Newbie Needing Advice Concerning Possible Ghost(?)

Hello everyone -

Been a lurker here for quite some time and finally decided to de-lurk and introduce myself. Actually, I have selfish motives for being here - I have a question for anyone who might possibly lend me serious advice.

First off, let me start by saying that 1. I have no experience with any sort of paranormal activity whatsoever and 2. That I'm not on any sort of medication

My question is this:

My husband, son and I purchased a brand new house in a brand new subdivision about a year and a half ago. The place where I live, the surrounding area, had a settlement dating back to the late 1700's - a ranching community. The ranch was recently sold off into individual acre parcels, one of which we live on.

Since we've been here, I've noticed strange things, nothing too worriesome, but noticeable at times - such as my son's toys going off by themselves (example in point: a dance mat that only goes off when someone steps on it), mainly at night. I've kinda ignored it and shrugged it off. Sometimes I see dark objects out of the corner of my eyes - nothing I can really pinpoint - a flicker and it's gone. Always about 5 feet away from me or so - and no, nothing's actually 'appeared' to me. I wear glasses, but my vision is okay - thought that it was just my imagination.

Last night several toys in the living room kept going off when we all went to bed - even my husband heard it, and he thinks this is all a load of hooey. Today I was watching a movie with my son, and he was across the room playing when someone or something kicked the back of the couch I was sitting on. I looked up and nothing else in the room moved or shook, so it wasn't an earthquake - the only way I can describe it is just that - someone kicking the back of the couch that you're sitting on. The couch is about 3 feet away from the wall, so it wasn't a vibration from the house outside. The kick happened right where my back is - kinda like an attention kick, I guess. Then the toys went off several times in a row, and have for a few hours now.

Last month I took my son to ToysRUs to buy him a basketball hoop for his brithday - when we went out into the parking lot, (there wasn't anyone around near us - I went when they opened and the parking lot was deserted) I left him buckled into the cart (he's 2) while I loaded the hoop into the trunk of my car. The cart was wedged right up against my car, like I always have it when he's in the cart. The cart suddenly slowly rolled away - just rolled about 4 feet away from me, and slowly started turning circles in the parking lot. I know this is crazy, but it's true - I watched it all. And no, we weren't parked on a slope - there was no explanation for this occuring. My son wasn't scared - he just looked at me and laughed - he was having fun. I gently pulled the cart back over to the car, and when I took my hand away it pulled away from me again - rolled away, I should say. I shoved the basketball hoop into the trunk and took my son out of the cart, acting like all was normal.

My next door neighbor asked me one day, hesitantly (like I'd think she was nuts) if anything ever 'happened' that was strange at my place - I asked her what she meant and she told me about sitting outside in her back yard at night and her son's toys going off around her, with no wind or vibration to make them go off. Enough so that she actually got rid of one of them that kept going off in the house - got spooked and threw it away. Her husband went down to the corner Quik Mart and was talking with the cashier, and told her they were new to the area and where they lived - and she said, 'you mean the old children's graveyard sight.'

He said, 'what do you mean?' and she told him that years ago, the people who lived in this area were poor ranchers who couldn't afford for their kids to be buried in the town cemetery - there was a typhoid outbreak about 125 years ago and several children died - and they were buried in the area on the other side of the railroad tracks - which is where we live now. I discounted this as total fiction - she even told him that the people who drive the trains through the area at night when she sometimes works the night shift tell her that they 'see' things crossing the tracks - meaning people I suppose. I'm sure the graveyard myth isn't true - after all, this isn't Poltergeist and that isn't legal, selling graveyard property to someone. She told him that it was never a legal graveyard, just a children's cemetary where people who couldn't afford a plot in the graveyard buried their kids. I still think it's b.s.

Could my mom be visiting? She passed away 5 years ago this summer, and never knew my son. Or am I just losing my mind? Please advise and give me input - sorry for the novel.

~A

Beacuse of your house antiquity if I was you I will do some serious reaserch in the house, land and town history.

Well Iam sorry i cant offer you an answer but, i do think that you are being visited by something! May-be you should contact a paranormal researcher!

The house is brand new - so nothing could be going on there. I tried to do some research into the area via the net, and didn't come up with much - only that it was an old ranching community dating back to the late 1700's. I even tried to pursue the (I'm sure) ficitional children's cemetary notion; dead end there (no pun intended).

The only other thing of note is this (which is probably concidental): I live on a culdesac. 7 months after we moved in here, I was diagnosed with cancer - a rapidly spreading form that my doctor swore up and down wasn't present when my son was born a year earlier. He told me that my tumor was 5 cm and growing rapidly - couldn't give me an explanation why.

My neighbor (the one who threw the toy away and told me about her husband's story) was diagnosed with heart disease (she's 38) a few months ago - serious enough that she's now on meds for it and needs constant follow up. Her mother, who lives next door to her, and across the street from me, was diagnosed with a lung disorder (valley fever) 6 months after they moved here and had half her lung removed. Still coincidence?

I apologize for the misunderstanding, I guess the land and town needs to be reasearch and find out who was the original owner of the land. I any other houses has been build with yours? Are other having problems to? Start with one thing at a time.

Hey Marg - thanks for the advice - I'll see what I can find

As for my neighbors, they have new homes too - this is a brand new subdivision - the original ranch was just broken up into parcels last year to be sold finally, for the first time. Only problems are health related, mysterious (according to them and to me as well) as to why they're happening all at once and only to the women on this culdesac - maybe it's something in the water.

Thanks for your help - it's much appreciated.

Its unlikely to be your mom visiting otherwise why should the neighbour have a similar problem?

I wouldn't be so quick to discount the children's cemetary. For years I have heard a certain chant in old priory ruins near where I used to live. I discounted it because according to my knowledge it was impossible (I heard male Gregorian chants in the ruins of a female priory).
As soon as I mentioned this here at ATS, I was told that it was quite possible for me to have heard what I did. I was then told a piece of historical data that I was quite unaware of.

Just because you can't accept that there was a childs cemetary doesn't mean that there wasn't one. You will need to perform detailed research on the area to find out. Visit old archives and/or libraries to check - things like that.

Thanks Pisky and Warhappy - will see what I can do.