The Shadow In The Living Room And Voices In The Bathroom

In November 2009 my boyfriend and I moved from our rented flat to a rented house. It had originally been quite difficult for us to find somewhere we were happy with (well, that I was happy with) until we stepped into the house we currently rent. As soon as I stepped across the threshold I knew I wanted to live here; the house had such a 'homely', 'secure' and 'family' feel to it.

The house it's self is not very big, but it is quite old. Due to the very strong feelings of home I did some research and have found the house mentioned in the 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 UK census records. In each year the house is mentioned the occupants have either the same names or at least the same surnames. The house is fairly true to its original design; it isn't very big and has one double bedroom, one single, kitchen/diner and a living room. Two of the rooms still have the original Victorian fireplaces and tiling around them (on the floor), the only drastic change compared to it's original layout is the extension we use for a study--this was originally built so that the house could have an indoor toilet in the 70s (the occupants waited ages!) but our landlord moved the bathroom upstairs by making the single room smaller.

As we had moved we had a lot of visitors wanting to see our new home, including my boyfriend's mum and step-dad, who are spiritualists who have been attending a development circle for years. We were all sitting in the living room having tea when his mum asked me about the age of the house and I told her about the census records. I candidly said something along the lines of "I would've liked a ghost" to which she responded with something like "I don't feel any presence or visitor" and his step-dad confirmed this. This may seem like I made a fairly silly comment, but my thinking was that because the house has such a 'homely' and 'happy' feel to it that any ghost would not be evil. I am a firm believer in the paranormal.

Months later (February time) I was sitting in the study working and I heard the letterbox so I went to get the post but there was nothing there, so I went back to work. As time passed this became more frequent, not only when I was in the study but it began to happen when I was in the living room and upstairs. My boyfriend is a big-time skeptic (regardless of his mum and step-dad's beliefs) so I was reluctant to tell him about this, but when I did he said he heard the same things when he was on his own. This is still on-going. Neither of us finds this frightening. It isn't very likely that it is the wind that is causing this to happen due to the positioning of the house and because we have a double letterbox with draft stopper. I was thinking that a ghost may be tacking the mick as my boyfriend used to be a postman... What do you guys think?

Over the last two weeks more odd things are happening. When I am in the study and look through the open door to the living room I often see a shadow (in the shape of a man) standing by the door that leads to the hallway, but when I begin to approach he fades away. I don't find this scary as I don't feel threatened.

The only thing that has disturbed me is that I have begun to hear voices when I am upstairs. On several occasions I have heard a man calling my name and thinking it was my boyfriend I got out the shower and asked what he wanted. He denied it and said he never heard it. I have also begun to hear a woman's voice when I am in the bath or shower, but I can't really make out what she is saying.

What do you guys think?