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Homes You Wouldn't Want: Houses With Creepy Atmospheres

Endlessly Amazed said:
What an interesting thread. It made me think back on the various houses I have been in and what I like. Both Mr. EA and I like rooms upstairs, and would greatly prefer bedrooms upstairs. I also think a room entered by going up even a few stairs is much more comforting or secure feeling than going down a few stairs. I wonder if this is a genetic response to when sleeping in trees was more secure than sleeping on the ground. A few generations ago, of course.

Currently, because of aging and mobility challenges, we sleep in a one level home, and don't like it nearly as much. I sleep with my curtains open at night so I can look at the stars. Anyone, once they trespass into the back yard by climbing a 5 1/2 foot wall and negotiating their way around cactus, can look in on me.
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This is interesting. I know that I don't really like sleeping in a ground floor bedroom, although not to the extent of a previous partner, who lived in a bungalow (refused to consider a house, even though he was only mid forties) and was so terrified of burglars that he would lock the bedroom windows completely shut every night (even in the hottest heatwave). I would point out that unless the burglar in question had the build of Slender Man and didn't mind getting in and standing on the occupants of the bed whilst being attacked by the worst tempered Labrador the world has yet bred, he was pretty safe, but he wouldn't have it. Windows had to be Shut At All Times otherwise burglary was inevitable.

He had very very rigid thinking.
 
catseye said:
This is interesting. I know that I don't really like sleeping in a ground floor bedroom, although not to the extent of a previous partner, who lived in a bungalow (refused to consider a house, even though he was only mid forties) and was so terrified of burglars that he would lock the bedroom windows completely shut every night (even in the hottest heatwave). I would point out that unless the burglar in question had the build of Slender Man and didn't mind getting in and standing on the occupants of the bed whilst being attacked by the worst tempered Labrador the world has yet bred, he was pretty safe, but he wouldn't have it. Windows had to be Shut At All Times otherwise burglary was inevitable.

He had very very rigid thinking.
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I sleep with my window open at night when the weather permits this. My house, like many houses in the US built after 1960, has windows with a screen in the right half, on the outside of the glass windowpane. One slides the right-side glass pane to the left to open the window with the screen still in the right half. I am explaining in great detail because I am coming to understand that the UK homes are very different than the US homes, and even call things different names. Here, a bungalow is a small, completely detached and self-contained home. But it falls within the house or home category. It is a style of house, not different than a house.

I always close and lock windows and doors if we are both going to be out of the house.

Your former partner's rigid thinking may have been based in fear and self-protection. Perhaps there was no way to think his or her way out of this. I know people with this sense of fear, and feel much compassion for them while acknowledging what a PIA they can be.

...I pity the burglar who breaks into our home when we are home, even if we are asleep. We have drilled for this contingency.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
I sleep with my window open at night when the weather permits this. My house, like many houses in the US built after 1960, has windows with a screen in the right half, on the outside of the glass windowpane. One slides the right-side glass pane to the left to open the window with the screen still in the right half. I am explaining in great detail because I am coming to understand that the UK homes are very different than the US homes, and even call things different names. Here, a bungalow is a small, completely detached and self-contained home. But it falls within the house or home category. It is a style of house, not different than a house.

I always close and lock windows and doors if we are both going to be out of the house.

Your former partner's rigid thinking may have been based in fear and self-protection. Perhaps there was no way to think his or her way out of this. I know people with this sense of fear, and feel much compassion for them while acknowledging what a PIA they can be.

...I pity the burglar who breaks into our home when we are home, even if we are asleep. We have drilled for this contingency.
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He had very rigid thinking on many many aspects of life. It wasn't fear, it was the fact that someone once told him that 'burgars come in through windows', and that became an absolute and utter fact in his head. If he had an open window, a burglar would, absolutely and definitely, come in.
I had some sympathy for him, but it was just beyond horrible and claustrophobic to be locked in every night with everything shut and bolted. The windows had vents which could have been left open (it's where you can lock the window but still allow a tiny bit of fresh air to come in), but no. A burglar might, apparently, have been able to get through!
We don't really need to drill for the contingency of burglary. They are usually only after cash and car keys and not up for confrontation.
 
catseye said:
He had very rigid thinking on many many aspects of life. It wasn't fear, it was the fact that someone once told him that 'burgars come in through windows', and that became an absolute and utter fact in his head. If he had an open window, a burglar would, absolutely and definitely, come in.
I had some sympathy for him, but it was just beyond horrible and claustrophobic to be locked in every night with everything shut and bolted. The windows had vents which could have been left open (it's where you can lock the window but still allow a tiny bit of fresh air to come in), but no. A burglar might, apparently, have been able to get through!
We don't really need to drill for the contingency of burglary. They are usually only after cash and car keys and not up for confrontation.
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Thanks for the additional details. He sounds very difficult to deal with. Here in the US, we don't need to drill for burglary contingencies either. Mr. EA and I like to think through what to do in certain unlikely or very unlikely situations. It came in very handy for me once.

