I finally got around to printing the Halloween pictures I took this past beggars night. Unfortunately there was nothing of paranormal interest on any of the shots. Funny how just 4 and 5 years ago, I had numerous strange artifacts show up in some of the photos, but the past 3 years have been zilch. I have used the same Cannon digital camera all of those years. I didn't use the film camera this year because I couldn't find it, but I did use it 4 of the 5 past years. I had artifacts on both the digital and film cameras those two years running, but nothing on either kind since. Well maybe I'll have better luck at Beltane or next Halloween.

Halloween has once again come and gone.

Halloween was here so fast and gone in a flash. I never prepared for it until just two days prior. My wife's store took up all my time and the day was upon me. Our brilliant town leaders decided to have "trick or treat" on Friday the 31st, this year. I admit, that is still in the Halloween time frame; however, all of the other little towns and villages plus the much larger town just 8 miles west of us all decided to have trick or treat on Thursday the 30th of October. So, a lot of lil ghosts and grimlins got to have two trick or treat evenings instead of one. I generally have somewhere around three hundred trick or treaters. This year I had over 500. Imagine giving out 500 treats in just an hour and you can imagine the bedlam. Other years I enjoyed shooting pictures of some of the more creative get-ups. I certainly didn't have time this year. I have a talking skeleton Butler who greeted everyone at the door; scaring the bejeebers out of the very young and not a few young ladies this adding to the confusion. I tried taking pictures with my digital camera before the festivities began and again later in the evening. Unfortunately, upon reviewing the shots on the camera monitor I did not detect any orbs or other artifacts. Possibly when I actually print them some will show, probably not. I could not find my film camera so I didn't get to shoot anything with it. I haven't had any luck for the past two Halloweens and it looks like this one will make it three. Oh well, there's always next year.

Lost article of clothing.

My wife uses a different bedroom from me since the leg ulcer on her leg went bad. She's up a weird hours with it so she uses what we call the Noah room while the dogs and I stay in the master bed room. Of a night she goes through a systematic method of undressing to make dressing in the morning more convenient. Last night was no different. She also laid out 8 candy mints on the night table beside the bed. This morning when she arose she first discovered the mints missing and then when she tried to dress an article of clothing was missing. Totally missing, she searched the room over several times, no luck. I first thought "mice". Mice could have carried off the mints, but not an article of clothing. I have seen no evidence of mice though they sometimes get in this time of year. I just hope I don't see any mice running around in oversized ladies unmentionables. Another mystery.

Talking Skeleton

This happened down at my wife's store. As I have pointed out before, my wife has a store in a small Ohio town. The store has a lot of history having been built in the late 1800's. Halloween is fast approaching so naturally we have a lot of Halloween wares displayed for sale. Amoung the masks, critters, signs and other Halloween gegaws I have a six foot skeleton that is dressed in a tuxedo, black, with a white shirt and bright red bow tie. This skeleton talks in a low bass voice saying several different phrases anytime someone walks with-in six feet of him. His head turns, his teeth clack as he spouts his humor on often unexpecting shoppers. "Gabby" as we call him has been quite popular with the customers. As our store is small and we are in a small town there are periods of time when there are no customers. One of those periods, a short one, thank-goodness, occurred today. My wife was at the cash register in the front of the store and I was working in the work area pricing some late Halloween items. All of a sudden the skeleton starts talking. Being pretty certain there is no one but us in the store we looked up to see who got past us to get Gabby talking. There was no one there. We have "Gabby" situated midway back in the second room of the store. He is no where near a window or door. He only takes if someone walks in front of him less than 6 ft. He has never before ever talked unless someone activated him by walking in front of him. That was the only time today that is has occurred. There was nothing big enough in the store to activate him. Flies, bugs, and small rodents will not activate him. So what or who did activate him and how.

