We’ve all seen the movies. A girl comes out of the shower. The mirror is all fogged up. She opens the foggy medicine cabinet, wipes the condensation off the mirror and over the corner of her shoulder appears a terrifying ghost. She screams, drops her towel and runs.
The cliche is so overplayed, but the core concept is intriguing. Can a house be haunted? And if so, is yours?
Release spoke with Gary Truce, professor of physical education and former professor of parapsychology. He helped us with a few key clues, along with About.com’s tips on detecting ghosts, that will help you decode your demented abode.
1. Doors, cabinets or cupboards inexplicably opening and closing: Many times this phenomena is heard but not seen. People may hear the distinct sound of a door slam even though there is no wind current. Homeowners will get to know the sounds of their own houses well, but for yearly renters like most of the off-campus student population, odd sounds will happen more frequently. The actual viewing of such an occurrence, officially called mild psychokinetic phenomena, is much more solid evidence.
“I’ve been called into these houses and things were going crazy,” Truce said of a house in South Side Binghamton. “Doors would slam [without reason].”
2. Feelings of being watched or touched: That odd feeling that someone is watching you is another sign that your house might be haunted. Guests in Truce’s house have expressed unexplained feelings of being watched.
“I had a little party here and a lady went to the bathroom. When she came back she had a weird face. Another lady came back with the same weird face … they said they felt like someone was up there staring or looking at [them],” Truce said.
Another time, Truce brought back some of the track team he used to coach at Binghamton University. The next morning, one said he felt as if someone was touching his back, but when he turned around, no one was there.
3. Moving or levitating objects: This is known as severe psychokinetic phenomena. According to Truce, in the same house in South Side Binghamton, he witnessed clothes hangers flying around the house. Another house in the area had extreme cases of psychokinetic phenomena.
Susie, an 11-year-old girl, would float off the ground. One time, she was transposed from the kitchen to behind the Christmas tree. Truce and her mother were both in the living room where the tree was set up.
“There was no way that Susie could’ve gotten back there without us noticing,” Truce said of the incident.
4. Actual apparitions: In Susie’s house, notes would appear out of thin air from a little girl ghost who called herself Rhoda. Susie’s mom had been told she was giving birth to twins, but only Susie was born. In what can only be seen as an act of extreme coincidence or proof of a haunting, Susie’s mom had chosen the name Rhoda as her other daughter’s name. Rhoda is what the ghost called herself. The first time she had appeared, Susie’s mom told Susie to try on a sweatsuit in her room. When Susie went into her room to try it on, Rhoda was wearing it. Rhoda would speak to Susie.
“She would get into Susie’s body and put her sound asleep,” Truce said. “She once put Susie on the refrigerator, sitting cross-armed and legged. She kept saying ‘I can’t move. I can’t get down.’ We [her mother and I] pleaded with Rhoda to let her down. After a while, she was allowed to move.”
In Truce’s house, another guest had left saying she saw the image of an old woman in a beautiful yellow dress with an Irish Setter. When she tried to speak to the woman, she and the dog disappeared.
Truce also said he has found Chinese fortunes around his house, all with messages telling him to stay his course. Truce had been debating a crossroad in his life.
He also doesn’t eat Chinese food.
If you feel that your house may be haunted, keep a journal of these occurrences with a description and the time and date. Also, attempt to record any sounds or sights you may see. This may help you feel more in control and also help with a formal investigation of your house, should you choose to do so.