You are home alone, and you hear footsteps above you. You are watching television and you see a shadow in the other room. After spending time in a room, you begin to feel “weird.” You suddenly feel cold. These are some of the claims our team receives when we get a call from a client. Our first job, as paranormal investigators, is to try to explain the unexplainable. Here are some common reasons for most paranormal claims.
“I hear footsteps.”
You are home alone, or you know the whereabouts of everyone in the home, and you hear what sounds like footsteps either in a space above you such as an attic or bedroom. But before you jump to a paranormal conclusion, here is a logical explanation.
Your home is made up of material that expands and contracts. You heat and cool your home, depending on the time of year. The temperature inside your home is conflicting with the temperature outside your home. This temperature battle causes the material your home is constructed from to expand or contract and this process creates noise. The footstep sound can be a progression your home is going through as it adapts to the temperature. This is also a common cause for the “creaking” noise you hear. This happens more in the early evening or early morning. Your house has been at a constant temperature and the outside temperature has cooled down or heated up, causing your home to creak.
You are in a room, or you walk into a room and you feel cold or you feel a cold spot in one part of the room. Well, the first logical explanation is to check to see if a window is open. Some other causes of cold spots or an eerily cold room is heat or the lack of.
“I often feel cold spots in this room.”
There are always areas within a room that will have a colder or warmer temperature. Look at the room. Are there windows that effect the ambient temperature? Is the window open or is it weather tight? Is there an object interfering with the heat source? Was the room you left warmer than the room you are entering? These are some reasons for feeling cold or cold spots.
Another claim is a feeling a cold on one side or part of the body. Besides external reasons for the cold feeling, this could be your body reacting to an internal cause. One cause is that you could be suffering from anemia, where the levels of the oxygen-carrying component in the blood, hemoglobin, goes down. Low hemoglobin levels in the blood reduces its ability to carry oxygenated blood into the extremities, thus inducing a chill feeling in the toes and limbs. Another cause is being anxious or have been diagnosed with anxiety can cause you to feel cold on an extremity. Again, before jumping to a paranormal conclusion, make sure you don’t suffer from a medical issue.
“I keep seeing shadows.”
Ask yourself, “What is a shadow?” A shadow occurs when an object blocks or partially blocks light. When you see shadows, look for a cause. If it is daytime, look outside to see if there is a cause. Was there a bird flying by? Was there a person or animal walking by your window or a car going by? There could be just about any reason. The point is to investigate a “normal cause” to the shadow casting suspect. This goes for nighttime shadows as well. Shadows seen at night are more common. The darkness creates the atmosphere of the paranormal and when a shadow is seen it is our instinct that creates fear and reduces our rational thinking. Again, before jumping to paranormal conclusions, investigate a possible cause.
“I hear voices.”
When we get this claim, our first question is, “What are they saying?” Then we will ask, “Is there any mental illness?” Besides an actual medical condition, there are many causes to hearing voices.
Have you ever heard a fisher cat from a distance? A fisher cat will make a noise that sounds like a woman screaming. If you are in your home and the fisher cat sounds off, you can easily mistake this as a woman in your attic. There are many animals that make humanistic sounds. When you hear them for the first time, your mind will almost always relate the noise to a familiar sound. I had a client that heard a baby crying. When investigating, I found out she lived near a goat farm. A young goat from a distance can sound like a baby crying.
“I hear banging or knocking sounds.”
This is one of the most common claims paranormal investigators hear. This is also one of the most common claims that can be explained. Look for possible causes. If you hear banging or knocking on an outside wall, go outside to see if there is something banging on the side of the house. There was a time we debunked a knocking sound by cutting a branch that was against the house.
Look for a possible rodent infestation. Rodents happen! This type of activity increases in the late fall and early winter. Those critters know where the heat is. Unfortunately, rodents will find ways into your walls and cause all sorts of “paranormal” activity.
Research your plumbing and heating system. If your plumbing is not secure within your walls, it can cause banging or knocking when in use. This is common when the upstairs bathroom is used, or the up-stair tenant uses the facilities. As water travels through the pipes it creates vibration. If the pipes are not properly secured, the vibrations will cause banging or knocking.
Your heating system can also cause banging or knocking. A forced hot air heating system used for the first time will cause the duct to expand or contract and if the duct work is not secure, it will bang around a bit. The same goes for force hot water or steam radiator heating systems. Along with the expansion and contraction of the pipes, air pockets can get into the pipes. As the air travels through the system, it also can cause the knocking sounds. This type of heating system also is contributed to that “moaning” sound that will scare the bejesus out of you.
“I have these unexplained marks on me.”
We see this paranormal claim often and most of the time the marks can be explained. Many of the marking claims start of with, “I woke up with these scratches.” The human body is a wonderful and often mysterious thing. While sleeping, our brain puts our memory in sort of a sleep mode too. It must, or we would never get any sleep. If you are sleeping properly, you are entering a stage of REM. REM is the stage when dreams occur. It also is the stage when your memory is filed if you will. The more significant memories are prevalent when you become awake and the less significant ones are not as forthcoming.
If something causes you to itch while sleeping, your brain will tell your body to scratch it. If you are an aggressive scratcher, you will leave a mark. All of this happened while you are asleep and let’s face it, having an itch or itches during your deep sleep period is not an important memory and your brain is going to store it in the non-significant file.
Unexplained bruising is another claim that we see. This one is more important because there is more likely a medical issue that needs to be investigated.
So, before you go looking for an exorcist, look for possible causes. If the marks are found where it is impossible for you to reach, check out your area for possible causes. You may not see that bed spring or even feel it when you are not in bed, but it shows its devilish self when you are asleep.
I discussed some of the most common claims we see as paranormal investigators and their possible causes. My suggestions on researching possible causes is the first step anyone with possible paranormal activity should take. You may be surprised how many claims are explained when you go through and look at the claims logically.
When you can’t explain your claims logically is when you should call us. You can find our contact information on our home page. Certainly, at any time you have questions regarding suspected paranormal activity, you can contact us.