Thing out of place

My wife and I run a small store in a small town about 10 or 15 minutes from our home. We are not home for several hours of most days so our dogs have, pretty much the run of the downstairs except for the formal parlor and den. My wife has the parlor pretty much set up to look like it did in the 1800's and the den, where the TV is located is simply no place for unsupervised dogs. For one thing, my younger schnauzer has learned to turn on the TV and if something really interesting should happen to be on her frantic gyrations could conceivably upset the set onto her. So the den and parlor are closed off when we leave. Of an evening I can monitor her excitement when the TV is on. Now getting to the point. I frequently have pancakes and maple syrup of a morning for breakfast. Recently I ran out of the syrup and had to pick up a new bottle at Walmart. It along with some other groceries were taken into the kitchen and put away. Well, the syrup disappeared. I had waffles in the toaster but when I tried to get the syrup I could not find it. So I had blackberry jelly on my waffles. The maple syrup was missing for several days. I had decided to buy another bottle but that particular day we were running late and didn't take time to run up to Walmart for it. After supper, that evening, I called the dogs and opened to den door (as I do every evening) so we could turn on the TV. Laying in the middle of the den floor was the bottle of maple syrup I could not find. I had been in the den every day and that syrup was not there. In the middle of the floor, where I would have tripped over it getting to the TV. How did that bottle of syrup manage to get in the den, which is across the house from the kitchen, in the middle of the floor? The dogs were blocked from the room during the day. I had been in the den every day and didn't see the syrup bottle in the middle of the floor totally unobstructed. Things in this house disappear and then often reappear in some totally illogical place. I just like to know how. I wish my dogs could talk.

Strange snarls and growls

It was getting late, probably around 11:30pm. My wife had just finished with the computer and had come into the kitchen where I had just entered myself, having brought the dogs in after their night walk. I had taken a seat at the kitchen table and my wife was standing beside the kitchen sink spreading blackberry jelly on a piece of bread. Suddenly, from the direction of the dining room we heard this snarling growling commotion. I started to yell at my dogs, assuming they were the reason for the commotion. It wasn't my dogs; They were still in the kitchen with us. The older dog was beside my chair and the younger one was laying partly under the kitchen table. They both started, their ears up, but neither followed through and the snarls in the dining room were over. The whole episode had to have been well under a minute in length. But if it wasn't our dogs, what made the racket? It definitely sounded like my little female when she goes after our male for being too forward. But both of our dogs were in the kitchen with us. There definitely were no other dogs in the house. Dog noises from other than our own dogs seem to occur from time to time here. It would just satisfy a curiosity itch if I could figure out how they come about.

Bicycler or what?????

I had an odd experience last evening. I had my two dogs out for exercise and necessities. We were standing in the rear of the driveway that runs between by residence and the old balloon frame house on the western side that I use for storage. The driveway is narrow between the two structures. From where I was standing I could see a portion of the street that runs in front of our house. This street is a historic portion of the Old National Road. Coming into view was a bicycle ridden by a lean boy in his early teens. My dogs started, preparing to bark, when the boy and the bicycle simply disappeared. The bicycle had not crossed in front of my house. It simply disappeared. My dogs obviously saw it too. They reacted but it passed so quickly that their reaction turned to confusion or puzzlement. It threw me for a moment and I would have thought I halluscinated it if the dogs hadn't reacted to it. There was no fade out, the figure simply disappeared. It was a standard bike like we all rode in the 1940's and 50's. The boy was dressed in long sleeved shirt and regular pants. Who knows?????

Curtain half jumped off window

This may be perfectly explainable. This occurred at the old store that my wife and I run in a small Ohio village. We have been in this store for about three years. There is one rather high up the wall window that looks into an old office that we presently use as a layaway room. On the outside of the building the ground slopes uphill so the window is well positioned for anyone snooping around. So one of the first jobs I had was placing a curtain over that window. The curtain was fastened in place using the standard curtain rods and hooks. The curtain was solidly in place and as it is rather high (on the inside)it has not been bothered by anyone in three years. Customers could not reach this curtain without at least a step stool, not that they would even want to. Last Monday I was coming out of a portioned off work area that is adjacent to the rear salesroom and my wife was returning from getting some item from the backroom. A noise startled us both and we looked up at that window just as the curtain jumped a couple of inches into the air and the right hand side of it slumped toward the floor. We both jumped. At the time there were no customers in the store. We both remarked about the curtain jumping into the air before it fell. I moved some merchandise from beneath the window and got the stores folding ladder and went up to replace the curtain. Everything was intact. I used the curtain hooks to replace the curtain back over the rod. The hooks are not tight so the curtain could be slid open or shut. Of course we keep it shut. As to what made that curtain jump off the rod, I have no idea.

