[Grape Soda]

i've lurked on this site for a while now, reading the stories and checking out photos of possible paranormal activity.

a lot of you guys and gals really have your stuff together and approach this subject matter very objectively, which is refreshing.

at any rate, i'd figure i'd start off my first post ever here with what's going on at my house. it's a bit lengthy, so i'll do it in a 2 parter: part 1
i live in the hill country of central texas. my home was built in the 50s i believe on the sloping side of a hill, so needless to say, we have bit of a foundation problem. i've lived here for 3 1/2 years and have never experienced anything strange or paranormal here until this past august. i lived here alone for a year, up until this past week.

we had a really heavy rainstorm that lasted for 2 days (most of the rain we get here only lasts for 15 minutes at best), and this much rain and erosion caused a new crack in the foundation that runs from my bedroom, into the living room, and through the dining room. the night after the crack, i started hearing strange voices. like whispering conversations. as the nights progressed i would feel a tug on my bedsheets, or as if something had pressed down on the blankets (not on me, just the blankets). i blew this off as dream-like-state hallucinations, but was aware that something happened (whether or not it was/is paranormal is questionable, for sure).

about a month goes by, with random little things happening here and there, and i am laid out sick from work (nothing serious, just a sore throat). i'm laying in bed, not sleeping or trying to sleep, i had just finished watching "tommy boy" and i hear a woman's voice over my head. i turn to look out of instinct, and of course nothing is there. moments later i feel, what feels like, a delicate hand grab mine and the thumb rubbing the back of my hand 3 or 4 four times and the area around my hand gets really cold. i couldn't explain this one away easily.

so, i start running evp work for the next several nights after this incident. most nights i would just leave the recorder running through the night and check it the following morning i got some strange knocks and bangs, but that could have easily been the house settling, since it is on a hill. but one strange thing i caught was something brushing against the microphone at one point during one of the sessions while i was asleep. i have no pets and no rat/mouse problem.
end part 1.

[Grape Soda]

part 2.

i broke this up because it was rather long, and i figure if you didn't wanna read the first half, i wouldn't make you read a mini-novel.

the most recent happenings at my house occurred 3 weeks ago.
i came home from work around 11pm and the stereo was on in the living room and blaring white noise. i didn't think much of it, just turned the volume down and turned it off. 2 days later, i get home from work again, around 9pm this time and i'm bringing my stuff in from the car. as i walk through the house with the lights off, i'm in the middle of the living room, and i hear the disk changer on the stereo cycling through cds. i look over, and i watch as the stereo cycles functions until it gets to the tuner and stops and the volume goes way up, again with just white noise. this honestly freaked me out, so i ran over and unplugged the stereo.

i did some research online for the make and model of the stereo to see what kind of history of electronic malfunctions it may have, but didn't find anything related to this. so i plugged it back in, set up my video camera and i waited. sure enough, 3 days later, 40 minutes after starting up the equipment, i hear the stereo turn on, and again, start blaring white noise. i start up my analog tape recorder to do evp and start snapping digital pictures. i kept asking whatever it was or could have been to show itself.

i must admit i didn't capture much in the way of good evidence. i haven't found anything in the evp session, and the video is too dark to make out anything other than the stereo turning on. but in all the photos i took from the other side of the room of the stereo, one had an orb. i'm on the fence about orbs, since so many of them can be explained as dust. but in the 30 pictures i took, 10 of which just standing in the doorway at the stereo, only one had an orb.

anyway, sorry this ended up so long. i've been keeping a catalog of activity, and i wanted to put out a good amount of the information of activities that have been occurring. i'm not saying "i have a ghost" just that some weird crap's been going on. thanks from reading this lengthy post.

[catutie]

maybe the crack released somthing? i know renovating and remodeling can release ghosts and make them more active so maybe the crack had the same effect? i dont know what is up with your stereo, and its good you didnt look at it as a ghost the first time. maybe put a camera on the knob or what ever is used to turn it up and see if it moves? it doesnt seem to be trying to hurt you actually it seems to be trying to keep watch for you according to the way it rubbed your hand. interesting at the least keep us posted on what else happens

[Paranormalcy]

Interesting, and it sounds like you're trying to approach it with some objectivity and critical thinking, which is a refreshing change of pace. I and a friend were sitting in a living room talking when the VCR suddenly "sucked in" a VHS tape that had been sitting, ejected, inside the tape door - I wasn't even aware VCRs could do that.

