• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Minor Hauntings

I expect it’s not uncommon. It’s strange how, as you meet people at work or socially these happenings will emerge about places they lived, experiences they had that they’ve seemed to accept and just file away under ‘strange’. Most wouldn’t report it or even write it down, (especially in the days before the internet and forums like this or Reddit). They just relate it at times. Several times I’ve been talking to a group of people about things like UFO’s or ghosts etc and there’ll invariably be someone who says ‘Nah, I don’t believe in ghosts — but there was that time…’ and proceed to tell you about the time they saw/heard a ghost or something paranormal happened to them.

The post I made is recent and I put pics up. Page 38 and 39 and looking at page 38 thee are other posts mentioning footsteps, which yes, are disturbing. I did think I heard several processions of them at Alexanderstone (where we were staying) but it was a very ‘creaky’ old house.

Anyone Seen a Ghost
It's always interesting how, when you get a group of people together, and casually bring up the idea of anyone having a ghost story, or anything spooky happened to them - you can almost be guaranteed that nearly everyone has some kind of tale.
 
From my own work, it looks like many haunting have diminished drastically in intensity. What we think of "minor" at a certain location might have been quite dramatic a few years back, as the ghosts have since faded away.
 
From my own work, it looks like many haunting have diminished drastically in intensity. What we think of "minor" at a certain location might have been quite dramatic a few years back, as the ghosts have since faded away.
Any idea why?
 
It's always interesting how, when you get a group of people together, and casually bring up the idea of anyone having a ghost story, or anything spooky happened to them - you can almost be guaranteed that nearly everyone has some kind of tale.

Yes! Every time the subject has come up, someone will then relate an experience.
 
Any idea why?

Sadly not. There are alternatives, possibly that the original stories were embellished? Another possibility is that the ghosts need a suitable person/s to manifest. I've come across stories where ghosts stop when a new owner of the building comes along, and then picks up when they have left.
Or it could be that ghosts do have a life-span and are just fading away naturally. The use of the word "life" in relation to ghosts may seem odd, but everything needs a source of energy to run, and maybe that energy is now depleted.

Certainly in my research, I can't think of any spectacular ghosts reported in legends of old. I discount the observations of ghost hunters as they are not terribly objective and suffer from confirmation bias. I wouldnt hang a hat on some of the evidence they've provided (remember orbs?)
 
I expect it’s not uncommon. It’s strange how, as you meet people at work or socially these happenings will emerge about places they lived, experiences they had that they’ve seemed to accept and just file away under ‘strange’. Most wouldn’t report it or even write it down, (especially in the days before the internet and forums like this or Reddit). They just relate it at times. Several times I’ve been talking to a group of people about things like UFO’s or ghosts etc and there’ll invariably be someone who says ‘Nah, I don’t believe in ghosts — but there was that time…’ and proceed to tell you about the time they saw/heard a ghost or something paranormal happened to them.

The post I made is recent and I put pics up. Page 38 and 39 and looking at page 38 thee are other posts mentioning footsteps, which yes, are disturbing. I did think I heard several processions of them at Alexanderstone (where we were staying) but it was a very ‘creaky’ old house.

Anyone Seen a Ghost
One reason I enjoyed working in rural hotels and inns for so many years was the late night chats at the bar that would inevitably lead to discussions about the paranormal (although perhaps nudged that way by myself...!). That is when people from all backgrounds and professions would open up and yes, it was very often "I don't believe in ghosts?UFOs/whatever but...". It was then that I realised there is a tremendous amount of minor paranormal activity out there.

I always think back to Stephen Fry stating on QI that "ghosts were nonsense" and I feel a bit sorry for him and his ilk that they perhaps give too much weight to the likes of 'Most Haunted' and other b*llshit and thus ignore the testimony of millions of actual witnesses.
 
One reason I enjoyed working in rural hotels and inns for so many years was the late night chats at the bar that would inevitably lead to discussions about the paranormal (although perhaps nudged that way by myself...!). That is when people from all backgrounds and professions would open up and yes, it was very often "I don't believe in ghosts?UFOs/whatever but...". It was then that I realised there is a tremendous amount of minor paranormal activity out there.

