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Mirror Mirror

 

My wife, three kids and I live in an old, 3 story Victorian town house on the Northern coast, built circa 1880. We've lived here for around 5 years now.

We bought the house from some friends of ours who had lived there for almost 10 years - we were familiar with the house and locale due to visits, parties and so on over the years so the decision to buy the place when we learned it was coming onto the market was an easy one for us.

The house has always had a great atmosphere and oddly enough, continues to do so, despite the strange occurrences I am about to share with you.

After moving in to the house, several contented, uneventful months passed. We worked on the house, restoring Victorian features, decorating and adding a small extension to the old kitchen area.

One night, at exactly 3 am, my wife and I were awakened by a loud THUMP coming from the attic rooms above us, on the third floor. The noise was hard to describe, but it was something similar to the noise a wardrobe might make if it toppled over in the still of the night-pretty bloody loud! Loud enough to put the fear of God into us and wake us both from our slumbers.

At my wife's insistence, I crept up the stairs to the attic rooms above, but after inspection was relieved to find nothing out of place. No broken or open windows, no displaced furniture or pictures... Nothing which could account for the noise we had both heard. I went back to bed, reported my findings to my wife and we both drifted back to sleep.

A few nights later, there was a repeat of the 3 am incident - the loud thump, 3 am, both of us waking up. Only this time, there was something else-another noise: The shuffling, distinctive sound of footsteps coming from the overhead rooms, clear as crystal. (Scary)

With my heart in my mouth, I grabbed the baseball bat I keep in out room and ascended the staircase, flicked on the light switch in the attic hallway and jumped into each of the two rooms, one at a time.

Nothing...just like before-nothing to account for the noise we had heard.

Perplexed, I went back to bed and was undisturbed for the rest of the night.

A week or so later, the experience repeated itself again. This time I did not leave my bed. We both simply lay there and watched the ceiling above us as the familiar footsteps paced above, just like a repeat radio play. It was pretty scary, enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck and widen my eyes as I stared up at that ceiling. Then the noise stopped and silently, we both fell back into undisturbed sleep.

Of course, we both shared the experience with friends and colleagues. Everyone agreed it was weird, spooky... But we didn't make a bid deal of it. In the cold light of day, it could have been many things. It's an old house... But the sound was so distinct.

A few weeks later, we were having dinner with the couple who previously owned the house. The subject came up and my wife and I recounted the now-familiar story of 'things that go bump in the night'...the wardrobe sound. Our friends surprised us by asking if it happened at around 3 am. It seems they had shared the experience several times during their life together at the house.

Both couples agreed that, although unusual and spooky, there was nothing that felt sinister about the event. It was simply a mystery.

As the weeks and months passed, the 3 am bump did not repeat itself.

However, strange smells began to manifest in the house - particularly on the lower staircase. The strong, pungent smell of pipe tobacco was crystal clear at certain times, although there are no pipe smokers in the house.

My wife saw a dark figure at the top of the staircase one bright sunny day, an indistinct human form which flitted out of sight almost as soon as it had appeared.

This indistinct form was spotted on several occasions, both by my wife and I, but I must stress there was no feeling of dread or terror to accompany each sighting-merely curiosity.

There was never a feeling that "the house" meant us any harm. We were (and are) a very happy family. The house is always full of the kids' laughter and games, music and the general vibrancy of family life. Neither my wife nor I are predisposed to be jumpy. We are not practicing Christians, not staunch believers in any religion, although we are spiritual in the most pragmatic way possible, if that makes any sense. Open minded with a closed mind to foolishness, I suppose, is the best way of putting it.

Family life continues unhindered, there were no more notable incidents to report for a couple of years (although there were always the small 'sightings' or intuitive feelings, from time to time).

This all brings us up to the present - or at least, around 6 months ago.

One night, at approximately 3 am (what IS it with 3 am, exactly?), my wife and were awoken to the sound of a child's footsteps running in the hallway and ascending the attic stairs. As we opened our eyes, we both saw the figure of a small child and saw its arm on the banister of the staircase.

Having three young children, we both naturally assumed one of the kids had woken up and was on the move. We called out the names of our children, expecting one of them to totter through to the bedroom and sleep with us that night (commonly, more often than not in fact, one or two find there way to our bedroom during the course of an average night).

However, there was no response. This was strange enough for both of us to get up and check on the kids in the neighboring rooms. Now, this was the kicker, all three were absolutely sound asleep! Not faking either...I'm their Dad. I can always tell when they are faking. They were all three sound asleep. The footsteps and figure on the stairs could not have been one of them. Besides, there never was the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.

After this incident, things seem to settle down and return to normal.

Around a month ago, a friend of ours encouraged us to hold a 'spooky night' in our house. 'Spooky night' being, a group of our friends seeing an invited medium, one at a time. This was the first time I have ever sat with a medium and went in with a fairly skeptical mindset.

