One of our readers writes about strange sounds in a private home in Ottawa Ontario.
At the time I was living at my sister's place, a two-bedroom home with unfinished basement in modest neighbourhood. One evening while my sister and I were watching TV I decided to go play guitar downstairs in the basement to avoid disturbing my her. I went downstairs and played for about a half an hour in a back room that was created as a music practice room by some previous tenants. The basement is clean with concrete floors and fake wood paneling on the walls in one half of the basement, a bunk bed and desk are present. The other half holds the furnace and tool bench, washer/dryer; floor and walls all concrete, with some shelving here and there.
I was on the side with the bunk bed in the back room, furthest away from the stairs to the upstairs.I had just finished playing guitar and stood up, was packing the guitar in its case, when as clear as day I heard 'PSSST!', someone trying to get my attention. I was inside this back room with the door to it open. I turned my head quickly, startled by the sound and saw no one. I then got a shiver up my back, but pushed it away and calmly finished packing my guitar.
I left the room, and then stopped, interested to see what this sound was, but feeling a bit of trepidation in hanging around. So I asked out loud 'if you're here, move the door', making an assumption that it was a ghost and not some other logical explanation. The door to the room I just came out from is always left open (outwards from the door frame)and is on stiff hinges, it does not move and I did not touch it at any time. After about 20 seconds the door moved slightly, about one inch of movement. I then calmly (or as calmly as I could) walked out of the room and upstairs.
I didn't tell my sister at first and wanted to examine the basement in more detail to look for anything that could cause this noise. I understand that some visions and feelings and experiences can be caused/effected by high electro-magnetic signals in a particular location, but this house did not have any electrical systems that were out-of-the-ordinary.
My emotional state was steady and I wasn't going through any traumatic experiences. I wasn't 'looking' for anything, i.e. a sign, a ghost, or anything of that nature while in the basement, simply playing guitar.
The next day I went down and examined the basement, nothing out of the ordinary, the furnace did not make the noise, and none of the other appliances did either (I never heard the sound again while I stayed at that house).
I had lived there quite a few months by this point and was familiar with the place and its noises by this time. The sound wasn't external to the house since the basement is almost totally sound proof, nor was the sound from upstairs as I could hear my sister and the TV just barely audible if I listened quietly. This sound that I heard was clear and distinct. There were no other sounds in the basement, just me. It sounded like someone was standing about 10 feet away from me and making the sound 'pssst!!' forcefully, to get my attention.
I have no explanation what this phenomenon was. It wasn't (as far as I could tell) induced by strong electro-magnetic signals affecting our brains (this is known to cause hallucinations, both audio and visual), as there were no powerful appliances or anything else in the household. It was not any device or appliance that made the sound, nor anything upstairs or outside. I do not have any explanation for the door movement, but I know what I saw and I would swear before a judge etc that it happened.
The door moved, it was not nudged earlier because it is kept wide open, and out of the way of people traffic. The door does not move easily and I did not nudge it. I believe that there is an imprint an old man left in the house. I do not think that this is a conscious, aware entity or anything like that. I believe that it may be an imprint of a person's life energy (for lack of a better term) left in this space time.
The pattern was the same each time, never anything different. I don't know why the sound was heard in two places, but maybe the sound can be heard even when people are not around. Maybe the events are triggered by something else, someone else's life force walking by? I haven't a clue really, this is all supposition.
Our thanks to the witness for sharing these experiences with us. Have you had a ghostly encounter in Ottawa or elsewhere in the province? If so, please do write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Your privacy is assured.
At the time I was living at my sister's place, a two-bedroom home with unfinished basement in modest neighbourhood. One evening while my sister and I were watching TV I decided to go play guitar downstairs in the basement to avoid disturbing my her. I went downstairs and played for about a half an hour in a back room that was created as a music practice room by some previous tenants. The basement is clean with concrete floors and fake wood paneling on the walls in one half of the basement, a bunk bed and desk are present. The other half holds the furnace and tool bench, washer/dryer; floor and walls all concrete, with some shelving here and there.
I was on the side with the bunk bed in the back room, furthest away from the stairs to the upstairs.I had just finished playing guitar and stood up, was packing the guitar in its case, when as clear as day I heard 'PSSST!', someone trying to get my attention. I was inside this back room with the door to it open. I turned my head quickly, startled by the sound and saw no one. I then got a shiver up my back, but pushed it away and calmly finished packing my guitar.
I left the room, and then stopped, interested to see what this sound was, but feeling a bit of trepidation in hanging around. So I asked out loud 'if you're here, move the door', making an assumption that it was a ghost and not some other logical explanation. The door to the room I just came out from is always left open (outwards from the door frame)and is on stiff hinges, it does not move and I did not touch it at any time. After about 20 seconds the door moved slightly, about one inch of movement. I then calmly (or as calmly as I could) walked out of the room and upstairs.
I didn't tell my sister at first and wanted to examine the basement in more detail to look for anything that could cause this noise. I understand that some visions and feelings and experiences can be caused/effected by high electro-magnetic signals in a particular location, but this house did not have any electrical systems that were out-of-the-ordinary.
My emotional state was steady and I wasn't going through any traumatic experiences. I wasn't 'looking' for anything, i.e. a sign, a ghost, or anything of that nature while in the basement, simply playing guitar.
The next day I went down and examined the basement, nothing out of the ordinary, the furnace did not make the noise, and none of the other appliances did either (I never heard the sound again while I stayed at that house).
I had lived there quite a few months by this point and was familiar with the place and its noises by this time. The sound wasn't external to the house since the basement is almost totally sound proof, nor was the sound from upstairs as I could hear my sister and the TV just barely audible if I listened quietly. This sound that I heard was clear and distinct. There were no other sounds in the basement, just me. It sounded like someone was standing about 10 feet away from me and making the sound 'pssst!!' forcefully, to get my attention.
I have no explanation what this phenomenon was. It wasn't (as far as I could tell) induced by strong electro-magnetic signals affecting our brains (this is known to cause hallucinations, both audio and visual), as there were no powerful appliances or anything else in the household. It was not any device or appliance that made the sound, nor anything upstairs or outside. I do not have any explanation for the door movement, but I know what I saw and I would swear before a judge etc that it happened.
The door moved, it was not nudged earlier because it is kept wide open, and out of the way of people traffic. The door does not move easily and I did not nudge it. I believe that there is an imprint an old man left in the house. I do not think that this is a conscious, aware entity or anything like that. I believe that it may be an imprint of a person's life energy (for lack of a better term) left in this space time.
The pattern was the same each time, never anything different. I don't know why the sound was heard in two places, but maybe the sound can be heard even when people are not around. Maybe the events are triggered by something else, someone else's life force walking by? I haven't a clue really, this is all supposition.
Our thanks to the witness for sharing these experiences with us. Have you had a ghostly encounter in Ottawa or elsewhere in the province? If so, please do write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Your privacy is assured.