It’s the stuff of nightmares – and of lots of schlocky horror films – you and your family move into your dream home only to find that you’re sharing it with an unseen and possibly malign force.
Cold spots, draughts, creaks, things that go bump in the night and strange smells… Do you call a ghostbuster now, or do you look for a more mundane explanation?
Cold spots
Ghost hunters tell us that a cold spot is a sure sign of a spectral visitor. Apparently, spooks need our body heat in order to keep floating around, so a sudden chill means your energy is being siphoned off.
Or (and this is considerably more likely), there’s a gap in a window frame, or a particularly damp corner and this creates a small area of cold air that you can feel as you walk through it. Invest in a few draught excluders, check the walls for damp and lay down a few rugs to warm things up a bit.
Creaks and other strange sounds
Is the creaking of the floorboards caused by a trapped soul wandering for all eternity to and fro along your landing? Is the weird keening or moaning sound coming from a disembodied spirit asking for release from this plane of existence? Or is it just the sounds of timbers expanding and contracting with the daily temperature fluctuations? Do your radiators need flushing out? Is there an airlock? Put down that holy water and call a plumber…
Things that go bump in the night
If you notice objects falling off shelves or going missing and then reappearing in unexpected places, you might wonder if you have a poltergeist. A much more likely explanation is that a nearby road or trainline is sending some vibrations your way and this is causing objects to fall. As for things disappearing and turning up in odd places, this could well be down to the fact that you’re in a new home and you haven’t sorted out where everything goes just yet.
Strange smells
Another horror film staple is bad smells caused by pure evil leaking into our world from another dimension. In the real world, however, it’s clogged drains, rising damp, manky old carpets or the dog. Or maybe even your nearest and dearest…
By now, you probably realise that your house isn’t haunted. It takes time to settle into a new home and we’re hardwired as a species to be alert to potential dangers in unfamiliar environments. If you’ve recently moved and you’re convinced your new house is haunted, take a step back and look for rational explanations for what you’re experiencing before phoning that exorcist.
