13. Christmas.

Christmas Eve we were in bed after putting all the kid's gifts under the tree. Well, the tree in the hall outside our bedroom (which used to be the dining room, but we moved down to make it easier for me since the MS.) and about 2.15 - 2.30am, we were woken by a noise upstairs and footsteps on the landing. Thinking it was one of the kids, I told them to go back to bed, but the footsteps continued down the stairs. There was the sound of something being put down on the floor, then the footsteps went back up the stairs again. There was the sound of a door scraping on carpet and closing, then silence.
The following day I asked the kids if any of them had been downstairs in the night. No one owned up and we put it down to Regan (15) sleepwalking - which he has done in the past.
The odd thing was that the only room in the house which is carpeted is the smallest bedroom which we use as an office - everywhere else has laminate flooring. Not that odd, you may think, but the office door isn't on it's hinges at the moment - in fact it hasn't been on it's hinges for the past year, so how did the door scrape over the carpet and shut?
On Christmas Day, after all the presents had been given out, we found one tucked under the tree without a name on it. It was wrapped in the same paper we used so we assumed that it was one that had been left by one of the children. None of them knew anything about it. And the tape used to seal it was wider than the stuff we used.
Anyway, a couple of days later, we had to go into the attic to get something and when we opened the door in the ceiling, lying on the loft insulation, was a roll of tape the same width as that used to seal up the mystery present.

The next thing that happened was that we noticed that one of the ornaments in a display cabinet on the landing - in the corner where I saw the little boy and where the dog used to stand barking - kept moving no matter how many times we set it straight. So we made sure it was facing forwards and then locked the door. We put the key in the bottom drawer of Julie's bedside cabinet and forgot about it.
A couple of days later, Julie shouted me upstairs. The ornament - a small dragon in an egg with a sapphire birth stone - had turned about 90 degrees. The door was still locked, and the key was still in the bottom drawer where we had put it.
We've not unlocked the door since and the dragon has now moved 180 degrees around.

And finally, today, Julie went to the bathroom and found Ashley's (19) badge from when he was in the Air Cadets in the middle of the floor. She had literally gone in there straight after me yet when I was in there, yet I didn't see the badge. In fact I would swear on my oath that it wasn't in there when I was. The last time anyone had seen the badge was downstairs by the 'phone, which was where it had been kept since Ashley was awarded it.

It's been a great Christmas. I wonder what we have to look forward to in the New Year?

Happy New Year everyone.

12. Bedtime

So it's that time of year again.

Last night my wife heard a boy's voice calling out to her. As our 14 year old was in bed at the time and I was upstairs, she asked me to check up on him in case he wanted her. So I go into his room and ask him if he's okay. No answer. So I go over to check on him and he's fast asleep. I shook him gently awake and asked if he was okay. "Yes" he said with a yawn. I asked him if he called his mum. "No" he said, and went back to sleep. I went downstairs and she tells me that she's heard it again while I was in our boy's room.

Later, in bed, I was dozing gently but not yet asleep when I heard a boy's voice singing. Thinking it was our eldest watching telly, I got up to check. He was fast asleep too.
We have only two neighbours and live in the middle of the country and there were no other sounds except for the owl that lives in the tree in the front garden and I couldn't hear the singing outside.
It went on for about 8-10 minutes then faded away - as though someone had turned down the volume.

11. Coming home.

Last week (Monday 10th August) we were sorting out a few things in the house and paying several visits to the council dump to get rid of the rubbish. Anyway, I had hitched the trailer to the car and was on my way back home with my three kids in the car. We pulled up and I backed the car into the driveway to find my wife waiting for us. This is where it gets weird.

She was kinda spooked and told me a story.

She was sitting on a stool in our bedroom sorting through some stuff, when she heard a tapping on the front door - as a child would knock: the same knock as our 6 year old daughter makes.
Her first thought was "why is she knocking when the door was unlocked?" She then got up to answer it and found nobody there; but us backing into the drive with the car.

