well my folks are back from their hols and it's my last night here where I've been housesitting for them, yet again (I gotta go home and start moving house tomorrow). Maybe I've been watching too much of "Most Haunted" (which is mostly shit I know but I like to laugh at it*) but there are strange noises around this place in the small hours. Last time I was here, I went to bed one night at about 3am and before I went to sleep I heard someone moving around on the landing. I thought it was probably my mum or dad going to the bathroom but was surprised at how noisy they were being. Then I heard footsteps going down the stairs and the swish of a hand along the bannister. My dad sometimes gets up at 6am to watch the cricket but this was too early so I didn't think it was that. I was just beginning to wonder what that person was doing downstairs when I heard them come up the stairs again and then all was quiet. In the morning I asked who it was but both parents swore they didn't even wake up in the night. Then my dad jokingly said "It was probably Rhoda". I asked who she was and apparently she was the old lady that lived here for many decades before going into a home. My mum added that the lady had died. I asked when and my dad said "about two weeks ago"... and I got a shiver when he said that. Maybe she came back to look after the place. Then again last night I thought I heard someone moving around outside the bedroom door and thirty seconds later I heard the bang of the toilet seat falling down in the downstairs loo which is directly below my bedroom. This was at 2:52am. It's a very distinctive noise which I've heard a few times but not in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep.... Is that creepy or what? It probably sounds like I made this little story up, but it's true I promise!

Last time I was staying here I was reading this book - which is great; creepy and laugh-out-loud funny. Maybe I'm letting my imagination run away with me...

*if you think it's all bollocks you might enjoy badpsychics.com - they have a whole section devoted to Most Haunted including some rather incriminating outtakes and exposés...