find out if my house is haunted

Last weekend, my son had Coxsackie virus, which among other things, makes the throat very sore and can cause many nightly wakeups. So, on Saturday, he got up three or four times before 3 AM; the fourth time, I just let him wail for a while, hoping he would go back to sleep because I was too tired to get up again.

I heard a thump on the ceiling from our ghost friend. I ignored it, and dozed back into a half-sleep while my son still cried. THEN, I HEARD A THUMP ON OUR BEDROOM DOOR!!!! It sounded like a thump at the top part of the door, but it was the freaking door. I remember muttering, “all right, all right, I’m getting up.” Then I gave Dash some Tylenol and went back to bed.

The thump had a more distinct sound than usual—it sounded like the thump a large drawer makes just as it meets up with a dresser. Not wooden though. Before now, every time I heard the “thump” I would think that it was a familiar-sounding noise but implacable…

“Pennington Otto 16/3/55” (in pencil)

I ought to look him up in the SS death index on Ancestry.com and find out when and where he died. If he was the first owner of the house (and not just a brickmason) I’d be interested to know more.

About an hour ago (9PM), my son was crying in his room, so I made him a bottle, left his light dimmed, and put him back to bed.

Just now (10PM), DH and I heard him crying, LOUDLY, so I went up to check on him; the screams continued as I climbed the stairs. I opened the door to PITCH BLACK!! And it was quiet when I walked in. I turned the light up and found him asleep (but sucking on his Nuk).

Okay, so he could have fallen asleep right as I was turning his doorknob, but I KNOW I left his light on. Yeep.

Here’s how the conversation went last night:

me: hey, have you ever heard a thump on the ceiling?
dh: no. why?
me: I have.
dh: squirrels?
me: no, it’s more of a soft thud than skittering.
dh: fat squirrel?

My son was awake around 11:30 pm, screaming. I fixed him a bottle to help him get back to sleep, and walked into his room. Again, the room was dimly lit, and just as I got to his crib, the overhead light went out.

Coincidence, again?

Just in case you might be thinking that it’s my son, these types of things happened when my daughter was in this room. When we knew our son was on the way, we moved Rosie to a larger room with a toddler bed, but kept all the baby furniture in this room.

1. the light in my son’s room goes out -and stays out- regularly while I’m in there
(could be faulty wiring)
2. right before I’m drifting off to sleep, I hear a “thump” on the ceiling right above my bed; it’s sometimes inspired me to mentally project a “yeah, I hear you!” response
(could be the house settling)
3. all around the house, I’m finding picture frames set askew and I’m a little OCD about leveling my hangings
(could be my 22 lb walking son is making the floor shake?)
4. as I was about to open the door to my son’s room last night around 1 a.m. because he was awake, screaming, I saw a shadow flutter up the wall, just barely in my peripheral vision; I opened the door and saw my son standing in his crib in a lighted room, crying and just then his overhead light went out—but the nightlight stayed on. (there was a lightning storm last night, complete with power outages)