I always think back to Stephen Fry stating on QI that "ghosts were nonsense" and I feel a bit sorry for him and his ilk that they perhaps give too much weight to the likes of 'Most Haunted' and other b*llshit and thus ignore the testimony of millions of actual witnesses.
I, certainly used to, like Stephen Fry, but I remember possibly the same episode of QI you refer to. I remember that one of the guests wanted to say something but wasn't allowed to and/or felt outnumbered and they moved on to the next thing anyway.
 
There's a theory in 'Brighton Ghosts & Hove Hauntings' - if we assume that ghosts are a type of recording, the quality fades over time and eventually disappears.

Which explains why we have so many grey ladies, semi-transparent monks, and no spectral Neanderthals or dinosaurs.
That was Mr Fry's main argument. Something along the lines of ''why don't we see ghosts of all the animals from the meat plant in New York?''
 
There's a theory in 'Brighton Ghosts & Hove Hauntings' - if we assume that ghosts are a type of recording, the quality fades over time and eventually disappears.

Which explains why we have so many grey ladies, semi-transparent monks, and no spectral Neanderthals or dinosaurs.
Nice theory, but there have been some sightings of spectral 'cavemen' and horsemen dressed in furs and Nick Redfern interviewed a witness who had seen a sabre-toothed tiger that vanished into thin air on Cannock Chase. All these sightings have been made in places that have remained relatively 'undeveloped' for millennia eg Lustleigh Cleave on Dartmoor, so perhaps our impact on our environment plays a role...?
 
Last edited:
That was Mr Fry's main argument. Something along the lines of ''why don't we see ghosts of all the animals from the meat plant in New York?''
Mr Fry needs to learn that the paranormal doesn't appear on demand. Ironically, the more we learn about mind-bending quantum physics the more multiple dimensions become feasible. Thus science itself might well prove to be his undoing, for if we have to accept multiple dimensions/universes then suddenly someone seeing, for example, the ghost of a Roman soldier in a cellar in York is a bit harder to ridicule...
 
One reason I enjoyed working in rural hotels and inns for so many years was the late night chats at the bar that would inevitably lead to discussions about the paranormal (although perhaps nudged that way by myself...!). That is when people from all backgrounds and professions would open up and yes, it was very often "I don't believe in ghosts?UFOs/whatever but...". It was then that I realised there is a tremendous amount of minor paranormal activity out there.

One of the things my partner and I intend to do is go on ‘let’s drive that way’ breaks and stay at these old rural inns and hotels, and for the same reason. I‘m just fascinated at what comes up in late night conversations.

My sister has a book which I cannot remember the name of, but when I visit her I’m sure I‘ll find it where the author just write about staying in different rural or remote locations in the UK. For that alone it was a goos read but there was one story which just stuck with me.

The author was visiting friends down south (I’m thinking Dorset/Devon but I can’t really recall). They owned an old village pub and said he could stay overnight. He was the only person doing B&B. It was late and his friends were locking up so he left the bar and went to bed. It was very quiet, he was going to sleep when he heard sounds from above him, in the loft. He assumed that either his hosts were walking about or someone else was in fact sleeping up there.

The sounds became loud, as if someone was dragging a chest of drawers or something, and then thumping them down and walking around and the author became quite annoyed because it was disturbing him and what a time to start shifting furniture, etc.

So he got up, went to the bottom of the steep little stairs leading up to the loft. As he looked up into the dark he was suddenly was overcome with not wanting to go up there. It was like a tunnel into blackness and it felt wrong. He went back to bed and the sounds continued. And by now he was just not at ease, but he did eventually sleep.

In the morning his hosts gave him breakfast and he mentioned the noise, quite politely.
They said they didn’t ever sleep in the pub, but at their house in the village. He was the only one there. But they did know about the noises and the pub was apparently haunted.
 
Drove past a house today with a clearly original stone over the front door with "1652" carved into it. Would have loved to have stopped and asked the owner what experiences they have had in the house. Difficult to imagine it is completely quiet.
 
