How great to come back and see more replies. What I especially love (or find fascinating) is that most of these experiences happen in 'ordinary' places rather than some famous landmark 'known' to be crawling with ghosts.
@ Bunnymousekitt, reading what you and your husband experienced with that stairwell, reminds me of threads on other sites (mostly by hunters, or people who spend time in remote areas) who report that feeling of 'being watched', and decide to trust their instincts and get out.
I read enough of those where they found that there was a mountain lion tracking or watching them (or even suspicious-looking people) to believe that it's not always alarmist, or just a feeling we should dismiss.
It should have been very bright but...this same kind of brownish smog seemed to absorb all the light. I thought of the place as having a pall over it. I brought in more and more lamps with 100 watt bulbs, but it would never get bright enough, always there was this dark haze in the rooms.
Yes, exactly like this. My mother always likes a lot of light and brightness, and was pleased by the two large windows in the living room, but that was a big 'nope'. Even in cloudless summer weather, or with 100 watt bulbs blazing, it was like a 'brown-out' in that house.
I don't know who lived there before, and I am sure the neighbours or their kids would have let something slip had their been a murder so I am not convinced it was just that one house. They weren't old houses, (at a guess 1960's) and I felt the neighbours houses were equally gloomy, so maybe it was the area.
I think you were really brave to live where you did; I know you had no choice, but even so!
@Smokehead
It was a sense of growing panic that crept up on me, like a feeling that I shouldn't be there, and no matter how much I told myself to stop imagining things, it was impossible to resist.
What were the ghost stories, if you don't mind me asking?
I used to love going in country churches, when they were accessible, and always felt they were peaceful, but my mother had an extreme panic-inducing experience when walking around Sevenhampton Church (Wiltshire) which she later described as feeling as if a cloud of something was descending on her to rip her to pieces.
There's a picture, here:
http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com ... 874751.jpg
We used to go past it regularly, and I always found it a bit foreboding, (maybe because of the very narrow windows) but as far as I know, there is no ghost story associated with it, and my mother didn't go in, she was outside. There's quite a long path to the village street from the church, and she felt as if she were pursued all the way along it until she got to her car.
@ onetwothree
it felt cold and sad and had a distinct edge to it - I couldn't stay in there. When I mentioned it to her, she said that she'd thought that's where cattle had been slaughtered.
I am not really surprised that if that was so, it would feel cold and sad in the room.
@ Zoffre
The spookiest thing was that the room was completely different to the other bedrooms. Everything in it seemed old, but not just that - it's as if it was weighed down with age, if you see what I mean. It was also the only room in the entire villa with a crucifix on the wall.
Never a good sign! But that does sound strange and very uncomfortable. It's a pity we can't always find out the history behind these places.