30/10/2017

Who you gonna call?

One in five people claim to blame odd noises, creaking doors and leaky taps in their homes on supernatural activity – while over half claim to have seen or felt a ghostly presence.

While 1.5% of people turn to exorcists for help, HomeServe has a far less frightening alternative…

For many, a permanently-dripping tap or flickering bulb is just a mundane household nuisance. But could there be more to these domestic disturbances than just a faulty socket or leaky pipe…?

With Halloween upon us, we surveyed over 2,000 homeowners on the things which make them shudder. The results were spinetingling to say the least.

A terrified 18% put strange noises and faulty electricals or plumbing in their home down to ghostly mischief, while a shocking 53% of people claim to have felt or seen unearthly presence in their household before.

One HomeServe customer, Mrs. Feroze, recalled a frightening experience in her Derby home that made her consider whether all her house’s occupants were of this earth…

“The house was pitch-black and the flashing and flickering of our lights on the landing gave me the heebie-jeebies,” she told one of our HomeServe investigators.

In the end, Mrs. Feroze called in one of our in-house Ghostbusters who quickly identified the cause of her problem.

Mrs. Feroze said the engineer “busted [her] electrical ghosts” and offered some advice on buying energy-saving LEDs, helping her make her house “comfy rather than spooky” again.

The good news is, there’s usually a far less ghastly explanation for such household nuisances. They’re usually nothing to do with supernatural tomfoolery and actually rather easy problems to fix for our HomeServe engineers.

So, what are the things most likely to frighten us in our homes? According to our survey, these are the most scream-inducing household problems:

• Weird noises and sounds – 18%
• TV/radio/electronic devices switching on or off themselves – 14%
• Doors creaking or opening on their own – 12%
• Inexplicable cold patches – 9%
• Noises on the roof – 5%
  

Other mysterious happenings in the home which creep out homeowners include gurgling pipes (4%), leaking taps (4%) and even animals scratching at furniture or doors (3%).

So, if your home is giving you the creeps due to squeaky pipes, strange electrical problems or chilly rooms, call in a HomeServe engineer to bust those ghosts and leave you feeling safe and sound this Halloween.