Dog again uneasy about upstairs hall

     Not really a big deal, but as I report all unusual occurrances, this was a bit unusual. Actually it happened three or four nights ago. I just couldn't decide whether to enter it in the journal or not. We had turned in a little early for us, no real reason for it. I hadn't even started my nightly play with our dog. He was standing at the foot of the bed when he suddenly turned from facing me to facing down our long dark upstairs hall. He issued several low growls. "Hey ,I said, whats with you?" Not even turning to me he kept staring into the hall. He was so intent I did not even try to distract him with play. He growled those low gutteral warning type growls that dogs use when they are warning you or someone away. After a couple of minutes he relaxed and then was ready to romp before going to bed. What he thought he heard or sensed, I have no idea. Luckily he doesn't behave in this fashion often.

Strange Noise

    Last night, probably about 3 or 4am I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't turn on any lights as the window light was ample to navigate the bedroom and we have a small night-lite in the hall (one of those 2X3 inch green squares). After reaching the bathroom I heard what I thought was my dog shakening heck out of one of his toys. Any of you who have or have had a dog, understands what I mean. Its a very characteristic sound. I said, "What are you doing in here?" I got no response and he didn't come running to me as he normally would. I couldn't see him but the sound eminated from a part of the bath that has an eastern window. I figured he'd follow me back down the hall to the bedroom. I heard nothing more; but when I reentered the bedroom I could see my dog curled up in his bed obviously sound asleep. He certainly didn't pass me in our narrow hall. So what did I hear?

Sounds of a porch swing again.

     The sounds of an old porch swing could be very clearly heard again today. The clanking of the chain ends against the vertical chain supports; that characteristic sound that old time porch swings made. Clearly heard inside the house; like last time, was not heard on the sideporch where they appeared (from inside) to be coming from. There was a stiff breeze at times today and the temperature was in the high 30s. The frustration comes from not being capable of finding the source of the sound. The sound lasted roughly 10 or 15 minutes.

Strange sounds

     Though the house has been much quieter than normal for this time of year, I did have some strange sounds today that I could not find the source of. Those of you who remember the old porch swings of yesteryear that were hung with chains from the porch ceiling; know that they made a very characteristic sound when someone was swinging in them. I heard what sounded like that for roughly half an hour today. It could be heard in the kitchen, diningroom and library; but not outside on the sideporch which is where it sounded like it was coming from when I was inside. The weather today was sunny most of the day and the temperatures in the low 40s. There was a very slight breeze. I never found a source for the sounds though there could be, very easily, a natural source for them.

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.