Neighbour's House Haunted?

[mrs_mose]

We have lived in our house since it was built in 2007, we rent it, and the next door house is also rented out. We've seen a few families come and go over the years but we have a new family next door - a young couple and their two year old son.

They've lived there for approximately a year now but it is only recently we have become good friends, mainly because of lockdown and the fact we see each other a lot more.

Anyway, today Mrs Neighbour text me to ask if anybody had died in her house. I replied that we'd known all the occupants and no one had died in there. I asked why she wanted to know.

It turns out that the little boy has on two separate occasions 'seen' something in their downstairs hallway. The first time he was screaming and crying and pointing at a spot in the hallway. Today, he was in their living room and looked down the hall and immediately ran to his dad and hid in his lap shaking in fear.

Neither Mr or Mrs have seen anything, and toddler can't speak enough to say what has scared him.

Any ideas on what it could be or what they could do?

 

[EnolaGaia]

Given the quite young age of the child, it's hard to say ...

Children at that age are still learning to recognize things (including visible phenomena) in their environment. Unless the child can articulate that the scary thing was indeed a "thing" (creature; whatever) he might well be reacting to something like moving shadows, glints or reflections.

You mentioned that he'd "seen" whatever scared him. It might be a good idea to ask Mrs. Neighbour if there's any chance he was reacting to something heard or felt (vibration) instead.

 

[mrs_mose]

Good idea, will do! I'll try and find out if there's any pattern to when it's happened, maybe get her to keep a log of occurrences!

 

[Who me]

Poor kid must be terrified hopefully it will be explainable.

 

[escargot]

I've mentioned this before. Not sure if it adds much to the dialogue but as your 'new build' semi-detached house situation reminds me of it you're getting it anyway, hope you like it!

Techy used to live in such a house. For some reason he started colllecting Ouija boards, which can come in various creative designs. He displayed them on his stairway, highly decorative.

One day he was chatting on t'front with his neighbour Phil, who glanced up the stairs and saw the Ouija boards.
Phil said 'So THAT'S where they've come from!'

He reckoned his house had become suddenly haunted. He'd come in and see someone running up the stairs, or get up in the night for a drink and see someone in the kitchen.
Worst of all, his girlfriend refused to stay over after waking up to see a young woman in a mini skirt, heavy eye make-up and beehive hairdo standing over the bed looking at her!

The boards stayed put until Techy moved in with me, when they were placed on shelves facing my room.*
I've had no trouble from them but ghosts know better than to try scaring me.

So, my point is; you haven't been to the flea market and brought home some intriguingly exotic antique or amulet, have you? Maybe dropped it beside your front door while you decide where to best place it...
Just a thought.

*Yup, we have separate rooms. All that snoring and farting, y'know. Poor man couldn't stand it any more.

 

[mrs_mose]

Haha, nope, not bought anything dodgy that I know of! I'll ask her if she has, you never know!

That reminds me of a local man who found a 'roman' type figurine while out fieldwalking. He took it home and all sorts of weird things started happening in his house so he took the figurine back to where he found it and reburied it and the house went back to normal!

 

[escargot]

Haha, nope, not bought anything dodgy that I know of! I'll ask her if she has, you never know!

That reminds me of a local man who found a 'roman' type figurine while out fieldwalking. He took it home and all sorts of weird things started happening in his house so he took the figurine back to where he found it and reburied it and the house went back to normal!

Wow, I wish I could see that figurine!

 

[mrs_mose]

I think the story was actually in the fortean Times a couple of years ago but I couldn't tell you which edition

 

[Naughty_Felid]

An oldish article

https://www.theguardian.com/science...s-common-research-psychotic-schizophrenia-why

Don't get put off by the title of the link. It's not as scary as it seems. Children "seeing things" is pretty common.

Obviously the situation needs to be monitored closely. If the child continues to get distressed then it's probably a good idea to get the kid checked out.

 

[mrs_mose]

Wow, that's really interesting, thank you for that!

 

[escargot]

On the subject of childhood hallucinations, I thought of the American writer Conrad Aiken's 1934 short story 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow'.

I highly recommend this story. You can read it online or even listen to it read aloud on YouTube.
It's about a boy of 12 who becomes obsessed with snow. Not going to spoil it for anyone, even with a spoiler! just in case, y'know. A cracking read. Eerie.

 

[Sabresonic]

On the subject of childhood hallucinations, I thought of the American writer Conrad Aiken's 1934 short story 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow'.

I highly recommend this story. You can read it online or even listen to it read aloud on YouTube.
It's about a boy of 12 who becomes obsessed with snow. Not going to spoil it for anyone, even with a spoiler! just in case, y'know. A cracking read. Eerie.

Sounds like me still and I'm 48.

 

[escargot]

Any news, @mrs_mose?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I think the story was actually in the fortean Times a couple of years ago but I couldn't tell you which edition

Isn't it in the IHTM books? About time I read them again anyway, great for browsing whilst relaxing in a shady corner of the garden