Was it the little boy telling her that we were back? We don't know.
It's just another odd thing that happens in our house.

10. Seeing the light.

Last Friday (June 26th), my wife was in the kitchen making a cup of tea. She was facing the wall with the cooker behind and to the right. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed something and turning slightly, she saw what she described as a bright white light level with the grill (which would be about 3ft from the ground) about the size and shape of a small child.

She turned to get a closer look and the light faded away.

Could this be a manifestation of the little boy?

My own theory is that it is the boy and not his mother who is our regular visitor. As I mentioned before, there is often the smell of fresias in the house - the old lady's favourite flower. Could it be that the boy is 'bringing' them in for his mother as a gift?

9. Flying glasses.

Last week I was in the kitchen with my wife making the dinner. We both had a glass of cola and she put her glass down on top of the fridge.
Now in order to picture the scene properly, I need to give you the layout of our kitchen. Its about 12 feet long and six wide - a typical galley kitchen. The fridge is near the door leading to the hall at one end which is in turn directly opposite the back door at the other end.
So, she put her glass down on top of the fridge and we went into the living room.
Minutes later we hear a smash and we go to investigate. Her glass is lying shattered on the floor by the back door twelve feet from where she put it.
Our first thought was that it was the work of one of our two cats, but it turns out that they were asleep upstairs on our eldest's bed. The kids were in the living room with the dog and the kitchen was empty. So what had caused the glass to jump from the centre of the counter top and to smash on the floor at the other end of the room?
It appears to be that time of year again.

8. More odd things...

Tonight has been the strangest so far.

Half an hour ago the lights went all funny.

I was in the kitchen cooking poached eggs for tea, my wife was helping, the boys were watching telly in the living room and my wee girl was upstairs in her bedroom. She shouted down that her light kept going off, so my wife went to see if she was okay. She turned on the switch for the landing light at the top of the stairs - and the downstairs hall light came on. She called me to check, so I came into the hall and turned on the hall light - and Katy (my daughter) shouted that her bedroom light came on.
We checked the switches and it seems that the downstairs hall switch now controls all the bedrooms and the bathroom lights upstairs. The upstairs landing switch controls the downstairs hall light and god know what turns on the landing light.
What's odd is that an hour earlier they were all working perfectly.

Now I know what you're thinking - it's probably a short circuit. That's exactly what I thought too except for two small points.

Firstly, if it was a short then surely it would throw the trip to prevent a shock? The trips are still set and there isn't the sort of fizzing sound that you usually associate with a short at the switch (my Dad's an electrician so I'm used to the workings of a ring main).

Secondly - and here's wher it gets rather odder - the upstairs lights and the downstairs light are on separate circuits. The system is designed that way so that if there is a problem with the upstairs lights, it doesn't affect the downstairs ones (well at least they didn't).

So if anyone has any ideas how to sort this (short of getting an electrician in - which I'm going to have to do on Monday anyway) or what could have caused it, please let me know.

7. It's started again.

Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted but things have been pretty quiet at home. It's picking up a bit now though. It seems to happen at around a certain time of year and so we've been experiencing some more odd happenings.

A couple of nights ago, I got up for a drink and went through to the kitchen (my wife and I have moved downstairs into what was the dining room because it was too weird in the bedroom we were in).I got a drink and heard the living room door open. I thought it was one of the kids so I went in expecting to see my daughter, but the room was empty. I came out of the room and shut the door - it was probably a draught banging the door. I turned to go back into my bedroom and
I heard the door go again. I turned aroung in time to see the door open and slam shut. Just the wind I thought again. Then I saw the door handle turn and the door open. It stayed open for a moment then closed quietly again, the handle turning as though someone was closing it from the inside. I checked the living room again but it was empty.

So, it seems that our regular visitor is back. It's odd, but I feel strangely comforted to know that he/she's still around.

It's been quiet since, but I'll keep you posted if anything else happens.