Spooky House Sounds & Noises Explained

Why Your House Probably Isn't Haunted
by C. Jeanne Heida

Are those spooky sounds and noises heard in your house at night the work of ghosts and other spectral visitors? While you and your family might think your house is haunted, it's much more likely that those spooky
ooky sounds and noises have a very earthly explanation behind him.

All houses make noises of some kind or another. Duct work expands and contract loudly, pipes may sing, and even the wood inside the framework of the building may groan as it shrinks. Older houses seem to make more noise than newer homes, which is probably a result of minimal insulation. Without insulation, noises in an old house are amplified to where it sounds much worse than it really is.

If your house has strange sounds and noises that have got you a little spooked, this little guide should set your mind at ease.

Mystery footsteps heard upstairs. Running footsteps is one of the more common of the spooky house sounds and noises many people hear. But, instead of a ghost running around upstairs, it's more likely that a squirrel, rat, possum, or raccoon is running on the roof or the attic floor. The thud of their footsteps is amplified in the pitched cavity of the roof, and makes the soft padding of their feet sound almost human like. To prevent animals from entering the attic, check the second story soffits and eaves for access points and seal them shut with wire mesh.

Scratching sounds. Scritchity, scratchy sounds are usually one of two things; either a branch that is blowing up against the house, or a small animal scratching away behind the plaster of the walls. Again, the hollow space behind the plaster amplifies the noise and makes it much worse than it really is. To stop these noises, prune shrubs and trees away from the house, and set traps in the attic to catch the mice.

Squeaky hinges and slamming doors. Old, poorly insulated houses are naturally drafty and the slightest change of air pressure can open a door or slam it shut. Adding insulation to the house and sealing the drafts can prevent doors from opening and shutting on their own. A little WD-40 can take care of those squeaking hinges as well.

Loud groans are usually nothing more than the timbers inside the framework of the house shrinking and contracting with the fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels.

Clanging chains. As air passes through the duct work in your home, it can cause loose sections of ductwork and the registers to rattle a bit. This rattling noise bounces around the ductwork to sound like chains clanging
and rattling away. While you can't do much about the ductwork, you can check the condition of the registers and tighten up the ones that are loose.

Oooooooo noises. The wind passing over chimneys and around loose windows make a terrible "Oooooooo" noise which sounds quite frightening....until you remember that it's the same kind of noise made when blowing over the top of pop bottles. When the wind passes over the chimney or through small cracks, it makes that low whistle sound whcih sounds much spookier than it really is. To prevent those Ooooooo sounds, close the fireplace damper at night and check the window and door jams for air leaks.

Knocking noises. Ductwork is also the chief culprit for the knocking noises you may hear in your house. As warm air hits the cold ductwork, the expanding sheet metal makes a series of noises that sound like rapid knocking such as what you might hear on a door. The knocking stops after 10 seconds, and may resume once the furnace kicks off and the ductwork starts to cool.

Loud thuds are usually caused by something falling to the floor, having been pushed over not by a ghost, but by a strong draft instead. Thuds also happen when branches drop on the roof of a house or a large animal (such as a cat or coon) leaps from a tree to the roof of your home.

Humming walls. Old houses seem to be particularly susceptible to this, especially older homes with single pane window windows, poor insulation and plaster walls. The humming that is heard in the walls is not a singing spook, but the sound vibrations caused by a car stereo. These low level vibrations can rattle the walls and windows and create a mystical sounding humming noise that can be a bit unsettling. There's nothing that can be done about stereo noise except to ask the neighbor's teenager to pipe it down.

As ooky, spooky as these noises sound, in most cases it's really nothing to worry about. Old houses tend to make all sorts of strange noises that may sound like dead people wandering around, but are really nothing
more than the house shifting and groaning on its own.

Research Quotes XVIII

If I should go before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone,
Nor when I’m gone speak in a Sunday voice
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must,
Parting is hell,
But life goes on,
So sing as well.

Joyce Greenfeld, Joyce: by Herself and Her Friends

London is freezing...

...but no worries because my new home is super warm as you can see below!

Sabedoria - seu nome é Clarice Lispector I

Até cortar os próprios defeitos pode ser perigoso. Nunca se sabe qual é o defeito que sustenta nosso edifício inteiro.

Very creative! Even for those who do not understand portuguese... history is universal!

Bye Bye to the Basement Life!

In the past few days we have been moving...



...it was hard, but now I'm back!

L's Agenda November 2010

Exhibitions:
Fiona Banner. Duveen Comission – Tate Britain, London
Bernd and Hilla Becher. Water Towers – Sonnabend, New York
Louise Bourgeois – Hauser & Wirth, London
Louise Bourgeois and Tracy Emin. Do Not Abandon Me. A Collaboration – Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York
Pavel Buchler – Max Wigram, London
Yoan Capote. Mental States – Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Mat Collishaw – Blain/Southern Gallery, London
John Currin: New Paintings – Gagosian Gallery, New York
Jimmie Durham. Arts, media and sports – Sprovieri, London
Angus Fairhurst – Sadie Coles, London
Peter Hujar. Thek’s studio 1967 – Alexander and Bonin, New York
Inagural Show – CRG Gallery, New York
Leon Kossoff – Annely Juda, London
Christian Marclay – White Cube, London (incomplete)
Brice Marden. Paintings 1961-1964 – Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Ana Mendieta: Documentation and Artwork, 1972-1985 – Galerie Lelong, New York
Nasreen Mohamedi – Modern Art, London
Peggy Preheim. the end (final cut) – Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
Alan Reid – Lisa Cooley, New York
Ugo Rondinone - Gladstone Gallery, New York
Tomas Saraceno - Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
Bojan Šarčević – Modern Art, London
Peter Schoolwerh. Portraits of Paintings – Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York
Collier Schorr – 303 Gallery, New York
Gedi Sibony – Greene Naftali, New York
Mickey Smith. Believe You Me – Invisible-Exports, New York
Hiroshi Sugimoto. The day after – Pace, New York
Paul Thek – Whitney Museum, New York
Paul Thek – Alexander and Bonin, New York
Rirkrit Tiravanija – Pilar Corrias, London
Turner Prize – Tate Britain, London
James Turrell – Gagosian, London
Kelley Walker – Thomas Dane, London
Rachel Whiteread. Drawings – Tate Britain, London
Robert Wilson – Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Erwin Wurm. gulp – Lehmann Maupin, New York
Robert Yaber. Irrational Exuberance – Sonnabend, new York
New York Artist’s Book Fair
EAB Print and Artist’s Book Fair

Films:
Couples Retreat (2009). Peter Billingsley. With Jason Bateman, Vince Vaughn and Kristen Bell.
Get Low (2009). Aaron Schneider. With Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray
Grown Ups (2010). Dennis Dugan. With Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Steve Buscemi.
Invictus (2009). Clint Eastwood. With Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
The Joneses (2009). Derrick Borte. With Demi Moore and David Duchovny.
Old Dogs (2009). Walt Becker. With John Travolta and Robin Williams (so bad I watched it in fast-forward)
Paranormal Activity (2007). Oren Peli. With Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat.
Pure (2002). Alison Hume. With Molly Parker, Harry Eden and Keira Knightley
Snowbeast (1977). Herb Wallerstein. With Bo Svenson and Robert Logan (part of the Barbican’s Bad Film Club).
Teorema (1968) Pier Paolo Pasolini. With Laura Betti and Massimo Girotti.

Dance:
Gezeiten – BAM, New York
To The Ones I Love, Compagnie Thor – Barbican, London

Series:
Brothers and Sisters – series 1