OTHERPLANE

We moved into our house 12 years ago when I transferred within the corporation. The house was built around 1910 and is located under a canopy of huge white and red pine trees. A few years after we moved in, I awoke to hear children playing in the yard. I looked out and there was no one there. The sound was like a playground with no distinguishable words being heard, just the sound of laughter and kids shouting. I thought it odd because the next door neighbor is actually a quarter mile away. I thought maybe it was them with sound just carrying very well that morning (they did have 3 small children).

About a year later I heard it again, but this time I also heard a car go by and after a few seconds I couldn't hear the car so how could I possibly hear the kids next door? I got up from bed and at breakfast I said to my wife and son, "Do you ever hear any strange sounds around here?" and my wife said, "You mean the kids playing?" I said, "You hear them too?" My son said, "We hear them all the time. We call them our friendly ghosts."

I am pretty much a skeptic about such things so I set out to figure it out. My first thought was it was the furnace ductwork but it had been replaced along with the furnace between when I first heard it and after. I thought it might be a combination of two or more appliances running but I checked it out whenever I hear the voices with no results. We hear the kids 2 or 3 times a year and we just listen and enjoy the sounds of kids having fun. It is actually comforting.

The other strange thing is more strange in that this is physically obvious. Here's what happens. About 7 years ago my wife hung a clothespin bag on the 5 line clothesline I put up for her. It is about 30 feet from the house, easily visible from the living room. One evening, she mentioned that it must have been windy because the clothespin bag was swinging back and forth. That was unusual because none of the trees were moving. We went outside and it was perfectly calm. I Thought this to be very unusual. I stopped the bag and watched it. Within 10 minutes it was moving again and I don't mean a little... it was swinging wildly back and forth. I watched with amusement but I really had to wonder when it was still swinging the next morning. We watched it do this for a long time (several years) and I would even hold a match in the vicinity to show there was no wind. Recently, I replaced the ropes and haven't tried since so I don't know if it will work again. I may try it this week end.

My son said he sometimes hears what appear to be adults talking and he hears the sound of glasses bumping against each other. The history of this house is limited. It was originally a tavern and was moved about 200 feet from it's original site in the 1930s. We also know that a man in his 50s died on the kitchen floor in the 1930s. There was a large family living here in the 1950s, '60s and 70s. The father died about 6 years ago and the mother died about 5 years ago. That is all I know. I still think there is a logical explanation but I haven't figured it out yet.