Guardian Angel or Menacing Apparition?

Late in 2001, my wife was at home taking care of our 8 month old baby girl. She laid the sleeping baby in her baby cot, pulled up the side safety bars and locked it into place, and then proceeded to the kitchen to continue with her day's chores. Several minutes later, she walked back to the bedroom, to check on our little girl. She was totally surprised to find the child on the floor, several meters away from the baby-cot. Upon inspection she discovered that the safety bar was still locked and in place, the baby was fine and seemed to be busy playing. We have never been able to explain how our daughter was removed from the baby-cot and placed on the bedroom floor, without so much as the slightest sound being heard. I wish to add that all doors were locked at the time, and our two little poodles make it practically impossible for an intruder to enter undetected.

A few days later, I had the house slightly modified by removing the wall between the main house and the adjoining cottage, this allowed us an extra bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. Prior to this, we had never used the cottage as the main house already had three bedrooms. That evening, I was standing in the passage way of the main house looking down into the cottage, through the opening we had just created. My wife was in the cottage bedroom chatting to her mum. It suddenly caught my attention that another person was standing near the doorway, almost leaning against the door frame. Somehow I was not afraid at all, I briefly looked at the figure, noticed that it was that of an older man, with facial hair, like a beard. He was very tall and did not move at all. In fact it seemed as if he was looking into the room where my wife and her mum were, and paying attention to the conversation. I knew then that I was looking at an apparition.

I gathered all my courage, and boldly moved forward, passing within a few centimeters of the figure. As I stepped through the doorway, I felt a chill in the air. A few more steps, and I was standing beside my wife, I turned to face the figure and it was gone. I then explained what had just occurred an of course, everyone was a little tense for the next few days. We have since moved from that house.

My questions are, Could this ghostly person be responsible for removing our daughter from her baby-cot and placing her on the floor? Who does this spirit belong to? I have encountered such apparitions on a few other occasions thereafter. I may post my experiences on this site at a later date. We have also discovered that my daughter, who is now six years old, has some sort of a guardian angel. She is extremely successful in all that she does, and tells us quite often of incidents that are still to come. She even seems to know that she will receive a gift, or a toy before we have even decided to buy it.

I hope my experiences makes for good reading, and if any of you readers have explanations, I would appreciate your input.