A Question on ghostly " banging "

[turnonthebrightlights]

Hey,
This if my first post so i hope you can help.

I have long been a skeptic regarding the paranormal and ghostly happenings.

My friend told me she lived in a " haunted " house most of her younger years and they finally had to move because of this. She said she saw the usual like shadows moving, air changes and feelings of being touched which we all know can have other explanations that the paranormal. But one thing i cant explain to her is this, she said they used to hear very loud banging, not like a creaking of stairs. If she was in her bedroom she would hear banging on the door or once in the living room they heard banging on the front window and then the ban window straight after. Another time when they where infact leaving the house on moving out day her mother was in a room and suddenly heard very loud banging very close to hernd just ran out the room. many more banigng incidents happen?

Id like to give her a rational explanation for this if you can help !

[vbloke]

Hot water pipes heating up or cooling down can be the cause of mysterious banging.

Considering that these are memories of occurrences from years ago, it is possible that she's remembering the bangs as coming from the windows rather than from the pipes or radiators under the windows.

[turnonthebrightlights]

i thought this, but her mother can remember the same. And people that visited the house?
But we all know the brain and imagination is a very powerful thing.
I mean this was extreme banging i think.

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

They maybe moved for other reasons - but this is remembered as the reason because it adds a bit of excitement?

[turnonthebrightlights]

Well no they did move for this reason.
There where not excited about this in the slightest, anyway what im tryito look for is explanation on the banging.

[Mojo]

A Question on ghostly " banging "

An incubus, perhaps?

[turnonthebrightlights]

Very funny.

I am looking for serious reasoning, if this is not a place for such things then i wont bother again.

[Dr B]

Interesting.

I have encountered it before at places near the coast (under-water tidal flooding of mine shafts creating air pockets which seek to escape) - it had a pattern to it (once a month etc) but had one or two peaks a year (in line with the highest tides). Have a think about patterns and cycles.

Subsidence, and poor building materials / workmanship can also produce effects - other things like draughts and bornoulli (spelling?????) effects can also produce this type of thing.

[turnonthebrightlights]

Thats an interesting view.
It goes to show there are so many things we do no tthink of that can be an explanation. And we are so quick to say its ghosts and such.

I mean imagine if we never had the concept of ghosts, im sure we would be able to explain things easier.

[Mongrel]

A garden gate that doesn't latch\bolt properly but is held closed with a hook?

Used to have something like that in an old place I used to live, when the wind got up it was able to swing about 3-4" and cause quite a racket.

What you have to remember though is that without actually going to the house, hearing the noise ourselves and 'investigating' all we can do is offer suggestions as to what it could be.

[Dr B]

Indeed

It is often the case that many do 'jump-to-conclusion' on these matters. What is even more interesting is that cognitive biases like the JTC have been shown to be reliably associated with thought disorder in pathology and paranormal belief - though you wont find this on any ghost-hunting website where mediums and dream catchers are the norm....O0

[Matt]

There are plenty of other reasons for banging other than ghosts.

Angels, aliens, signs from the gods and telekinesis are other unconventional explanations. I mention these to highlight that people often jump to an irrational explanation but if you're to include one irrational explantion as a possibility, why not include them all and admit that you just don't know what caused the banging rather than fixing on just one arbitary cause.

Hot water pipes, the house settling, noisy neighbours, (inlcuding vermin) and pranks are other more accepted possibilities. Note that a sound that seems to come from the windows may have been tranmitted there from another source.

[Mulder]

But one thing i cant explain to her is this, she said they used to hear very loud banging, ... Id like to give her a rational explanation for this if you can help !

You can't give a definitive answer. There are many possibile natural explanations but the place would need to be investigated properly. What you can say is that, though unexpected noises are probably the commonest phenomena in hauntings, they are also often the easiest to explain.

Indeed, a common scenario is that people notice odd noises, become convinced the building is haunted and start to misinterpret other natural phenomena as paranormal.

[SimonC]

Hi Turnonthebrightlights,

it's interesting, in your first post, that you specifically mention banging on the windows of the house. Do you know whether the occupants of the property had replaced the windows, or whether this had been done previous to their occupancy of the property? The reson I mention this is that there was a structural issue with the installation of upvc windows in older properties, specifically in bay-fronted houses. Some upvc frames were not fantastically strong in vertical-compression, and often not as good as the wooden-framed windows that were being replaced. This would cause the floorboards to sag somewhat ( especially in the areas around the bays at the front of the house ), as the plastic frames 'squashed'. Usually this also caused severe cracks to appear in the rendering at the front of the house.

Many properties in my area had this done, and subsequently had to have reinforcing work done around the joists and floorboards. This problem, if present, would cause a lot of creaking and ( perhaps ) banging, particularly around the windows.

Equally, I think this would apply to any adjoining properties with a similar problem.

Do you know how old the house was? Was it detatched, semi, or terraced? It would also be necessary to know the state of any adjacent properties to form any kind of firm conclusion - without that I think we best we can do is offer suggestions and possibilties.

Eta - do you know if your friend's family had a structural survey/investigation of the house done, while they lived there, to try and locate the source of the problem?

[Mulder]

Good points Simon. I think it reinforces the idea that these things should be investigated at the time. Turnonthebrightlights: Did your friend never look for an explanation herself at the time?

[turnonthebrightlights]

Hey, thanks very much for the previous responses.
I agree to form a good opinion the house would need to be investigated itself.

I think she was a child, maybe 7 or 8. Her mother i assume didnt investigate into it, she also heard it but i think she seemed more worried about how scared the children where at the time.