However, the medium told me she sensed the spirit of a small child in the house. She thought it may be a child who died there or whose young life was cut short, somehow. She said it means us no harm, but will make its presence known from time to time, particularly around the three young children in the house.

I thought all this interesting, but remained open minded about the whole thing.

Now, we come to last night.

At just before midnight, my wife and I were reading in bed when we heard an almighty crash from downstairs.

We raced down to see a large mirror in our backroom, smashed into pieces all over the backroom floor.

What was really strange about this was, the ornaments and various bits and pieces on the mantelpiece above which the mirror had hung (soundly, for several years) were undisturbed. The nail on the wall was not loose and the mirror was on the wooden floor face up, not on the hearth of the fireplace as you might imagine it would be, had it simply fallen.

We cleared the mess away.

To confound matters further, an hour or so prior to the mirror smashing, I had sensed something strange in the upstairs bathroom. Just a feeling, an intuition, if you will, which was enough for me to keep my eyes open as I washed my hair in the bath!

I'm not easily spooked, have no plans to leave or sell the house, but I wanted to share our experience with you.

Still don't feel threatened or particularly horrified. It's hardly Amityville territory. But the mirror smashing does seem to have taken things into a different, more physical, dimension. IF indeed it was 'supernatural'. If indeed, any of it was 'supernatural'...

But as a pragmatic and logical human being, I've learned that sometimes it's wise to follow your intuitions too.

So, two intuitive questions, just in case... JUST IN CASE...

Does the smashing of a mirror have any particular relevance in the world of "ghosts"?

Is it a common occurrence?

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Al, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

amanda_lynn (24 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-07-22)
❤ the story. (:

Um, I have a similar story, I guess...

I was visiting my grandparent's house, sometime in May, 2009. I was sitting in the old bedroom, nobody ever goes in it. It just has excercising equipment, and a television set. Anyway, I was sitting on the chair, and waiting for my cousin to get back in the room. She was standing in the kitchen, and when I called her name, the door opened. Yet no one was there...? Then the window slowly opened, then shut... And what's creepy about the window, is that it's a sliding window, and somewhat heavy, especially for the wind to slide over.

I don't know what it was, or who, but it was scary.:D
Paranormalchica (3 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-29)
Well a mirror is usally how a ghost will cross over. Or maybe it wasn't trying to crossover and you might just have a poltergiset! 😨
ChrisB (6 stories) (1515 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-28)
Wow thank you for sharring this great story with us. I found it very interesting and It realy fun to read. I understand that it is not fear that you feel minute the house but curiosity. Although that may sound wierd I believe that is how many feel when it comes to spirits. I kind of wonder why the mirror would break? Thanks again for sharring. I (hope to hear from you soon and take care
Tonith (1136 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-27)
Sorry I don't buy the mirror theory and not sure I even buy the 3 am theory. It's always 3 am somewhere in the world while it's 3 pm somewhere else in the world at the same time. Then there is west coast time and east coast time and well you get the drift. You may have a residual haunting being that the house is so old. I too live in a 122 year old victorian house but alas it's pretty quiet here. Somethings have happpened but nothing I can't explain for the most part. The mirror incident is disturbing but then again I know what vibration can do. Heavy trucks passing the house, kids and friends clamoring through the house, music turned up loudly can all attribute to something becoming loose and then in the dead of night it falls. Not saying that this is the case with you. You hung the mirror so I'm assuming you know if it slid off or jumped off. Glad to see this hasn't effected your family. You seem to be handling it with grace and aplomb. Keep us informed.
Paranormalchica (3 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-26)
Hi I'm new to this and I just wanted to drop by and say Great story! ❤ it

Love,

Jenette
Kisho (2 stories) (60 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-26)
Another POV on 3 am - between 3 and 4 am is widely considered to be the time when spiritual energy is most capable of crossing over and being... Experienced by people. I personally believe that to be the case due to the fact that between 3 and 4 is when the most people are asleep and dreaming, and, depending on your views on the nature of dreaming, you might recognize that as being a reason for so much inter-planary energy flow.

Of course, when energy can flow so freely between our plane and the spiritual plane, one can only expect that it works for the good and the bad. Sounds to me like the spirits you have at your place are of the former disposition though.

As for the mirror, mirrors are also considered to be portals, and spirits can generally use them to transition back and forth. It could be that the spirit you've got in your place sensed that something unsavory was going to try to come through, so he shattered the mirror to be safe - the fact that the ornaments and such all survived the event leads credibility, I feel, to the idea that the action wasn't born of malice.