I know people who, after hearing or reading about something once, even if it is wrong, somehow internalize this first exposure as the truth, and it becomes fixed. I am somewhat like this myself, but a lifetime of being aware and fighting against it has made a huge improvement.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
I know people who, after hearing or reading about something once, even if it is wrong, somehow internalize this first exposure as the truth, and it becomes fixed. I am somewhat like this myself, but a lifetime of being aware and fighting against it has made a huge improvement.
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I think the difference is that you are aware and fighting it. I'm very glad that you have improved and it doesn't affect your life.

This guy that I'm talking about gets fixated. So like he was told that people have to eat three meals a day. So he HAS to eat three meals a day, even if he wakes late and doesn't eat breakfast until 10 am, 12 is lunch time, so he will eat lunch then, even if he's barely cleared away from breakfast. Because you 'have' to eat three times a day...
 
catseye said:
I think the difference is that you are aware and fighting it. I'm very glad that you have improved and it doesn't affect your life.

This guy that I'm talking about gets fixated. So like he was told that people have to eat three meals a day. So he HAS to eat three meals a day, even if he wakes late and doesn't eat breakfast until 10 am, 12 is lunch time, so he will eat lunch then, even if he's barely cleared away from breakfast. Because you 'have' to eat three times a day...
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I have improved but it still affects my life - sometimes in humorous ways. Mr. EA quickly realized this tendency of mine, and fully exploited it! He told me a similar but not accurate date for his birthday, and after almost 30 years, I still get it wrong about half the time. Grr.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
I have improved but it still affects my life - sometimes in humorous ways. Mr. EA quickly realized this tendency of mine, and fully exploited it! He told me a similar but not accurate date for his birthday, and after almost 30 years, I still get it wrong about half the time. Grr.
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Mrs. Coal did that to me for years, switching between two dates in the same month. In the end I made up a neumonic...hah!
 
Coal said:
Mrs. Coal did that to me for years, switching between two dates in the same month. In the end I made up a neumonic...hah!
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You have to be careful with them. I was always told:
"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."
Then some bastard came up with:
"In 1493 Columbus sailed the bright blue sea."
 
Coal said:
Mrs. Coal did that to me for years, switching between two dates in the same month. In the end I made up a neumonic...hah!
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Yes, Mr. EA did the same - two different dates in the same month. My solution was the same as yours, a mnemonic (2 sentence story) but it doesn't work when I am tired. He has been paid back with interest.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
Yes, Mr. EA did the same - two different dates in the same month. My solution was the same as yours, a mnemonic (2 sentence story) but it doesn't work when I am tired. He has been paid back with interest.
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My neumonic was simple - Mrs Coal's name rhymed with the right date...payback nevertheless :)
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
...I pity the burglar who breaks into our home when we are home, even if we are asleep. We have drilled for this contingency.
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maximus otter
 
Floyd1 said:
Definitely.
Wine, coffee, eggs, potatoes, salt, cheese, bread.... will all kill you!
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I've also noticed this tendency to hang on to something picked up years ago, even if it's subsequently been disproved. I mean, look at the whole 'measles vaccine causes autism' thing - it's still rumbling on even though the entire thing was disproved and discredited years ago, people who read it originally still believe it.
 
Floyd1 said:
Definitely.
Wine, coffee, eggs, potatoes, salt, cheese, bread.... will all kill you!
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Even weirder is that even knowing something is or was wrong, it still influences your behaviour.
Burnell, R., Nash, R. A., Umanath, S., & Garry, M. (2022). Memories people no longer believe in can still affect them in helpful and harmful ways. Memory & Cognition, 50(6), 1319-1335.
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Also, I have several 'wrongs' stored in memory and they literally have an addendum reminding me what the 'right' thing is. For example, my 12 times tables are hard-wired, but 6x9 recalls: " '72'* ... * it's '54' you idiot."
 
Coal said:
Even weirder is that even knowing something is or was wrong, it still influences your behaviour.

Also, I have several 'wrongs' stored in memory and they literally have an addendum reminding me what the 'right' thing is. For example, my 12 times tables are hard-wired, but 6x9 recalls: " '72'* ... * it's '54' you idiot."
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Quite. And you must take the aerial cable out of the TV during a thunderstorm, or else it will blow up and kill you.
(In 1975 anyway)
 
Floyd1 said:
Quite. And you must take the aerial cable out of the TV during a thunderstorm, or else it will blow up and kill you.
(In 1975 anyway)
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Is that really not true? My family used to switch of and unplug the TV....And noone was allowed to use the phone either....
 
