Strange Spring type noises

The house has been abnormally quiet through the fall. But just before Christmas I experienced a strange situation. With all the activities that go with the Christmas rush I just hadn't had time to record it here. Anyway, my wife has a part-time job that, on rare occasion, requires her to open a large store rather early. She had fretted all day about getting up so early to do the opening. So we went to bed early and the older of our dogs went to his bed next to the heat register and laid down. The younger dog jumped up on the bed and it looked like she was following something overhead, twisting her head like she was following something that we certainly couldn't see. Then she jumped from the bed and ran pell- mell down the hall. She was gone a few minutes and I heard her yipe, so I got up to see what the problem was. But before I much more than got up she came running back into the bedroom and back upon the bed where the whole series of events repeated. This occurred several times and my wife in desperation got up and went downstairs intending to sleep on the recliner. This behavior on the part of our younger dog is very uncharacteristic. Usually she goes to bed and sleeps until we awaken her in the morning. I was the one stuck with trying to figure out what her problem was. I finally threw the top blanket over her and tried to calm her down. She about shook me apart. Thats scared shaking not cold. About 3 am she settled down and I was able to turn off the lights and try to sleep. But that was not the end of the weirdness. I bagan to hear noises about the house, not common noises like we are use to, but strange noises too indiscrip to pinpoint. It was not scarey, but it was irritating; then very low I thought I could hear crickets. Thought I was hearing things; it is cold this time of year in Ohio and crickets just don't sound off this time of year. The sounds grew louder and instead of crickets I realized I was hearing a springtime chorus of crickets, peepers, and other insects like one hears in early spring near small bodies of water. These sounds, when I was a child, were very soothing and would lull you to sleep, but not when you couldn't figure where they were coming from on a cold day in December. I got up and checked around, I could not detect a source for the noise. I cracked open a window but the sound was inside not outside. I finally gave it up and a few minutes til 4 I let the sounds put me asleep. I have no idea how long they lasted but I didn't hear them when I got up the next morning. The dog was fine the next morning and her older counterpart had gone to sleep and never was bothered by any of it. When my wife returned from her job I asked her if she heard anything unusual during the night and she replied "No, Why?"What was bothering the younger dog so? Where on eaerth did springtime sounds originate from? Why was all of it just upstairs in the front portion of the house? Might be totally logical explainations for all of it. But I haven't found them yet.

Very Loud Noises

We have experienced three very loud "crashes","Explosions" something. One of them sounded like a shotgun blast in or very near the house. The other two were as loud as shotgun blasts but didn't really sound like that. None of my neighbors have heard anything out of the ordinary. Yet these "blasts" were extremely loud and if they were outside the house I can't understand why no one in the vicinity has heard them. If they were inside the house, surely there would be obvious signs of what caused it. They were all during daylight hours, in the early afternoon in all three cases. It seems that no one in this village ever hears any loud noises. When we first moved here 30 years ago, a fireworks factory exploded. My wife and I certainly heard that one....but no one else in town did. After it made headlines in the local paper a few locals admitted they heard a "bang" but thought it was a truck backfiring. At the time none of them suggested hearing any backfiring. This is what small towns are like, folks. They can't hear a foreworks factory explode; but they know every time you fart. Small towns are picturesque in magazines; but irksome to live in at times.

Strange footfalls heard again.

Today, I was working in the attic, trying to make more room for more stuff we rarely use. Our attic is quite large as attics go and is divided into two rooms. The front room has 8ft ceilings in the center and slope downward on both sides to roughly 5 ft. The ceiling of this front room was, at some time in the past, finished with plaster ceiling. Over the years, primarily when this house sat empty the roof leaked and ruined much of the ceiling. The back half of the attic was never finished and stands roughly 7 ft at the center with the rafter and roofing slats quite bare. Over top of the roof slats is an old tin roof. This roof sprouts an occassional seep leak which is duly noted and stopped with tar or Elasmaric roofing compound. I had started to fiberglass between the studs; but have not progressed very fast as there is a lot of "stuff" to climb over. Today I had been working for an hour or so in the front room of the attic when I heard, no question, the attic door open (It is very close to the hallway carpet and drags slowly over it when you open or close that door. The sound is characteristic and like nothing else. I then heard heavy footsteps accend the attic stairs. Again, no mistake, as the attic stairs are bare wood and hard soled shoes make quite a racket. My wife absolutely refuses to come up to the attic. In 30 years she may have been there very briefly twice. Even so, because there was noone else around, I assumed it must be my wife. I called out from the front room, of the attic, that I was in there. I got no response. Figuring that if it was important enough for her to come to the attic; I'd better see whats was up. But there was no one in the attic but me. I did not hear anyone decend the stairs and that would have made as much noise as coming up them. There simply was no one around who could have made those sounds. I went down to the second floor and stepped around to the back stairwell to the kitchen and shouted down to the first floor (the kitchen is just off the backstairs) asking my wife if she had been upstairs. She assured me that she had not. Later, over supper, I told her what I had heard. She replied, "You couldn't get me on those attic stairs and you know it." Chuckling, she said maybe it was Mrs. Ramsbottom. When this house was built for a U.S. Senator in 1857, he and his family had a personal black servant (paid not slave) who lived in the attic of the house with her young son. This is who my wife was referring to. The son later grew up to become a bishop in one of the larger church bodies). He did his homework on the walls of the attic which was still in evidence when I bought the place about 30 years ago.

