Is this a ghost?

[SteveMcluuf]

Hello we live in a home from the 1940's era and both my wife and I suspect there is a ghost in the home. I am not the original owner of the home and I I can see where there was fire damage in one of the rooms because it has been replaced with drywall. Anyway, from time to time we'll hear footsteps or laughter. On a whim I snapped a shot of the upstairs when we heard those noises and my wife swears there's a ghost in this picture. I circled the area she's talking about in red.

http://www.lds.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=310&d=1258727646

[havejoy]

I really don't see anything in that picture that looks like a ghost. Sorry.

[Misshalfway]

I don't see anything but a red circle. That doesn't mean I don't think you have a visitor in your home, though.

[Tarnished]

It does look like there is something polka dotted there, but you have to look really close at it. If there is something in your house what did you want to have done with it?

[Vort]

Ghosts often take the form of door jambs. Darned ghosts.

[Misshalfway]

OMStars! I didn't see the polka dots before. Crazy. But perhaps that is a reflection of something. It would be hard to be sure.

Steve, do you guys know anything about the history of this house? Previous owners or deaths associated with the house?

[john doe]

Ghosts are allergic to lysol, clean the area with lysol spray and the spots will go away.

[SteveMcluuf]

WOAH. Wait. I think I see a face, look. I did some Photoshop magic. I've been researching the history of the home from the library, most of the stuff is on microfiche but from what I understand at one point there was a fire and a child was lost. The laughter we hear sounds like a childs and the footsteps sound like running/playing/stomping. I don't think it's evil, it's playful.

http://www.lds.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=311&d=1258729863

[Misshalfway]

That doesn't look like the face of small kid. Just distortions perhaps you made with your photoshopping fun. It also seems like maybe you are creating more dots too on the door jam.

Do an EVP session. Or try to capture the footsteps/laughter on tape too. Try to make the ghost move something or touch you. Maybe you just need to make contact and tell the little person its time to go to Jesus. Or maybe it's a residual haunt and you are just hearing the energy of the place and the people who lived there.

[beefche]

If the ghost is fun or playful, why do you care if he/she is there? I would just let it be and enjoy the laughter and giggles.

[HiJolly]

As I understand it, the dead sometimes do not realize they are dead, and can choose to reject the offer to "go to the light". Since the scenario here suggests that she may have died due to the fire (smoke, whatever), well, that's a pretty painful way to go. So she might have emotional cause to forget/reject her death, and thus is hanging around wondering "what the heck".

Clear, logical/empirical thought is much more difficult once our minds have separated from our brains. FYI.

HiJolly

[Vort]

Whoa!!! I think you're right! I think there really IS a ghost there! A dirty-fingered ghost! And I think I see the ghost of his father telling him to clean off that door jamb, too!

[SteveMcluuf]

Sarcastic responses don't help me. This is the room where there was a fire, the wall to the left (you can't see it in the picture) was completely replaced with sheetrock. Things to note, when we light a candle it doesn't stay lit. We hear giggling from time to time. My wife took another picture earlier today and sent it to me, and I can CLEARLY see a child there, who looks like she's playing with a doll in a rocking deal?

This is a DIGITAL camera, not a scanned picture, so there is no chance of double-exposure. Again, I don't think this thing is evil and it's really pretty sad to hear a child was lost in the fire. I feel sorrow for this lost little one. It's a little sickening to hear some of the sarcastic remarks.

http://www.lds.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=312&d=1258744379

[Vort]

Sarcastic responses don't help me...It's a little sickening to hear some of the sarcastic remarks.

Well then, please forgive my sarcasm. I don't believe in hauntings or spooky ghosts, so the whole topic seems a bit silly to me. The idea that a loving Father would allow the spirit of a young child to wander aimlessly instead of bringing him home is preposterous, at least to me.

Why would you think that a "ghost" would interact with visible E/M radiation, or create mechanical compression waves through air? Surely if spirits were able so easily to interact with properties we can sense, there would be a vast increase in "ghost sightings". Indeed, they should be as common as conversing with other (living) people -- more common, in fact, given how many people have died vs how many are now alive.

[HEthePrimate]

Oh my! Yes, there certainly is a ghost there--and she's pretty cute, too!

