Hi, new here. Just wanted to relate an experience---or series of experiences---that opened my eyes to the unseen world. In the mid-1990s my wife and I bought our first house. It was a modest home in the suburbs. We lived there for over 20 years and raised our children there. But it wasn't until we'd moved away and I'd had time to analyze everything that I realized we'd been living with a ghost for years. It started one night with sounds coming from the family room, like someone was sliding open the windows. Alarmed, I grabbed the shotgun and investigated, but found nothing. The windows were locked. That episode was repeated months later---the sound of windows sliding open one night---but upon investigation, everything was locked up tight. Then, one evening, we returned home to find the television on in the family room, though we were certain we'd turned it off before we left. After chatting with the neighbor across the street, we learned that one of the previous residents had died suddenly in a car accident years before. From then on, we started blaming these little occurrences on "Mr. Malone." Mr. Malone made random noises, made objects disappear, and turned televisions on when we were away. Of course, I was very skeptical about it all and believed it was just my kids being forgetful about things. And then, some years later, as my wife and I were sound asleep in the middle of the night, the lamp on the nightstand in the bedroom suddenly turned on by itself. It was a touch lamp---touch the base once and it turns on; touch it again and the brightness increases; touch it again and it shuts off. We figured it was caused by a power surge or something. We turned it off and went back to sleep. But over the next few weeks, the lamp would come on in the middle of the night and wake us up. We'd just curse at it, annoyed, and turn it off again. It happened several times. Again, time passed and the lamp stayed off. But then the radio/CD player on the wall over the bed started turning on in the middle of the night and the radio would suddenly wake us up. After a while, the television in the room did this a couple times too. But because these events were spaced apart, I always assumed it was a power surge or some electrical phenomenon. One evening my wife excitedly called me to the bedroom. She had seen an extension cord suddenly move behind the night stand. We decided it had just been coiled up tightly before releasing tension...though it had been lying there for years. The random, strange sounds continued too. One night the dog jumped up, ran to the front door and barked like crazy. I investigated, but no one was there. Another time, it sounded as if someone pushed over a stack of magazines. We never figured that one out. The clincher, however, came one night a couple years later. I was suffering from insomnia and nothing was helping me to sleep. It was around 3 a.m. and I was wide awake, listening to my wife sleeping next to me. It was a warm night and I was lying on top of the covers. I was very distressed that I couldn't sleep, when I suddenly felt a hand pat me on the leg twice. It was a very reassuring pat, not frightening at all, but electricity jolted through me. Did I just feel that? I most certainly did. But what....who....could it have been? Was it a departed relative trying to comfort me? A guardian angel? I had no idea. Was I hallucinating? I can assure you I wasn't. But as I said, it didn't frighten me for some reason. I don't know why. Maybe because it felt like a loving touch. Years after we moved, my curiosity got the best of me and I started doing some research. I discovered that the house was built by the Malones who raised their children there. Mr. Malone did indeed die in a car accident after they'd lived there about 10 years. He was actually buried just a couple miles from the house. Further, I learned that he had been an electrician. Was this why so many electrical devices---TV, radio, lamp and extension cord---in the house were affected? Like I said, I have always had an open mind about the paranormal, but I have always demanded firm evidence, which always seems to be elusive. After analyzing all the pieces, I think I can safely say we lived with a ghost and didn't even realize it. I'd love to see if the new owners have stories, but I don't want to spook them.
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