Forteana

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For discussion of everything rum and uncanny, from cryptozoology (mysterious or out-of-place animals), UFOs, high strangeness, etc. Following in the footsteps of Charles Fort and all those inspired by him, like the field of anomalistics.

As this community is on Feddit.uk it takes a British approach to things but it needn't be restricted to the UK - if it's weird and unusual it probably has a home here.

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Majority of American houses are haunted, homeowners say: survey (www.latintimes.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Nearly two-thirds of American homeowners believe that their house is haunted, according to a new survey.

The survey by Angi, a service to help people find home service providers, found that 60% of homeowners believe that they may be living with ghosts.

Of the 1,000 homeowners surveyed, more than 65% claimed to have experienced unexplainable occurrences in their homes. About 31% reported hearing unexplained sounds in the walls, 30% reported creaking floorboards and 24% reported hearing unexplained footsteps.

About 13% of respondents reported seeing or hearing the toilet flush on its own. However, Angi did note that there is a phenomenon called "ghost flushing" where toilets will flush on their own due to a leak somewhere in the home's toilet system.

Almost 20% of homeowners surveyed said they were scared of one or more parts of their home, such as their basement or attic. Nearly 60% said they would not like to be left alone at home.

However, 58% of respondents said they would consider living in a haunted house if it meant saving money.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So wood that naturally expands and contracts, creating squeaky floors. You don't even have to step on it if the temperature or humidity changes. My last house had gaps in the crawl space, so lots of shifting occurred.

Mice in the walls. It's always either mice or slightly moving plumbing pipes. I hate living near agricultural fields because mice love to try and move in every autumn.

Footsteps I'll chalk up to people hearing things. I don't know how many times I've thought I've heard footsteps but the moment I catch it, it disappears.

Low-reservoir flushing happened all the time with my last toilet. I know it had a leak but it was slow enough that I didn't much care until it started flushing once a week.

I'm not scared of my attic, I just don't like being up there because it's always hot, it smells weird, and there's too many exposed nails at face level. I imagine most people are only mildly "scared" of their basements or attics because they don't go in them very much, and fear of the unknown/unfamiliar is very real.

..... Maybe I am haunted...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

… Maybe I am haunted…

Maybe you are the ghost.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

There's a fun quote that goes something like "people say my house is haunted, but I've lived here 300 years and never seen a ghost." Maybe it's talking about you.

All the time when I'm home alone or certain that everyone else in the house is asleep, I'll hear noises. Usually they're caused by my cats. Also, I wear a CPAP when I sleep and I'm convinced that the extra airflow can manifest as noises inside of my head that sound like they're from outside my head.

Finally, there's a sound that occurs pretty regularly and sounds exactly like someone opening the door to our backyard and comes from that general vicinity. I was really confused for a while - when I did investigate, there was never anything there, not even a cat (or, so far as I could tell, a ghost). It took me forever to figure out, but my toddler keeps one of those little kid plastic pools on our back porch near the door. When it's empty even a gentle breeze can cause it to lift then drop back down, making exactly the noise I heard.