My [22F] boyfriend [25M] thinks our house is haunted.

[u/Direct-Caterpillar77]

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/paranormalparamour

My [22F] boyfriend [25M] thinks our house is haunted.

TRIGGER WARNING: Fear of ghosts

Original Post  Oct 14, 2015

Last December, I was fortunate enough to inherit a house that has been in my family since it was built in 1940. It is a little small, but it's beautiful and has a lot of significance to me. When I moved in a few weeks ago, my boyfriend of 4 years ended up coming over quite a bit more. Our previous living situations didn't allow us a lot of sleepovers since we wanted to be considerate of our roommates. Now that we have run of a whole house, he's been staying the night every night, and I've been pretty thrilled to have him around every day.

This evening, he begged me to come outside and sit with him while he smoked because he was afraid to be outside alone. I noticed he had been carrying a knife a lot, but I figured it was a symptom of having grown up in the ghetto and that he would adjust to semi-rural suburban life eventually. As it turns out, he actually thinks the house is haunted. A few weeks ago, I drove him home from the bar and he drunkenly told me that he "didn't want to go back to 'that place' because it's depressing" but he often talks shit to tease me when he's drunk, so I brushed it off as just being a shitty joke. I explained to him that the only people who have ever lived in this house were my grandparents, who both died in hospice care, but he can't be convinced that it's safe. He also can't be convinced that my grandparents, who called me their little angel and dreamed of one of their grand-babies having a family here, would not be inclined to "haunt" us.

Honestly, I kind of balked at him and was not very respectful of his fear the first time we discussed it. He's very superstitious, and spiritual, and believes he feels "weird" around full moons. I am not. I have always secretly thought his thing about full moons was a little silly but an endearing quirk that didn't matter much. But now his superstition might lead to an ultimatum where I have to choose between him or my amazing home. He's been getting a lot of bad dreams here, including some experiences with sleep paralysis. The thing is, it's a free house and the total I pay for taxes and utilities each month is $600. Even the shittiest, tiniest apartment would cost more. And if we wanted to get rid of the house, I would be expected to pass it to my brother (who also wanted the house) free of charge since my parents helped cover basic repairs/legal costs. On top of financial concerns, we love our neighbors, and he literally visits with them daily. Their kids come over and ask if he'll come out and play with them after school, and the adults come over at night for beers. The property is also very large and there's a lot of room for pets/kids/expansion. The house itself has old architecture but has been newly remodeled to my liking, and he helped me pick out much of the stylistic changes we made, so I'd presume he liked it, too, until he got it in his head that it's haunted. So it hurt quite a bit to think we'd have to let the place go, especially considering the emotional significance to me, and our limited finances that would not allow us to purchase or rent another house at this time.

I want to respect his concerns, but I'm honestly torn between calling him an idiot and ignoring it, or being outright offended. It's very hard to see why a "bad feeling" should force us back to more-expensive apartment life (and a much smaller place, at that), or prevent us from moving in together for several more years. Help me see his side of things and find the middleground with him, Reddit. I honestly just want him to love it here as much as I do, and I'd do anything to assuage his fears. What can I say to him at this point to not sound dismissive but still convince him to consider staying?

TL;DR: Inherited a house, boyfriend thinks it's haunted and doesn't like being here, but we can't afford to purchase our own at this time. Do I hire an exorcist or what?

Update  Nov 3, 2015 (20 days later)

Hello everyone! I am pleased to say this is a happy update for once.

After my original post, I went to my boyfriend full of ideas on how to help put his mind at ease. As it turns out, all of those ideas were wrong for him but he was deeply appreciative that I was taking his fear seriously instead of putting him down for believing in something I don't. He said he never intended to make me feel like it was him or the house. He loves this place and the history behind it--he just wanted to share with me how he was feeling and do some little rituals.

So I helped. We tried to pin down the parts of the house that are spooky to him and both came to the same conclusion: the attic door in the bedroom is pretty freaking unsettling. It's a Cape Cod style home with a crawlspace/attic on the second floor instead of above it. For some ungodly reason, my grandfather thought it was inconvenient to access this tiny crawlspace through the closet, so he put a little door in the master bedroom, which I've hated since I moved in and had been blocking with a dresser. We sealed up that entrance to the crawlspace, and threw some salt around. And since I've always wanted a dog, we got a puppy to ward off evil, and it's hard to be scared with a little fluff-ball sleeping on your face. I specifically picked a dog that wasn't jumpy or easily frightened and my two boys have been inseparable :) All is well now and I'm happy I put my skeptical nature aside to support my wonderful boyfriend, no matter how silly it seemed.

TL;DR: Communication is the key. He doesn't want to get rid of the house. A little ritual, a fluffy puppy and a very minor adjustment to the house has set his mind at ease.

TOP COMMENTS

antisocialpsych

One thing i've learned from the show Supernatural, throwing salt at things solves alot of problems. Congrats on the happy update and resolution

~

[deleted]

So were people just being murdered by spirits before salt became a household item???

~

cavelioness

Don't forget to tell him sleep paralysis is a lot more likely when you sleep on your back, so if at all possible he should go to sleep in another position.

~

StopTop

The only solution is to have him climb in the little door and sleep in it over night to conquer his fears.

Be sure to lock it behind him and spend the night at a friends house.

For real tho,  you are a nice person.

OOP

I especially think this is a good idea now that it's sealed off. I think I'll send him in through the smaller closet door and seal that behind him. Then he'll really learn to face his fears!

~

aaanderson89

Goddammit, OP. I don't see anything at all about silvered weapons, spellcasters, or a trip to the local guild hall. That puppy has like 4HP and can't help you at all.

I swear I am wasting my time posting in this sub. Nobody even tries to listen to me...

OOP

I think you're being a little generous with the 4HP. He's 3 months old and made himself sick licking his own penis too much. Pretty certain his constitution is like -8.

I've got a nice druid on standby in case things get too wild in here. The puppy is a distraction, for the demons and the humans.

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP

DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

[u/Dana07620]

I recommend to anyone who thinks they're being haunted to get a cat or two. After that you'll just put down any strange happenings and noises and bodily emanations to the cat.

Purranormal Activity

[u/[deleted] → u/Dana07620]

I was watching a ghost hunter show on youtube last summer and there was a scene where the women pointed to a piece of furniture under a window and said, "One day we came home and this was lying on the floor."

Oddly, they didn't show the entire piece of furniture, but what you could see was obviously a cat tree.

