Knocks, Shadows, and Apparitions

Witness: (Name Withheld Upon Request)
Location: Alexandria, Minnesota
Date of Encounter: March 2001 to Present

First, I want to say that I have never been a believer in ghosts. It has been my belief that if something unusual happens, there's always a "scientific" reason for it. Well, I think I'm changing my mind on that one. My family moved into our house 4 1/2 years ago (my husband, 2 daughters, and myself). In that time we have had many strange things happen. I have always chose to ignore these things because then they would go away, right? Well, I have found that I can ignore them as much as I want to, but things still keep happening. 

Within the first month of moving in, my husband and I started hearing footsteps upstairs when we were downstairs. I should mention that our bedroom is downstairs, the kids are upstairs. But, every time we hear the footsteps, either nobody is upstairs or the kids are sleeping. The very first time my husband heard the footsteps, I was sleeping and our kids were with their grandparents for the weekend. So, nobody was upstairs. He was watching TV in bed and he heard someone walking down the upstairs hallway, into the kitchen, and then start down the stairs. He was positive someone had broken into the house, so he grabbed a golf club and headed for the stairway. He could still hear the footsteps coming down the stairs as he swung around the corner with the golf club, but nobody was there. The next time, we were laying in bed talking and it sounded like someone was walking all over the upstairs, as if they were looking for something. Our kids each had a friend overnight. I told my husband I would go see what was going on, I thought one of the kids must have gotten up to go to the bathroom. By the time I got up there, the footsteps had stopped and all four kids were sound asleep. Well, I had decided that it must be the central air vents, or pipes, or whatever making a noise that sounded like footsteps. That worked for me until the night I heard the footsteps and the central air wasn't even on. So, I just kind of blew it off and decided there must be some other reason for it. Actually, we don't hear the footsteps as much anymore, except every once in a while.

Some of the other things we have heard is the sound of something very heavy being dropped or falling, but we never find anything. My daughters and I have heard knocking in our stairway twice. The first time, even though it sounded like it came from the stairway, we checked all the doors but there was nobody there. The next time, we were standing near the top of the stairs, so we know the knocking came from the stairway again, we just shrugged it off. We knew that the knocking didn't come from any door. My oldest daughter and I have also heard a man coughing in our downstairs bathroom. It always happens when one of us is alone in the house and we are always in the upstairs bathroom (which is right above the bathroom downstairs). It sounds just like my husband coughing. But he is never home when we hear it. Like I said, we are always alone in the house when it happens. These things too, I have kind of shrugged off until recently. 

Okay, so this is where it really gets weird. My daughters have told me in the past (not lately, though) that they have actually seen "people" in our house. In one way, I have a very hard time believing these "stories," but on the other hand, my kids don't make up lies and I do want to believe them. They claimed the "people" have ranged from fuzzy to as clear as you or me and the "people" aren't anyone we have ever known. My oldest has seen a man, older, and overweight. Once he was sitting in our chair in the living room, once standing in the hallway, and once outside by the swing (she says he waved that time). My second daughter says she has seen a little girl and even talked to her! I told her to tell the girl to go be with God. She says now she never sees the girl anymore. On time, she was watching TV in the living room and she kept getting the feeling that she was being watched. She looked up and saw an older man, a young woman, and a teenage boy. She says they were all dressed up in suits, ties, and a dress on the woman. She says it seemed like they could see her too. They would look around the room, then look at her. My husband hasn't seen anything or at least nothing he admits to. I always say I've never seen anything, but one time I was cleaning in the living room, I turned and glanced out the window, and just for a split second I thought I saw a tall, thin man with dark hair wearing navy blue pants and a long-sleeved navy blue shirt walking across our front yard, then he was gone. I always said it was my imagination, but I wonder about this.

My mom stayed the weekend a while back. About a week after going home, she told me over the phone about a "figure" she saw walk through my kitchen. She said it had no features, but she could tell it was a man. It was like if you took a black piece of cardboard and cut it out into the shape of a tall, thin man that is what it looked like. Could it have been the same thing I might have seen? My two oldest daughters and I all say we have had a very strong feeling of being watched a few times when in our living room. My daughters also tell me that they have also seen what I guess would be orbs. It's not possible to see them with the naked eye, is it? Okay, so I have done a pretty good job of ignoring all these things along with some things I didn't mention. Things have been pretty quiet around our house lately and I haven't thought much about all of this. What kind of freaks me out is that my 12 year old was in her room with her little sister (we also have a 18 month old) two nights ago. Out of the blue, she turned and looked toward the corner. She kept waving and saying, "Hi," and then pointing and laughing. Her sister saw nothing. Could it be that she is now seeing things?