I don't know about the stereo thing, we get a fair amount of electronic equipment peculiarities in here, I'm not sure if it is possible for errant waves of some kind to affect a stereo in this way, activating it or one of its functions. It would be good if you were able to try to always get the time you know of these things happening, if you know it, so you can compare notes both against your previous notes and make any possible connection with anything going on in your neighborhood, in case there could be some possible other explanation, though I can't think of many offhand.

I'm also skeptical of the whole "ley line/earth energies" thing, but there are indications, as you might know, some people claim that underwater streams and tectonic activity and magnetic fields and such can cause a variety of unusual happenings in homes and buildings, so I guess it's possible the crack might have something to do with what has been going on, but I myself don't know how this would be connected, any dynamics that might tie the two together.

I don't think much of EVP or orbs for the most part, though I suppose there is always that possibility, I took 192 photos in a supposedly haunted, abandoned, four story hospital built in the 20's, and got about four pictures that had orbs in them, but that was about it. The "ghost hunting group" I was with, who had some older adults with college degrees in science and psychology, were unimpressed, and in fact the group said that night was the least active they had seen in a while, so that was even less chance that the orbs were anything significant.

I admit the guys did tear through the halls once yelling, "Orb, orb!" and disappear around a doorway, where they said the orb vanished through the floor. None of the rest of the six of us, some invited visitors like myself, some group members, saw anything go by, so I don't feel qualified to say what, if anything, they saw.

This post has been edited by Paranormalcy: 04 November 2009 - 01:37 AM

[Grape Soda]

yeah, i try to be level headed about these sort of things and find logical conclusions for them before i go running and screaming "GHOST!" with my tail between my legs.

catutie: i have a similar theory that the larger crack in the foundation may have stirred up something, since it might have a similar effect to remodeling or demolition that supposedly stirs up "activity". i actually put a small sticker on the volume knob of the stereo so it would be easy to see if it moves on it's own. but so far, since the last incident, it's been pretty quiet for the past 2 weeks.

Paranormalcy: about the stereo...the first time, the stereo was on when i got home at 11pm. the second time, it was around 8:55/9:00 pm. i do admit that it freaked me out when it turned on while i was standing there so i'm not exact on the time. the third time, however, i was prepared from the previous nights of trying to catch the electronic anomaly, so i noted in my log that it turned on at 9:37pm. i check to see if it had an "alarm" function, which it did not. and if it had one, i would've suspected it to go off (or turn on as the case holds) everyday/everynight at the same time. but it happened at random days/times. it also uses an infrared remote, that had no batteries in it at the time. i also live in a pretty quiet little neighborhood, so when i tried to see if there had been any strange electronic disturbances (some one hitting a telephone pole, or a powersurge) i turned up empty handed. orbs also don't really sway me since they are so easy to explain away as dust particles, but i count them as a small note of interest.

i'm keeping my head straight on this thing, just trying to figure out what is going on. i'm still keeping my log, even though it's been quiet lately.

[Paul Noise]

Do you live near a major freeway? Or a road of any type that gets a lot of Semi-trucks going through? Within, say, a mile?

[Carla]

Well I've had some weird things like that happen at my grandmothers house. There is history at her home, everything that happened had some sort of significance. So I'm just gonna look at your post the way a believer would. So if there is something "supernatural" in your house, would you want to find out about it? There are things you could do, like automatic writing, or Ouija boards. Maybe you could just research the history of the place and find out if its possible that someone who lived there before would want to get your attention.
I think If I was in your position and also if I wasn't such a scardy-cat. Then I would keep up with trying to get some evidence and trying to communicate. I'm not an expert so maybe you could do a search on how to communicate with a possible ghost? Lol.

[randomhit10]

continue keeping the logs...try taking your stereo to another room and see if the same thing happens...if it does, take it to a friends house and plug it in...see what happens...i have heard of remodeling touching off a series of events and the crack may have done something...not impossible but keep investigating...

beside the hand touch have you experienced any other physical contact?

randomhit10

[Grape Soda]

Paul Noise, on 04 November 2009 - 08:02 AM, said:

Do you live near a major freeway? Or a road of any type that gets a lot of Semi-trucks going through? Within, say, a mile?

about a half a mile from an interstate, yeah. i had first thought that CB radio waves would have interfered with the radio signal causing it to come on. i through out that idea, since the stereo is older and it works with an infrared sensor on the remote. i'm also positioned in a VERY hilly neighborhood near the bottom valley of a couple steep hills. we can barely get cell phone signals, and we could only get one TV station back before everything switched to digital.

randomhit10, on 05 November 2009 - 01:55 PM, said:

continue keeping the logs...try taking your stereo to another room and see if the same thing happens...if it does, take it to a friends house and plug it in...see what happens...i have heard of remodeling touching off a series of events and the crack may have done something...not impossible but keep investigating...

beside the hand touch have you experienced any other physical contact?

randomhit10

there's been 12 instances of physical contact, counting the hand. all but one of them prior to the hand instance. tapping on my arm, brushing against my leg, poking on my back; there i just blew off as muscle spasms, since almost all of them happened just as i woke up or while i was sleeping. just as i say the tugging on my sheet and blankets could have been dream-like-state hallucinations. last night, something did pull on my shoulder, though. first activity in a couple weeks. could have been a muscle spasm, though. i still added it to my log.

