THINGS THAT BO "BUMP" IN THE NIGHT

[Pumpkin_Man]

Hi Folks:

I was really reluctant to post this, because I have never before had any kind of a paranormal experience, other then Deja Vu, and I still don't know if what I'm about to relate to you is paranormal in nature or just an old house making noises, but here is the story.

About 3 nights ago, I started noticing that something litteraly goes "bump" about every other night. Some nights it happens 3 or 4 times, other nights it doesn't happen at al. The "bump" sounds very much like a cat jumping off of a table or chair onto the floor. IT sort of reminded of the "bump" my sister's cat use to make every time she would jump off the living room sofa. At first I was a little creeped out, but I just can't figure it out. I went through my entire bed room, and closet, and could see nothing out of the ordinary. I suppose it could be paranormal, but most likely it's just my 102 year old house making "bumping" noises.

Anyway, if it continues to happen or anything else out of the ordinary happens, I'l keep you all posted.

Mike

[NeverMore]

http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/

[Murfreesboro]

Mike, is it possible that you actually do have critters of some sort moving into your house--the wall, the attic, somewhere--for the winter? One winter when I was growing up we had squirrels move into our attic. They hoarded nuts up there from our two pecan trees, and all winter long, we used to hear them rolling the nuts around.

In that same house, when I was quite young, a stray cat moved into our attic to have her kittens. And another time, a possum moved in up there.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Great web site, NeverMore, but I think Murf has a point. My town is litteraly over run by squirls, rabbits and crows. Additionaly we are becoming the stray cat capital of Illinois to boot. I will check the atic and other places, but I still have not seen any evidence of anything inside my bedroom or the house proper. I haven't been up in the atic, though. It's not the kind of an atic you can walk around in. It's just a little space between the ceiling and the roof.

Mike

[NeverMore]

Well... if we stop hearing from you we'll know the ghost got you.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Or maybe a huge pride of vampiric cats will get me. Or maybe it's bats. I heard a couple of little bumps this morning as I was getting up, and I noticed that it was comming from the roof, so my hunch is that a squirl was jumping from a log hanging tree branch onto my roof and I was hearing the little "bump" he made when he jumped. I have also seen a few cats sunning themselvs on my roof during the early Fall and late Summer. All though it's pretty tough to sun one'self when it's before sun rise. But I am still enclined to think that my mysterious "bump" in the night is critters, not paranormal.

Mike

[Kolchak]

I'm a die hard skeptic and will always look for the most plausible answer, especially when it comes to this stuff.

Still. Back in the days before DVDs and VHS tapes, we had super 8mm home movies. One day my folks and I are in the basement of our brand new home and we're watching home movies.

All at once we all three hear what sounds like hard soled footsteps coming from upstairs and walking through our kitchen into the hallway where they no longer were heard.

We thought it was my older brother coming in from out of town so my mom and dad went upstairs and looked, but there was nobody there.

That was the only time something like that happened in the 10 years my parents lived there. I'm convinced what we heard was made by the pipes under linoleum floor in our kitchen owing to the steps ending once they left the kitchen and moved into the hardwood floor hallway.

If you were in our basement and someone walked into the house through the kitchen and into the hallway, you could hear them clearly until they went through the hallway and went into our carpeted den, which acted as a good sound suppressor.

Could it have been paranormal? We'll never know for sure, but the house was brand new, with us being the first to live in it. There was no "history" in the area and most importantly, this only happened once.

I'd like to think it was something that went bump in the night, but I just can't see it. The only other possibility is that it was done by a real person who was not supposed to have been in our house in the first place, and he was able to get out before mom and dad went upstairs to check.

To me THAT'S more scary than ANY paranormal answer!

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's how I am, too, Kolchak. I do believe that paranormal phenominom is real, but I have never personaly experienced it, and when I do hear something, there's usualy something very ordinary behind it, such as squirls, cats, rabbits or bats. I had an entire pride of stray cats living in my attic. Appearently during a bout of high winds, one of the atic vents blew out, and they made themselvs at home. They didn't want to leave, either, but after the local shelter rounded them up, I re fastened the vent and there have been no "bumps" in the night since, except for the ocassional squirl jumping from a tree limb onto my roof.

