It’s possible that I owe my house an apology. For years I have accused it of making strange noises and keeping me awake at night, but now I wonder…
Last night I was snuggling into my sofa quite comfortably, thank you, and glanced up at the curtained window one last time before I closed my eyes. It went dark. Very dark. The light just drained away. Then there was a frantic, screaming ‘rush’ through the air… not quite a sound, but it’s hard to identify what I’m hearing and what I’m feeling. I’m not sure how far I can separate these two senses. This ‘rushing’ turned into a crazed howling that I could feel in my ears, and everything shuddered as though we were on an train galloping across a rickety bridge.
This was one of the nastier ones – I’ve experienced it before and always find it scary, particularly when the natural light outside drains away or turns up very bright. (Just moon and clouds, I tell myself). The other sounds (though annoying and disturbing in their own way) are hummings and clankings and mutterings at various speeds, but this one makes me think of ghosts, UFOs and dementors – and then I very carefully push those thoughts away.
There was no point worrying about it, so I shut my eyes against it all and went to sleep.
I mentioned it to Mum today, and she said she was talking to her friend Joy (who lives round the corner from me).
Mum: “Diddums has been complaining for years she can’t sleep because there are odd noises in her house.”
Joy: “Yes, there’s something strange about this area. It’s been happening to me as well for a long time, and I’ve never been able to work out what it is.”
She said other people were picking up something in various houses…
Ah, affirming feedback! Somebody else thinks there’s something strange going on. Maybe not just our houses, but something outside, shaking the landscape.
Comments for this entry (during its previous life on Blogigo):
1. Pacian wrote at Aug 1, 2007 at 23:50:
It is the ghosts of dinosaurs.
Think about it: dinosaurs ruled the earth for tens of millions of years. Humans have only been able to avoid being eaten by mammoths for the past few tens of thousands. Thus, there are a bazillion dinosaur ghosts around, roaring and trying to bite lampposts with their ectoplasmic teeth.
2. Diddums wrote at Aug 2, 2007 at 03:12: Well, that would explain the sudden darkness – an allosaurus doing for our street lights. Just so long as it doesn’t clump past my window in all its monstrosity, as I would probably have a heart attack…
3. BEG wrote at Aug 2, 2007 at 08:45: OK, this might sound very weird, but what you describe sounds rather familiar to me. Except that I’ve not experienced it at my own home. It’s like a roaring, rushing sound or feeling that goes round and round and can be dizzying.
In particular, if I go into a really old cathedral or a very large building I’m almost guaranteed to catch a whiff of this if not a full blown whoosh. Weird, huh? (I am not particularly religious.)
I honestly wonder in these cases if there’s some kind of hollow space underground that booms or reverberates when air pressure or something changes, at a low enough frequency it isn’t really *heard*. There’s a lot of vibration I swear that I hear, but people say doesn’t make a sound at all.
4. Snoskred wrote at Aug 2, 2007 at 13:26: We lived in a set of townhouses where a ghost roamed all 7. Some of the stuff that happened in that house.. it was pretty odd. One night the ghost left us an actual message on our server box – it gives me chills to think about it.
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org/
5. geosomin wrote at Aug 2, 2007 at 16:24: My husbands Mum was near an area like this as a girl…there was an underground lake that would shift with the barometric pressute. They finally dug out the lake and filled it in as it was starting to shift. Or it could just be the tides and moons.
But, maybe it’s a place that used to be a gathering spot for many many people and there’s residual energy left around…I’ve gone in old places of gathering or worship and felt the same kind of feeling. As though the place has been used and lived in so much that it stores up the energy and releases occasionally.
An old place developing a soul and coming to life seems more interesting. Who knows? Mayber there *are* ghosts and they like to come and visit you as they can be a bit louder around you and have a bit of a party when they visit??
6. Udge wrote at Aug 4, 2007 at 00:03: Train going past?
7. Timorous Beastie wrote at Aug 4, 2007 at 01:31: Oooh, scary!! I want to feel that – I love scary things.
8. Diddums wrote at Aug 4, 2007 at 02:45: I do like the idea of it being ghosts and underground lakes (nothing to do with manmade structures, which is just depressing).
BEG, that’s interesting you had the same sort of experience; do the people who say that it can’t be heard feel it too?
Snoskred – I was trying to tie down the various sounds at my place to a specific time, but it couldn’t be done. Recently it’s been mostly from 23:15 onwards, though there’s been some slight humming from around 22:00 (the orchestra tuning up?)
Geosomin – my house is pretty young; it’s a young area, but old enough to develop a little soul. 
. I rather liked Pacian’s idea of it being dinosaurs; it reminds you that the houses may be young but the land is old. I wonder what was here long before there was any kind of settlement? Bogs and trees?
Udge – someone who lived here longer told me a steam train ran across here before the houses were built. There are no trains near here now – they withered all, for some reason.
Timorous Beastie – you’d like this; you almost feel claws in your back you get so scared, and you don’t want to turn your head! But then you remember you’ve been in the house years and nothing bad has happened yet, and anyway you’re so sleepy… zzz.
9. BEG wrote at Aug 8, 2007 at 04:16: Sometimes, sometimes not. I’m pretty sensitive to vibrations so people don’t always hear (or feel!) some of the vibrations I do feel. I dunno, it’s a guess on my part..something really low level like that that we can pick up but not recognize what it is…
