Is my house haunted?

I don't believe in ghosts but I desperately want to believe in them. Wouldn't a world where ghosts existed in, just be so...cool?

The young me used to believe in anything that was a bit off the norm. UFO's - check, Alien visitations - check, Loch Ness Monster - well, who doesn't. And Ghosts - big fat double-tick mark next to that one. Mum even told me her great ghost story once, can't remember what prompted her to blurt it out, but she was convinced she'd seen a ghost.

But as I grew up, I got more cynical and read more, and really came to my own conclusion that if they did exist, we'd surely have some kind of proof by now. I mean, we're technologically advanced enough to send the Hubble telescope into orbit, and build the Hadron Collider but you're telling me we can't even get some hard evidence that the spirits are among us?

Being a cynical grown up I'm naturally going to be a bit disturbed when my four-year-old daughter starts saying things that don't sit with my world view. It started a couple of weeks ago when she started crying for no evident reason. My wife was in the garden and heard Emily crying inside. She asked her what the matter was - there were real tears streaming down her face, my wife thought she'd seriously hurt herself. Emily said she could hear someone talking and it was scaring her. Not once did Emily say 'ghost' which for me, makes it all the more disturbing.

Two nights ago, after putting Emily to bed, there was the sound of running footsteps heading from where Emily's bed is, out onto the landing, then back again. Rather nonchalantly I assumed it was Emily being unusually restless. When I heard Emily start to cry I went up to check on her. Emily was sitting in her bed, upright. I asked her if she'd been out of bed. She said she hadn't. I asked her which room she'd been running to. She said she hadn't left the bedroom.

Last night, Emily woke me about four times. A couple of times it was the usual woes of her bedding needing straightening, or she can't find her monkey toy. But about half past three, I woke up hearing her talking in her sleep. I'm a pretty light sleeper so it really doesn't take much to wake me. There were lots of mumbled phrases and I won't pretend to remember them now, but she wasn't happy and seemed to be arguing. The last time she woke me, she was crying and upset. She told me that someone was in her room and she could hear breathing (BTW I'm getting a load of goosebumps writing this). I reassured her that there was no one in the house and that she'd just had a bad dream. She went on to explain that I shouldn't go in my office again - the door to my office is left open at night and from where Emily lies, she can see straight through into the room - although she accepted that I would eventually have to go in there to earn money to pay for the electricity.

I lay there with her for about an hour whilst she slept, not for one moment trying to tie together any of these separate occurrences. She is only four, and four-year-olds have vivid imaginations and do odd things pretty much on a daily basis. But tonight, I've closed my office door so she can't see in, and turned an extra light on, and when she calls me in the middle of the night - which will no doubt happen - I'll get myself out of bed just that little bit quicker.