever it was was the first menacing thing I have enountered here. I didn't like it and hope never to encounter it again.

House has gone quiet

     Nothing unusual has happened since the March 11th episode. Again we begin to reenter what is normally a quiet period. Major reinovating of the upstairs seems to be going without paranormal occurances. The house has been, in the past, most active during changes in the structure of the house. This is not the case, so far, this time.                                                                                                                             Once you get to the last entry in this scroll down; you are not even close to the first entry in this Journal. At the bottom of the last entry that you read you will see a "link to this entry", hit that; this will bring up the same last entry that you just read, but at the bottom of it you will see where you can then go back through the Journal to the oldest (first entries recorded in the Journal). Using the link to older entries, for some reason, does not work.

Punched by something

    My dog sometimes acts almost human. I know that people who do not have house dogs think we exaggerate these things; but those of you who do have one or more, I figure, understand. My dog has gotten into the habit of punching me with a paw; pretty much like a person punches you with a finger to get your attention, when he wants to go out. This is especially true when I'm at the computer and  8:30 pm rolls around which is his time to go for a walk. Last night, while working at the computer, something punched me twice, just like he does, on the upper leg. I looked at the time on my computer and it was only 7:45 so I turned around and started to say, "A bit early, aren't we?". But I didn't get it said as my dog was fast asleep across the room in the doorway to the den. There was nothing there to do the punching. I definitely felt two punches, just like he is prone to do. I was not even thinking about the dog or going out at that time because I was involved in reading an article on the Fortean Times site. No big deal, certainly, but still a mystery.

Revisited by one of my dogs?

 A couple of days ago the house was very noisey. Not your typical footfalls or loud crashes; just noises. I was busy working in a spareroom over the kitchen. Its a room we have never gotten around to restoring and is used primarily to keep my collection of citrus trees going until I can move them outside in the spring. I was planting seed for tomatoes and peppers in a hothouse fixture I have, for, hopefully, early transplants for this springs garden. Having completed that job I decided to test two of my citrus trees to see if they were in need of water. These two trees are on a table in front of the eastern window of the room. Directly north of this area is the doorway out of the room into a hall that leads past the upstairs bath on the east and the stairway down on the west. As I had just pulled the moisture meter from the soil of one of the trees I saw a schnauzer turn the corner in the hall and disappear down the stairs. I was startled, as our present Schnauzer is not allowed upstairs except at night when we turn in. I was discusted, thinking my wife had opened the gate and let the dog upstairs. Going downstairs to see why; I noticed the gate was up. My wife was working on a craft project in the kitchen. I asked her why she had let our dog upstairs? She replied, "What are you talking about? He's been asleep in front of the microwave for at lest an hour. Was the gate open?" Our talking had apparently awakened him and he was in the middle of a stretch and yawn as I looked on. I said the gate was shut. So who did I see? Thinking back on it, I suspect, a little male I had for 18 years. But who really knows?       Hit "link to this entry", to continue.

Giggling

     This happened two days ago. I was in the Library, it was about 4:15 in the late afternoon. My dog was asleep on his pillow next to the radiator. The day had been sunny and bright, warm for this time of year. My wife was not at home. I was answering some correspondence when I thought I heard someone giggle. I stopped and listened, wondering if I had actually heard what I thought I had. The giggling sounded a second time, it appeared to be coming from the diningroom. It sounded very much like the slightly musical giggle of  one or more young girls of maybe 10 or 12 years of age. The dog didn't hear it, he was sound asleep; he didn't even awaken when I walked past him and into the obviously empty diningroom. This house was built of brick, the walls are thick and even the enterior walls are brick. Sounds must be rather loud to carry into this house. Do mice giggle?

Diningroom light

     It happened again today at approximately 3:15 est. The diningroom light went on, was on a moment or so and then went off. I was at the computer in the library, I couldn't very well miss it. My wife is in town and only the dog and I are at home. The dog is too short to reach the light  switch. The light switch appears to be just fine.

Wife's Experience

     This event was experienced by my wife. As told to me, yesterday evening, she was taking some time on the computer. The dog was asleep on a pillow, next to the heat regester in the diningroom. I was working on an electrical appliance in the pantry which is off the kitchen in the rear most part of the house. Having finished what I was doing (successfully for a change) I was going through the library to the den to watch the boobtube or draw. When I walked into the library my wife said, " What on earth were you doing in the Noah room?" "It sounded like you were moving furniture." "I wasn't in the Noahroom," I replied. " You had to be, I heard you walking and things being bumped than thumped all over the place". I assured her I was nowhere near the Noahroom. The Noahroom is directly over the Library where the computer is located. I checked the room out, it appeared to be normal, nothing out of place. The pantry is far enough from the Noahroom that noises,unless extremely loud, would not be heard there. Activity is begining again, after a pretty quiet start. Oh by the way there is very little snow on the roof and that couldn't be the cause. The big snow is expected tonight.