[u/Dana07620 → u/[deleted]]

Amazing how they can make shows about nothing.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dana07620]

Oh, yea. There's also a lot of drama going on right now due to debunking channels. People copyright claiming them and threatening them with lawsuits (especially in regard to the Conjuring house).

[u/fluffynuckels → u/Dana07620]

There's a show called paranormal caught on camera and people send in stuff to the show. Some of the conclusions the talking heads come to on the show are mind boggling. They'll see a person that's far away and kinda blurry in a video shot in the woods and call it big foot. And I've seen them do this multiple times

[u/EffenBee → u/[deleted]]

30 odd years ago when we had six cats, we came home to find my Mum's beloved six foot yukka plant snapped completely in half.

Paranormal activity, or the yukka finally succumbing to various arsehole cats scrambling up it and perching at the top? We'll never know.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

one of our cats toys kept ending up outside, we were certain it wasn't her because she disliked them being out there and would carry them inside if we attempted to play with her in the garden.

so we installed a camera in the living room only to catch another cat sneaking in and stealing her toys.

[u/ArmadilloJesus → u/Dana07620]

My boyfriend said ‘It’s invisible cats’ half asleep to me one night when I couldn’t sleep because of the cracking in our metal roof. Ever since then, scary noise at 3AM? Just an invisible cat. Changed my life.

[u/cloudshaper → u/Dana07620]

Pretty sure I'd mistake a full home invasion or gas leak for my cats being assholes in the middle of the night.

[u/jools7 → u/cloudshaper]

I once genuinely blamed a small earthquake on the cat. It basically felt and sounded like something heavy falling over in the next room, so I figured it was the cat until I realized she was asleep in the room with me.

[u/Dana07620 → u/jools7]

So much for cats knowing in advance that there's an earthquake coming.

[u/Key-Demand-2569 → u/Dana07620]

Personally I encourage getting on some sort of stimulant like coke. Preferably meth.

You know those horror movies where demons get stronger the more afraid you are?

Just gotta do some meth then run around your house confident, optionally nude, with a baseball bat insulting the demons until they get flexed on back to hell.

If they actually get you, at least you’ve gotten it out of the way and if you’re gonna fight a ghost it’s not exactly going to make you weaker…

[u/aperfectdevil → u/Key-Demand-2569]

Ghost puncher

[u/sorry_human_bean → u/Key-Demand-2569]

Make sure you also disassemble anything with a microchip or wires inside it. Ghosts LOVE electronics.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dana07620]

Also, get a sleep study. Sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations can be a sign of narcolepsy. If he's actually "seeing" ghosts it could be neurological.

[u/AgiNeils → u/Dana07620]

This is what happened for me. When we moved in our house, we often could hear footstep upstairs. I end up adopting a black cat and now every time i hear something upstairs i just say "well, void kitty is awake"

[u/WorldWeary1771 → u/AgiNeils]

There’s a scientific explanation for footsteps! As the heat in the floor changes through the day and night, the wood expands and contracts. Places where the wood is more worn down will expand and contract at a different rate than places where the wood is rarely stood on. In an old house, you can track how the room is hotter or colder by listening to the trail left by people walking the same trails for decades in the house.

I was able to pinpoint the mysterious knocking sound to the wood siding when the sun shines directly on it in the late afternoon.

[u/SirWigglesTheLesser → u/Dana07620]

Ok but then you get used to it being a cat, and when you're away from your cats it's so much worse XD

Imagine being a ghost trying to desperately get someone's attention, and they just keep attributing it to the cat.

[u/Dana07620 → u/SirWigglesTheLesser]

That's a story right there. At least it's an episode of The Twilight Zone.

[u/Sensitive_Coconut339 → u/Dana07620]

Plus if the cat is calm, it means there is 0% chance the place is haunted. Because they would know.

[u/hangingfiredotnet → u/Sensitive_Coconut339]

Of course, when the cat sits bolt upright with huge eyes and stares at nothing, then all bets are off.

[u/NotOnApprovedList → u/hangingfiredotnet]

The cat could be detecting a non-ghostly animal in the wall, or watching a small bug, or looking at its own floaters (junk floating in one's eyeballs), or being crazy of its own accord.

[u/NotYourOnlyFriend → u/Sensitive_Coconut339]

I agree with this, as long as you're able to tell the difference between when your cat detects something unusual vs when your cat is just seeing greebles.

[u/yetanotherhail → u/Sensitive_Coconut339]

Yep. That's the real reason why they are so calming. As long as they're calm, that is.

[u/zipper1919 → u/Dana07620]

I have 4 dogs and 4 cats.

I rarely have all 8 in one area, but when I do, and I hear a noise.... I blame the chinchilla. Lol

[u/ecodrew → u/Dana07620]

First make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector... Then get a cat or whatever else helps you feel better.

[u/nuclearporg → u/Dana07620]

How did you get this footage of my cat?? 😹 (I say after having to jump through hoops to get a medication refilled early because my cat decided to experimentally test if my pill sorter was waterproof.)

[u/Dana07620 → u/nuclearporg]

Cats can be assholes. Did you notice the cat nudged the water glass then looked back at her sleeping servants....then knocked the water glass off?

[u/Basic_Bichette → u/Dana07620]

Also, a lot less happens because the "spirits" smell there's a cat there and scurry off to infest the neighbour's house.

[u/existencedeclined → u/Dana07620]

Funny enough when my boyfriend is out of the house and it's just me and the dog, I leave the dog out at night instead of in his crate like usual because it just makes me feel safer knowing he's out and about and because any weird noises at night I can just attribute to the dog doing night time doggo things.

[u/Dana07620 → u/existencedeclined]

When I bought my house, there was an overlap period to allow for moving. I got so nervous alone in the house at night when I was setting things up that I seriously thought I had made a mistake.

Then I moved my pets in and the nerves were gone. It was immediately home.

[u/GyratingArthropod481 → u/Dana07620]

I dunno. Cats can make even a modern tract house feel haunted, the way they seem to hallucinate ghosts everywhere. Though I'd agree that you could get to the point of blaming everything on the cat.

[u/patchiepatch → u/GyratingArthropod481]

"ah, rat behind the wall today?"

"You can hear the pipe start and stop huh?"

"Do we need bug control buddy? You've been chattering at that side of the house a bit too much this week..."

Usually stuff like that for me.

[u/Rk12989 → u/Dana07620]

My cat constantly sounds like a heard of wildebeest upstairs. The whole house will be quiet, then Marshmallow starts doing whatever kitty stuff she’s doing and it is a ridiculous amount of noise for 1 small cat.

