Welcome to living in a very old house. Our house is 130 yrs old and same issues. People back in the day just did things how ever they could get them done and that does not always "work" now. But to be on the safe side grab some garlic, and sage, and holy water, and some chickens, and if you end up not using them on spirits you have the start to a really good pot of soup.

Both my present-day house and the one I previously lived in have lots of wood in them (stairs, floors, etc) and in both cases the wood does weird noises when the seasons change. I think it's because temperature changes make wood expand and contract. So you're lying in bed and suddenly you hear a loud bang coming from the stairs when no one is even walking on them. But no weird noises happen during the whole summer or the whole winter, when the temperature is uniformly hot, or cold.

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