THE HAUNTING

‘When my husband (then boyfriend) and I moved into our apartment five years ago, we noticed that items would go missing, and then later we’d discover them back where we had originally put them. Initially, we brushed this off, but when the TV remote reappeared in the fridge and the kitchen scissors underneath the car, we started to suspect that there was more at play here.

‘I started having restless nights and I was worried that I was sleeptalking (sometimes sleep-singing!), which is something I do when I’m under extreme stress. I decided to download an app that records you while you sleep. The next morning, I started listening to the recordings, hoping to hear myself saying something hilarious. Instead, I heard breathing, a clinking sound coming from what I assumed was the kitchen, and then a loud whisper, “This is good,” followed a few moments later by another whisper, “Yes.” Normally, I would just say that this was proof of me sleeptalking, but you can clearly hear our breathing in the foreground!

‘The apartment upstairs became vacant and, about a week later,

I got a text from the neighbour to say that she could hear footsteps, thumping noises and the sounds of furniture being moved around in there. Worried that someone was squatting there, she contacted the owner to come and check the apartment. I went through it with him. Nothing had been touched. Not a speck of dust on the floor, not a curtain out of place, everything as he had left it. That night, his neighbour and I stayed up all night in an attempt to listen to the sounds next door. I had my sleep-talking recorder going for most of the night. When we listened to it the next day, I could hear a voice asking, “What’s up?” It was crystal clear, as if the person had been in the room with us.

‘When we moved in, the landlord told us that the previous owner had died in hospital. I found out a few days ago that he had actually passed away in his chair, right where our couch is.

Despite all the creepiness, we are actually very happy here – believe it or not!’