I mean they did see things, like shadows of people and such but that can be explained i suppose.

[Mulder]

I'm surprised that someone would be 'driven' from a house without even having it investigated.

[median]

I'm surprised that someone would be 'driven' from a house without even having it investigated.

Mulder, agreed but when you have a near hysteric child playing up I assume this would have some relevance.(speculation)

I remember years ago being duped by a friend's sister to believing in a ghostly occurrence. I was fifteen and completely freaked (although in my defence I had been at his older brother's home made beer) O0

Personally, I think that when you are divorced by these experiences it is quite easy to expound a rational explanation. The danger is that one almost dismisses the personal and subjective nature that people undergo.

And yes, the tree in my garden has well and truly been hugged.::)

[Mulder]

Personally, I think that when you are divorced by these experiences it is quite easy to expound a rational explanation.

Which is why they should be investigated by a (sensible) third party.

[ZERO]

In my house, sometimes when you open or shut a door it causes other shut doors and windows to rattle or bump, even in another room but only if the door between is open. I assume it is air pressure related.

My guess, in regard to the OP, is that a range causes were at play and the effect was magnified at the time by fear and now by the passage of time.

[Lazyike67]

Very funny.

I am looking for serious reasoning, if this is not a place for such things then i wont bother again.

Then you ARE in the wrong place... Your typical "Skeptic" is an armchair scientist who proclaim to be experts in EVERYTHING & have decided there is nothing worthy their time to invest in discovering.

However being a Skeptical believer I shall try. You can't give an
answer. Reason... she is not there anymore. There is an explanation
however many here will NEVER except fact over opinion.


Ike

[Lazyike67]

Which is why they should be investigated by a (sensible) third party.

Define sensible? Is it someone who will stretch logic & reason to
the point of breakage?? Or is it someone who first look for Logical
& Rational explanations but when they run out they seek to find
an answer even IF that answer IS Ghosts.

Only simple minds accept simple answers to complicated questions.

Ike

[Lazyike67]

In my house, sometimes when you open or shut a door it causes other shut doors and windows to rattle or bump, even in another room but only if the door between is open. I assume it is air pressure related.

My guess, in regard to the OP, is that a range causes were at play and the effect was magnified at the time by fear and now by the passage of time.

That would be the first thing I'd test for. Second the pipes. Third
Animals or plants (trees).

Only after I've eliminated the obvious rational explanations would I
consider ghosts. Do to the fact there is not any more information
other than chills & banging No one can definitely say one way or
the other.

Ike

[Matt]

That would be the first thing I'd test for. Second the pipes. Third
Animals or plants (trees).

Only after I've eliminated the obvious rational explanations would I
consider ghosts. Do to the fact there is not any more information
other than chills & banging No one can definitely say one way or
the other.

Ike

Having not found a simple materialistic explanation and conflated that for ruling out the possibility, how would you determine whether the culprit were ghosts, faeries, pixies incorporeal alein life forms or invisible pink unicorns?

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

Then you ARE in the wrong place... Your typical "Skeptic" is an armchair scientist who proclaim to be experts in EVERYTHING & have decided there is nothing worthy their time to invest in discovering.

Is that just because we aren't aware of any evidence to believe in anything that you do?


However being a Skeptical believer I shall try. You can't give an
answer. Reason... she is not there anymore. There is an explanation
however many here will NEVER except fact over opinion.
Ike

Ah, a Skeptical Believer. What do you believe in and what is your evidence? I'm really interested in these facts you have. Care to share?

[filippo lippi]

Stand ready Pseudo-sceptics! Attack on my order!

[Dr B]

hold firm everyone....the evidence given above is so overwhelming......hold firm....hold firm......

[Mongrel]

Well some noises are too weird (http://www.weirdasianews.com/2007/12/22/10-year-chinese-haunting-finally-debunked/) to defy rational explanation, until you find one that is.

[bobdezon]

I was once asked to investigate a similar case. Occupants were a little worried about their windows banging. At first they thought it was kids messing about. They installed cctv which covered the front garden, and yet seen nothing when the windows banged again. They had a long running dispute with an elderly neighbour who had recently died, and that is probably where they got the notion it was him doing the banging (apparently he liked to lean over the fence and hit their window with a mop handle and then leggit).

After 5 minutes sitting there with my brew and mint vicount, I too heard it. I walked over to the window and touched it lightly. There was a vibration right across the pane of glass. It turns out that the putty used to secure the window was quite old, and somewhat shrunken. This left a gap of a couple of millimeters between the putty and pane. When the wind moved past the house front the pane would rattle. It would also rattle if two interior doors were left open (pressure differential etc).

Hardly paranormal, but you can see why some people would be concered. :-[

[lizardlace]

me my sis and our mate played the uigi board once, and suddenly there were 2 big bangs and ever since strange things have been happening in my house and i have seen things

[Matt]

me my sis and our mate played the uigi board once, and suddenly there were 2 big bangs and ever since strange things have been happening in my house and i have seen things

I'VE SEEN THINGS,
I'VE SEEN THEM WITH MY EYES...

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/scampi/

[dalriada]

I'VE SEEN THINGS,
I'VE SEEN THEM WITH MY EYES...

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/scampi/

THat is the most unsettling thing I've heard since The Badger Song.... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOxR7rTYuSI)

:cheesy:

[Croydon Bob]

THat is the most unsettling thing I've heard since The Badger Song.... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOxR7rTYuSI)</p>

:cheesy: Good news for badgers: http://newsbiscuit.com/article/countryside-alliance-furious-at-ban-on-badger-fisting-487