Sudden breaking glass

This one may be perfectly explainable. I was in the Den with the younger dog watching TV. My wife was at the computer in the library. The Library opens into the Den on the north side and the doorway was open between the two rooms. Our older dog was in the rocking chair in the library against the eastern wall. We have an air conditioner in the library which is against the eastern wall just in back of the rocker. All of a sudden we get a loud crash of glass. My wife turns toward the noise and sees the gray dog get down from the rocker and run to her; obviously scared. I came in out of the Den to ask what happened? My wife replied she didn't know but it sounded like someone had thrown a rock through the library window (the library windows are very narrow and tall. There are two of them roughly 9 ft. apart.) I checked out the library windows and they were still intact. I even went outside and around to those windows but everything was ok. I came back into the Library quite perplexed because I ,too, heard the crashing glass. Then, looking away from the window and toward our glassed in bookcase I found the cause of the crash, but no reason for it. On the south wall of the Library are 6 built-in book shelves that run from the floor to the ceiling. The bottom part (about 30 inches) are actually cupboards for storage with heavy wood doors. The rest of the shelves have glass paned doors. The weather here has been very hot and damp so we have left the doors on the shelves ajar to ward off mold or mildew (Which works pretty good with the air conditioner running). Upon inspecting the doors to the shelves I spotted one with half of the pane of glass missing. I hadn't seen the broken glass before because it was laying on a shelf that runs at just the top of the lower cupboards. The glass had only fallen five or six inches. How in blazes had it made so much noise? Also why had only half of the glass pane fallen? If the pane of glass was loose; wouldn't you have thought the entire pane would have gave away, not just the lower half? I think its rather strange. Anyway I have to get new glass cut to fit. That's a 22 by 12 inch pane. There are 8 of these panes in each door, some of the glass appears to be original (1857) glass but the pane that shattered looks to be modern.

Little black dog reappears.

I was in the bathroom, at the sink, when I again observed a small black dog which I immediately thought was my younger dog, come into the bathroom and trot toward the far wall. I may have blinked, but I didn't see it disappear, but it did. My dog, we call "Shadow" was definitely downstairs at the time. I definitely saw this small, fuzzy, black dog for several seconds. I'm getting old; perhaps it was a hallucination. I'd hate to think so. This is the second such episode. We did observe a small white with brown spots dog when we first moved here and for several years thereafter but was a jack Russell type and hasn't made an appearance in some time. I'm just reporting the episode. I have no answers.

White shirt skirts acoss aisle.

Today at my wife's store in Byesville, Ohio, I definitely observed a strange sight. It was early afternoon and a group of customers had just left. I was standing at the checkout station and my wife, facing me, was relating a story one of the customers had told her. Suddenly, across on the other side of the store I distinctly observed a white, long sleeved dress shirt move like it had someone in it down the far aisle toward the forward part of the store. I was startled but managed to say, What's that?" to my wife who had her back to the aisle. By the time she turned to look the form was gone. Telling her what I saw, she replied, "That sort of thing happens frequently. Maybe that sort of thing happens to her frequently but it startled me and I can't say it happens to me frequently. If I recall correctly, and I did see what ever it was for several seconds, it appeared to be a long sleeved, white, dress shirt. But I cannot say that it looked "solid" but on reflection I'd say it was a bit transparent. It moved quickly and was filled out, like someone was in it though no one could be seen. "Chalk it up to this old store being over 100 years old" was my wife's take on the episode. There are no windows on that side of the store. The only window on the side I was on, is a window in the entrance door and it is pretty much blocked by a large "open" sign. There are two windows in the rear of the store on the cash register side but they are heavily obscured and a wall separates them from the front half of the store. No rear windows until you enter the backroom and that door is kept closed. I do not know what I saw. I only know what it looked like.

