Freaked Out Kid

He's 18. Give him a flashlight and tell him to get his baseball bat out and sleep with it.

Also, spirit IS a rational explanation if you have ruled out all non-spirit options. But it's nothing to be afraid of.

Set up a video camera. No, seriously. Let it run for a few days while he is sleeping. Maybe he can capture (either by sight or sound) what is causing what he is hearing. If you can get an answer it should alleviate his fears.

So, volunteer to switch rooms for one night. If you hear it and experience it, maybe you can figure out what it is.
If you hear nothing, maybe his imagination has taken over. If you hear something and can't identify what it is, call your Pastor and discuss it with him away from your house.
It is probably something like the cat, but just as I believe in God and goodness, I know that evil does exist.
Good Luck

Could you have mice in your house? I know when I was younger and lived in the country the neighbors had done something on their farm that drew rats in. Yes rats not mice it was really bed but before we knew they were there we thought we were hearing all kinds of stuff and my brother started sleeping with his bb gun. I am very skeptical about spirits but who knows.

I am a psychic/medium and I do Paranormal Investigations. So I am going to answer following that track. I have met other paranormal investigations who never believed in ghosts UNTIL they encountered them themselves.

Whoever posted that there is nothing there at night that isn't there during the day is correct. However if you do in fact have a ghost they just seem to be more active at night. When you hear the footsteps, try talking to the ghost. Just say something like we are trying to sleep now please do not make noise. Or please stop touching my blankets.

A home can be a new construction and still have ghosts. It could have been a Native American settelment or a pioneer farm many many years ago, and the haunting is from that time period. If you re-model or sometimes even paint your home you can still up a dormant ghost.

Put out a live animal trap. Chances are you have a furry visitor.

Cheryl thank you for your suggestion, I think I am going to switch rooms with him like you suggested for the night and see what I hear or don't hear and whether or not he has any problems sleeping in my room and go from there. I appreciate that you read my post correctly unlike some of the others answering. I am not supporting my sons fears like someone else mentioned, I have said nothing to him about my own experiences and I do not and never have believed in ghosts or things that go bump in the night.

well you should believe. when my son was about four he asked the babysitter who the man is in his bedroom. i have also experienced things, and my two daughters. no big deal just certain things. it could get worse so i would take it kinda serious.

My son is 9 and we are currently having the same sort of issues with him. Here's what we've done so far: 1) He was given iron pills for restless leg syndrome. Apparently low iron causes sleeplessness/insomnia/sleep problems, and can cause your legs to constantly be moving, and you to have to toss and turn under the covers. If you move enough around in the bed, your sheets get caught up around your legs, and it can feel like there's something pulling on your sheets. 2) Since he was getting practically no sleep due to the insomnia, and staying awake at night, he was awake in his dark room, staring at the darkness. Eventually shadows start to look like people/ghosts, ect. 3) His bed was right beside the window. The neighbors parked their cars right beside his window. We found out that the neighbors teenager would sneak out at night and meet boys by my sons bedroom window. My son would hear them talking/walking and think someone was in his room. 4) We also found out that my son would "see or hear" ghosts more often after watching scary movies/tv shows or playing video games. ( I realize your son is 18, but some adults can't handle scary stuff. Heck my husband is 34, and can barely handle watching The Walking Dead with me!) As a result, we don't watch scary TV shows/movies around him anymore, and we try to limit the video games. 5) We basically tried to help him sleep better, and the issues with the "ghosts" went away pretty much on their own, or rarely happen at all any more.

If he's 18, he may have an anxiety disorder or a sleep disorder. You might check in with a specialist.

If 18 was a typo and he's younger, this is a normal phase. Children just get anxious as they settle down to sleep, and this can manifest as beliefs in monsters under the bed and the like.

Either way, your job is not to substantiate those fears. There is no boogie man. With all due respect, come on.

It's our job as parents to provide reality checks. You may have fears of the paranormal (and everyone has irrational fears of something or other), but now is not the time to indulge in this kind of thinking. Reassure your son that there's nothing otherworldly in his room no matter what. Engage in a scientific search for what could be causing the sensations -- the pulling sensation of a blanket at the foot of the bed could be magnified when he's semiconscious. An older house can creak. A house with thinner walls can sway in the wind. It'll be interesting and educational, no matter how old your son is.

I second or third checking into whether you have mice or another furry creature. When I was in college I rented a room in a house and used to hear steps and rustling all the time. It took my roomate getting a cat before I realized we had mice and they were coming out at night.

I didn't believe in ghosts either until we moved to our current house. My husband experienced touching, lights going on and off, and we both have heard footsteps, doors opening, etc. It was always playful or friendly - rocking my daughter's cradle, etc. But we decided we had enough. We asked our minister to come to the house and he willingly did. He prayed in several rooms, and we haven't had a single occurrence happen since.

I didn't believe in such things because I didn't think the Bible supported it, but our minister showed us a few things in the Bible that support the existence of spirits after death and their ability to interact. My suggestion is not to minimize your son's experiences - he's believing that something is happening (whether it really is or not). Make sure he feels you're listening and believing him because I'm certain he already thinks he might be crazy or delusional. I remember watching my daughter in the swing about five different times to make sure I was seeing it moving - and trying to remember if I had pushed it or turned it on. I blamed it on sleep deprivation until it happened three times and my husband witnessed it to. :)

I don't know what I would tell an 18 year old who was experiencing such things other than that I don't believe in ghosts and paranormal activity.

If you have doubts about that, it might be harder to convince him that it's nothing.

I'm voting for the cat explanation.

hate to bring it up but would drugs cause this, or energy drinks????

Updated: Sorry, my fault -- I misread the post and thought you had told him of your fears. My apologies. I do still hope you can explore with him whether he is stressed although you say you know of no obvious stresses -- you may not be aware of everything going on in his life. As someone else posted, there may be anxiety issues. And do still check the bed frame and the heating.

Original response: Is your son 18 or is that a typo? Maybe he's 8 instead? Because this does not sound like a problem for a boy as old as 18. The fact you're corroborating his fears by saying you too experience these things -- well, that's not wise at all. Does he have other irrational fears? Did you and he investigate whether this could be as simple as a pet moving around at night (as someone else posted) or the blanket being caught on the end of the bed frame somehow?>

There is nothing in his room at night that is not there in the daytime. Period.

There is a reasonable explanation for this. Even if that explanation is that he is in a period of bad dreams that, upon waking, he thinks are really happening. Is he under stress at school? Changes at home or problems with friends or a job etc.? Those could explain stress dreams that seem real. But he may need more help for that than just checking the bed.....

However, I'd check the bed etc. first. Don't support his fears with your own. Just listen to him without judgement and then say, let's tackle this like adults and go strip the bed and re-make it and look for things that catch. And then check whether your heating (did you just recently turn on heat for the winter?) makes bumping or thumping sounds that could be "footsteps." Ours certainly does and the house has many diffferent noises once it gets turned on.