How can you find out if your house is haunted?

Answer 1

If you think your house is haunted, you should first try to determine if anything else can be attributed to what you think is a haunting. Instead of being haunted, can their be a natural reason for everything? Instead of being haunted, could someone be casting a spell on you?

If your house is without a doubt haunted, then ask yourself if the spirits are good or bad.

If they are good, you don't have to do anything. They may even be guardians there to protect you.

If they are bad, you should get help. Don't try to exorcise the house on your own. If they are powerful, you could get hurt. Go to someone you are comfortable with that is experienced in these things.

Not many people are around that deal with hauntings, so it may be difficult to find someone. If you can't find anyone to exorcise the spirits out, then focus on protecting yourself. Make sure not to use any sketchy means of protecting yourself, as this will backfire on you.

Answer 2

Before setting off on this line of inquiry, you may actually wish to review what current scientific evidence suggests regarding the existence of ghosts, capable of haunting houses among other supernatural activities. Of course, in dealing with any subject relating the afterlife one is aware that there are questions which cannot be addressed by science, and in particular religious convictions may lead you to include the existence of ghosts in this category. Moreover, science can only ever render provisionaltruth (unlike the absolute truth given by mathematics), and as more evidence is uncovered our present understanding of supposedly supernatural phenomena such as ghosts may well change. However, below is briefly outlined what the current scientific understanding of ghosts is, and, while acknowledging that multiple interpretations are possible, it certainly appears that the most rational one is against the existence of ghosts.

Some researchers, such as Professor Michael Persinger, have speculated that changes in geomagnetic fields (created, e.g. by tectonic stresses in the Earth's crust or solar activity) could stimulate the brain's temporal lobes and produce many of the experiences associated with haunting This theory has been tested in various ways. Some scientists have discovered a the relationship between the time of onset of unusual phenomena in allegedly haunted locations and any sudden increases in global geomagnetic activity. Others have uncovered that the location of alleged haunting is associated with certain types of magnetic activity. Finally, a third strand of work has involved laboratory studies in which stimulation of the temporal lobe with trans-cerebral magnetic fields has elicited subjective experiences that strongly parallel phenomena associated with haunting. All of this work is controversial; it has attracted a large amount of debate and disagreement (source: www.richardwiseman.com/research/ghosts.HTML ) Sound is thought to be another cause of supposed sightings. Frequencies lower than 20 Hz are called infrasound and are normally inaudible, but scientists Richard Lord and Richard Wiseman ave concluded that infrasound can cause humans to experience bizarre feelings in a room, such as anxiety, extreme sorrow, a feeling of being watched, or even the chills. (source: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/08/1062901994082.HTML?oneclick=true). Carbon monoxide poisoning, which can cause changes in perception of the visual and auditory systems, (source：http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11410684) was recognized as a possible explanation for haunted houses as early as 1921.

According to the Committee for Sceptical Inquiry, to date, there is no credible scientific evidence that any location is inhabited by spirits of the dead. (source: http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-09/i-files.HTML)

Critics of "eyewitness ghost sightings" suggest that limitations of human perception and ordinary physical explanations can account for such sightings; for example, air pressure changes in a home causing doors to slam, or lights from a passing car are reflected through a window at night. (source: http://www.csicop.org/sb/2001-06/visit.HTML) Pareidolia, an innate tendency to recognize patterns in random perceptions, is what some skeptics believe causes people to believe that they have seen ghosts. (source: skepdic.com/pareidol.HTML) Reports of ghosts "seen out of the corner of the eye" may be accounted for by the sensitivity of human peripheral vision. According to skeptical investigator Joe Nickell:...peripheral vision is very sensitive and can easily mislead, especially late at night, when the brain is tired and more likely to misinterpret sights and sounds.

Nickell also states that a person's belief that a location is haunted may cause them to interpret mundane events as confirmations of a haunting:Once the idea of a ghost appears in a household . . . no longer is an object merely mislaid. . . . There gets to be a dynamic in a place where the idea that it's haunted takes on a life of its own. One-of-a-kind quirks that could never be repeated all become further evidence of the haunting.

If you still feel unconvinced by the superb weight of the evidence in favour of non-supernatural explanations to ghosts, and continue to find what you regard as evidence that your house is haunted, then out of respect for your inquiry it would be incumbent to state that it is possible to contact people that advertise themselves as professional ghost hunters. These individuals would arrive at your home in supposed 'research teams' of five and six at a time, and attempt to establish what kind of supernatural activity is taking place in your home, if any, as well as how you may placate the ghosts in question through somewhat dubious techniques such as exorcism. The contact details of such organisations are usually available on the internet. However, before you attempt to make any such contact, it is once again important to bear in mind that most professional ghost hunters can only provide spurious credentials for their work. Like many others that claim to be operating in legitimate careers regarding the paranormal, such individuals may well have deluded themselves into thinking that they possess nonexistent abilities, or those of natures quite different from the ways they have always conceived of them. The processes by which such delusions occur are usually well understood psychologically, and if you live near a library, some attention to articles that occur in Scientific American Mind magazine, or the Sceptic Magazine, should enlighten you as to at least some of them. In the absence of these resources, you can also find out about the processes mentioned on www.sciam.com (official website of Scientific American), www.skeptic.com (official website of the Sceptic Society), or even type 'Michael Shermer' into YouTube to find videos of the scientific analyses the chairman of the Skeptic Society had done into the claims of professional ghost hunters as well as those suffering from alleged haunting. At the worst, professional ghost hunters may be charlatans that seek nothing except the exploitation of the uncertainties of others for their material gain. For these reasons, even if you do decide to seek their help, some research with regard to their method of operation, in accordance with the sources suggested or similarly reliable ones, are truly required for your protection, legal and emotional.

Nonetheless, it may be that throughout the course of your research you discover that natural explanations do or at least very likely exist for the haunting activities you have experienced. In any case, it is important to bear in mind the crucial difference between subjective experience and objective observation -the difference between what our brains think they are perceiving and what is actually taking place in reality. It remains for the conclusion of this answer to offer a gentle remind as to Occam's Razor, the foundation of the scientific method: 'one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything'.

Answer 3

Have it investigated for paranormal activity by a local paranormal group.

Answer 4

Ask if they've seen ghosts. All kidding aside, If you notice anything unusual while you know they are away, then they might have a haunted house on their hands.