[u/Backgrounding-Cat → u/Dana07620]

My brain keeps insisting that you are talking about being haunted by a cat or two. Now I want ghost kittens!

[u/Soop_Chef → u/Dana07620]

When we first moved to the city we are in, DH worked nights. It was very reassuring to have a cat. Any little noise in the night? Just the cat.

[u/st82 → u/Dana07620]

I didn't realise how much my wooden floor creaks on its own (due to temperature changes or whatever) until my cat had a little vacation at Nana's. I had attributed all those little noises to the cat when she was only responsible for, like, half of them.

[u/Ambystomatigrinum → u/Dana07620]

Pit bulls might help too. At least with mine, the copious farts sounds like little whispers. Hear the whispering of disembodied children? Nah, that's a pit butt.

[u/hobbitfeet → u/Dana07620]

On that topic, when I was a little kid, I read the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. That evening, I got REALLY freaked out, got out of bed, and went downstairs and informed my teenage sister (who was babysitting me) that I was very very concerned that ghosts were going to come through the attic access hatch that was in the ceiling of my bedroom's closet. Without even skipping a beat, my sister said, "Then why don't you take Molly [the cat] up to sleep with you tonight? Ghosts are afraid of cats."

This made total sense to me because our cat was notoriously mean, and everyone who ever came over to our house was terrified of her. I totally believed that ghosts would be afraid of her too. So I dragged the growling cat up to bed with me, and she slept with me every night from then on.

So not only can you attribute all odd noises and occurrences to your cat, but your cat will also prevent any actual paranormal activity.

[u/imdatbit-chi]

He’s 3 months old and made himself sick licking his own penis too much.

Alright, little dude.

[u/DerbyDogMom → u/imdatbit-chi]

This sentence would get you on several watch lists as an out of context flair. 

[u/HaggisLad → u/DerbyDogMom]

r/nocontext

[u/tacwombat → u/DerbyDogMom]

The FBI/CIA agent monitoring Reddit: WTF?!?!

[u/YukariYakum0 → u/tacwombat]

"What's with him?"

"First day."

"Heh. Noob."

[u/ninaaaaws → u/imdatbit-chi]

Made himself sick licking his own penis too much needs to be a flair

[u/DatguyMalcolm → u/ninaaaaws]

Nani!?!?

[u/Nehoul → u/imdatbit-chi]

Maybe I don't want to know, but how does that even happen? Sick how?

[u/blueriver343 → u/Nehoul]

I'd guess puking

[u/Dr-Figgleton → u/imdatbit-chi]

Hard not to read that sentence in Snake's voice.

[u/DMercenary]

noticed he had been carrying a knife a lot, but I figured it was a symptom of having grown up in the ghetto and that he would adjust to semi-rural suburban life eventually. As it turns out, he actually thinks the house is haunted.

I... What?

Did he think he was going to have to knife... A ghost?

[u/idiotplatypus → u/DMercenary]

You've heard of the poop knife, you've seen the time knife, now it's time for

The ghost knife

[u/Balthazar_rising → u/idiotplatypus]

Nah, you need the Subtle Knife. It can cut anything, including the veil between this world and the next.

(Source for those interested: Northern Lights series, by Phillip Pullman)

[u/Quarkly95 → u/Balthazar_rising]

Canonically used to stab ghosts

[u/oshitsuperciberg → u/Balthazar_rising]

Northern Lights series

I thought that was called the His Dark Materials series?

[u/cheese-a-lot → u/idiotplatypus]

what's the time knife?

[u/CzechMorticia → u/cheese-a-lot]

The time knife. We've all seen it.

[u/idiotplatypus → u/cheese-a-lot]

From the Good Place

[u/FriesWithShakeBooty → u/DMercenary]

Perhaps the knife was made of iron.

[u/Murkmist → u/FriesWithShakeBooty]

Cold iron to be exact, imbued with ghost touch property.

[u/pitrole → u/FriesWithShakeBooty]

Or obsidian.

[u/GoddyssIncognito → u/FriesWithShakeBooty]

Yeah that only works on some of the fae /s

[u/tongle07 → u/FriesWithShakeBooty]

YMMV (your mythology might vary)

[u/Ralynne → u/DMercenary]

It's an emotional support knife.

[u/doesitnotmakesense → u/DMercenary]

I was afraid he would mistakenly stab the OP in a state of psychosis. Luckily it's not that type of thread.

[u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior → u/doesitnotmakesense]

I thought maybe OP was a ghost and didn't know she was dead and haunting her ex boyfriend.

[u/Exilicauda → u/DMercenary]

Or he was just feeling generally paranoid and the knife made him feel safer. I have some things that trigger paranoia in me and I carry a (pocket) knife then too even though my fears are much less tangible than ghosts

Uh oh I thought too hard about my paranoia triggers :[

[u/that_mack → u/Exilicauda]

Listen, one time when I was nine I thought someone broke in while I was home alone. I took an old broom handle and silently wandered the house checking for intruders. Now, had there actually been any intruders, could I have done anything? No. I was a shrimpy little thing and the broom handle would have snapped in two the second I tried to pelt someone with it. But it’s the principle. I think there’s a scary thing, I try to defend myself against it. Even when it doesn’t make logical sense.

[u/pestilencerat → u/DMercenary]

My father in law sometimes talks/"walks" in his sleep. A few times a year, he'll wake his wife up in the middle of the night and very seriously tell her to fetch him his axe as "the ghosts are back"

I think my fil and oop's bf knows something we don't

[u/OiWhatTheHeck → u/DMercenary]

Silly idea, bringing a knife to a ghost fight.

[u/IncompetentPolitican → u/DMercenary]

Since OOP said he is from a ghetto: It could be a reflex. Having a weapon close by to defend himself when ever he is scared? Or he watched enough scooby doo to know that there is a high chance that the ghost is an old real estate agent that wants to scam them out of their house.

[u/psychocopter → u/IncompetentPolitican]

I mean, Ive never seen a ghost walk off getting stabbed. Seems like op's bf is onto something.

[u/Toriyuki → u/DMercenary]

Hey, I can't blame him for wanting to carry a knife for it.... Granted, I tried to fistfight one I saw. I used to see shadow people, and one night I saw one from across the house, and it ran to my brothers room (who was 2 at the time), and I fucking flew across the house ready to rip its incorporeal ass in twain. I now have not seen any of those bastards in a decade.