HEP

[Misshalfway]

If I took that picture and experienced what you had, I would think I possibly had a ghost in the house too. I don't think you are crazy or imagining things. I know some people do and that is fine.

I tend toward being a little skeptical but when you have repeated experiences, then you gotta stop and think. And since we LDS people believe the Spirit world is right here on this planet with us, it doesn't seem that strange that the veil would be thin on occasion.

Now, I do wonder about spirits of little children. If the scriptures say that they go home to the God who gave them life and if we are told that traumatic deaths are sometimes visited by Jesus or angels, then the fact that a little child would stay attached to this world seems confusing to me. In my mind, that doesn't mean its impossible. It just means that I don't have a good answer.

I wonder if there might be truth to what Hijolly said. I also wonder about the residual haunting idea as well. I know pain can trap people here on earth emotionally and behaviorally. Perhaps it can happen in the spiritual realms as well. Can't say I know. Can say I wish I was in your home and could experience the laughter and the footsteps with you. If it were me, I would be talking to her and inviting her to interact.

Have you attempted to talk to this spirit? Offer her toys? Are you sure she is the only spirit associated with the house? Could she be held against her will by another spirit? Can you do more research on this little girl and find out a name and maybe a picture? Or find out if her grave is near the home.

[Misshalfway]

Sarcastic responses don't help me. This is the room where there was a fire, the wall to the left (you can't see it in the picture) was completely replaced with sheetrock. Things to note, when we light a candle it doesn't stay lit. We hear giggling from time to time. My wife took another picture earlier today and sent it to me, and I can CLEARLY see a child there, who looks like she's playing with a doll in a rocking deal?

This is a DIGITAL camera, not a scanned picture, so there is no chance of double-exposure. Again, I don't think this thing is evil and it's really pretty sad to hear a child was lost in the fire. I feel sorrow for this lost little one. It's a little sickening to hear some of the sarcastic remarks.

http://www.lds.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=312&d=1258744379

Is this your house? That looks like a period bed and period furniture. You don't sleep there, do you? I mean this looks like a museum or historical site of sorts. Did you buy the home with the original furniture? And what year did you say the home was built?

[Vort]

More chilling evidence:

[SteveMcluuf]

Yeah that's the upstairs bedroom, to the left, when you walk up the stairs. One of the perks of getting them home was that some of the original furniture came with it. Since the room is unused we just kind of placed some of the furniture there, as you can see the bed is missing the mattress but we tried to make it look nice. My wife purchased the crib at an antique store to kind of theme the room out. It's a 1940's era home that was built by the original owners, I suspect some of that furniture may be as old as the early 1900s or late 1800s. It's some amazing stuff.

We've only been in this house for about a month now, GREAT idea on the toys. I don't have much information on the accident, like I said alot of it was on microfiche, and they didn't have the names. I'm going to go back and see if I can find the deed/owners from public records to get more to search on. I was thinking that if I could call the child by name, I could communicate with her. I've never seen her, except from the corner of my eye. The feeling you get around her is playful, not evil, and happiness, not sadness.

I wonder if I could help her move on, it's such a sad thing when you think about it.

[pam]

I just don't see a child there. My first impression at glancing at the picture was a play of lights possibly from the window there.

[Misshalfway]

Vort, where do you live because when I die, I may just have to visit your closet and help.....how shall I say....open your eyes.

[Dr T]

I can see something that can look like a child but my first thought was, "It looks like a finger print smudge of some sort." When I look again, on the right of it all and the brown cradle makes it look like a brown brear with the nose in the middle and then the tears on the side of the head.

[BenRaines]

Maybe it is the spirit of your coworker visiting your house. She checking you out and see how you live with your wife?

Hmmm.

Smells fishy here. Spooky maybe. Where are Scooby-Do and Shaggy?

They can always solve the ghostly capers.

Ben Raines

[Misshalfway]

though I believe in ghosts 100%, this is a little hard to qualify as evidence. the light flare at the top right of the second picture suggests that there is light playing on your lens, so it's hard to read the other shapes as ghost, not light.

that being said, i'd say the sounds you hear and feelings are much more solid. an evp is definitely in order - seriously.

[pam]

It's the ghost of the coworker.