Digging and Scratching noises

Last night we turned in about 11:30 pm. My wife went to her bedroom in the east wing of the house (She has a leg problem which requires frequent monitoring) and the two dogs and I went to the master bedroom. The dogs and I romped and played for about 30 minutes to tire them out good (I'm usually the one who is tired out). We all settled in for the night. The older dog took a position at the foot of the bed, made three turns and flopped down. He rarely stays there more than an hour or so, after which he jumps down and goes to his regular bed on the floor next to the heat registers. The younger dog takes her place about midway on the bed and pretty much stays there unless thunder is heard or the night turns cold when she moves toward the head of the bed. Last night I had just about dozed off when I was awakened by frantic digging and scratching noises. Dogs digging the covers is a definite no-no and I thought I had them broken of the habit. Because the sounds came from toward the foot of the bed I naturally thought it was the older dog digging up the covers. I yelled at him to stop. Looking toward the foot of the bed I could see him lying there looking at me as if to say "Stop what?" He was not digging and the younger dog, much closer to me was sleeping through it all. So neither dog were reacting to the digging noises. That is strange. I turned on the light beside of the bed and the digging sounds immediately stopped. The phantom digger has dug me awake before. There is never any sign of the digger or the dug. The dogs seem to ignore the sound though it is rather loud (if you have a dog who digs the carpet or blankets you know what I mean). I really don't think mice would dig that loud. If we have rats I'm not aware of it and besides I think the dogs would react to a rat. So what causes these sounds in the middle of the night? Another old house mystery.

Coughing

Last night I went up up our attic because I stored various seed sprouting trays and lights up there out of the way. While I was up there I distinctly heard someone cough. The attic in this old Victorian brick is large. It has narrow tall windows which we keep closed in cold weather. Extremely loud mufflers and sirens can be heard if they pass in front of the house. Other street noises do not penetrate our attic. Birds getting into our eves can be heard. Both of my loud mouthed schnauzers going at full pitch on the ground floor cannot be heard unless the attic door is open and even then they are not loud; you would almost have to be listening for them to hear them. My wife and both dogs were on the first floor when I was in the attic. My wife was working in the kitchen and our dogs would have been confined to the kitchen, library, dining room area. So who coughed? Brings to mind the night we were entertaining a guest in the library and the southern wall bookcase coughed, quite distinctly and loud. It was snowing that night and my guest insisted we were being snooped by someone. I said you can't hear people from outside unless the windows are open (they were not) but he insisted so we went out into the snow around the library. There were no tracks but our own. Unless bats cough loudly, I have no idea what or who coughed in my attic while I retrieve gardening supplies.

Strange talking in the hallway

I still have it. Its loud, its garbled, it still seems to be coming from a section of wall adjacent to the master bedroom. In an area where a dumbwaiter once existed. Its an inside the house wall. I'd swear it sounds like a shortwave radio or walkie-talkie. It doesn't last but a few minutes, sometimes, just a few seconds; but what can be causing it? This voice, seemingly male, has punctuated the silence of the upstairs hall , off and on, for several months now. Its a mystery I cannot find an answer for and its driving me batty. I have no close neighbors on any side. My closest neighbor is across the street from me. The nearest neighbor behind me is a quarter mile away. I have a warehouse where I store things on my left side and a wide lawn and old block, two stall, garage seperates me from my neighbors on the right. My dogs hear the voice and react to it by running to that upstairs wall and barking. This is not to be confused with the downstairs wall next to the library that the younger dog frequently backs at. I have recorded the voice but its no clearer on play back then it was originally. For this event there has to be a logical explaination. Does anyone out there who is knowledgeable about short-wave or walkie talkies have any idea how anything in this old 1857 structure could possibly be picking up such signals? Or do I actually have something paranormal?

Lost water

In regard to the half million gallons of water the county billed me for. No one could account for where the water went. My insurance company did pay for it (bless their hearts) and then sent me a paper stating that if it is ever found it belongs to them (the insurance company). If I ever find it I will gladly turn it over to the insurance company. Word of warning: If your water meter ever says you used some utterly unbelievable quanity of water; be prepared to pay for it because water meters are infallible. Enough on this expensive silliness.

