Haunted House?

I'm a generally skeptical person and question most everything. When Jerry, my mother-in-law's boyfriend, told us that his house was haunted a couple of months ago I dismissed the idea pretty quickly. I thought he was either joking, was the victim of an over active imagination influenced by a creaky old house, or was perhaps just a little delusional. My education in psychology has taught me to seek such rational explanations for the "supernatural." Since then, though, I've had to reevaluate my position.

A couple of weeks ago, while in Jerry's restroom, I heard someone moving around outside the door. I finished washing my hands and stepped outside. There was nobody out there. In fact, everyone was on the other side of the house. This struck me as odd, but I didn't think too much about it until several days later when it happened to my wife Joy.

Joy's mother, Jerry, and Walter (Joy's brother) were all in the dining room when Joy walked in obviously shaken. She asked them if one of them had been outside the bathroom door. They had all been sitting in the kitchen in plain view of each other and claimed that no one had left. When she heard this she became very frightened. She revealed that she had heard someone outside the bathroom. When she got out and didn't see anyone, she thought her brother was hiding somewhere to scare her. When she found them all in the kitchen it really did scare her. She was still shaken when I arrived from work.

Jerry claims that not only has he experienced the apparition, the woman he bought the house from told him it was haunted. He has even affectionately named the ghost Freddy. I, being the cynic that I am, suggested that it was probably just the house settling. Joy reiterated that it sounded like someone walking outside the door, and she was upset the rest of the evening.

The final episode of this story happened two nights ago. We were again gathered at Jerry's house. This time those assembled included Joy, her mom, Jerry, Joy's sister Mickie, a friend of Jerry's and myself. The men were watching T.V. in one room, while the women were visiting in another. Jerry's friend actually said something about hearing a dog inside the house when he had been waiting outside the door, and wondered aloud if Freddy had a ghost dog. Right then we heard a metallic clang come from the hallway. Joy's mom came out to see what we were up to, but we thought that they had made the noise. The ruckus had come from the hall outside the "haunted" bathroom. I went back there to see what was going on and encountered my wife and her sister hugging each other in fright. Their mother was staring at the hallway closet and I could here what sounded like something moving inside! NO ONE IN THE HOUSE WAS!

When I opened the closet door there was nothing there but a few boxes full of old junk. We could still hear the noise! Now it sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. I looked around and saw that everyone was staring nervously upward.

Like I said earlier I've had to reevaluate my original position on this matter. Now I think Jerry has squirrels in his attic. This is quite a step up from thinking he has bats in his belfry!


Addendum: My wife, after reading this, insists that though the noises from the latter night could have been squirrls, the earlier noise was different. She fervently maintains that it was the sound of someone walking, and that I am dismissing the possibility of it being a ghost to easily.