My haunted house

My house is haunted, I've kind of known about it for a long time, in fact the house across the street is haunted and the hotel down the block is haunted. But they have lights turning on and off and things going bump in the night.

My spectral occupation manifests itself with the smell of stale cigarette smoke. It is really annoying. The first few times I smelled it, I looked all over the house and outside to see if someone was smoking outside my house near a window, but nothing.

It happens at random times and lasts about 10 minutes. It's mostly confined to the front room.

It's annoying to me.

:bolt:

(stamps out cigarette and runs)

Smoking is bad for stalking.

Check the kids' sock drawers

Does anyone else smell it, or are you the only one?

Only the other pot smokers.

Kids are how old?

"Who ya goin'a call....?"

"Take me to your dealer"

It's weird I read about your haunted house just now...

Last night I was sitting on the couch watching Jethro, Tony, McGeek and Ziva, and toking on a stogie, at my best friend's house, alone. (He gives me the run of the place whether he's there or not.) I'm halfway through a nice stogie, when all of a sudden, the recliner Friendigr always sits in just decides to kick itself back up to 'half-recline' from 'full-recline' where he leaves it when he gets up. The recliner is two feet from me.

I about shit myself.

I'd be researching chemical, electrical/chemical, or biological, reactions that emanate a smell similar to stale cigarette smoke.

time to break out the ouija board!! :eek3:

footfootfoot;706644 wrote:

My house is haunted, I've kind of known about it for a long time, in fact the house across the street is haunted and the hotel down the block is haunted. But they have lights turning on and off and things going bump in the night.

My spectral occupation manifests itself with the smell of stale cigarette smoke. It is really annoying. The first few times I smelled it, I looked all over the house and outside to see if someone was smoking outside my house near a window, but nothing.

It happens at random times and lasts about 10 minutes. It's mostly confined to the front room.

It's annoying to me.

What other rooms have you smoked in, I mean, er...have you noticed it in? Does your ghost also use the bathroom or take a nap?

xoxoxoBruce;706754 wrote:

I'd be researching chemical, electrical/chemical, or biological, reactions that emanate a smell similar to stale cigarette smoke.

If it's an old house, and had heavy smokers for previous owners, there could be drafts occasionally passing through areas that haven't aired out completely yet. Cigarette odor can hang on for years.

No one in here believes in ghosts? :ghost:

are you saying you do? meet me at midnight memorial drive! bwahahahahahahahahahaha! oh sorry. laughing for effect. :)

A sign of mental illness, the ability to manifest odoriferous emanations...
oh wait that might mean crapping one's self.

Tulip;706847 wrote:

No one in here believes in ghosts? :ghost:

I've got one, although it may be had one, because I haven't heard her for almost two years. I'd be working in the cellar and I'd hear the front door, then footsteps. Rug, hardwood, rug, hardwood, rug, stop... women's high heels. My buddy heard it a couple times when he was down their carving while I was at work. I hadn't said anything about so he wasn't primed. But the best is, twice the dog was down there with me, and he looked up at the ceiling as soon as I heard the door. This went on for 20 years, but she didn't drink any of my beer, so no harm done. :cool:

Happy Monkey;706795 wrote:

If it's an old house, and had heavy smokers for previous owners, there could be drafts occasionally passing through areas that haven't aired out completely yet. Cigarette odor can hang on for years.

That's what I have thought, but as some of you remember I've torn out all the exterior walls and about 85% of the interior walls (plaster, lathe, etc) I've replaced floors, etc. But I think that must be the answer because there are some interior walls that are intact, and a number of floors on sleepers creating a small space.

On a lot of construction jobs we'd leave little time capsules in the walls, mostly an empty bottle or can or a note, guys who smoked would often leave their butts. However this house was built 150 years ago. We've had it for 10 years, The previous owner (25 years) didn't smoke.

It happens at random times and I've tried to tie it to the boiler, or other things, but it's been happening since we bought the place.

Then again, it could be a ghost.

footfootfoot;706902 wrote:

On a lot of construction jobs we'd leave little time capsules in the walls, guys would often leave their butts.

For Sheldon perhaps?

I'm hard of smelling: I'd never notice the "stale smoke." Of course, most of my smoke is nice and fresh. ;)

footfootfoot wrote:

It happens at random times and I've tried to tie it to the boiler, or other things, but it's been happening since we bought the place.