Mike

[jadewik]

Maybe it's Gef.... ?

Scratching and bumps in old houses could very well be animals. As much as I love a good ghost story, I like the more "normal" answers... once those are exhausted, only then do I lean towards "possibly paranormal"-- I say possibly because, unless you actually see the apparition, it still could be explained through natural means.

[NeverMore]

This is what I liked about 'Ghost Hunters', as opposed to shows like 'Most Haunted', they actively tried to find explanations for the strange occurrences.

[Spookymufu]

heheh, "Bo knows BUMPs!"

[jadewik]

This is what I liked about 'Ghost Hunters', as opposed to shows like 'Most Haunted', they actively tried to find explanations for the strange occurrences.

Unfortunately, Ghost Hunters is known for faking evidence. There was some big scandal and discussion over the whole ordeal on one of the other forums I read. Same thing with Most Haunted-- I guess their first medium, Derek Acora, was faking a bunch of stuff.

Personally, shows like that are about personal preference. As much as I like to be a skeptic, I love stories more than serious stuff. In my opinion (IMO), Most Haunted did/does a better job of telling a story-- at least at the beginning of the show. Yvette Fielding's narration is delightful, and they do a good job of researching the places they investigate and providing details on the hauntings. The mediums kinda add depth to the story-- though, I understand it's probably faked (a la Derek Acora). Even though I don't like how either show will provoke the ghosts and/or do seances (which I believe only invites disaster) I also think it's hilarious how the people in Most Haunted freak out over the most mundane things.

I heard they're starting up Most Haunted again... lol. We'll see how that goes, eh?

Probably one of the main reasons I don't like Ghost Hunters is because of a flaw in their scientific method and how they treated the artifacts in the Birdcage Theater in Tombstone, Arizona. If you're familiar with the show, this was the episode where they saw a full-body apparition (not on tape). I didn't like that when the second guy gave his "what I saw" statement, the first guy was there to help him fill in the details. It would have been more genuine if both accounts were given apart from each other. This was also the episode where they saw one of their electric cables unwrap itself from a bell-- the bell that was a historic artifact that was original to the building. The owner, as I understand it, was not too happy about the lack of respect to the building. (You can ask her-- she's usually in the fudge shop next door. Great fudge, by the way!) That episode is one of the main things that turned me off to Ghost Hunters. (I figure all those shows are full of hoaxes.)

Ghost Lab, I can't stand because of their night-time investigation of Boot Hill... where they swear they saw a shadow man. In reality, it was just a decorative wrought iron fence around a grave. Boo.

Still, entertainment value of the shows is high... and... they all visit/investigate some downright interesting places. =)

[Pumpkin_Man]

I never really got into any of those "reality" paranormal tv shows. Not only do they seem fake and over acted, but they tend to be very slow moving and boring for the most part IMHO.

In fact, "reality" tv in general just doesn't appeal to me.

Mike

[NeverMore]

Yeah, I stopped watching Ghost Hunters after they changed their direction and started going for shock value, much like Most Haunted. I remember reading about the Most Haunted and Derek scandal. What ever happened to that John Edwards guy? The guy who could supposedly speak to the dead.

[Kolchak]

As far as cons go, don't forget about Zak Bagans and Ghost Adventures. They rigged up a piece of balsa wood that was made to look like a brick and another piece of balsa wood made to look like a 2 x 4 and then using a hidden pressure cannon shot them through the air and gave the impression on TV they were being moved by a ghost.

This was filmed with handheld cameras and you don't see anything well at all, it helps to cover up the illusion, and then Zak and his bunch go screaming into the night.

Zaks thing is to be locked into a haunted place for the night, and that requires him and his crew to do battle with the ghost/demon/spirit/devil/whatever.

SPOILER ALERT!

It is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to lock someone into a house or dwelling without an egress and without supervision.

Obviously that law is altered, but only slightly for people being held under legal custody.

Zak lives in Las Vegas and got his tricks from magicians and illusionists who also live and perform there.