Phantom dog paws

While this is not a big deal; nonetheless it can be disconcerting. While reading my E mail, today in the Library, just before 8:00 pm, I distinctly felt two dog paws on my rightside pants leg. Often, if my dogs need to go, they will let me know in this manner. I immediately put my hand down to stroke which ever dog (we have two) was asking. My hand met with blank space and the paws released like the dog had jumped back down. There was no dog there, nor was any even close. My wife insisted they were both in the kitchen with her. Just an interesting observation.

Follow-up

Nothing new in the paranormal has occurred since I last posted. But I hought I should mention that my dogs are back to normal, Believe me three nights of that was way more than I needed. I have no idea what had them so scared for three consectitive nights; but it appears to be over now....thank goodness.

Dogs suffer night-nerves

For the past three nights my dogs have about driven me nuts. Everything is just fine all day but when night-time sets in problems begin. Even at the point where we go upstairs for the night the dogs, both of them, seem happy to go upstairs. Once upstairs they will play with each other and chase the toy. But sometime during the play, before my wife and I turn in, they both suddenly head for the bed and shake, not your typical lets rearrange our hair shake, but rather I'm scared outta my hide quiver-shake. The older dog heads under the bed and the younger jumps up on the bed and shakes so hard the whole bed shakes. sometimes it takes a half an hour to get them settled down. So we my wife and I have seen absolutely nothing that should scare these two. The older dog isn't easily frightened. This whole episode is beginning to wear thin. What do they see or sense that my wife and I do not? This has gone on for three nights now. If it continues I'm not certain what I'll do. Heres hoping it does not repeat again.

Dog ears

Yesterday I worked in our attic making room for more stuff too good to throw away but not good enough to keep. The attic is large, has fairly high ceilings, is made up of two rooms and smells like bat. After an hour or so the heat and smell tends to drive one out of the attic into cooler, fresh air, zones. I needed to take a box of small stuff to the attic but noticed some items I figured I'd be using shortly, so I took the box into the master bedroom and layed across the bed with it, under the ceiling fan, to sort it out. While I was laying there I distinctly saw a pair of fuzzy, floppy, ears come up over the edge of the bed. But I was busy and figured it was my older dog the ears fit. After a moment or so, I realized that neither of my dogs should be upstairs. I looked a second time and still saw the ears. I started to call him on up on the bed but I had several items laid out and figuring my wife must be coming upstairs (how else could he get through the downstairs gate) I got up off the bed and there was no dog. I looked all over, there was no dog. I looked under the bed, no dog. He couldn't have gotten far in the few seconds it took me to get up. I went downstairs and my wife assured me the dogs were both with her and the gate hadn't been opened. So what did I see? The older dogs ears are characteristic; they are folded over, grey fur. I didn't just see them once, but twice. Of all of the dogs I have owned only three of them had the floppy ears. Two of them are the dogs I presently own and one of those two has black floppy ears. The other three dogs that I have had here, one had cropped ears and the other two had ears that were generally straight up (both occassionly carried one ear up and the other flopped, but never both down). I had a dog for almost 18 years that was grey and had two flopped ears. I wonder if I was seeing him? If not? What?

Repaired TV

As I reported on June 2, our TV set was smashed onto a stoneware jar with enough force to break not only the TV but the lid of the jar. We had only had the set a couple of months. On a chance, I called the company and explained that I realize the warranty was negated by the "accident". I asked if the TV could be repaired for less than the cost of a new one. Much to my surprise I was told that $50 could fix any set. I sent it back and it came back in working order. But I still think something owes me $50. Since my last blog the house has settled back into the common humdrums. I really see very little action here, normally, in summer. The house seems to become active in early November with short bursts of the weird and strange into April and then quiets down, mostly, until November again.

House has been noisy

The house has been exceptionly noisey the past few days. Sounds like doors slamming, thumps, bangs and other sounds that seem to have no rational explaination. One very loud sound that I heard as I was working on a project in the kitchen, sounded very much like a large shelf full of materials had gave way, sounded a lot like pots and pans but ended with an eerily tinkling or rolling sound like a bell or lid vibrating to a stop. Anything large like that should be pretty quickly noticed, wouldn't you think? It hasn't shown up yet. This house tends to go through these noisy cycles and most of the time no explaination is ever found for the noise. If you ever have a yen for living in an old antique of a house; do be prepared for the unusual.