All in all, it sounds like the spirit was testing the waters at first, until it was expressed to you that they were nothing to worry about - as that seems to be the point when they became more comfortable and interactive with you. Nothing evil for sure, just a bit social.
JamesRobiscoe (419 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-26)
AL--
Adding to what's been said about 3 a.m., the time between 3 and 4 is also commonly known as "The Hour of the Wolf" for the human psyche seems most vulnerable to its own protection. (See Ingmar Bergman's film by the same name.) Correlative?
Seems there is more than one spirit. A child would not smoke a pipe, produce heavy noises, nor lift a mirror. Do your children experience the child's phantom?
Since your friends and previous owners corraborated your experiences, it's obvious this is not the house settling or your imagination. Remodelling also awakens resistence. Learning the house's history may help you pinpoint identities and help quiet, or deal with, them. Do you try to interact? Have you watched your country's series "Most Haunted"? Please keep us posted.
DUnknown (4 stories) (65 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-26)
And furthermore-mirrors are said to be attached/linked to the Spirit world-some kind of a portal. Thus, spirits, who didn't got the chance of going into the "light", smash or break mirrors for they cannot accept the truth that they are already dead when they see themselves infront of a mirror (that is in my own opinion and point of view).
Thanks again for sharing to us your experience. Hope to read from you more.

Jay 😊
DUnknown (4 stories) (65 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-26)
Good day to you, Al.
I'm a christian by religion, and I can only tell you that 3am is the time or hour of Evil/Death which is the counterpart of 3pm-the time of Jesus's death.
During this time, Strange things happens-Evil is powerful during this time especially. Well, I just want to share it to you and everybody who will read this comment of mine since I've read a lot of the stories here, yet, no one had cited the meaning of 3am.
This explains why hauntings or unexplained events happens during the night until the break of dawn (majority).
Anyway, the hauntings occured in your house sounds like residual. Have you or your friends tried to check the history of the area? Of the house? Have you tried blessing the house or even burning incense?
I've learned from my chinese friends that using incense on the house provides an unseen shield or a protective ward against harm/spirits-also good to get rid of unpleasant odor!😆
Kidding aside, I hope nothing bad happens to you and your family.
Keep us posted and God bless.

Jay 😊
dreamergal72 (6 stories) (793 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
Al that strange about the mirror I did same problem with my angel fall but didn't break it just fall off the wall on the chest drawer, Also maybe the smell of pipe might be the child's father or grandfather not sure.
mustang (5 stories) (749 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
Hi Al. Did the previous owner's ever see the ghost of the child? Or did anything ever break when they lived there. The 3am hour is supposed to be "dead time". When things happened to me though it was always between 2:30-3:00 in the morning. It sounds to me as if the 3am wake up call you are getting is a residual haunting and you have nothing to worry about. However, from the way you described the mirror falling down and the way it landed facing up without disturbing anything on the mantel, I would say that may just hold a bit of significance to the spirits. They were probably trying to get your attention, to let you know that they weren't happy about something. Do you think maybe they were upset that you had a "Spooky Night" with your friends and a medium over? Maybe they thought you were making fun or trying to get rid of them. I don't think you have anything to worry about though. It seems as though after that night is when the mirror fell and broke and the feeling you got when you were in the shower was you feeling their upset. Just throwing a few ideas out there, I'm not really sure. Keep us updated on anything new that happens.

SHELBY ❤ 😊
Al (1 stories) (1 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
Thanks for the responses and information.

I tried a google search on the relevance of mirrors but didn't come up with much, perhaps I need to delve a little deeper.

It's interesting to hear that there may be some significance to 3 am.

All has been quiet on the home front since the mirror incident - I'll be sure to update this thread should anything significant occur.
rhodes68 (14 stories) (1596 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
They believe that mirrors have the 'ability' to capture or entrap past energy and that this energy may at times start playing over scenes from this past.

In many countries, when a person dies, the relatives cover up all the mirrors in the house to prevent the spirit of the deceased from getting trapped instead of crossing over.

By the way, I was very impressed by your encounters not that I would have loved to be in your place 😊.

From your descriptions, it seems as if some of the noises like the heavy footsteps at around the same hour or the loud wardrobe noise point more towards residual in which case, there's nothing to fear but also very little you can do about it.

But your friends' admitting to have lived with a child who preferred to manifest in front of the children, that is definitely intelligent. It's obvious that the spirit of this young child feels more secure around peers and seeks to establish connection. I hope you will do whatever you can to make sure this poor soul doesn't remain trapped there.

As for the mirror, I can't say if it was an attempt to have its presence acknowledged but you're right to be concerned. It may be an indication of anger and that is something you want to deal with as soon as possible.
mlc13 (7 stories) (33 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
I've read that three am is dead hour, the hour in which the paranormal unleashes or something like that.
Jasmin314 (13 stories) (210 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-25)
This is a great story. I really enjoyed your sharing of the experiences in your home, and I thank you for sharing. I read that mirrors are a portal to the otherside. This has been stated many times in several different books. The one book that stood out the most to me was called "The Otherside..." I wish I could remember the author. To answer your question:Yes, mirrors are relevant when it comes to paranormal activity or ghosts. Good luck in finding anymore information. ❤ Jasmin

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