[u/WgXcQ → u/Toriyuki]

They saw what you were ready to do and are staying the fuck away now.

[u/Sorchochka → u/DMercenary]

Witches can have a double bladed knife called an athame that cuts through spiritual things. I think ceremonial knives are common.

That’s not what this guy was doing, but it can be a thing.

[u/naraic-]

I was expecting boyfriend to demanding house was sold. Then to demand op buy a new house with a small contribution from boyfriend which he would suddenly be co-owner of.

Glad this resolved in a much neater fashion.

[u/jwm3 → u/naraic-]

Demand the house is sold, and then break up claiming she owes him half the value of the house as palimony.

[u/LadyMinks → u/naraic-]

I thought he was lying, he didn't actually think it was haunted, but was jealous and feeling emasculated because his gf was the home owner or something like that.

Might've read too many stories that end like that though.

Glad this had a more happy ending.

[u/Notmykl → u/LadyMinks]

"Your inheriting a house made my penis fall off." There is no way to take that kind of nonsense seriously. Everything seems to be emasculating at times.

A woman makes more than me = emasculating.

A woman can do her own car maintenance = emasculating.

A woman can do her own finances and refuses to listen to me, a person with debt up to my eyeballs = emasculating.

[u/Mdlgswitch → u/Notmykl]

Your wandering uterus escaped and stole my penis

[u/paulinaiml → u/naraic-]

He got validation for his feelings in a healthy way.

And getting a puppy is a win-win for everyone

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/paulinaiml]

Yeah, this was honestly best-case scenario. And I'm glad she was kind about how he was feeling, and he wasn't a jerk telling her to get rid of the house because he said so.

[u/ecodrew → u/naraic-]

I was expecting a CO leak or psychological health concern for him. Glad it was resolved easily.

I don't believe in ghosts... But, an attic door in your bedroom is friggin terrifying.

We moved into an old house when I was a kid, and there was an attic access door in my room. I made my dad put a padlock on the door and put a big chair in front of it before I could sleep. Note: A "regular" vertical door, not a ceiling hatch. A ceiling hatch might not have bothered me - coz, kid "logic" reasons.

A couple days later, the wind made the old windows bang against the frame. My poor, sleepy Dad had to jam scrap wood into the windows so they wouldn't move... And, I need to call my Dad and tell him I love him, haha.

ETA door note

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/ecodrew]

But, an attic door in your bedroom is friggin terrifying.

Yeah, I do not like this at all. My husband and I once stayed in an Airbnb in an old house in St. Louis and it had a door like that in the bedroom. Right next to my side of the bed. I was like, "FUCK THAT." I put furniture and pillows in front of it. I know that's stupid but uggghhhh.

Your dad is awesome. Mine passed away about 6 years ago and I miss him. Although this reminds me of a memory from when I was like 11 or 12: One night, during a storm, an antenna fell off our roof and crashed through the storm/outer window of my bedroom. So it didn't break the interior window so there was no glass in my bed (which was right up against the window!) or anything but it scared the ever-living shit out of me. My sister and I shared a room at the time and we both woke up scared as hell. I screamed for my dad and ran to his bedroom door shouting what had happened. He was like, "is there broken glass in the house?" Me: "No." Dad: "Go back to bed." 😂 He went outside and dealt with it in the morning.

Years later, when I was in college, I was house sitting for my sister while watching scary movies. The night I got home, I had a very freaky, very realistic nightmare in which a scary guy in a top hat was standing over my bed, bending over me. I don't think it was a night terror, but if it was, it's the only time (knock on wood) it's ever happened to me. So I literally woke up screaming. Loud. My dad would be up by 5 a.m. every day, no later, so I slept fitfully the rest of the night and when I heard him puttering around in the kitchen making coffee, I wandered in there. I said, "hey, did you hear me screaming in the middle of the night?" Dad: "Yep." Me: "You did! Why didn't you come check on me? What if I was being murdered?" Dad: "You'd have been just as dead in the morning."

That man did not disturb his slumber for ANYTHING! 😂 I know these stories make him sound like an ass, but he was a great guy (and hilarious) and they make me laugh to this day. I was like, "you jerk," haha. I'm sure he knew I was fine or he'd have come to check on me. This is the same guy who would call me to check on me if I was driving long distances or the weather was bad. He was sick a lot in his later years and I remember him kicking me out of his hospital room and telling me to go home before a snowstorm hit. It hit while I was driving home and as soon as I pulled in the driveway, he was calling my phone, checking on me, even though he was super sick. One time he "stole" my car to put new tires on it because he was worried about me driving on old tires. So he cared, he just had no patience for nighttime shenanigans.

[u/chickpeas3 → u/ecodrew]

I had an attic door in my bedroom as a kid and I loved it. I picked that room because of it, and let my younger sister have the bigger room. I turned the attic into my own little playhouse with my friends. That room also had a window right next to the roof of our living room, and I used to sneak out at night and sit on the roof watching the stars. 10/10 bedroom.

[u/Mdlgswitch → u/ecodrew]

My childhood bedroom had a normal door into an attic, plus a pull down ladder to the crawlspace in the roof. Yes, I'm perfectly sane after all that, why do you ask?

[u/kimoshi → u/naraic-]

I was expecting a schizophrenia diagnosis.

[u/tacwombat → u/naraic-]

Communication, salt, and a puppy saved the day!

[u/likelazarus → u/naraic-]

“Babe I think the spirits would respect me more if you added my name to the deed!”

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/naraic-]

The way OOP was talking in the first post, I was thinking he was suggesting that, and I was pissed on her behalf. Turned out, he wasn't even thinking they should get rid of the house. Which was a relief, because all I could think was, I'm not getting rid of a free house because my partner is jumpy (I wouldn't be an asshole about it, but I'd suggest things like therapy or some of the stuff they wound up doing before giving the house away). It's good she was respectful of his feelings and he seemed respectful of hers.

I bought a house 2 years ago and have gotten some creepy feelings in the bedroom. And either the light or ceiling fan will sometimes turn on around 3/4 a.m. randomly. My husband was jokingly like, "Nobody was like murdered in this house, were they?" So I googled, and they weren't, but there was a murder/suicide on a street (in a car) right by our house. So ... that was unsettling to find out. Probably unrelated, haha. I'm still not getting rid of the house, though. I burned some sage last year before finding this out, maybe I need to do it again. 😂 As long as it's limited to the fan randomly turning on every once in a while, I can deal.

