How to Look for Signs of a Haunted House

Polls consistently show that a large percentage of the world's population believes in spirits or supernatural happenings, and the Gothic image of the haunted house continues to have a hold on our collective imagination. Paranormal experts maintain that ghosts leave signs of their presence, and that if you know what to look for, you can detect them in a haunted house or anywhere they may gather.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Listen for strange noises. Every house gives out little creaks and moans, especially if it's old. But a haunted house may emit noises which have no earthly business being there: footsteps in empty rooms, knocks on closed doors or windows, scratching noises against the walls, cries and whispers in areas where no one has been or even the sound of music in the air.
2. Watch your pets for odd behavior. Cats and dogs can sense things beyond the range of human perception and may be able to detect ghosts in a haunted house. Look for them to fixate on one spot, track something unseen across a room, growl and hiss for no apparent reason or refuse to enter an area where you know they are normally comfortable.
3. Keep an eye on doors and cupboards to see whether they open or close for no reason. Every house has an odd creaky door, but doors in a haunted house may open and close even after you're certain you locked them, sometimes in front of your very eyes.
4. Look for signs of "manifestation" out of the corners of your vision. Shadows may appear with no obvious source, you may catch sight of an apparition reflected in a glass or mirror, or you might spot an obvious figure in the periphery of sight, only to have it vanish when you look at it squarely. Ghosts in a haunted house often show themselves only on the edges of our perception, defying our efforts to see them directly.
5. Feel for hot or cold spots appearing in the haunted house. These are areas of "dead air" where the temperature is significantly different than that of the surrounding area with no apparent cause. Experts believe it may be the sign of a spirit passing.
6. Look for levitating objects or objects which disappear and reappear without being moved. These are very direct signs of a haunted house and are extremely rare. But objects which float and move in front of you, or which vanish only to reappear in an open and obvious place are sure signs that something not-of-this-earth has taken up residence.

Tips & Warnings

• Hauntings vary, depending upon the location and the spirit in question. In addition, many signs of a haunted house can simply be natural phenomenon, such as settling eaves or a broken lock. Take any signs you spot with a grain of salt, but keep an open mind if the rational explanations begin to dwindle.