Drove past a house today with a clearly original stone over the front door with "1652" carved into it. Would have loved to have stopped and asked the owner what experiences they have had in the house. Difficult to imagine it is completely quiet.

I sometimes see places like that, or drive past them, and just want to stop and look at them and ask the owner about their history. It’s one reason I’d like to see more ‘local’ ghost/paranormal books published (there are a few and I think I’ve read most of them) where these smaller, minor, hauntings and legends are gathered.
 
I expect it’s not uncommon. It’s strange how, as you meet people at work or socially these happenings will emerge about places they lived, experiences they had that they’ve seemed to accept and just file away under ‘strange’. Most wouldn’t report it or even write it down, (especially in the days before the internet and forums like this or Reddit). They just relate it at times. Several times I’ve been talking to a group of people about things like UFO’s or ghosts etc and there’ll invariably be someone who says ‘Nah, I don’t believe in ghosts — but there was that time…’ and proceed to tell you about the time they saw/heard a ghost or something paranormal happened to them.

The post I made is recent and I put pics up. Page 38 and 39 and looking at page 38 thee are other posts mentioning footsteps, which yes, are disturbing. I did think I heard several processions of them at Alexanderstone (where we were staying) but it was a very ‘creaky’ old house.

Anyone Seen a Ghost
I think so many of these things go unreported and untold because people either think they are mistaken or that there was some actual physical cause for the noise or sighting or mysterious happening. It can take a while, often reading other people's similar events, before they come to the reasoning that 'hey, yes, that was strange!'
 
Certainly in my research, I can't think of any spectacular ghosts reported in legends of old.
Have you not read the Icelandic Sagas? Or is that not the type of old legends you meant?
I'll see if I can dig up the story for you if you're interested—a spectacularly nasty ghost appears in one.
Not a minor haunting at all, so spectacularly off topic! Again!
 
Sorry, poor language on my part. I meant, in the past we have had stories of things like monarchs with their heads tucked under their arms etc.
Nowadays, it's mainly shadows, things seem out of the corner of the eye, footsteps, things moving and electrical interference. And a lot of these are very low key. So low key they could easily be dismissed as mundane or misinterpretations.
 
Drove past a house today with a clearly original stone over the front door with "1652" carved into it. Would have loved to have stopped and asked the owner what experiences they have had in the house. Difficult to imagine it is completely quiet.
Out in the sticks on bike rides we get a good view of house fronts.

Really old rural buildings often have former doors or windows bricked up. I wonder if people there sometimes see someone from the corner of their eye walking or looking through those long-gone features.

As @DrPaulLee says, this low-key kind of experience is what we hear of these days. I think it's because communication is informal and much easier.
 
I can imagine ghosts standing behind those long bricked up windows, pissed off that their view is now gone!
Joking apart, there are countless stories of ghosts walking through bricked-up or blocked-off doors and gates. I have read them on here.

There's even an account of people seen looking through a no longer existent serving hatch in a ballet school, in this thread -

Spooky incident in a ballet school

:omg:
 
Last edited:
From my own work, it looks like many haunting have diminished drastically in intensity. What we think of "minor" at a certain location might have been quite dramatic a few years back, as the ghosts have since faded away.
I read about this in a book by Harry Ludlum. Ghosts that would appear clearly and stamp around the place a hundred years ago will fade to a shadow and a faint footstep or two.
 
One reason I enjoyed working in rural hotels and inns for so many years was the late night chats at the bar that would inevitably lead to discussions about the paranormal (although perhaps nudged that way by myself...!).

Absolutely. In all my public-facing jobs, wherever possible I have pumped colleagues and customers for eeriness and have usually posted it on'ere while it was fresh.
 
