Weird Incidents

By LittleWriter
(4 stories) (10 posts) (the author is a young adult)
Date: 2017-03-07
Country: Netherlands
Paranormal Category: Haunted Places

Over the past year, I have experienced some inexplicable things. Most of them occurred in the house of my grandparents. I stay with them every weekend, the night before I need to work, because they live closer to the supermarket where I work. They live in a relatively new apartment in a penthouse on the top floor. It is not very high though, because the top floor is the second floor. The apartment has only been there for two years now. Before that there used to be nothing but a farm. It is quite close to the old home of my great-grandparents, which is on the other side of the small river that runs through the village. It might be useful to add that my great-grandmother passed away three years ago and, in February of 2016, my great-grandfather also passed away after battling dementia.

The first experience is one that has repeated itself time after time again. My grandparents owned a smart TV, which they have now replaced because of some technical issues. Said TV would turn itself on in the middle of the night. My grandparents got sick of it and called in a technician, who made sure that voice commands were turned off, because he thought that that was the issue. It kept happening occasionally though. My grandparents bought a new TV, and the issues with the TV are gone so far, so it could have been a technical defect, but to my knowledge no clear reason was found for why the TV turned itself on.

Another experience I had while staying with my grandparents was on a Friday morning. The cleaning lady came over and she had put the vacuum cleaner in the plug, but it was turned off. She walked away from it to the kitchen to have a cup of coffee. No one was close to the vacuum cleaner at this point, but out of the blue it turned itself on. It was plugged in next to the TV that had caused trouble earlier.

Besides these technical issues, that might be just that; technical issues, I have repeatedly experienced something else while staying with my grandparents. When I lie in my bed at night, I keep hearing these footsteps in the hallway. I would think that it was my grandfather, because they were very slow and kind of sounded like they were his, but I've also heard them when I was sure that he was in bed. Furthermore, they would last for minutes on end, while the bathroom is very close to the bedrooms. For one reason or the other, they always make me feel uncomfortable.

Another issue that I have been dealing with lately, is that I keep seeing things that cannot possibly be there. I blame stress for it, or say that my imagination is playing tricks on me, but I'm wondering if it might be something else. When I'm driving around in my car, it often happens that I see a car or a person crossing the street, from my peripheral vision, but when I check again, no one is there. I do not think that this could be blamed on tiredness completely, because it has also happened to me when I have just left home feeling perfectly fine.

Furthermore I have also been having some sleep issues recently. Normally I would be able to sleep just about anywhere, but lately I just don't seem to be able to sleep for hours on end, I wake up multiple times a night, leaving me very tired in the morning with the feeling that I did not sleep at all and stayed conscious all night. This especially happens on the nights I stay with my grandparents.

Besides that, I keep having these vivid, and realistic dreams, which scare the hell of me sometimes. They sometimes cause me to wake up with a weird feeling, or a feeling of distraught for no reason at all. It might seem pathetic to allow yourself to be scared by dreams, but I've had dreams come true in real life in the past, so whenever I have a vivid dream that is a bit nightmarish, I worry that it will become true.

I'm hoping that you might have some answers for me, because I am not really sure what all of this means.

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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, LittleWriter, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

shelbyloree (5 stories) (285 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-15)

When you said your grandparents, I thought about my paternal grandma who, even when I would wake up early while visiting, would be dressed (makeup, hair, shoes) and sitting at the dining room waiting with her cigarette and ashtray no matter what. It was a bit mind boggling to me, but there she was at 8am, ready to go. Finally I asked and she said the older she got, the less sleep she needed, so 6am wake up was no big deal. Grandpa was the same and always in his chair with his shoes on too, ha!

I didn't realize how squirrelly sleep patterns could be until I met my husband's grandma, who was divorced and living alone. 4am bedtimes, 7pm bedtimes, it's all over the place. I think she's an extreme because of being alone, but I think weird hours are typical.

Still am I awe about my grandma being eternally ready, but that side was considerably older - grandpa was WWII, and his dad was born in the Victorian era, so being put together all the time was normal. I need to revisit that, ha! Anyway, glad to have helped!

AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-13)

I am very glad things have gotten better for you! The withdrawal from the second hand smoke could, in fact have had some impact on your situation - nicotine is a remarkably potent chemical. Good on you for being a non smoker!

A very dear friend of mine suffered severe head trauma from a ski-mobile accident, which he has no memory of either - he went over a jump, the hulking thing flipped and it's skis caught him in the back of the head. Fortunately, he made it out alive and fully functional but the trauma sustained to the base of his brain caused insomnia and reduced senses of smell and taste. Glad you made it out all right - that's why I am too chicken to ski, I just know I'd make the intimate acquaintance of a tree in my first attempt lol!

LittleWriter (4 stories) (10 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-13)

[at] shelbyloree thanks for your suggestions, I've never really thought about it like that. Constantly changing sleeping location isn't very ideal indeed, although some nights I seem to have more trouble with it than others. Throughout the week I sleep in my room in an appartment I share with 3 other girls, and on the weekends I stay with my grandparents for one night, and with my parents for the other night. I have most trouble sleeping at my grandparents place, but like you said that could also be because I have different habits when I'm staying at their place.