Then again, it could be a ghost.

Hey! You didn't answer my question. Are you the only one who smells it? I ask because hallucinated smells--especially subtle, but distinctive smells, that are the same every time--can be a sign that you're having a partial temporal lobe seizure.

Ahh. I will check into that partial temporal lobe seizure, but I am pretty sure Mrs. Foot smells it too, but she is hard of smelling too, so she might have just been humoring me.

Though I would think that ten years of partial temporal lobe seizures might have had other noticeable effects on me.

See, one of the things is, in summer I have gone outside and seen cig butts on the sidewalk about 50 feet from the house. Considering the muggy air and the windows open I figured that is it, but in winter, with all the windows closed (new windows) and no one on the streets smoking, I still smell it.

This is interesting to me.
My grandmother had some form of Epilepsy, FWIW

Bold below, mine. I often have what I call "brain crushing Deja Vus" They are intense and incorporate everything I am doing, eating, saying, and or listening to. I also have these very clear specific memories of a time and place I've never been. The memory is always the same. This is very interesting.

Symptoms

The symptoms felt by the person, and the signs observable by others, during seizures which begin in the temporal lobe depend upon the specific regions of the temporal lobe and neighboring brain areas affected by the seizure. The International Classification of Epileptic Seizures published in 1981 by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) recognizes three types of seizures which persons with TLE may experience.[24]

[LIST=1]
[*]Simple Partial Seizures (SPS) involve small areas of the temporal lobe such as the amygdala or the hippocampus. The term "simple" means that consciousness is not altered. In temporal lobe epilepsy SPS usually only cause sensations. These sensations may be mnestic such as déjà vu (a feeling of familiarity), jamais vu (a feeling of unfamiliarity), a specific single or set of memories, or amnesia. The sensations may be auditory such as a sound or tune, gustatory such as a taste, or olfactory such as a smell that is not physically present. Sensations can also be visual, involve feelings on the skin or in the internal organs. The latter feelings may seem to move over the body. Psychic sensations can occur such as an out-of-body feeling. Dysphoric or euphoric feelings, fear, anger, and other sensations can also occur during SPS. Often, it is hard for persons with SPS of TLE to describe the feeling. SPS are often called "auras" by lay persons who mistake them for a warning sign of a subsequent seizure. In fact, they are indeed seizures. Persons experiencing only SPS may not recognize what they are or seek medical advice about them. SPS may or may not progress to the seizure types listed below.
[/LIST]

footfootfoot wrote:

Though I would think that ten years of partial temporal lobe seizures might have had other noticeable effects on me.

Nah, I've been having them since I was 16, and look how unaffected I am! ;)

Beware !

From the last section entitled: "The Bad"

It's an experience similar to what medical students go through, dubbed sophomore syndrome.

Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't fake my EEG. But I wouldn't put it past foot, that sneaky bastard!

Clodfobble;707041 wrote:

Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't fake my EEG. But I wouldn't put it past foot, that sneaky bastard!

What else would you expect from a guy who routinely fakes his orgasms?

Lamplighter;707039 wrote:

Beware !

From the last section entitled: "The Bad"

I had that experience during master gardener training. At a certain point in the training you spend two entire sessions on all the insects and diseases that plants can get. At the end of that I was like "Fuck it. There's no way this is going to work. All of my plants will die."

I got over it, but it was a lot of doom and gloom to take at once, that's all I could see.

plthijinx;706849 wrote:

are you saying you do? meet me at midnight memorial drive! bwahahahahahahahahahaha! oh sorry. laughing for effect. :)

Which part of Memorial Drive?? Never heard of a haunting there. Or we can just have dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown. I saw in a show once that it's haunted. ;) They even brought all those ghostbuster gadgets and picked up alot of activity with their machines. Apparently, someone died in the elevator shaft that's by the entrance that is now closed off.

Gravdigr;706740 wrote:

It's weird I read about your haunted house just now...

Last night I was sitting on the couch watching Jethro, Tony, McGeek and Ziva, and toking on a stogie, at my best friend's house, alone. (He gives me the run of the place whether he's there or not.) I'm halfway through a nice stogie, when all of a sudden, the recliner Friendigr always sits in just decides to kick itself back up to 'half-recline' from 'full-recline' where he leaves it when he gets up. The recliner is two feet from me.

I about shit myself.