Wife furious

In the past, events in this house, while spooky or irritating, has never, until today, been vicious. Today, in the early afternoon, I came in from working in the garage, mainly because of the heat and very high humidity. The house is still cool and far drier than the out of doors. I told my wife I was knocking off for an hour or so to cool down. I had several things I needed to check out on the computer so I headed for the library and got to it. My wife was starting supper and watching her favorite TV shows on a new 7 inch model TV that sat on the mantel over the kitchen fireplace. I hadn't worked but a few minutes when I hear a tremendous crash. Moving immediately I rushed to the kitchen and found my wife still standing by the kitchen stove with her mouth open. Looking at me she said " The TV just raised up into the air and was thrown down onto the floor". Rushing over to the area I saw the TV smashed, a heavy pottery jar that was under it had a broken lid (those sets weigh less than a pound). That TV had to have been slammed with a lot of force to break a large, heavy, fired clay jar lid. Obviously the "haunt" doesn't like Opera any more than I do....probably less, I wouldn't smash the set, I'd just turn it off. Something owes me the price of a TV...dang it. The TV has sit on the mantel for two months, since it was bought new. It had ample space all around it. The mantle is level and was uneffected. The doors were all closed. It was sunny and hot outside. So what would lift a small TV into the air and propel it forcefully into a large ceramic jar, busting the lid and then onto the floor? I hope this isn't a new side to this house's weirdness.

Strange actions by one of our dogs.

A couple nights ago, at bedtime, one of my two dogs behaved very strangely. We had gone to bed at the regular time, the older dog was in his bed by the radiator and the younger one had just laid down at the foot of our bed. The younger dog, we call Shadow, perked up and began by looking down the upstairs hall. Then she started looking around the room like she was following something neither my wife nor I could see. She then jumped up and started looking one way then the other and couldn't hold still. She finally jumped off the bed and ran down the hall. The other dog was watching her and looking down the darkened hall but I'd say out of curiosity not fear. Suddenly we heard a a whine like yelp from down the hall and before I could get up to see what was wrong, Shadow made a pell mell rush back into the bedroom , made a flying leap up on the bed and proceeded to tunnel under the covers and shook so hard she made the whole bed shake. Meanwhile the older dog just sat there in his bed and watched the whole thing with nothing more than a curious look. At my wife's suggestion, I got up and walked down the hall which leads past two guestrooms to the upstairs bath. I saw nothing unusual, I heard nothing strange, I sensed nothing amiss. By the time I had gotten back to our bedroom my wife had pretty much settled Shadow down; but she didn't come out from under the covers until morning. I have no idea what the pup thought she sensed. Whatever it was didn't seem to have much, if any, effect on the older dog who simply spun around a couple of times, flopped down and went to sleep. That sort of carrying on can be a bit unnerving; but in this house we expect the unexpected. What was it? We have no idea; but as it was out of the ordinary, I have reported it.

Strange kitchen occurance

My wife got a new TV to watch in the kitchen. Its one of those very small, very light, digitiles. It had to be light because it sits on a mantle over a brick fireplace. It is located on the extreme right side of the mantle. Probably 18 inches to 2 foot from the end of the mantle is a doorway to the pantry. The electrical cord on the TV is very generous easily reaching the floor where the electrical inlet is, with extra to spare. The wife experienced the following event. I was working outside and only entered after the fact. She said she was watching Dr. Phil and the set went off. The station she was watching is famous for blackouts so she tried to switch to a different channel. That didn't work either. So then she noticed the little red light on the TV front wasn't lit. The overhead kitchen light and the over the sink light were on so she knew that no fuse had blown. So, of course, she thought the set had blown out. About this time I came in; "The TV has quit" greeted me. I got the story. Trying the TV with the remote resulted in nothing. Then I noticed the TV plug was laying in the floor in front of the pantry door. This you have to think about. A loose plug can fall out of a socket. But wouldn't it lie there in front of the socket? This plug was a good 2 feet, probably more, from where it was plugged in. I plugged the set back in and it was a good snug fit, by the way, and the set came back on. So, how did the plug come out of the socket and end up well over two foot away? No one had used the pantry door. Though there was extra wire on the TV cord, it was placed beside the chimney, out of the way. The kitchen table sits too close to the fireplace for anyone to move between it. If someone had, my wife would certainly have noticed. I have two dogs but they were both napping on the far side of the kitchen; besides had one of them been responsible the noise and confusion that would have evoked would have settled the matter. So, how did that plug get ourt of the socket and over two feet away? Old houses can cause odd delimmas. Any suggestions, out there?

