We had a couple of interesting toy incidents. We had one of those "See and Says" . The toy is kind of round with a handle on top and a stand on the bottom. On the face of the toy there is a dial and about 15 or 20 things like a cow or a sheep. You place the dial/arrow on the item of your choice, pull the ripcord and the toy will reproduce the noise that that particular animal would make. (A cow would moo, type of thing.)
Anyhow, this damned toy was making the weirdest noise, kind of like a grumbling moan. Nothing intelligible, just garbled noises. So me being the genius I am go to check the batteries because that is what any self respecting dad figure would to.... the problem was, when I removed the battery cover, the batteries were gone. I got the weirdest feeling at this point. I pulled the ripcord and naturally nothing happened. The cord just retracted and nothing else.... the noise did quit though.
So, I got to talking this over with my dad and he seemed to think that there was some kind of small radio transmitter and receiver and that the toy was picking up random interference.... I then explained that there were no batteries.... he got this goofy dad look on his mug and said he thought it could still happen. I then asked him when the last time his radio did anything without batteries??? Nothing.... he just looked at me and moved along.
With that being said, my oldest son has been really sensitive to certain things, especially when he was just a little fella, around the time where he started talking a lot. My dad was having his second open heart surgery, it was pretty late in the evening and my son's training bed was at the foot of our bed. My son sat straight up in bed, totally asleep and said, "bye bye Bumpa". Super early the next morning, my step mom asked that I get to them as fast as possible. During the heart surgery, (which was taking place at the time my son sat up in bed and said what he did) my dad threw a blood clot to his brain and was effectively brain dead. The whole thing seemed a little more than ironic, you know.
Anyhow, shortly after that my wife heard my son playing or something... just jabbering away and she asked him, "who are you talking too?". He replied, "Bumpa" and said something along the lines that "Bumpa was just checking on us". So really, like you... nothing scary but its just the unknown.
I personally think that some people are more in tune with the "other side" and think that our youth are far closer to the other side. Their minds haven't been told what can or cannot happen, so they are just open to it. I know that I used to have deja-vu so much as a kid. It was like a daily occurance but stopped after a weird conversation with a mysterious older grandmotherly type woman who used to come by and help my mom out... like with dusting and running the vacuuming. AFter this conversation, she hit the road and the deja vu more or less stopped.
I'm intrigued by all of this stuff.
Every hour isn't entirely accurate. It's just intermintent...no real schedule. It is so odd.
Yeah, the toys are really the most obvious part of this. I am pretty sure I could easily dismiss the rest of it, but the toy's are the clincher. Tonight he actually replaced the batteries in a few of them as we truly are looking for a logical explanation. No help, they continue to go off on their own every hour or so. And different ones...much like a child would play with them. But there truly is nothing frightening, at least not so far. Just odd. I will take your suggestion on looking into the property. I am curious. Thanks.
You know, try taking a look at your local historical society if ones available. They are often an abundance of information regarding prior owners and the history of the town. There may have been another building of some significance that sat on the site of your home previously. (I've heard of spirits being attached to a piece of land rather than a particular building.)
As for the toys.... interesting, eh? I'm nowhere near as skeptical as I used to be. I've seen things that have no logical excuse, and like your situation... was never threatened so it was not a big deal.
Keep posting on this.....
btw..the toys starting up by themselves are pretty much a nightly occurance. It's not just once in awhile. My husband has checked the batteries, etc. and nothing seems to be wrong with them. It's really quite bizarre.