:lol: Yeah, that would cause a scare but it ain't a ghost. :p:

Tulip;707050 wrote:

Which part of Memorial Drive?? Never heard of a haunting there. Or we can just have dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown. I saw in a show once that it's haunted. ;) They even brought all those ghostbuster gadgets and picked up alot of activity with their machines. Apparently, someone died in the elevator shaft that's by the entrance that is now closed off.

i was referring to the cemetery between downtown and shephard dr.
the spaghetti warehouse is haunted?? really? i love that place! heck yeah, tell ya what, if i get this engineering job i'll take you to dinner there then after go to the brewery tap (i used to work there back in the day) or la caraffe. maybe both....

the spaghetti warehouse is haunted?? really?

Yeah, they hear a gnoccing sound coming from the walls.

That was uncalled for

footfootfoot;706902 wrote:

On a lot of construction jobs we'd leave little time capsules in the walls, mostly an empty bottle or can or a note, guys who smoked would often leave their butts.

They found a pistol in the wall of a Federal period house near here. Folks were speculating about an unsolved murder and a missing relative on my Mom's side...

ZenGum wrote:

Yeah, they hear a gnoccing sound coming from the walls.

I generally hate puns... but that one, sir. That one made me laugh in an auditory fashion.

ZenGum;707232 wrote:

Yeah, they hear a gnoccing sound coming from the walls.

made me lawl!

So yesterday the smoke smell came back and I asked Mrs. Foot if she smelled it, she said yes, but she didn't think it smelled exactly like smoke since she is a former smoker, but she admitted it was an atypical smell.

So that rules out that symptom of my possible Partial Seizure.
Still to resolve are my deja vu and that other thing I can't remember.

footfootfoot;707034 wrote:

gustatory

Great word!

footfootfoot;707647 wrote:

So yesterday the smoke smell came back and I asked Mrs. Foot if she smelled it, she said yes, but she didn't think it smelled exactly like smoke since she is a former smoker, but she admitted it was an atypical smell.

So that rules out that symptom of my possible Partial Seizure.
Still to resolve are my deja vu and that other thing I can't remember.

Unless she has partial seizures with exactly the same symptoms.:shock:

How long have you been living in that house with the ghost who smokes?

We bought the house in 2000, I renovated it for 2 years and we moved in in 2002.

Well, moving isn't an option then. You know what people say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Maybe you should light a ciggie and join him. :D Hehe...sorry if that joke didn't go well with you. Anyways, maybe the next time you smell the smoke, stand at that spot and politely ask the "ghost" if he could smoke outside because the smell bothers you. *shrug* Worth a shot. :p: In case you're wondering, I am not joking with you. If you ask someone nicely to do something, he/she may oblige, right? Why not try it on a ghost? By the way, don't get mean. That would only upset the ghost and you may end up a real haunting rather than just smoke smell.

I think that may work, Tulip. I will give it s shot. I suspect the ghost is the fellow who built the house. I can appeal to his sense of pride and workmanship etc. and point out how I've put a lot of blood sweat and tears into keeping the place looking good. The least he could do would be to smoke outside, in the garden shed.

Tell us how that goes. :D

We had a ghost in this house for a while after we moved in to this house. He only haunted me though, my dad never was affected by it. He would come in, walk up the stairs and lay on my dad's bed. My dad has had the same mattress for many years, so it's got a very distinctive set of squeaks to it. The floorboards on the stairs creak as well and are right outside of my room.

Every once and a while I would find the front door open, and the cupboards in the kitchen slammed shut while I was in there. (PS our house is practially airtight, not an old drafty mess that would cause the door to blow open or the cupboards to blow closed.) And I would also wake up at night thinking someone was in my room... either I would hear a noise and wake up, or just feel like someone was there and wake up from it.

After a while, I talked to a friend at work about it because I thought I was going nuts. She's into all the ghost/occult/witchy stuff, and she suggested I just project a space away from myself and ask the ghost to respect that space, nicely.

I haven't had a problem since then, so whether it was a very polite ghost, or just the power of my mind setting itself at ease, I would suggest trying the same with your ghost.

ETA: But I also have extreme issues with deja vu, so perhaps I'm also having seizures and not aware of it. :)

the track is next to a graveyard. tulip? you game for some hauntings? anyway, the other day a go-kart just decided to take off all by itself. freaky! i had to chase it down the track and i don't mean jog...i had to run to catch this thing! little nuances.