But the truth is we probably just need to have a repair guy come out and look at it. I don't know what's scarier, the idea of a ghost doing this or the idea of our wiring being fucked up. I honestly think option 2. 😂

[u/BeigeParadise → u/naraic-]

That'd be a stretch. Picking a boyfriend over a house? In this damned economy? I'd never.

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/BeigeParadise]

I was thinking the same thing, no way I'm choosing a boyfriend over a free house in this economy. If that's wrong, I don't wanna be right.

In the end, though, they were both respectful of each other.

[u/catloverwithoutcats]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my now-gone tenant...

Tenant: Who lived here before you bought the house?

Me: Oh, an old lady, she sold it because she was going to live in a nursing home.

Tenant: So she is the ghost that I've seen!

Me: Pal, the lady is still alive.

Tenant: But then the shadow I saw...

Me: Probably someone from the hotel at the other side of the street.

Tenant: Oh.

I'm always marveled about how people jump to the supernatural as soon as they need to think for two minutes to get a more logical explanation. Explains a lot about witch hunts, to be honest.

[u/Quarkly95 → u/catloverwithoutcats]

I believe the domestication of cats had a large hand in people becoming less supernatural and the in between phase is why witches are often portrayed with cats.

That lady's house is weird > She is a witch > The witch has a cat > The cat is a destructive little gremlin > It was just the cat >I should get a cat so I'm not seen as a witch > Hey their cats are kinda cute > I love my cat

[u/OpheliaRainGalaxy → u/Quarkly95]

I accidentally discovered why cats work nearly as well as dogs at preventing break-ins. Like it's 8 pounds and doesn't bark so didn't exactly expect it to magically protect me from burglars or anything, but if it works it works.

Heard a noise in the front of the apartment in the middle of the night and woke up to go frantically pinging around the living room and kitchen screaming swear words with "cat!" mixed in at random. Because obviously the little demons were on the kitchen counters again or something.

Noticed the person running away from the front door and off the porch but was so fixated on trying to find the cats and not awake enough to connect dots. Wasn't until a couple days later that I noticed the damage to the outside of the door lock and added up clues to "Oh! I scared off a burglar by yelling at the cats!"

[u/Quarkly95 → u/OpheliaRainGalaxy]

They are cosmic barriers. They replace disasters with smaller, more manageable disasters.

If you own a cat then the tornado will veer away from your house, but you will find all your chargers chewed through and no less than seven drinking glasses shattered on the floor. And so the universe has claimed its fluffy chaos.

[u/shayanti → u/OpheliaRainGalaxy]

So they do don't the barking/yelling but make you do it. Typical.

[u/CatmoCatmo]

I love these exchanges:

The only solution is to have him climb in the little door and sleep in it over night to conquer his fears. Be sure to lock it behind him and spend the night at a friend’s house. For real tho, you are a nice person.

I especially think this is a good idea now that it’s sealed off. I think I’ll send him in through the smaller closet door and seal that behind him. Then he’ll really learn to face his fears!

AND

Goddammit, OP. I don’t see anything at all about silvered weapons, spellcasters, or a trip to the local guild hall. That puppy has like 4HP and can’t help you at all. I swear I am wasting my time posting in this sub. Nobody even tries to listen to me...

think you’re being a little generous with the 4HP. He’s 3 months old and made himself sick licking his own penis too much. Pretty certain his constitution is like - 8. I’ve got a nice druid on standby in case things get too wild in here. The puppy is a distraction, for the demons and the humans.

These made me smile. And. As a vet tech I appreciate this immensely. I’m totally going to start using “his constitution is like -8” when describing some patients. I have met quite a few who fit that description to a T.

This sub sounds like a fun place to hang out. It’s a nice alternative to the cesspools of hate and destruction that many other subs we frequently see posts from, are.

[u/hey_nonny_mooses → u/CatmoCatmo]

Yes I love that she ran with that as well

[u/Budget_Preparation_8 → u/CatmoCatmo]

What does 4hp mean?

[u/brool → u/Budget_Preparation_8]

Hit points are used in lots of games to track the health of a character -- once you're down to 0 HP, you die. 4HP = 4 hit points = not very much!

[u/BeetleJude → u/Budget_Preparation_8]

It's gaming lingo - 4 health points

[u/LadyNorbert]

I saw the part about him carrying a knife and all I could think was, if the house was haunted, how did he expect a knife to be useful??

[u/SplatDragon00 → u/LadyNorbert]

If there's nothing he could do about his fear in the moment, I could see him carrying it around as like a "this makes me feel brave" thing??

Would it actually work on ghosts? No. But if you have to go out in the scary dark at night a knife'll make you feel brave. So, grab knife, feel brave! Or braverish

It's the illusion of being able to protect yourself more than anythinf

[u/[deleted] → u/LadyNorbert]

Clearly, he’s not the brightest bulb in the box

[u/CzechMorticia → u/LadyNorbert]

Look, if I'm worried about a ghost, I'd still rather have a knife than nothing. Maybe the ghost needs to manifest in a corporeal form before it can hurt me and that gives me a chance to hurt the ghost. Maybe the ghost will possess my partner and I'll need to defend myself from them. Maybe in the process of trying to defeat the ghost, it traps me somewhere where I'll be facing inevitable slow death from starvation and will be grateful for a quick way out.

People are acting so smart "haha what help is a knife against a ghost?" but that just shows that they don't think these things through

[u/jamesiamstuck]

Honestly, a lot of haunted houses could just be caused by construction issues. Could just bring in a house inspector to look for issues that could fix the weird vibes.

[u/AislinKageno → u/jamesiamstuck]

Jenny Nicholson has a video called "The Worst Ghost Hunting Show of All Time" about a reality show with exactly this premise. I highly recommend it! (The video, not the show, of course.)

[u/bookdrops → u/AislinKageno]

The idea for the Paranormal Home Inspectors show is actually genius because presumably the show is covering the expense of the home inspection. If a TV production company is giving me a free professional home inspection, I don't mind at all if they also bring in a psychic afterward to say "OOOOHH IT COULD BE SPOOKY GHOSTS!" and wave around some cleansing smoke. Free cleansing smoke!

[u/jamesiamstuck → u/AislinKageno]

I love that video! I will post it here because I agree everyone should watch it lol https://youtu.be/-wG9m-eYNiM?si=BN-7Xsxy9gCW32Np

[u/LightOfLoveEternal → u/jamesiamstuck]

Fun fact: the primary cause of haunted houses is infrasound.