Wife has weird ex[perience

Last night my wife was working with the computer. She said that as she sat there at the computer she heard, coming from the floor to ceiling bookcase at her immediate right, a distinct creaking noise such as a door with rusty hinges would made upon opening. As we have had some really creepy issues with this bookcase my wife said aloud, "I don't know who you are, but I do not like people reading over my shoulder". "So cease the spying or I'll inform the DEA". My wife has the suspecian that tunnels in this town are being used by drug runners. Where she gets that notion, I do not know. We are not even certain there are tunnels under this house though several other houses in town definitely do have them. Anyway, she said she heard a short scrapping sound and a "thud" like a door closing. I simply cannot see how much could be going on behind this bookcase unless the walls are a lot thicker than they appear to be. Some of our exterior walls are 4 bricks thick, some may be thicker. Some of our walls appear to have interior metal sheets. As we have never made extensive modifications or repairs on the exterior walls I'm not certain about their interior make-up. But this bookcase has centered on several of our reports of things going ,"bump" that we cannot explain. The rear wall behind the library shelves extend to the basement where they encounter huge granite foundation blocks weighing hundreds of pounds. I'm not certain how a false wall might be constructed to hide a passageway; but there just doesn't seem to me to be enough room to do so. But those old builders could be very crafty; or so I'm told. Or maybe we really do have a spook loose here. Who knows?

46,000 gallons of water become half a million gallons of water

Referring back a couple of posts I wrote that a recent water-line break in my laundry room supposedly leaked 46,000 gallons of water before it was discovered. It seems that that 46,000 gallons of water has grown to a half million (over 500,000) gallons of water. Yet no escaped water is to be seen. The meter reads over 500,000 gallons of water lost yet there is no water damage nor any signs of where it went. If this isn't a paranormal event than I have to suspect a more sinister plan afoot. An $8000.00 water bill is nothing to sneeze at. Yet there is absolutely no sign of where this unbelievable flood of water went. But the meter says...... so you are responsible. I wonder how many whales could be kept in a half million gallons of water?

Dog in the mirror

Yesterday evening as I was finishing up shaving I distinctly saw a little black dog, in the bathroom mirror, enter the room and bounce over toward me. I turned around to scold what I thought was my little black schnauzer, for coming around or over the downstairs gate. But there was no dog there. I looked all around, certain she was somewhere in the bathroom. She wasn't anywhere upstairs because a minute or two later I heard my wife call both dogs and I heard the gate open and the sound of two stampeding schnauzers coming up the stairs. So what did I see? This was not a brief impression, what I saw must have been several seconds in duration. I was certain enough that I turned to chastise the offending dog. The bathroom is large, as bathrooms go and it is well lit. I definitely saw something. If not my younger black mutt, then what?

Missing: 46,000 gallons of water

Yesterday my wife and I came home from working at our store in a neighboring town at about 5:30 pm. On our front door was a note from the county water department stating they had shut off our water due to a leak on my side of the water meter. It was too late to call the water department so we went waterless; using water out of our cistern for toilet service. I called the water department early this am and made arrangements for someone at the water department to meet me o we could determine the exact location of the leak. I have insurance that covers the water line from the street to the house. The water department personnel arrived right on time and I was instructed top turn off the water going into the house in the basement and they would turn the water back on out at the street and we could determine whether or not the main feed line was leaking. It wasn't. So the leak had to be in the house. But I had followed the water line from where it enters the house all the way through the house and no leaking water was found. As the water department said the meter showed 46,000 gallons had been used; that is one heck of a lot of water for it to not show up anywhere. So the water inspector came into the house and followed the line through the house. He was shaking his head and saying "If the leak is in the house you should have a basement full of water". I agreed. No sign of extra water was evident. Finally we got to the very back of the house where the water line goes into the laundry room. The laundry room has a water shut-off valve. We closed off that valve and the noise of running water ended. The leak is in the laundry room. But the laundry room is attached to the basement but sits above the basement. Yet there is absolutely no evidence of water outflow. I have a crew coming in tomorrow to fix the pipe; but where in this crusty old brick is the house hiding 46,000 gallons of water? I've been all around the house and especially the laundry room searching for floods of water. Its been raining today, but even at that, wouldn't you think 46,000 gallons of water would have left some trace? I realize this is not anything paranormal, at least I don't think it is. Unless I have a very thirsty haunt. Or maybe I simply flooded a tunnel. There are tunnels in this town but I never found one under this house; but who knows?

