Q&A for How to Tell if Your House Is Haunted

Don't ever do that! Anytime that you do anything, you develop karma—you're bound by what you do, what you think, and what you say. Instead of catching ghosts, focus on sending them to life. Ask your higher self to send them where they need to be (or where they should be) by imagining an open door and shooting them out of your house.

Tell her to calm down. Check the house for any sign of paranormal activity. Look for moving objects and doors opening and closing. If you continue to have activity in the house, call an expert for help.

It is possible. If you are alone and there are no thunderstorms, try to make a recording of what you hear.

If you encountered weird unexplained things, or maybe saw something around the house like a shadow or ghost, then it could be. Just seeing a video of past actions by people doesn't guarantee a haunting. Watch for signs of a ghost or spirit.

There's a good chance is just the "'wandering" type--one that moves from place to place, but stays in a large area. For example, the ghost might stay in a neighborhood, but it won't be isolated to a single house; it would visit different houses.

Be skeptical and write it off as paranoia or your imagination. Use logic and reason your way through possibilities as to why that chair is sitting upside-down upon the kitchen table, or why the salt shaker changed places with the pepper mill. If you find that events cannot logically be explained, then your house probably is haunted.

Does it turn on when it's unplugged? Try checking the wiring to and from the set, plus your circuit breakers. Check your wall jacks too and make sure no bare wires are showing and that they're properly grounded and that the wiring is up to code.

It may mean that that person has the gift to see the paranormal, or is more sensitive to vibrations and energy.

Possibly or it could be a sign that your house has shifted, the doors have shifted or they have swollen or contracted dependent on the season. Get a builder to check everything is in good working order before presuming you've got spirits in the house. Also consider wind/breeze flow in the house and the possibility that you're missing real, live inhabitants shutting and closing doors when least expected. If you really think it's ghosts, ask them politely to go away because it's your house now.

You can have a priest bless the water or you can ask him how to make holy water. If you feel like you need something more, you could ask him to come bless you house for you.

If this is the crying of someone you know, call them and ask them how they are doing. If this is the crying of someone you don't know, or used to know, it may be a spirit simply inhabiting the room. It may not be a malevolent haunting.

Maybe it was next to a breeze coming through a window, or maybe a rat pushed it over, maybe your pet did it or maybe it was balanced poorly. Maybe the Earth shook or maybe it was just one of those things when fatigue on the shelf caused it to sag and the glass went wheee and fell off. Find the thousands of real reasons before assuming anything spooky.

No, bad dreams just happen sometimes, particularly for children. Neither your house nor your nephew are haunted.

Not necessarily. It could be anything. Most likely it's your imagination or something completely natural. Often when you see something in the corner of your mind, it's your brain making up for something that you can't actually see, which is why you may see something that isn't actually there. The reason you do that is that you come from a legacy of tens of thousands of years of hunter/plains/savannah living peoples who had to quickly assess danger and form impressions fast in order to stay alive. Our modern brain hasn't stopped this ability and therefore prefers making mistakes about possible dangers to force you to take evasive action over being complacent and getting eaten.

Keep records or find documentation about the haunting and then set up a meeting with the owners to go over the information.

Yes it is just the creaking of the stairs, in many an old house it happens every night. If you checked, you'd find there is nothing there.

It depends on the types of events. Twenty years is a long time for events to continue. Ghosts wouldn't want to leave a place that are happy with, so it is possible that twenty years of incidents could indicate a haunting.

The spot must be very cold not just a little colder than the rest of the room. If you had and air conditioner on it may have been that also. If you happen to smell sulfur (kind of like rotten eggs) in your house (when you know you don't have anything similar to that) you should probably seek help. Only if you have experienced out of the ordinary situations. Food smells can come from many directions from outside or above or under the house, people do cook strong foods at times.

Possibly, yes. Try paying attention to the signs and see if anything specific to your dad and your relationship shows up.

There's no real way to tell. It could be the light playing tricks on you. It could be your emotional overreaction to a movement or your own feelings being projected. Or, it could be an apparition. You'll need to work that out for yourself.

If you frequently experience paranormal events despite your efforts to prevent them, then you may have a gift to help the dead move on from this world. Embrace it.

If you persistently hear voices when you're awake, you could have schizophrenia or another disorder - you should see a mental health professional and get a diagnosis. As for differentiating nightmares from real life, there are a number of tricks you can use to check if you're dreaming or awake: How to Tell if You're Dreaming

Poltergeists sometimes move objects around. This is a potential sign of a haunting.

Some people have auditory hallucinations in their sleep during episodes of sleep paralysis. This is not a dangerous condition, but it can cause you to hear things, such as music, late at night.

You have a wonderfully vivid imagination. Many patterns can be made from wallpaper, paint, stucco texture and any other wall markings, shading and objects on the wall. An eye staring at you sounds a bit voyeuristic, so perhaps you are fancying yourself being observed for the sake of a little frisson of excitement, a thrill of being a bit scared so that you can follow it up with a rush of adrenaline and have a great story for your next barbecue. Turn the lights up, dry yourself and be off to sleep. It'll all seem perfectly silly in the morning light.

Some believe burning sage helps ward off bad spirits. You can also talk to a local medium or psychic and ask them for guidance.

It may be wind or bugs outside that you are hearing. It may also be an animal like a raccoon or a squirrel. If it does not sound like any of those, you could investigate or try to get it on video.