Good question and one we've considered, as well. We've had some stuff over the years, but it has been fairly infrequent, quiet and few and far between. When our friend was here who is a psychic medium she said, "You never told me you had a ghost." Apparently she saw him several times. I asked about trying to communicate with him and she said, "well he's fairly inactive, and if you try to communicate you might make him more active."

Tanner decided for us. He doesn't want the ghost to be more active because he has always felt that the ghost (who is a child) primarily hangs around with him. So he doesn't want us to attempt to open up communication, which is understandable. I will occasionally talk to him if the dogs have set off barking for no apparent reason. I'll ask him to leave the bedroom so the dogs stop barking and I can sleep. Usually that works.

Good to see you around, by the way!

Thanks, Karen. It's nice to be back.

I've heard that as well, that giving it attention will make it stronger. I think that's Davids fear.. that and the possibility of inviting others to come in.

As I've said, I'm not frightened by it but I am curious. My first experience was shortly after I moved in. I was living here by myself, David was still on active duty in SC and I had moved here to get things settled before he retired. When I went to the closing on the house I met the previous owners and when we were finished the Realtor told them that the next time they drove by the house we'd probably have a fence up and horses in the pasture. The woman replied "I'll never go back there". I thought it was an odd thing to say, but certainly my first thought wasn't paranormal activity.

But it was only a month or so later that the first experience happened. It was about 3:30 am and I was sleeping. The sound of small feet running down the hallway toward my room woke me up. When I looked down the hallway I saw a small figure run into the middle bedroom. My first thought was a little boy just ran in there but knew that wasn't possible so I yelled at my dog to knock it off and lay down. When I called her she stood up and bumped into the bed on my husbands side of the bed… on the other side of the room. It really freaked me out so I got up and turned on all the lights in my room and went to the middle room. As I stood in the doorway I knew something was looking at me but when I turned the light on nothing was there. Since then we have had pretty steady activity, though nothing on a nightly basis. But whatever/whoever it is certainly tries to get our attention.

I did an evp session once a couple years ago but the only thing I got was what sounded like a phone conversation between two men. I couldn't make out much of what they were saying, but it was clear enough that I just dismissed it as interference from cells or something.

Anyway, I'd really like to know who or what it is… especially if it is a child. I know we've talked about that before, Karen. You and I seem to be very similar in that the children really get to us. If it is a child I'd really like to find a way to help… if that's even possible. I just hate to think that a child is here possibly looking for his mother or family.

actually that made me think. Spirit your question is "should you investigate your own home"

not if investigating a home will stir up things. is that what you mean.

i dont see why investigating your own home would stir up anything

that other people investigating your home wouldnt.

does that make sense?

I guess my question is two fold. 1) Has anyone had the experienced activity increasing after investigating and 2) does anyone know of any negative effects from investigating your own home.

I've heard in passing that you shouldn't but I'm not comfortable with allowing strangers in my home. Whatever is here, if anything,

seems harmless so I don't want a group to come in and provoke. I'd rather do the investigation myself using methods I'm comfortable

with. If and when the time comes that I think I need help I'd call someone better equipped, but for now I'd just like to know what is

causing the seemingly unexplained occurrences in our home.

well i guess that's what i'm getting at. i wonder what the theory is

from the people who say you shouldnt investigate your own house.

why that is any different then someone else doing. i guess i cant

see the connection, so although i have no experience what so ever,

i'd vote for you investigating it /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />

I agree, Heidi. I don't really see the difference in doing your own investigation or having a

group come in. I don't know why doing it myself would cause negative effects when a group

wouldn't. I'm hoping someone who believes this philosophy or has had that experience

can offer some insight.

GB, have you ever investigated your own home or that of a family member? If so, were there

any negative effects?

I would investigate my own home before I had strangers investigate it. That being said – I wonder how biased I would be about evidence in my own house and how agenda driven my evidence review would be.

I agree, I really don't want strangers in my home. I don't know how I would judge the evidence, but I hope I could be objective.

I know with the case of the evp, I just couldn't be sure it wasn't interference from a cell or baby monitor so I just discarded it.

I don't really know that I have an agenda, so I don't think that would play into it. I'd just like an explanation for what seems, at this point, to

be unexplainable.

well, since this child isnt Spirit's child, she has no knowledge of the history involved there.

so maybe she wont have those kind of issues. i think you should do it spirit, i dont see how

it could hurt any.

I think I should do it too… now I just need to convince David. /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />

I think reading about others investigating their own homes will make him realize there's nothing to be worried about.

I'm far more comfortable with the possibility of a spirit in our home than he is though we both want to find a logical reason

for whats happening here. I think by investigating we would be better equipped to find logical answers.

Spirit, we've had some limited activity here in our townhome, so Chad did a quick EVP session in our bedroom some time ago, which is where the majority of the incidents took place. He didn't get any results from the session. We haven't done a full-scale investigation though.

Growing up in a haunted house, the activity here is so limited that it's no where near what I grew up with, so it doesn't bother me much. Plus, there could be natural explanations for what is happening here.

In your case, if you do investigate, what if you do an opening and closing "protection ceremony" or what have you? That's just one idea.

I would definitely do a protection ceremony first. I think that's the only way David would feel comfortable agreeing to

an investigation.

I think it's more likely something natural is happening than supernatural, but I'd really like to find out. I think by setting up the camcorder we

would be more likely to get those explanations. When we were awakened be the banging on our bedroom door we just couldn't find any reasonable

explanation. The dogs were in the room with us sleeping on the floor by my husband so we knew it wasn't one of them banging their tail against the

door and we were completely alone in the house. My husband's initial reaction was someone had broken in and reached for the gun. Of course no one

was there, but it sounded as though an adult was using their fist to bang on the door. This has happened twice and I can tell you it's not a pleasant way to be

roused from a deep sleep! /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />