Paranormal activity isn't just about flying furniture and smashing dishes. It can be as simple as a few unearthly sounds, and untraceable drops or rises in temperature. To find out if your house is haunted, and not simply old and creaky, watch out for the following signs of paranormal activity:
• Unexplained noises – Do footsteps knock on the floorboards when there’s no one there? Do you hear knocks on your front door, but see no one when you open it?
• Doors opening on their own – Do your cupboards doors move on their own volition? Do you hear a door being closed, even bolted shut, when you’re all alone in the house?
• Lights switching off and on
• Items being “borrowed” – Do important items, like car keys or loose change, disappear, only to turn up in the original spot where you expected to find them?
• Unexplained shadows
• Animals behaving strangely – Is your pet deliberately avoiding a particular part of the house? Does your dog howl in the middle of the night? Does your cat peer at something crossing a room?
• Feeling of being watched – Do you feel that something unseen is staring at you, and this same feeling occurs in the same place at the same time every day?
The signs mentioned above may still be attributed to old floorboards, faulty electrical wiring, or simply a hyperactive imagination. If you note the following, however, then you may have real paranormal phenomena going on:
• Psychokinetic movement – Do you actually see doors close and open, or lights go on and off by themselves?
• Feeling of being touched – Do you feel like something is caressing or brushing up against you, even when there’s no one there?
• Unexplained noises – Do you hear moans, cries, or whispers even if you are alone? Do you hear someone calling your name, but turn around and see no one?
• Unexplained temperature changes
• Unexplained smells
Still, the aforementioned signs may be due to factors not necessarily supernatural. The following signs are rarer, but more dangerous:
• Severe psychokinetic phenomena – Do dishes slide off the table? Do picture frames fly off your walls?
• Physical assault – Are you being hurt by an unseen specter? Do you sometimes wake up with bruises or wounds, and know you didn't sleepwalk?
• Apparitions
• Other unexplained phenomena – Do you suddenly see writing on your walls, blood in unlikely places, footprints, or handprints?
If you experience the above, then you may have to contact a paranormal investigator. Whatever the case, don’t move out unless you are very sure that you have a haunting, and not simply an imagination working overtime.