How to Tell if Your House is Haunted

A home buyers worst fears are foreclosure, natural disasters, and ghosts, in that order. Foreclosures and natural disasters are easy to avoid: Don't buy a house you can't afford, and don't build on land that moves. Ghosts, on the other hand, are much more difficult to deal with and you can't get insurance for them.

To get started, I want to talk briefly about building my own house. If I choose this option, there are a couple of things I should be aware of. First, I have to make sure I'm not building my home on someone's grave. Especially if it's the grave of a gruesome murder victim. These people have been through enough. They've earned that little plot of land. Not to mention the fact that they're frustrated, angry, and like to blame everyone else for their problems. Second, once I've built my house in a safe location, there can be absolutely no brutal murders inside of it. If I want to horse around I have to take it outside.

Though it's relatively easy to avoid hauntings when building a house, it can be a whole different story when buying. Let's say, for instance, I've just bought the home of my dreams. It has a white picket fence, a big back yard, and great neighbors. But then I start to notice some odd things. In particular, I see some strange movements as the interest rate on my mortgage begins inching up. Luckily this incident doesn't point toward a ghost and I can take it up with the bank. But let's say a few days later, other strange things begin happening. Maybe I hear a door slam upstairs. Or perhaps I see a figure in a white dress glaring at me. Or maybe I feel cold hands around my neck, choking me. First, I have to determine if it's my wife. Significant others have been know to do all of these things. If my wife swears it's not her then I will have no choice but to move on to her mother. After I've successfully ruled out all of my in-laws, it's time to look for further clues. I'll start with the overall feel of the house. Does it give me goose bumps every now and then? Do I feel a sudden chill whenever I walk into certain rooms? Am I certain I paid the gas bill? Sometimes something as simple as missing a due date can mislead us into thinking we have paranormal activity.

Though some phenomena can be easily explained, others are a little more mysterious. These are the things that force us to take a long, hard look at what we thought we knew about reality. Let's say, for example, I'm all alone in my house and about to turn in for the evening. But just as I begin settling into bed the television suddenly turns on. At that moment an eerie feeling washes over me as I realize there are only two possible explanations. Either there is a sinister spirit, floating around my room, making me watch Oprah, or I sat on the remote. Unfortunately, there is no way to solve this mystery. All I can do is speculate.

Ghost hunting certainly is a tough business. It's practically impossible to detect a presence with any kind of conclusiveness. And it's not just because their invisible, but because roughly nine out of nine times they're not really there. Proving something is there when it's not is a tall order and is the number one reason why so many people fail. That's not to say no one has ever had an evil presence in their home, though. Just so long as we define "evil presence" as anything causing fear, anxiety, and marriage. Most of us have experienced that before.