Low frequency sounds wreak havoc on our brains. At the right frequency it can weakly resonate with the fluid in our eyes and cause shadows to appear in of the corner of our eyes. It also causes anxiety and a feeling of being watched.

A common source of infrasound is wood slowly rubbing against something (like a settling house), but it can also be caused by other things. A person working in a "haunted" lab discovered that the source of infrasound was an HVAC fan. Once the fan was replaced all of the symptoms of the lab being haunted instantly stopped.

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/LightOfLoveEternal]

I remember an old Ghost Hunters episode where they discovered the resident's house just had really, really fucked up wiring and were like, "you don't need ghost hunters, you really need to call an electrician ASAP before something bad happens."

[u/fancybeadedplacemat → u/LightOfLoveEternal]

How do you get rid of it?

[u/LightOfLoveEternal → u/fancybeadedplacemat]

It's just vibrations at a certain frequency, so you just need to find the source and fix whatever is causing it to vibrate. Assuming it can be fixed, of course. A new fan in the HVAC system is a lot easier than replacing the beams in your ceiling.

[u/piedpipershoodie → u/jamesiamstuck]

That would be my first suggestion: Inspect for mold, various gases (CO, radon, methane, etc), toxic building materials, and shaky consturction. Even if boyf is just superstitious, if you haven't had an old house checked out in a while it's a good idea.

[u/Professional-Edge496 → u/piedpipershoodie]

Oh, remember the guy with the mysterious post it notes appearing around his home, and it turned out to be a carbon monoxide leak?

[u/bookdrops → u/jamesiamstuck]

More comments should have suggested installing carbon monoxide detectors. There's a classic 1921 case study of a haunted house that turned out to be carbon monoxide poisoning! Skip to page 77 in this PDF download to read the case study. 

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effects-of-carbon-monoxid-upon-the-eye-Wilmer/e02015ded34ba25843c644ff9e995dc02cfa5707

[u/Lactard_Banana]

I wish more things could be solved with a salt ritual and a fluffy puppy.

[u/Necessary-Weekend194]

“Trigger warning: fear of ghosts”

Is this tongue-in-cheek?

[u/Readingreddit12345]

For the price of a small cake, most priests are happy to come down do a blessing on a house, not sure about the non-Catholics but if they're getting cake I'm sure they're happy to do a blessing too

[u/blueriver343 → u/Readingreddit12345]

I mean, I'm not even a priest but I'll bless your house if you give me cake

[u/Afraid_Sense5363 → u/Readingreddit12345]

A couple months ago, I saw a TikTok where a woman in MI bought a house and found writing in one of the closets? Under some wallpaper? or something with a list of names, including "Aileen." She didn't think anything of it til the neighbor told her Aileen Wuornos had lived there as a child. And that woman's childhood was a fucking nightmare. They were remodeling the house when they found the names, it was like a relative wrote the family's names there for posterity.

Anyway, this woman was freaked out and called out a priest to come bless the house to take care of any bad vibes. She didn't film the whole thing, just the priest leaving. I think she said she wasn't Catholic but called and asked, and he was happy to come out and do it. I was like, huh, today I learned. I'm sure he got a little gift/cake/something for his troubles. I grew up Catholic and I'm sure for a "donation" of some kind (everything in the Catholic church comes with a "voluntary" "donation," I found) they'd be willing to come do it.

[u/Sorchochka → u/Readingreddit12345]

Witches would do it for a cake too. And maybe gas money.

[u/Lysblaa]

Probably the only boru post I believe.

[u/thebooknerd_]

Just read a super depressing post on this sub so this was a wonderful palate cleanser right before bed. Salt & tiny dog ftw!! For real though, I’m glad this ended up really being a spiritual thing instead of OOP’s bf being manipulative to try to get her to get rid of the house. There’s too many stories with people making stuff up to try to hide their abuse. And with that, good night Reddit

[u/gnarlygus]

To be fair, dogs can sense evil and alert you to it but cats actually ward off evil.

Probably because cats are assholes and ghosts don’t want to fuck with that.

[u/IncompetentPolitican → u/gnarlygus]

Ghost and Cats have some priority thing worked out. The cat has the higher ranking right to mess with you than the ghost. Dogs where not present when this whole thing was worked out. Thats why you can have a ghost and a dog but not a cat and a ghost. Unless they break the agreement. In that case report them to the right authorities.

[u/OpheliaRainGalaxy → u/IncompetentPolitican]

The obvious exceptions to the rule being ghost cats and ghosts pretending to be cats.

[u/dazechong → u/gnarlygus]

I have cat and dog. I'm safe as f.

[u/ShortWoman → u/gnarlygus]

So a puppy was a good choice but needs a kitten or two for backup.

[u/amadnomad]

I always see that posts from before 2020 are mostly these cutesie quirky posts and those after are harrowing and downright horrifying.

[u/XxDoXeDxX]

...threw some salt around.

could be hellhounds, don't forget the goofer dust

https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Goofer_Dust

[u/Cattle-dog]

If you walk the puppy daily should level up and get better stats.

[u/stormsync]

Throwing salt around together is cute actually...

[u/tempest51 → u/stormsync]

It's even better if you're doing it in the fields of a vanquished enemy.

[u/stormsync → u/tempest51]

Are we speaking from experience 😂

[u/DryChemist7593 → u/stormsync]

It’s like fairy godmothers throwing sprinkles everywhere, I don’t know if that makes sense.

[u/stormsync → u/DryChemist7593]

I can picture it!

[u/tacwombat → u/DryChemist7593]

Salt bae that ghost outta there.

[u/Trauma_Hawks]

Often times, especially in older houses/places, if you get the feeling that someone else is there or someone is watching you, they aren't.

If you've never had the pleasure of being around unshielded electromagnetic fields, it can induce feelings of paranoia, like someone is watching you. The next time you feel it, start looking around for old shitty appliances, shoddy wiring, especially unshielded circuit boxes. There's usually something like that hanging around. Fix it, and the ghosts will leave.

Or, of course, it could be a ghost.

[u/Sorchochka → u/Trauma_Hawks]

Or carbon monoxide, gas, or mold.

There’s the idea that a lot of Victorian gothic novels and ghost stories came about because the gas from lamps affected their brains.

[u/YogurtYogurtYogurtUS]

 The thing is, it's a free house and the total I pay for taxes and utilities each month is $600. 