My grandparents have a relatively happy marriage, but of course it isn't perfect, and I do pick up on some minor arguments from time to time, but they're about minor frustrations, luckily not about significant things.

You could be right about it being my grandpa who just walks around the house at night because of a different sleeping pattern. He does indeed have a different sleeping pattern, he goes to bed after midnight, but often wakes up quite early in the morning, often before I get out of bed at 7 to go to work (of course I don't know for sure whether he wakes up in the mean time as well).

So who knows, it might be my grandpa, it might be my great grandpa, maybe I should just go look next time I hear those footsteps;)

LittleWriter (4 stories) (10 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-13)

[at] AugustaM Thanks a lot for the advise!
I'm totally okay with you asking if I quit smoking;) but the answer is no, I've never smoked. I do inhale a lot of second hand smoke, because my stephdad smokes and he does so inside the house, but I'm now only living at home during weekends, because I moved to the city where I study.

Most of this post was written a year ago, but then I was unable to submit it because contributions were temporarily closed. After that I forgot about it for a while.
Some of it may have indeed been caused by stress, because I was under quite some pressure since I was in the first year of my studies.

The vivid dreams and the sleeping issues still continue occasionally though. But this could also be due to a concussion I got from a little skiing accident (which I don't remember having).

shelbyloree (5 stories) (285 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-11)

Maybe constantly changing your sleep location is stressing you out? I know even sleeping in another room in my own house poses problems for me, and I never sleep well on vacations (probably why I rarely go.)

You could also be subliminally picking up on marital stress between your grandparents when you stay there. I'd like to say marriage is a blissful peaceful union between two people forever and ever, but in reality, not so much. Of course as a grandchild, you would not be privy to that stress, although my maternal grandma likes to tell the world and then some what a POS gramps is ALL THE TIME no matter who is listening. Guess that's what happens when two people are forced into marriage at 15 and stay together in angry, seething resentment until the bitter end, but I digress.

Maybe it's a happy marriage, maybe not. Maybe you're sensitive to changing sleeping areas, maybe you're habits are different at their house, maybe great-grandpa is still confused and taking ghostly walks around the house, or maybe it's grandpa working out a cramp by walking the halls at night. He probably doesn't know he's waking you up, but when you get older, sleeping patterns change and a 4am stroll around the living room isn't a big deal.

Anyway, hope some of these are logical options to think about. Not sure about the perephrial vision stuff though.

AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-10)

My apartment has only one piece of furniture in it that was bought new:) the rest is second hand/hand-me-down/vintage/antique ranging in age from fifty to a little over one hundred years old - since I am a vintage clothing addict, the same goes for my wardrobe... Literally everything in my home (and the home itself) is old to say the least:) But I have never brought anything into the home that has yielded any bad vibes.

Maybe there is something residual going on in your grandparents home with regard to the footsteps. A good cleansing might just do the trick and give you some strengthening peace of mind. Though I think the electrical anomalies may be accounted for through bad wiring - perhaps, they could have the outlets on that wall checked? It might be the safest option. Meantime, you might have a check around your home for EMFs (you can pick up a meter/detector on eBay for less than ten dollars) - they can cause many of the symptoms you mentioned up to and including general uneasiness. Here's a page I found after a quick google that seemed to give some fairly good basic information on EMFs (i.e. Common household sources and symptoms of exposure):
Http://bodyecology.com/articles/little-known-dangers-of-emf.php
And one more:
Http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/index1.html

It sounds like between this and whatever else you have going on in your life, it's taking a toll on you. If this is too personal of a question, don't feel like you have to answer - just something to consider - but have you quit smoking recently? A lot of what you described can also be caused by nicotine therapy. Either way, I am not a medical professional but I think you should discuss what you have been experiencing with a doctor just to rule anything physical out - he/she may have some helpful recommendations anyway:) Cardio exercise is also a great stress buster, releases endorphins and gets you good and tired to induce sleep - maybe try fast walking, running or join a dance class. Teas like Ainhoa recommended can also be helpful - in addition to lemon balm, cat nip and chamomile are recommended soporhics.

Here's wishing you a little peace and a good night's rest! Keep us posted ❤

LittleWriter (4 stories) (10 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-10)

[at] Ainhoa thank you for your comment!

It might indeed be the socket, but no other appliances that have ever been plugged into that socket have had similar issues. The socket the vacuum was plugged into was on the left of the TV, while the TV was plugged into a different socket on the right of it, but of course you couldn't know that, I should have included that maybe.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely try that!

I agree with you that old furniture can change the vibe of a home, but the home of my grandparents is very modern, and they bought all new furniture when they moved into their new apartment.

Ainhoa (4 stories) (20 posts)

7 years ago (2017-03-10)

It seems like the socket in the living room has some technical issue. If you have insomnia, it causes some side effects. I suggest taking Lemon Balm tea which calms nerves and gives you a tight sleep. I also get freaked out when I stay at grandparents. Their home is surrounded by old furnitures and it changes the vibe.

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