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Growing up in a haunted house


Laughing Gravy

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Not my first as my mother tells me I used to talk to the old woman in the corner of the bedroom I shared with my sisters as a toddler but I have no memory of that of course.

I thought I'd share this story of a childhood experience when I was eight years old, something I often think about and more recently had discussions about it with other family members, I never spoke about this at the time nor for many years afterwards.

I grew up in an industrial town near Glasgow famous for shipbuilding. My parents, two sisters and I lived in a cramped tenement building with an outside toilet so the offer of a council house with three bedrooms and proper toilet was very welcome and we duly moved in about the time of the summer school holidays.

It was an exciting time, being the eldest I got my own room and even got to choose the wallpaper and we got our first dog a black labrador called Glen. Not long after we moved in the strange events started to occur. The dog would never go upstairs where my sister's and I had our rooms and would often stand at the bottom of the stairs growling with his hackles up. My father worked nightshift in a local factory so was never around much in the evenings and after we children were in bed my mother would hear footsteps on the stairs as did the dog which would start growling and getting agitated. Thinking it was one of us sneaking downstairs she'd check but nobody there and we'd be sleeping. My father also mentions hearing footsteps during the day and on his nights off.

I remember waking several times during the night and although dark there was enough ambient light from the streetlights outside to see a figure standing at the bottom of my bed, I could see it was a man thinner and taller than my father but couldn't make out any features. Needless to say I was terrified and I don't mind admitting that until I became an adult I kept my head under the duvet when in bed in case I saw something. I didn't mention this to my parents until much later.

Also around this time one or more of us would get sick during the night, headaches and nausea but this was put down to some bug or other that was going around something children often succumb to.

I didn't find out till years later that the house became vacant because the previous occupant had apparently commited suicide by gassing himself in the kitchen, no suicide note was left nor any indication that he was unhappy for any reason.

Being Catholic my parents had a priest come around to bless the house but the incidents still continued. About this time they bought a new gas cooker to replace the very old model currently installed. When the gas fitter arrived to install it he was horrified to discover that the pipe leading to the old cooker had a large hole and was leaking gas constantly. Had it not been a warm summer and all the windows being left open we could have died and the small amount of gas building up during the night was probably responsible for us getting sick.

That discovery also solved the mystery of the suicide which of course wasn't, it appears the guy had come home from the pub and decided to make something to eat in the kitchen but fell asleep. The buildup of gas had killed him and it was of course accidental.

My parents tracked down his mother to tell her what had been discovered and after that the strange events stopped and nothing more disturbed us for the many years we lived in that house.

That was the first of several experiences I've had over the years, more to come if you're interested. 

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14 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

It was an exciting time, being the eldest I got my own room and even got to choose the wallpaper and we got our first dog a black labrador called Glen. Not long after we moved in the strange events started to occur. The dog would never go upstairs where my sister's and I had our rooms and would often stand at the bottom of the stairs growling with his hackles up

How old was your dog when you got him and how old was he when this happened?

14 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

My father also mentions hearing footsteps during the day and on his nights off.

I grew up in a council flat, many were put up cheaply and quickly, they are not the soundest of places. It is possible you had mice  or small animals in the attic - at night sounds appear a lot louder.....and yes, they can sound like footsteps.

14 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

I remember waking several times during the night and although dark there was enough ambient light from the streetlights outside to see a figure standing at the bottom of my bed,

Hypnagogic hallucinations

Quote

If you think you’re seeing — or smelling, hearing, tasting, or feeling — things when you’re asleep, you may not be dreaming. It’s possible you’re experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations. 

http://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-health/hypnagogic-hallucinations#overview1

 

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We got the dog fully grown at around four years aold. No attic the house had a flat roof and the mice would have to be huge to make floorboards creak.

Wide awake when I saw the figure and that I'm not mistaken about.

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9 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

We got the dog fully grown at around four years aold. No attic the house had a flat roof and the mice would have to be huge to make floorboards creak.

Wide awake when I saw the figure and that I'm not mistaken about.

The dog could have been afraid of stairs before you got it, or afraid of a staircase similar to yours from before. Have you had dogs before? had you got the dog as a puppy then  i would say it was strange if nothing had happened during the time there for it to be spooked, but  4 years old? anything in its past could have been the reason behind this. 

There must have been a loft space unless you were on the ground floor of a block?

At night there are sounds you would not hear during the day, so no, the mice or creatures do not have to be big to make a racket.

You say wide awake and yet you said earlier you woke several times, maybe this could explain it:

Quote

Did you read the earlier link?

http://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-health/hypnagogic-hallucinations#symptoms2

 

 

 

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I notice you said no facial features. Was it like a shadow person? 

I believe from personal experiences that we somehow manifest these things from our psyche. Not as in hypnagogic hallucination, but actual phenomena that other people around us can experience. And that accounts for all phenomena, even sleep paralysis type events, disembodied voices, and poltergeist activity.

It's not surprising that your phantoms disappeared after you believed you solved the problem. 

Edited by ChaosRose
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I enjoyed reading your post, Laughing Gravy. :yes:  

I feel, I have two different ways of looking at this. (Both from my subjective point of view) First, I wouldn't discount what some here have posted, there is always the possibilities of natural interference. Especially when there was amounts of gas pouring into the environment. I'm feeling, that can cause a lot of situations where one can feel sick and see things. 

Granted, my dog has had countless times barking at nothing at our front door area, and even one time lifted his head and looked at the sound of footsteps, (I heard the footsteps) and growl in the direction of said footsteps, (my personal experiences) Every dog, cat and other animals like humans, are each different. It could be your dog was afraid or had something  bothering him about the stairs or something. Something that happened to him with a past owner. 

My first thought when reading about how all the occurrences stopped when you found out what happened and replaced the gas stove, is that maybe the message to protect the new tenants came through and the person can rest now. (and that his parents were notified about it.) I do feel, that is a big possibility. 

Of course, the lack of gas spilling into the environment now, could be another factor. :blink:      :D   

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It sounds like that your experience was caused by the old tenant to earn you of his death and to solve the issue... Then notifying his family. Happy ending, I'm glad (for you guys).

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