Doorbell Ghost

I've read many of the stories on this page, finding many similarities in the other stories that will be in mine.

I've never really lived in a haunted house before, and mine is definitely not as active as others I have read about. It began shortly after we moved here, almost three years ago. My mother actually had the first encounter. She was just putting the finishing touches on the house, you know hanging up pictures and arranging knickknacks. She had hung a picture on the wall in the kitchen, and when she turned around to check to see if it looked alright, the picture was flung off the wall. It didn't just fall, it was like someone hit it and propelled it across the room. My mother, having had some interesting ghostly experiences before, was more angry than afraid. Through clenched teeth she calmly told the "ghost" that she didn't care if they stayed here, as long as they didn't "mess" (not exactly the term she used!!) with her stuff!

For a while things were quiet, but then the distinct aroma of burning pipe tobacco could be smelled in certain areas of the house. Sometimes by the front door, sometimes in or just outside the upstairs bathroom. It was unnerving, because much like cold spots, the smell was confined to a small space. You could walk through it. It was definitely interesting because nobody I have ever known has smoked a pipe, and my dad is only allowed to smoke on the back porch, which is on the other side of the house. My father smokes cigarettes, and there is a distinct difference between cigarette smoke and pipe smoke.

Then came the phone incidences. The phone is our living room has a red light that comes on when any other phone extension in the house is in use. I would be home by myself, and the red light would come on. Sometimes it would only last for about two seconds and then go off. At other times it would last longer; so I would pick up the phone and listen until I could hear the line click off and the red light would go off. Everyone in my house has experienced this, and we've tried to explain it away. I even asked a friend of mine at the phone company what could cause this and he was baffled as well.

The last problem we have is our doorbell, and this is the most popular and bizarre problem. We installed a doorbell a while after we moved in. I don't believe there ever was one in the house before. The doorbell would ring, seemingly on its own. Any hour of the day or night the doorbell would ring and there would be no one there. The weirdest time was one day when my mother and I were home alone and we were talking in the living room when the doorbell went off. But this time was different. Normally the bell is a two beat "ding-dong". Well you know the sound a grandfather clock makes before it chimes the hour? It's sort of musical, and it has eight beats. The doorbell isn't programmed to make that noise! We tried everything to get the bell to chime like that again, but truthfully, it can't do it on its own!

So really the only thing that I can't figure out is this: we have three dogs, and in other stories people talk about their pets being really receptive, and being able to see things that they cannot. I mean, when the doorbell rings they bark at the door as if they don't know the person on the other side, but other than that the dogs don't do anything out of the ordinary. That is really the only thing that makes me wonder. I know there is someone here, and I think that it is a man who is middle-aged or older. I feel things sometimes, like I'm being watched, or I can see something out of the corner of my eye, but when I look there is nothing. My mom was asleep one night when her bedroom door opened. She woke up thinking it was my brother or me, but no one was there. It scared her a lot because her door doesn't open without the doorknob being firmly turned. She also hears weird noises in her room at night, but doesn't know what to think of them. I know that I get a creepy feeling when I try to sleep in that room, so if I had to pick a place where the ghost originated I would say my parents' room.

I don't feel threatened here, I just think that whoever is here doesn't know that they've passed on. If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to e-mail me. Thanks.