A distinct voice

     Yesterday, My wife was at the computer in the library. I was looking for something upstairs. I had just told my wife I was going upstairs to find something that neither of us had had any luck finding in the downstairs. The dog went with me upstairs. Figuring I'd find my lost item, possible, in the bedroom, I started there. The master bedroom is in the front of the house. I no more than than got started when a voice, definitely female, called out from what I assumed to be the back stairway. It sounded like "Are you up there" or words to that effect. Frustrated, I thought to my self what do you want? I  just got up here and I told you I was coming up." The dog heard it too because he headed for the back stairway. I went back down the hall, back down the stairs, backthrough the diningroom and into the Library. "What do you want?" I said to my wife who was still seated at the computer. "Nothing, why?" was the response. "Didn't you just call up the stairs?" I replied. "No, I didn't, I've been right here since you said you were going upstairs." . I then asked, "Did you hear anyone talking or calling?" "No, she replied, Why?" I told her why, and she assured me she neither called out nor heard anyone call out. Now keep in mind the Library is closer to the foot of the rear stairs than the Master Bedroom is. Had anyone called upstairs you would have heard it in the Library more clearly than in the bedroom. I was not imagining it. I was busy and resented the intrusion. I definitely heard it. Once again the house has spoken to me. Like I said once before, if it happened often I'd think I was cracking up but this is only the fourth or fifth time in almost 30 years. I don't think it was a result of mice or underground running water.

Old National Road

     This is not a recent occurance. A recent post to me, jogged a memory of something that occured here probably 25 years ago. My wife and I had not lived here very long, two or three years, perhaps.  My wife was planting flowers in the concrete containers that line the front steps, I was painting trim in the rear of the house. My wife says that as she was planting she heard the sound of what she took to be buggy wheels moving up the road in front of our house. Thinking it Amish going down to the local grocery she glanced up. What she says she saw was certainly not Amish, but an old covered wagon pulled by oxen. She came scurring around the house to get me to see this strange sight. When we returned to the front of the house there was nothing on the road; not even cars. She was one confused lady. Was it a waking dream? She says she knows what she saw.  Now she says on reflection the road was dirt (its blacktop now). Kinda hard to go asleep while planting flowers. She saw something. Was it out of the past? It didn't have time to go very far while I was being summoned. Another mystery in an old village.

Weird double header today

 I was finishing up putting away christmas decorations for the year. My wife had gone to a friends house so I  and my dog were alone in the house. The dog was curled up on a rug by the front door. I was sitting on the floor, in the parlour,gathering up miscellanous presents to carry upstairs and put away. Where I was sitting, I had a clear view from the parlour, through the diningroom and into the kitchen. As I was boxing up items the definite sound of someone coming from the kitchen and through the diningroom could be heard. I looked up, expecting my wife, the dog came bouncing out of the hall , past me, and into the diningroom where he stopped and looked bewildered. There was no one there. The dog flopped down in a very discusted manner and continued to face into the diningroom. He heard the steps the same as I and obviously also thought my wife had come in. Before I had a chance to get up off the floor a tremendous crash shook the house. We had a small section of plaster come down a few days ago and naturally I thought "Oh no, where and how much this time?" Checking over the entire house I found nothing that could have made that crash. For that I am thankful; but what was it?

Reading this journal

     When you reach the last entry in this journal, there are many older entries. Going to the "Older Entries" point will Not take you to any older entries, for whatever reason. Instead, scroll to the bottom of the last entry and hit "link to this entry", which will bring up the same last entry again, but if you scroll to the bottom of it this time you will see a referral back to an earlier entry; go there and you can continue to go back through this journal to the first entry which is "A strange old house in a strange little village".

Steps and a cough

 It seems things are picking up. Today, I was again at the computer in the library, my dog stretched out comfortably on the rug between the library and diningroom doorway. The distinct sound of approaching footsteps came from the vicinity of the kitchen and into the diningroom, then a cough was heard; kinda like someone clearing their throat. As my wife worked today (even though it is newyears day) the steps didn't surprise me because the time for my wifes arrival was about right. The dog looked up and toward the dining room but made no move to welcome my wife home. Just about that time my telephone alert sounded on my computer saying I had an incoming call. I took the call; it was my wife calling to say she would be late as the store was still full of customers. So ,once again, the steps and cough could not be attributed to her and theres no one else in the house. My dog must be getting use to these steps , they use to really bug him either sending him looking for the intruder, or into barking or growling fits. Lately he simply looks up and goes back to sleep or whatever he does when zonking out on a rug. This whole phenonema is quite strange and I'm sure the real answer to it would be most interesting.