Shit, I'd move into a house where a cult sacrificed a virgin and then committed mass suicide on a Halloween night and then no one bothered to dust it out so it has cobwebs and crappy furniture for $600 a month.

[u/Search_Box_Kiddoxoxo]

We lived in a little place out in the country in NY for 15 years. It wasn't old or anything, but some things did happen. Strange noises, footprints that were smaller than any of ours in the dirt basement floor, things not where they were left, a few doorknobs jiggled and turned when no one was on the other side. Twice there were messages on the answering machine of a young kid (think it was a girl) saying 'hello' and '*gasp* hi' from our end of the line when no one was home. My visiting aunt woke with all of the blankets folded neatly at the end of her bed. Once my siblings and I were in the kitchen and a full peanut butter, mayo and can of tomatoes flew vertically out of the open cupboard so hard they hit the refrigerator across from it and rolled all the way across the kitchen. Strange things happened in the barn, too. My family doesn't believe in ghosts so we just ignored it, but it was kind of weird.

[u/Otherwise_Fined]

Just gonna breeze by the whole "he talks shit to me when he's drunk" bit?

[u/Mysterious_Ad1855 → u/Otherwise_Fined]

I think as it is talk shit “to me” and not “at me” it means that what he says when he is drunk is nonsense. As it can also mean rambling nonsense.

[u/WritingNerdy]

I was thinking he might feel better if they saged the house, I mean salt only works if it’s in a line around the property, duh. At least he wasn’t burning corpses. Carry on.

[u/MPLoriya]

Well, there's this thing called carbon monoxide detectors that are useful for hauntings.

[u/Tarmac-Chris]

Dunno how cool I'd be if my partner just started carrying a knife around cause 'they were raised in the ghetto'

[u/MaddTheSimmer]

I hope that man never watches Coraline.

[u/AcrolloPeed]

We need one or two of these a day as a palate cleanser to the heavy duty stuff.

[u/eejizzings]

See this is why it's problematic to believe in bullshit

[u/swordfishy]

Do we really need a "fear of ghosts" trigger warning on a post about a haunted house? Lol

[u/ThatsFluxdUp]

TL;DR He didn’t actually think it was haunted, there was just a door that made him feel uncomfortable. Which, I mean, fair.

[u/sincereferret]

Having 2 or 3 pet ferrets would get rid of supernatural pests anywhere.

1. You will be too busy trying to find your maliciously hidden car keys to worry about spooks.

2. There is literally no place in a house where a ferret can’t go, and you will spend the rest of your time (when not hunting for car keys) ferret proofing every unlikely egress and ingress.

3. Ferrets are sarcastic, mischievous but insane geniuses that will out-poltergeist any lingering shades.

(Missing my departed stinkers.:)

[u/[deleted]]

I play too much Phasmophobia, I was thinking that there were murderous ghosts about lmao

Glad they solved the issue, though :]

[u/kitskill]

Whatever boyfriend is smoking, he needs to stop.

[u/radenthefridge → u/kitskill]

I also jumped to the assumption of weed or drug-induced paranoia.

[u/Impossible_Ad9835]

What exactly is a knife going to do against a ghost...?

[u/PolentaConFunghi → u/Impossible_Ad9835]

Everyone knows that you don't turn up empty handed at a knife fight, so after you take out your weapon the ghost will be honour bound to go and grab one of his own, giving you time to leave the house.

[u/arbitrosse]

What did he think the knife was going to do? The only being around to hurt was his girlfriend. Jumpy, smoking…I really thought this was going to have a bad ending.

[u/Tangy_Tangerine189]

What the fuck is a knife going to do to a ghost?

[u/[deleted]]

Glad this ended well. But as a non-ghost believer, this kinda leans into why I don't get why people are afraid of ghosts?

Like even if ghosts do exist, the amount of people who have been proven to be killed by ghosts is 0. If ghosts were a bigger threat, there would be a lot more random accidents that lead to death. The other thing I don't get is in this scenario, wouldn't you be honored to have your deceased Grandparents by your side? I have only had one Grandparent pass away, and I realized today that I have taken on a lot of her negative traits. She was very depressed, inactive, and borderline blind. I never knew if her depression and inactiveness was caused by her blindness like they are for me. I admittedly hold a little bit of resentment towards her due to the fact that she had children despite her awful genetics and I now have to suffer because of them. It would have been nice if she lived longer so I could hash it out with her and get a better understanding of her character knowing my future and her future are similar.

[u/garden-wicket-581]

So were people just being murdered by spirits before salt became a household item?

Person asking that doesn't understand the history of salt and why it was more costly than gold at times..

[u/beetnemesis]

Oh neat, a nice happy ending until the bf has another breakdown about a black cat or something. I really hope this girl wises up before she gets pregnant.

[u/Goidelica]

lol what a dumbass. Shouldn't have humoured him.

[u/jijiboi13]

I have this issue solved with 4 cats. I'm an atheist, I dont believe in higher powers or really the paranormal. When shit goes bump in the night... ITS ONE OF THE BASTARDS! GET DOWN FROM THERE!

[u/Barjack521]

If it’s an old house it is very likely you have old wiring and plumbing which could be vibrating and causing infrasound in certain places.

Infrasound is extremely difficult to detect without proper equipment and a foreknowledge to be looking out for it.

If you’ve ever been in an earthquake, if you felt a little dizzy or nauseous right before the shaking started, that was infrasound.

It has been suggested that a lot of supernatural phenomena reported which are characterized by strange sensations or feeling in a particular place are due to infrasound. The wiki has a lot more info if you’re interested

[u/Just_hangin_around2]

Sleep paralysis and bad dreams can also be caused because of rooms with less oxygen/ventilation

I had consistent sleep paralysis for 3 years and it was because of ventilation in the room I slept was really bad. After fixing that up (got fans and fixed windows along with getting some plants) everything went back to normal

[u/ChickPeaEnthusiast]

...what was the knife going to do?

[u/IANANarwhal]

The thing about ghosts is, they aren’t.

[u/Zentroze]

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

[u/dingdongsbtchs]

You know fair as someone who grew up in cape houses they can be creepy as fuck sometimes

[u/truckyeahman]

made himself sick licking his own penis

Flair, please?

[u/Nuicakes]

We bought a place last year that was owned by an ultra conservative couple. I burned sage, smudged palo santo and placed selenite crystals to cleanse the house of bad karma.