[Grape Soda]

just now, the temperature just dropped in my room several degrees for a about minute or so. felt like the A/C had just kicked on. of course the A/C is off, and the temperature is normal in the rest of the house. made all the hairs stand up on my entire body. pretty strange.

i took some pictures, i'll check 'em out and see if anything is on there. i doubt it, but worth a look.

[randomhit10]

Grape Soda, on 05 November 2009 - 11:57 PM, said:

just now, the temperature just dropped in my room several degrees for a about minute or so. felt like the A/C had just kicked on. of course the A/C is off, and the temperature is normal in the rest of the house. made all the hairs stand up on my entire body. pretty strange.

i took some pictures, i'll check 'em out and see if anything is on there. i doubt it, but worth a look.

if this a paranormal event, physical contact can be a problem...it can show that the spirit/s are gaining in strength and confidence that you either can't or won't do anything...this can make for big problems on down the road...consider what you want to do about the entity soon...as it gets stronger, past experience has shown me these things will be less friendly and more dangerous to you...

please give this some thought.....

randomhit10

[Paul Noise]

randomhit10, on 06 November 2009 - 08:10 AM, said:

if this a paranormal event, physical contact can be a problem...it can show that the spirit/s are gaining in strength and confidence that you either can't or won't do anything...this can make for big problems on down the road...consider what you want to do about the entity soon...as it gets stronger, past experience has shown me these things will be less friendly and more dangerous to you...

please give this some thought.....

randomhit10

This is purely fantasy based conjecture and doesn't show one ounce of consideration for reality. How could you possibly assert that an unknown event is a rational being with intent, that it is gaining strenght, and has/will also become hostile?

[Paul Noise]

Grape Soda, on 05 November 2009 - 06:52 PM, said:

about a half a mile from an interstate, yeah. i had first thought that CB radio waves would have interfered with the radio signal causing it to come on. i through out that idea, since the stereo is older and it works with an infrared sensor on the remote. i'm also positioned in a VERY hilly neighborhood near the bottom valley of a couple steep hills. we can barely get cell phone signals, and we could only get one TV station back before everything switched to digital.

You didn't really eliminate this as a possibility. You thought through the problem, but didn't test the theory. If you have the means, I suggest you buy a little handheld CB unit, and keep it near the radio. Truckers use channel 19 to communicate on. Actually here, just read this. It will give you an idea of how it works and some of the anomalies that can come up. Or, you know, just go with the spirit things.

[Sir_Quack_The_Wack]

Hi there, and welcome.

Back when I was living at my grandparents' house, I had things similar to yours happening.

That had a huge crack from the roof to the ground from erosion. See, the crack was situated on the exact line where a loungeroom was attached to the kitchen - it used to just be the doorway to the backyard, but they had a kitchen attached last decade.

Since the whole township was originally swamp land, a lot of erosion and land movement happens every year, which often caused many other cracks. It explains the knocking and "footsteps" in the night, it was actually cracking.

Whispers or voices I heard I can explain by gasses that often leaked through the ground due to it's swamp origins, swamp gasses, yes. This caused of course the sounds of rushes of air. Now, assuming you know about paredoila, apply the same principles to the sounds and you have an explanation.

Now you live in Texas, and I know a lot of swamplands and non-stirdy grounds seem to flourish in your state. It is possible this is the cause of the happenings, like it was with my happenings at the grandparents' house.

The radio problem you have is very common in my life, heh, same with DVD players - one player's drive opens when you close it and closes when you open it, and if I leave a disk in to play later, it starts randomly.

I think it is a malfunction, and other events are giving you the idea that it is all connected somehow. I'ts just a totally unrelated coincidence.

[Scratched]

Grape Soda, on 03 November 2009 - 09:17 PM, said:

but one strange thing i caught was something brushing against the microphone at one point during one of the sessions while i was asleep.

Hi, i did the same and got some strange brushing against the microphone.

Do you know if there are any graves (cementary) nearby your house?