It won't kill you but it might kill the TV. Even a lightning strike further away can cause an electricity surge in the wiring.
 
Floyd1 said:
No. It was a thing said in the 70s/80s but is rubbish.
No one does it now.
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Lightening struck a pole 100 yards up the road from Coal Towers about a decade back. It blew all the mains breakers RCD and EL, but not before the broadband socket under my desk literally blew it's cover off and the router died with a blue flash. My laptop was saved by it's power supply (had to buy a new one) and the death of the router, also had to be replaced. The surge protector between the mains and the TV was destroyed, visible charring inside and it never worked again. Most of the phone wiring in the village was melted/vaporized.

I imagine it's totally possible to come to harm...and once I think the epicenter is under a mile away (less than 5 elephants) , I usually unplug the expensive stuff, all data storage and the aerials... :)


LightningMaps.org​

 
Coal said:
Lightening struck a pole 100 yards up the road from Coal Towers about a decade back. It blew all the mains breakers RCD and EL, but not before the broadband socket under my desk literally blew it's cover off and the router died with a blue flash. My laptop was saved by it's power supply (had to buy a new one) and the death of the router, also had to be replaced. The surge protector between the mains and the TV was destroyed, visible charring inside and it never worked again. Most of the phone wiring in the village was melted/vaporized.

I imagine it's totally possible to come to harm...and once I think the epicenter is under a mile away (less than 5 elephants) , I usually unplug the expensive stuff, all data storage and the aerials... :)


LightningMaps.org​

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Haven't unplugged anything during a storm since about 1983.
Anyway, it's like saying don't go outside, you might get run over, mugged, fall and hit your head, get rained on and die from pneumonia....
 
Coal said:
Lightening struck a pole 100 yards up the road from Coal Towers about a decade back. It blew all the mains breakers RCD and EL, but not before the broadband socket under my desk literally blew it's cover off and the router died with a blue flash. My laptop was saved by it's power supply (had to buy a new one) and the death of the router, also had to be replaced. The surge protector between the mains and the TV was destroyed, visible charring inside and it never worked again. Most of the phone wiring in the village was melted/vaporized.

I imagine it's totally possible to come to harm...and once I think the epicenter is under a mile away (less than 5 elephants) , I usually unplug the expensive stuff, all data storage and the aerials... :)


LightningMaps.org​

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If you live in an area with typically violent lightening storms yes it makes sense to unplug anything you dont want to have to replace. I do.
 
Lb8535 said:
If you live in an area with typically violent lightening storms yes it makes sense to unplug anything you dont want to have to replace. I do.
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Fridges,ovens,kettles,toasters,alarm clocks,printers,freezers,washing machines,boilers,heaters,light bulbs,lamps......?
 
Lb8535 said:
If you live in an area with typically violent lightening storms yes it makes sense to unplug anything you dont want to have to replace. I do.
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See now, people who read that might think it's down to folklore or even superstition, if they don't live where it happens. You know better. :cool:

I wonder if there's even a folk-memory of the Carrington Event (safe Wiki page) in there somewhere?

Quote from Wiki, with links left in for further enjoyment -
The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking from 1 to 2 September 1859 during solar cycle 10. It created strong auroral displays that were reported globally[1] and caused sparking and even fires in multiple telegraph stations. The geomagnetic storm was most likely the result of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun colliding with Earth's magnetosphere.[2]
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Should there be another, and there certainly will at some point, we'll be right up that creek.
 
escargot said:
See now, people who read that might think it's down to folklore or even superstition, if they don't live where it happens. You know better. :cool:

I wonder if there's even a folk-memory of the Carrington Event (safe Wiki page) in there somewhere?

Quote from Wiki, with links left in for further enjoyment -


Should there be another, and there certainly will at some point, we'll be right up that creek.
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Well I'll take my chances. I'm not unplugging everything every five minutes on the off chance I might croak it. I can't even be bothered to look for traffic some days. They usually stop for me.
 
Floyd1 said:
Well I'll take my chances. I'm not unplugging everything every five minutes on the off chance I might croak it. I can't even be bothered to look for traffic some days. They usually stop for me.
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I suspect you must be very familiar with the sound of screeching brakes, Floyd.
 
Floyd1 said:
I did actually step out in front of a car the other day. I don't know what happened as I'm normally very observant when out and about. I had one of those 'muggy' days I think, where everything seems a bit weird.
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Scarily, it can happen. About 10 years ago I nearly stepped into the path of a speeding car. To me it just seemed to appear from nowhere. I was saved by a friend who grabbed my sleeve to stop me taking another step. It missed me by centimetres. I was really shaken. But I think I learnt a lesson that day.
 
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