Ghosts in the house?

[Bob Turkovich]

Ok, twice in the last two days I've gone down to my basement workroom and have found the lights on in the bathroom adjacent to my workroom. I've been the only one in my family in the basement during this time period and I do not recall using the "facilities" in either case.

The bathroom lights are on a different circuit breaker than the workroom. The lights are controlled by one 2-way sliding dimmer switch w/ a horizontal on/off toggle. The switch shares a switch box with a digital timer for the bathroom ceiling fan (which was not turned on.) Everything else on the same circuit breaker seems to be working properly.

The only other point is that I recently completed a circuit breaker "mapping" of every light fixture and receptacle in the house. Everytime Iturned the circuit breaker off/on for this particular circuit, the GFCI in the circuit would trip. Simply resetting the GFCI would turn the circuit back on.

Do I have a faulty dimmer switch? (It's about 7 years old.) Is my GFCI issue related? Should I be looking in the yellow pages for my local chapter of Ghosthunters?

[Clarence Miller]

I would start with the dimmer switch. It's a test for less than $15. I'm not an electrician but I can't think of anything the would cause a recurring on in the GFCI system. As for the other, put some flour on the floor and look for footprints. That works on TV.

[Joe Pelonio]

Usually this is a case where you thought you turned off the light but didn't. On the other hand, I have experienced stranger unexplained things. Curiosity forces me to ask, how old is your house?

In addition to the flour trick, try a bit of masking tape on the switch after turning it off.

[Dan Hintz]

Bob,

In the engineering world there's actually a term for this... senility.

[John Coloccia]

Save your money. Definitely ghosts.

[Bob Turkovich]

Usually this is a case where you thought you turned off the light but didn't. On the other hand, I have experienced stranger unexplained things. Curiosity forces me to ask, how old is your house?

In addition to the flour trick, try a bit of masking tape on the switch after turning it off.

Bob,

In the engineering world there's actually a term for this... senility.

Arrrrrgggggh!!!

I realized.....after some hard thinking.....that I actually went into the bathroom twice - once yesterday to get something out of the closet and once today to put it back. I did not use the "facilities". Probably turned the light on both times and forgot to turn it off (mind has been occupied the past couple of days - MIL & DIL had a "verbal disagreement" Xmas day and I've been mending fences ever since...). The senility explanation seems to fit.

But if the light's back on tomorrow, I'm going to freak out.....