Sounds on rear stairwell

Last night I was upstairs, my wife needed the daily paper and I had taken it upstairs to read. I was bringing it back downstairs by our rear stairs. The rear stairs goes up off the kitchen hall. They are not well lit, narrow, and rather gloomy. As I started down I heard what sounded like a dog padding down behind me. The sound went around me on down the stairs and through a shut gate. There was no dog there. My dogs were asleep in the diningroom. Things like this leave you scratching your head.

Local newspaper headlines "GHOSTS"!

Our local newpaper which is a daily is typical of small town newspapers. It certainly isn't a paranormal hot-sheet. So the headline got my attention. It seems the local paper was going to do a feature on one of the towns businesses. A reporter and photographer were on hand to interview the owner and shoot a few pictures. In one photograph that was taken of the owner arranging bric a brac on a mirrored mantel resulted in a strange picture. In the manels reflection the owner could be clearly seen,...with a deep red gash from her forehead down her nose across he lips and vanishes at her neck. Bisecting her head in half. Going back to the scene nothing could be found that might have caused this horrific result. I know of another larger store in town that has had strangeness reported. Interesting?

Unusual Intruder

My wife had quite an experience today. But thats what she gets for skipping church today. I will write here just as it happened. I will make comments in parenthesis. Otherwise in her words:Quote, " While washing my hair, it sounded like the door to the parlour opened. (the door is very heavy walnut and the antique hardware makes a loud noise when engaged) Both dogs barked, so I grabbed a towel and went to check. Shadow (our younger dog) was sniffing at the base of the door and growling like crazy. Roo (her pet name for the older dog) was also sniffing at the door and barking (the door was shut). I went into the Parlour (without the dogs) through it to the hall and front door which was locked with deadbolt in place. I found nothing amiss. I came back through and went back to finish my hair. Shadow continued to sniff at the door and then at the foot of the rear stairs(there is a gate in place there to keep the dogs downstairs during the day). Roo barked at the backstairs. I went up the rear stairs and walked through the upstairs. Before I got to the master bedroom , both dogs were angrily barking at the parlour door (they must have been loud to be heard upstairs). I hurried through the master bedroom and into the upstairs hall and down the front steps. Everything seemed fine. When I reentered the diningroom though the parlour door both dogs were still barking and Roo's hackels were standing up. Both dogs continued to be agitated and restless" unquote. By the time I got home about 11:30 am they had settled down. I went all through the house and found everything to be in good order. I have no idea what my wife and dogs heard. I think, though, if it were to happen to me, I would have opened the parlour door and let the dogs go in. If it were physical they would have run it to ground, if it were something else; I'm quite sure they would have hightailed it back to the kitchen. They have done that before.

Dream

I can probably assign this one to my subconscience. Night before last I had a very vivid dream that I had entered the upstairs bathroom to find my tangerine tree half dead for lack of water. Keep in mind I also have a banana tree a coffee plant, rosemary plant and a navel orange tree in that room. The next morning I checked all the plants and found only the tangerine in serious need of water. Coincidence? Subconscience? Just an interesting observation.

Footsteps return

Its been months since unaccountable sounds of footsteps have been heard in this house, The accurance of these sounds use to be so coomon that they were almost mundane. However the house has been very quiet this winter, in general. Yesterday my wife went into town for a while and I and the two Schnauzers stayed home. I was catching up on some E-mail and the dogs were sacked out next to the heat registers in the dining room. We have a heavy bronze knocker on the front door and a doorbell. Early on we learned that, quite often, neither can be heard from the backrooms in the house. At lest, my wife and I cannot hear them. Our dogs, on the other hand, are quick to tell us if either form of noise maker is used. Yesterday as I sat reading E-mail in the Library the doogs started raising a runkus that someone was at the front door. The door between the Diningroom and Parlour was shut, as it normally is, so thats as far as they could go. I left the Library walked across the Diningroom to the Parlour door , went through it, across the Parlour and through the Parlour door, which was also shut, and into the front hall and to the front door. I found a girlscout selling cookies and my papergirl both there. Closing the front door , with a lighter wallet, I retraced my steps back to the Library , closing both the Parlour and Hall door as I went. I hadn't much more than started on my E-mail again when I distinctly heard what I thought was the front door opening and footsteps on the hardwood floor in the hall. The dogs went berserk as usual running to the Parlour door. Knowing my wife doesn't use the front door, I again retraced my steps back to the front of the house, opening and closing each door as I went. The front door was bolted as it always is. No one could have entered. No one was in sight anywhere. Returning to the Library, I got to thinking "How on earth could I have heard the front door open and footsteps?" I was in the library with two heavy walnut doors between me and the front door. When we can't hear the door knocker or front bell from the library, a door opening (it is not a noisy door) or footsteps would be nothing in comparison. Yet the dogs heard it and reasoned the same part of the house that I had. What did we hear? This is not uncommon here; yet still one would like to know just what is going on.