SUGGESTED ANSWER TO QUESTION 1-1(a)

Alfred, who is 69 years old and lives alone, is awakened each morning just before 2:00 am by a voice somewhere in his house that says, "I won't take the lift down." The voice continues saying this for 15 seconds and then stops. Alfred has even tape-recorded the voice, but no one else who has ever visited him has heard the voice.

In the following, two possible explanations are mentioned. You may have thought of other possibilities.

This story actually is true (see Ezard, 2003). Many people thought that Alfred had tape-recorded the voice of a ghost, but the actual explanation was much more mundane. The following is a quote from a newspaper article about the incident:

The story reached the website Paranormal News.... There was talk of exorcism. But through it all Mr Mansbridge was obdurate. 'All I want is for it to go away', he said. 'I don't believe in ghosts and I'm certainly not going to ask the local vicar to come around and try to get rid of evil spirits. I'm not going mad. This is a genuine mystery. One thing's for sure, I'm not packing my bags and leaving.'

The ghostbusters were local environmental health staff. On a bookcase in Mr. Mansbridge's lounge they discovered a children's Spider-Man watch.... Someone had set the alarm, which plays a catchphrase from the film, by mistake at 1.55 am, left it on the bookcase and forgotten it.