lately on Reddit , a Charles William Post claim that many " obsessed " houses have been investigated , and the culprit found not to be supernatural but atomic number 6 monoxide poisoning .

Is that the case ? Well , it certainly has been theexplanationfor a number of case we can find , and according to one toxicologist carbon copy monoxide and other poisonings could explicate a surge in hauntings and ghostwriter account during the puritanical era .

One incredibly elaborate reputation published in theAmerican Journal of Ophthalmologyin 1921 documents the grammatical case of a family who moved into a house nine years earlier , and began to experience ghostly apparitions . The father , who liked to eat fruit alone in the kitchen before seam , start to feel like someone was watch him at all times from behind , and turned to face the hallway to ascertain out for other comportment . The child became disgusted and pale , and lose all pastime in playing , while the don hallucinated a " strange woman " dressed in black-market walk towards him from the dining room .

One night after the theater , both husband and wife had a foreign old sentence .

" I had faint and unusual dreams , which appeared to last for 60 minutes , " the mother tell the ophthalmologist years later . " When the morning came , I felt too banal and ill to get up . G. told me that in the middle of the night he woke up , feeling as if someone had catch him by the pharynx and was essay to hamper him . "

It was the Padre ’s brother who came up with the logical explanation , which was later confirmed by the oculist who found revealing equipment casualty in the tiddler ’s eyes . Two days into their arrest , the house ’s furnace had break down , the likely source of the carbon monoxide toxic condition that had caused their headaches , ill wellness , and hauntings .

In another far more recent case , author Carrie Poppy commence to feel like she was being adopt by a " bad religious presence " . Poppy felt like she was being look out , before she developed audile hallucination and a unusual feeling of press on her chest .

" I would get wind this like whoosh ( ph ) like as if something was passing by me - perchance the sound of the sea , you might say , " she told NPR’sTED Radio Hour . " And then just this this disquieting feeling that something was there . "

Rather than a haunting , Poppy felt like there was a demon in her house .

" Every day , I ’d fall home . And , you guys , this tactile sensation got so high-risk . I would sit there in bed at Nox . I would cry out every dark . And the intuitive feeling on my chest got worse and bad . It was physically atrocious . "

After some Googling , she go in touch with a meeting place of " ghost hunter " . Fortunately for Poppy , they were ghost hunters of the skeptical variety , and shortly they were ask her if she had learn of carbon monoxide poisoning . Sure enough …

" I looked it up , and the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning let in a pressure on your chest , auditory hallucination , whoosh ( ph ) , and an unexplainedfeeling of dread . "

certainly enough , the gas fellowship confirmed a outflow , and separate her that had it been leave ungoverned she could have been dead soon .

carbon paper monoxide intoxication of course does not explain all reports of ghosts , which can also be explain byhoaxes , hallucinationsduringsleep paralysis , pitiful sleep , and hotel managers down on their circumstances trying to drum up business if it was n’t for this teasing team of teenager and their cowardly talking dog .

However , toxicologist Albert Donnaybelievesthat carbon monoxide and other poisonings can cause hallucinations of hauntings , and that the theory would explain why Victorians – with their gasoline lamp andtoxic wallpaper – experienced so many hauntings , and became hypnotised by them .

In short , you have n’t insure a ghost , Andrew , but you might need to service your boiler .