Any idea why?
It seems to me the ‘traditional’ “this building is haunted by the ghost of [insert King/Queen/Person] who appears every New Years Eve/Other Date & Time” hauntings have without doubt faded. However, once I started looking for new I.e. post the new millennium ghost experiences/sightings I have found a huge variety in the works of Andy Gilbert and Ruth Roper Wylde and others
 
It seems to me the ‘traditional’ “this building is haunted by the ghost of [insert King/Queen/Person] who appears every New Years Eve/Other Date & Time” hauntings have without doubt faded. However, once I started looking for new I.e. post the new millennium ghost experiences/sightings I have found a huge variety in the works of Andy Gilbert and Ruth Roper Wylde and others

I'd been planning to witness the famous several-yearly walk of the ghost of 12th Century baron Geoffrey de Mandeville since I was a teenager.
Around 2005/6 when he was due I'd have definitely gone but events sadly overtook me.

There's a bit about it here -
Ghost Riots Thread.
 
Last edited:
Drove past a house today with a clearly original stone over the front door with "1652" carved into it. Would have loved to have stopped and asked the owner what experiences they have had in the house. Difficult to imagine it is completely quiet.
My cousin lived in a former water mill, at least 300 years old. I remember asking her once whether it was haunted and she said that she had never seen anything, but she had often felt a presence in the house. She surmised that it was one of the millers from times gone by.

Now that she's gone, I sort-of hope she's hanging around the place; it was a real labour of love for her and her husband (also recently deceased).
 
My fried lived in a little cottage and she swore something was moving her shoes around on the shoe rack. She was very pernickety like that - running shoes, hiking boots, work shoes all in an orderly line. She claimed the order was being mixed up and actually got so freaked out she took time off work as she thought she was losing it to stress.
Anyway, the shoes stopped moving and she was happy to get on with things until about two years later she came home one night to find not only her shoes mixed up but tied together.
She went to the landlord and told him someone was coming into her house and eventually moved out.

I assume if what she says is true, whatever was doing it had both patience and a sense of humour.
 
My fried lived in a little cottage and she swore something was moving her shoes around on the shoe rack. She was very pernickety like that - running shoes, hiking boots, work shoes all in an orderly line. She claimed the order was being mixed up and actually got so freaked out she took time off work as she thought she was losing it to stress.
Anyway, the shoes stopped moving and she was happy to get on with things until about two years later she came home one night to find not only her shoes mixed up but tied together.
She went to the landlord and told him someone was coming into her house and eventually moved out.

I assume if what she says is true, whatever was doing it had both patience and a sense of humour.
I swear a pair of my shoes moved once whilst I was hoovering. I'd left them in one place but found them few feet away, neatly placed together.
 
One of the things my partner and I intend to do is go on ‘let’s drive that way’ breaks and stay at these old rural inns and hotels, and for the same reason. I‘m just fascinated at what comes up in late night conversations.

My sister has a book which I cannot remember the name of, but when I visit her I’m sure I‘ll find it where the author just write about staying in different rural or remote locations in the UK. For that alone it was a goos read but there was one story which just stuck with me.

The author was visiting friends down south (I’m thinking Dorset/Devon but I can’t really recall). They owned an old village pub and said he could stay overnight. He was the only person doing B&B. It was late and his friends were locking up so he left the bar and went to bed. It was very quiet, he was going to sleep when he heard sounds from above him, in the loft. He assumed that either his hosts were walking about or someone else was in fact sleeping up there.

The sounds became loud, as if someone was dragging a chest of drawers or something, and then thumping them down and walking around and the author became quite annoyed because it was disturbing him and what a time to start shifting furniture, etc.

So he got up, went to the bottom of the steep little stairs leading up to the loft. As he looked up into the dark he was suddenly was overcome with not wanting to go up there. It was like a tunnel into blackness and it felt wrong. He went back to bed and the sounds continued. And by now he was just not at ease, but he did eventually sleep.

In the morning his hosts gave him breakfast and he mentioned the noise, quite politely.
They said they didn’t ever sleep in the pub, but at their house in the village. He was the only one there. But they did know about the noises and the pub was apparently haunted.
So there could have been a whole load of tramps living up in the attic and they wouldn't know?

Last night I was getting ready for bed and I heard a lot of thumping from my attic. I was mildly annoyed, because it's an open staircase and I've put a gate up across to stop the dog going up there and peeing. I assumed she'd found a way past my impromptu barrier.

She was under her blanket on the sofa. I've still got no idea what the thumping was.
 
Back
Top