A tenant of a property has claimed her house is haunted. I have to admit that I do not believe in ghosts nor that ghosts and poltergeists exist. I can think of several rational explanations:
DARK
Shadows - if your curtains are not tight, trees move in the wind casting shadow on the window and across the room onto the far wall. Often had this in hotels with thin curtains.
Street light have power cut.
Street lights switch off at dawn but are out of sync with daylight times.
Power cut but you are on a grid which only affects every third house which is why your neighbours and street light are ok. It is called a three phase supply. Your electricity power board can explain. This happens in north London.
Old wiring - get it checked by a qualified electrician.
LIGHT
Moving lights - car headlights flashing through the window, street lights when tree branches move across them in high winds.
Moving shadows - effects created after you have looked at white light on a black background.
Ghostly movements - grease on your spectacles; floaters in your eyes.
Police patrol car's lights sweeping across as they pass.
Street light come on suddenly.
SOUNDS
Burglar alarms ring in other people's houses.
Car alarms go off, started by cats.
The dawn chorus wakes you.
Drunks laugh, mutter to themselves, sing, and swear when they trip up or walk into lamp posts
Foxes shake dustbins, bin lids, or tip out contents, looking for food
Hearing human voices: mental problems of hearer.
Strange squeaks, mice.
Rustling - spiders and insects in paper, especially sweet wrappers. Moths.
Reflected sound - I often hear the neighbours talking and the sound appears to be in the next room but they are actually the other side of the fence.
Screaming - turns out to be foxes.
Pitter patter of tiny feet - actually it sounds like elephant feet - magpies on the roof. On the conservatory we actually see their shadows.
Noises of feet in the attic - call in Rentokil quickly. You might have pigeons or mice or rats or squirrels. They can eat through wiring and cause a fire.
Leaves falling in autumn. Conkers falling. Acorns falling. Leaves blowing. Apples falling with a faint thud. In Asia coconuts falling. Old trees falling or dropping branches in high winds.
Cats prowling at night.
Wolves.
Bears.
Grass snakes.
Cows eating and mooing outside window. (Had this at hotel in Scotland. Hotel owner apologised.)
Bees and wasps building nests in eaves and flying to and fro ... (Eventually had lots of living and dead wasps. Had to pay council to remove nest in attic. Very common.)
Faint thuds - pilot light in gas heater came on.
Junk mail fell though letter box.
Cat used cat flap.
Scratches - cat used claws on furniture.
Partner got up and went to toilet, half waking you. The second door slam when they returned woke you but by the time you sat up they were already back in bed.
SIGHTS
Ghostly sights - seen by just one person - causes can be with your eyesight. (Opticians and optical journals know about this.)
Seen by others in the same house - could be a gas leak giving occupants of the house hallucinations.
CHILL
Chills - get the glazing checked. Draughts through windows, doors or even floors. A hotel owner told me after he installed double glazing his ghostly chills in bedrooms ended. (On the other hand, if you seal windows up too tightly in the UK you might get condensation. In Scandinavia where buildings are surrounded by snow in winter their windows are designed to cope.)
HOLES & MOUNDS
Garden has holes - moles or foxes or cats.
Squirrels burying nuts.
SOUNDS
Water suddenly comes out of taps - yes, taps do this all the time. If you touch a tap swirl water will come out. Dripping taps, loose washers - eventually the water builds up.
Shaking floors and jolting beds - earthquakes, possibly ground movement caused by underground plates, old mines. If in city centre it could be underground trains.
Barking dogs at night - sound carries for miles.
Bangs - earthquakes, or distant car crashes.
Ancestors appearing. (Wishful thinking - frequently happens after somebody dies. You start dreaming about them.)
Blood runs out of taps. Rust in pipes. Very common in some areas.
Water goes cloudy. Chalk deposits. It soon clears.
Shadows moving on ground. Trees, birds, bats.
Sounds of feet on leaves - small animals, rodents, reptiles, lizards, geckos, snakes, mice, cats about at night stealthily creeping up on mice, or insects.
Remember that 90% of animals are nocturnal.
Cat climbed up curtains and fell off.
DOORS Slamming shut & Windows Swinging open
Garage Doors Swing Open:
Burglars.
Loose catch.
Neighbours radio control operates your doors without their realising it.
Kids having a laugh driving or walking past and trying to open all the doors in the street.
Burglars looking for stuff in your garage have found nothing of interest and moved onto the next house. Or your garage is such a mess that you don't even notice what is missing and think you mislaid it or blame the kids/parents/spouse/yourself.
You forgot to lock up.
You are built on a slope so windows and doors tend to swing downhill through the pull of gravity.
Heat rises so rising air affects upper windows and skylights which then create a through draught affecting doors and windows below.
KNOCKING on Doors
Cats trying to get in. Other cats following your cats. Bears looking for food.
Drunks at wrong house, getting no answer, realising their mistake.
Drugged would be burglars frightened off by automatic lights.
Kids playing a game to scare you, for a dare.
Postmen dropping items through the letterbox. (Items get eaten by dog or blow towards wall and are only found days later.)
The caller gave up and went away - you are not as agile as you used to be, your hearing is not as good as it used to be, and you are developing Alzheimers.