House very quiet today

After all of the noises of yesterday one would think the clamor would leak over into today. It hasn't. We're pretty much snowed in. I did make it to church this morning but the snow became almost a whiteout and continued most of the morning and early afternoon. The roads are bad at present. Hopefully they will be cleared by tomorrow. So my wife and I and our two schnauzers have put in a very quiet day at home. None of the racket we experienced yesterday. We couldn't locate the creaks and groans yesterday and we can't explain the total quiet of today. Whatever makes the weird in this house seems to have no rhyme nor reason as to when or where it is to occur. Such is the fate of anyone who lives in large, old, historic, homes.

Strange noises

The wife and I are both home today for a change, I 've said before the house seems strangely quiet. But that isn't the case today. There has been many slams, bangs, whirring noises and what sounds like a porch swing chain clatter. We do not have a porch swing. I cannot locate other strange sounds; but the wind is blowing pretty good so I figure that must have something to do with it. There is snow and freezing rain predicted for later today (I hope they are wrong) but it is still quite cold outside with a rapid wind. One of the loud bangs occurred in the Library, just a few minutes ago. It sounded like it came from the book shelves that runs ceiling to the floor just immediately south of the computer. There is no evidence of anything having fallen nor any other such thing that could have resulted in a loud bang. Yes, I'm use to loud noises here; but I would really like to know what causes them. So I suppose the house is as active as it always has been. I guess I just thought it was quiet because I wasn't here to hear the noises. I'm here today and the noises are fairly frequent and, so far, without explanation.

Shadow people?

Today, at my wife's store, a strange happening. We hadn't been open very long; maybe an hour. My wife was working at the checkout counter and I was working on a clock in the backroom area. My wife came into the work area and said the strangest thing had just happened. As she was working on some papers at the counter she saw someone come in the door right beside the check-out. She gave her typical salutation and offered assistance if such were needed. When she looked up, no one was there. I heard her salutation where I was working and naturally assumed some one had come into the store. At this particular time there were no customers in the store. There is no way shadow or person could have crossed that threshold. She said that whatever it was passed through from the door well into the store. No shadows would be possible from that door. A person would not have been able to pass out of sight that quickly. The front display windows are well away from the check-out counter and are so well stocked that outside shadows or reflection would have been nonexistent in that area of the store. I said, "I heard you greet somebody, but I didn't hear the door bell ring (A rather loud brass bell sounds when someone comes in or leaves). "I saw someone or the shadow of someone come in so I greeted them. But nobody was there", my wife replied. "Then come to think of it, I didn't hear the bell either". We get weird things in this old building from time to time. I guess this was just another one.

Strange voice caught on tape.

I had previously reported that I was hearing what sounded almost like short-wave bursts that appeared to be coming from an interior wall of my house that once housed a dumbwaiter that has been sealed off for over 50 years. The first time I attempted to register anything on a tape, you'll remember, my recorder was moved several feet from where it was placed and all that was recorded was a buzzing sound. I checked the recorder out and it was fully operational. So I again set the voice activated recorder out. This time I discovered that if the downstairs door from the parlor to the front hall is left open the barking of my dogs can be heard. On this trial run they barked plenty, obviously while the wife and I were out. However aside from the barking the recorder did pick up the short "radio?" blasts that we have been hearing in the hall or master bedroom. But again, even though the blasts are loud they were too garbled to tell what was being said. Just prior to my placing the recorder in the hall, I had experienced the "voice" which repeated itself five or six times and sounded almost like it was saying, "Vincent had a heart attack", it sounded like that to me but it was unclear, garbled, so it could have been something else. BTW I know no one named Vincent. But tracking down the origin of these sounds always leads back to an inside wall on the second floor of my house in an area that once had an old dumbwaiter for moving items from the second floor downstairs. But it has been sealed off for decades. I have a pair of walkie-talkies and I have tried them out on the second floor, but nothing comes through on the wall. Its a very perplexing mystery.

