What to do if you think your house is haunted

This article is reproduced with permission from The escape house, a newsletter for second homes and those who want it. Subscribe here. © 2022. All rights reserved.

With Halloween just around the corner, The Escape Home reached out to longtime psychic Bonnie Wind to discuss psychic abilities, ghosts, and what to do if you think your home is haunted.

Vent: Well, it’s more of a calling than a business. I come from a family of people who have some sort of psychic ability. My grandmother, who came from England, read the tea leaves. So I grew up in that kind of environment where it was totally accepted and explored.

Almost everyone has some hunch about something like “should I take this job or not?” But if you come from a line where it’s accepted, it’s easier. Often little children say, “I was someone in a past life” or something like that, and adults make them shut that ability down, it’s not accepted. Or if the family has a very strong religious belief, they may feel like you are talking to demons or definitely something that is not acceptable in their religion. So for many children who have this ability, it is held back by adults who think it is not acceptable.

EH: Let’s talk about ghosts: a classic Halloween costume, but what are they really?

Vent: It’s a very generic term and it means different things to different people. A thing is an energy imprint that a person is able to feel, even if they do not interact with it. Usually these are from a very high energy event that happened, like at the Gettysburg Battlegrounds. Many people died and they died instantly. There’s this tremendous energy that comes out of this very terrified person as they leave their body, and that imprint can still be there even though it isn’t. A spiritual person is actually someone from the past who is able to communicate.

EH: Ok, so they’re not monsters per se, they’re all people who once lived?

Vent: Yeah. Most of the time, it’s a loving family member trying to reconnect. Sometimes it can also be the person’s own advice, trying to get in touch with them and give them advice on something.

EH: Do you think someone who dies has the ability to come back and communicate?

Vent: I do not think so. I think it’s a bit like in the living world. There are some of us who want and can communicate in another dimension. And I think it’s the same when they pass. They are much more likely to receive a message right after passing through. It is very often reported that people see a family member at the foot of their bed and then receive a phone call and find out that this family member has crossed over.

EH: How to tap into their psychic abilities?

Vent: It’s really a question of openness. You have to put your fear aside, because there’s so much in our culture, especially with the paranormal TV shows and stuff, that tells you to be afraid. Every horror movie. So you have to push all of that and not be afraid and just be open to the experience.

EH: Speaking of being scared, what are the signs that your house might be haunted?

Vent: Usually what happens is people start noticing things that they can’t explain. They hear strange noises, the classic shaking of the night, that sort of thing. And most people ignore it until it gets to a certain point and then they realize there’s really something going on and it starts to get annoying. The lights turn off and on. They see things out of the corner of their eye. They feel observed.

EH: Ok, so you think your house might be haunted… what’s next?

Vent: First, I take people through all the logical explanations. If you hear knocks in the wall it could be your pipes that need to be re-seeded, this is very common. Same thing with electricity. And some things can just be weird – you might have ants crawling into a power outlet and causing an electrical short. So all the logical explanations have to be exercised first, and that usually takes care of most of it.

EH: What if there is no logical explanation?

Vent: You have to start digging a little deeper and documenting things. You can do this with audio and video and then keep written logs as well. You also need to look at the land and the house and who else has lived there. Was your house built over a cemetery? In some states, the law regarding building over a cemetery is that if it’s been 100 years since the last person was buried there, they can do so. They can buy the land and simply remove the markers and build.

EH: What if you do all of this and you’re sure there’s something?

Vent: Then you have someone trying to communicate. So even if you’re not someone who can communicate, you can learn and you can have an open mind and say, “hey, I want to have a conversation with this”.

EH: Do you find that most people are open to that?

Vent: I meet people who are very happy to have this person in their home and see them as another member of the family. So there is that side. And then, you know, a lot of TV shows really scared everybody. And sometimes people just want to get rid of them. Well, that’s not how it works. You need to establish communication. You have to find out why they are there. And then from that conversation, maybe you can get them to transition or go somewhere else or calm down or whatever you want to negotiate. It’s kind of like having a roommate, you know? And if you have a roommate that’s bothering you, you need to have a chat with them, right?

EH: Is there one type of house that tends to be more haunted than others?

Vent: Victorian homes tend to have more paranormal activity than others. There are several reasons for this. One is the influence of the spiritualist movement at the time of their construction. Also, with normal Victorian architecture, you can’t see a room from another room, which adds a mystery in itself, because the design isn’t open. And then also I think the culture at the time, everything was pretty repressed. And so you have this energy that builds up over time and houses use a lot of hardwood and glass, which I think stores energy, even if it’s unintentional. Now we only have plasterboard.

EH: Is there a market for haunted houses?

Vent: Yes, there are a few instances where a haunted house is an added bonus. I actually found, like, two where it’s an added value to look for a haunted house. People will actively seek out a haunted place to turn into a haunted guesthouse. There is also the industry of haunted house attractions. Someone can also search for a house that is known to be haunted because they want a really good deal. Because it is branded, it will sell for less than it normally would.

This article is reproduced with permission from The escape house, a newsletter for second homes and those who want it. Subscribe here. © 2022. All rights reserved.

What to do if you think your house is haunted – CNET