Set up recordings outside and in and you will be amazed at the amount of wildlife moving around your gardens and house.
DARK
Shadows - if your curtains are not tight, trees move in the wind casting shadow on the window and across the room onto the far wall. Often had this in hotels with thin curtains.
Street light have power cut.
Street lights switch off at dawn but are out of sync with daylight times.
Power cut but you are on a grid which only affects every third house which is why your neighbours and street light are ok. It is called a three phase supply. Your electricity power board can explain. This happens in north London.
Old wiring - get it checked by a qualified electrician.
LIGHT
Moving lights - car headlights flashing through the window, street lights when tree branches move across them in high winds.
Moving shadows - effects created after you have looked at white light on a black background.
Ghostly movements - grease on your spectacles; floaters in your eyes.
Police patrol car's lights sweeping across as they pass.
Street light come on suddenly.
SOUNDS
Burglar alarms ring in other people's houses.
Car alarms go off, started by cats.
The dawn chorus wakes you.
Drunks laugh, mutter to themselves, sing, and swear when they trip up or walk into lamp posts
Foxes shake dustbins, bin lids, or tip out contents, looking for food
Hearing human voices: mental problems of hearer.
Strange squeaks, mice.
Rustling - spiders and insects in paper, especially sweet wrappers. Moths.
Reflected sound - I often hear the neighbours talking and the sound appears to be in the next room but they are actually the other side of the fence.
Screaming - turns out to be foxes.
Pitter patter of tiny feet - actually it sounds like elephant feet - magpies on the roof. On the conservatory we actually see their shadows.
Noises of feet in the attic - call in Rentokil quickly. You might have pigeons or mice or rats or squirrels. They can eat through wiring and cause a fire.
Leaves falling in autumn. Conkers falling. Acorns falling. Leaves blowing. Apples falling with a faint thud. In Asia coconuts falling. Old trees falling or dropping branches in high winds.
Cats prowling at night.
Wolves.
Bears.
Grass snakes.
Cows eating and mooing outside window. (Had this at hotel in Scotland. Hotel owner apologised.)
Bees and wasps building nests in eaves and flying to and fro ... (Eventually had lots of living and dead wasps. Had to pay council to remove nest in attic. Very common.)
Faint thuds - pilot light in gas heater came on.
Junk mail fell though letter box.
Cat used cat flap.
Scratches - cat used claws on furniture.
Partner got up and went to toilet, half waking you. The second door slam when they returned woke you but by the time you sat up they were already back in bed.
SIGHTS
Ghostly sights - seen by just one person - causes can be with your eyesight. (Opticians and optical journals know about this.)
Seen by others in the same house - could be a gas leak giving occupants of the house hallucinations.
CHILL
Chills - get the glazing checked. Draughts through windows, doors or even floors. A hotel owner told me after he installed double glazing his ghostly chills in bedrooms ended. (On the other hand, if you seal windows up too tightly in the UK you might get condensation. In Scandinavia where buildings are surrounded by snow in winter their windows are designed to cope.)
HOLES & MOUNDS
Garden has holes - moles or foxes or cats.
Squirrels burying nuts.
SOUNDS
Water suddenly comes out of taps - yes, taps do this all the time. If you touch a tap swirl water will come out. Dripping taps, loose washers - eventually the water builds up.
Shaking floors and jolting beds - earthquakes, possibly ground movement caused by underground plates, old mines. If in city centre it could be underground trains.
Barking dogs at night - sound carries for miles.
Bangs - earthquakes, or distant car crashes.
Ancestors appearing. (Wishful thinking - frequently happens after somebody dies. You start dreaming about them.)
Blood runs out of taps. Rust in pipes. Very common in some areas.
Water goes cloudy. Chalk deposits. It soon clears.
Shadows moving on ground. Trees, birds, bats.
Sounds of feet on leaves - small animals, rodents, reptiles, lizards, geckos, snakes, mice, cats about at night stealthily creeping up on mice, or insects.
Remember that 90% of animals are nocturnal.
Cat climbed up curtains and fell off.
DOORS Slamming shut & Windows Swinging open
Garage Doors Swing Open:
Burglars.
Loose catch.
Neighbours radio control operates your doors without their realising it.
Kids having a laugh driving or walking past and trying to open all the doors in the street.
Burglars looking for stuff in your garage have found nothing of interest and moved onto the next house. Or your garage is such a mess that you don't even notice what is missing and think you mislaid it or blame the kids/parents/spouse/yourself.
You forgot to lock up.
You are built on a slope so windows and doors tend to swing downhill through the pull of gravity.
Heat rises so rising air affects upper windows and skylights which then create a through draught affecting doors and windows below.
KNOCKING on Doors
Cats trying to get in. Other cats following your cats. Bears looking for food.
Drunks at wrong house, getting no answer, realising their mistake.
Drugged would be burglars frightened off by automatic lights.
Kids playing a game to scare you, for a dare.
Postmen dropping items through the letterbox. (Items get eaten by dog or blow towards wall and are only found days later.)
The caller gave up and went away - you are not as agile as you used to be, your hearing is not as good as it used to be, and you are developing Alzheimers.
Set up recordings outside and in and you will be amazed at the amount of wildlife moving around your gardens and house.
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