Hallway voice sounds again

The hallway voice has sounded again. I was upstairs changing my clothes when suddenly the voice comes in loud and clear. Sounded like it was saying "Vincent is having a heart attack". That message was repeated seven or eight times. I quickly went to the hallway and once again the voice seemed to be coming from an area close to the closed off dumbwaiter. This reminded me that I had set a sound activated recorder next to that wall. I retrieved the recorder and saw the batteries had run down. Needless to say the recorder didn't pick up anything that time. I put new batteries in the recorder; rewound the tape and hit playback. Now I get mystery number two. Unless the downstairs doorway to the parlor is open; you cannot hear my dogs bark unless they get really loud and even then its a muffled sound. With the parlor door open you can hear the barking and they sound low like they are far away. When I rewound the recorder and hit playback I got what sounded like a dog war. The recorder picked them up like they were standing next to it. Now I know what they do when I'm not at home. They bark and howl. Anyway I did pick up the strange voice at one point on the tape. I couldn't understand what it said either. Its loud but unclear, garbled. I don't know any Vincent's, assuming that's what was really said. It repeated the message over and over at least 7 times. There is never any answer. And as I have said before it sounds like a shortwave radio of some sort. But why am I picking it up in an interior wall in my house? And that brings us to the game camera which I aimed up the front stairs to try to validate a couple strange shots I got from my, now defunct, spy camera. The batteries on it had run down as well, but I retrieved the chip. I had many pictures of myself and my wife going up and down those stairs. None of these photos looked anything like the strange aberration that came up on two shots of the spy camera. So the mystery continues in this old house.

More of the weird

This morning my dogs got me up promptly at 8:15. They must have built in alarm clocks. The both jump up and down on the bed and shake themselves vigorously. If that doesn't get them the desired result one of them will them brush my face with their long beard. That gets my attention. I keep the bedroom doors shut because I do not want the dogs running all over the house at night. My wife keeps her door shut because when she keeps it shut that room is the warmest of the upstairs rooms. We have basically two upstairs halls. A short one that goes from the front stairs and north past the master bed room and ends at the trunk room. The other hallway is much longer and runs south from the master bedroom, past the Noah room on the left and the Green room on the right. Yjis long hall is always dark, even on a bright sunny day this hallway is at best gloomy lit. So you can imagine how dark it is at night. I did install a small floor level night light about midway; but that just didn't seem like enough light when you have a bathroom run in the middle of the night. So recently I installed a bright motion light over the doorway from the master bedroom. The light woprks very well, it even comes on when I reach the top of the backstairs and turn to go down the hall to the bedroom. So I got up and got dressed and the dogs and I went down to the Noahs room where my wife sleeps since she has a serious leg problem. Anyway the dogs bounded into the room and was in the act of getting my wife up. She said "Why did you wait so long to let the dogs in?" I said "What do you mean? We just now came from the bedroom." She then said, "Yhe hall light has been going off and on for at least a half an hour." Keep in mind that over the doorway to the Noahs room is a transum and she could see the light through that. We had not gone down that hallway except when we entered the bedroom. That was our first time in the hall way. Nothing very small will trigger that light. A mouse wouldn't trigger it. A bat might but there was no evidence of a bat. The dogs would trigger it; but they were in the bedroom with me. I have checked the light several times and so far it has only come on when it was suppose to. If my wife watched it come on several times thia morning before the dogs and I could have activated it....then what activated it? More strangeness in an old house.

Weird results

I placed a sound activated tape recorder on top of a tall display case in our hall way right beside the wall where these short blasts of speaking seem to be originating. I left the recorder there for several days. This area of our house is rarely used by us. It is a section of hall yjat runs parellel to the front stair case and goes past the western door of the master bedroom and dead ends at the trunkroom (where Christmas decorations are stored. When I went to get the recorder it was not where I put it. I could not find it. It had not fallen anywhere around the area. I aasked my wife about it. She assured me she hadn't even been in that area of the house. I returned upstairs and did a double check of everything. I found nothing so in discust I turned and walked down the hall yoward yjer master bedroom; inyending to return downstairs. As I passed the door of the trunkroom I saw the recorfer sitting on a box of Christmas decorations. Total surprise. That box of decorations was a good 15 ft from where I placed the recorder. I saw the tape had run out so I placed new batteries inn the recorder and rewound the tape. When I played the tape the first quarter of it was blank or had distant voices which I determined were my wife and I and someone at our front door. So that was explained. Then the tape set up a buzzing for the rest of the tape. Just buzzing. Testing the recorder I found it works just fine. So whats with the buzzing?