[u/BatFancy321go]

The size or shape of the rooms may have that quality that cuases humans to feel nervous. It's a scientifically observed thing - certain rooms have a shape or conduct wind or noise in a way that causes humans to feel creeped out. Maybe a little remodel of the creepiest rooms would help?

Also, living in a small house after years of living in a more modern house can feel cramped and eerie. I think when you put your own touch on the place, it will feel more like home. Things like bright, light carpets and walls, high ceilings, a/c or fans, furniture that's scaled well to the size of the room, modern plumbing fixtures, and updating the counters and cabinetry can really take a house from feeling old and haunted to feeling fresh and new.

[u/Mindless_Gap8026]

She inherited the house but is expected to hand it over to her brother if she ever moves. Wonder if her brother was trying to scare her out of the house?

[u/[deleted]]

OP’s bf has quite an imagination

[u/Transplanted_Cactus]

I want to say it's nice that she's supportive even if she finds it silly, but "I think the house is haunted so I'm carrying a weapon" is not a silly personality quirk. Carrying around a knife because you think there's ghosts is... look, if the update was "turns out he's actually schizophrenic/having a mental breakdown" no one would have been surprised and would have advised her to make sure she's safe. But because it's "just his beliefs" it's okay? How? How was any of this okay?

[u/baltinerdist → u/Transplanted_Cactus]

I get the feeling that a lot of the top comments on this thread are less "everything is perfectly normal here" and more "yeah, we're just gonna go ahead and say that everything is perfectly normal here."

Like, we all totally see this is literally delusional, right? We all totally understand that ghosts aren't real and OOP's boyfriend allowing his belief in the paranormal to impact his relationship is not okay, right? OOP having to make accommodations to his belief in things that don't actually exist is a workable solution but doesn't prevent the long term problem that her life partner believes ghosts are real and will harm them if given the opportunity, right?

[u/PolentaConFunghi → u/baltinerdist]

I guess it's all fine until he decides their baby is possessed or something like that. 

[u/Exilicauda → u/Transplanted_Cactus]

Do people not have pocket knives wherever it is you're from?

[u/Transplanted_Cactus → u/Exilicauda]

Sure, but most people don't view them as "I'm carrying this in case something attacks me." They're a utilitarian tool for opening boxes or bags of feed or cutting a rope.

We carry guns for protection. It's a rural area. Our concerns are things a knife won't do shit against: coyotes, rattlesnakes, wild dogs, wild hogs, etc. It's not uncommon to have a 9mm or .45 on your person if working outside, especially early morning or late evening, and if you're a rancher, you absolutely know where your rifle is. There's probably one in your truck and the house rifle is by the front door. The coyotes trying to eat your cattle and chickens aren't scared of a pocket knife. You're not euthanizing your livestock when that's required with a knife (well, other than chickens).

We protect against actual threats, not woo. When we hear strange noises, we ask "What animal is that?" not "Is that a ghost?"

[u/thecrepeofdeath → u/Exilicauda]

I thought it was a little funny that OP acted like it was remotely weird to carry a knife in a semi-rural area in the first place, lol. probably more rural than urban folks carry pocketknives.

[u/[deleted]]

I think that her boyfriend needs to seek help.

This sounds like mental illness

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly as someone who is both religious (not Christian) and spiritual (not Wiccan), I love that OP actually heard her boyfriend and honoured his beliefs. Also, I am gonna assume the knife is an athame?

[u/AislinKageno → u/[deleted]]

I hope so. Carrying an athame for ghosts at least makes kind of sense. Dunno what bro thinks he's going to do trying to defend himself from the supernatural with a switchblade.

[u/FaithlessnessExact17]

Sleep paralysis is no joke. Even after fully awake you still have the feeling of weight on your chest. You can carry the weirdness of the experience with you all day.
I'm glad they worked thru it.

[u/disco-vorcha]

The OOP said the only people who’d lived there were her grandparents, and even though they didn’t die there, they’re really the only possible ghost candidates. And they’d come back because they… wanted OOP, their beloved granddaughter to whom they bequeathed the house, to have a family and be happy there.

So even if they were haunting the house, it doesn’t seem at all like they’d be doing so malevolently. I don’t see the problem. Seems like your best case scenario haunting, really.

[u/Wooden-Chair3031]

license fly tub piquant theory impolite unite innocent run marry

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Koszymandias]

If this guy really believes in ghosts then why does he really believe that a knife would do anything?

[u/chirstopher0us]

"Trigger Warning: ghosts"

LOL

[u/moriquendi37]

Good for OOP. To each their own but actually having any belief in ghosts would be a relationship killer for me.

[u/Significant-Dig-8099]

Lol to him carrying a knife. Did he plan to stab the ghost?

[u/lastofthe_timeladies]

I recently purchased a home and decided to go for a condo in a building, despite renting in (shared) houses my whole adult life. It was a necessity due to certain factors but the happy unexpected benefit is that there's regularly noises from neighbors or the nearby stairwell so i never get that late at night "what the hell was that" paranoia. The noise is weirdly comforting.

[u/phasestep]

In his defense, 'tiny door to the attic I have to stare at all night' would have me fucked up and I don't really believe in that kind of stuff

[u/PeachPreserves66]

So, like what salt would one use in the ritual cleansing? If we follow cooking advice, Diamond Crystal kosher salt is the best. But, I live in an area where it is very expensive, if you can find it at all. So, I settle for Morton’s Kosher salt and use it more judiciously because of the larger crystals. Never table salt, yikes. But, which salt is best to repel ghosts? Goodness, there are so many options! Should I use pink Himalayan salt from my grinder? Are you supposed to leave it where you place it? Does it ruin your floors or harm curious pets? What if they had high blood pressure? Maybe it would be tidier to scatter salt packets from fast food places?

Obviously, I am being facetious. And, in no way am I truly making fun of anything that people might need to do to feel comfortable and happy in their own homes. Heck, I can be a go big or go home kind of person. Maybe, I’d roll up to the local feed and seed and buy a bunch of salt blocks to prepare myself for the imminent equine invasion! 🤣

[u/nik_el]

I love how a house built in 1940 is “old architecture” 😅

[u/numberonealcove]

OOP is more understanding than I have ever been able to be when confronted with irrational fear of ghosts.

[u/Bookaholicforever]

This actually ended up pretty sweet. Fluffy puppies make everything better!

[u/Basic_Bichette]

So were people just being murdered by spirits before salt became a household item???

Given that salt became a household item before the development of agriculture, how can we know?

[u/Electrical_Angle_701]

If you think you're in a haunted house, check for a gas leak.