I think I have a spirit in my house, and I never used to believe in this sort of thing?

<Cabinets will randomly open.> Or, absentminded humans leave the cabinet doors open. That would be a plausible explanation even for someone who lives alone, but since you don't, it's far likelier.

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<I get cold pockets of air> You heat with a wood stove, and the chances are that a century-old home isn't insulated all that well. Of course you'll have cold spots. That's not surprising in the least, and there's nothing paranormal about it.

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<my son (5) has said twice now he smells "hot metal."> It's hard to know what he means by "hot metal", and no disrespect to your family, but I don't tailor my beliefs in much of anything based on what a first grader says. Children that young can't distinguish between fantasy and reality. Chances are you've taught him to believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus, and chances are he believes you.

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<the main front room light was on> Maybe you were tired and forgot to turn it off on the way to bed. That happens to everyone at one time or another. Or maybe you sleepwalk, which is another explanation for the open cabinet doors.

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<I may be reading into this.> I'd say you certainly are. You're choosing to interpret as supernatural banal, everyday events that all have rational explanations, if you'll only look for them. You've assembled a pretty typical laundry list that paranormal believers use to convince themselves they're being haunted, without first considering real-world explanations. Even the least plausible natural explanation is far likelier than a paranormal one, so it's always a mistake to put paranormal cause anywhere except on the bottom of the very long list of normal ones.

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<I never used to believe in this sort of thing> Well, if you say so, but to put it bluntly, you're acting as though that's not true. A moderate dose of critical thinking explains almost everything you've said, and what it doesn't explain (e.g. the gunpowder smell) can be attributed to your imagination.

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<And why don't I feel scared?> Maybe because, deep down, you really realize that all this paranormal business is bogus.

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<Please don't say I am crazy.> Well, a small percentage of the time that is the answer, but almost always not, as in yours. It's almost never a choice only between "paranormal" and "crazy"--again, there are virtually always rational, plausible, real-world explanations for everything we experience. The "paranormal or crazy" false dichotomy is one often expressed by paranormal believers, as though there are no other possibilities.

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There is no spirit in the house--you're letting anxiety and superstitious fear overcome your rational thought. Remain aware of that, quit being hypervigilant and looking for little things to add to the paranormal laundry list, and you'll stop noticing these little quirks that happen in everyone's lives.

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I'm glad you're doing research into the house, often times that is the first step to understanding the situation that you could be in. I live in an old house myself (over 300 years old), and weird things (paranormal) happen all the time. Old houses often come with a lot history and I'm not surprised that things like what you listed are happening to you. It's totally okay to not feel scared; I'm not scared of my house, and trust me when I say we've had A LOT of stuff happen. It's actually good that you're not afraid; if you're comfortable (as you can be), it most likely means that you don't have anything bad in the house, which is good. I would only start to worry if things start to get physical, or you start to notice things getting worse. Keep doing research into your house, it should help a lot. Also, as a side note, if things get worse, you can tell the spirit to leave; you need to tell it that this is your house now and that it needs to leave (you need to be forceful, and clear with your message), however I would only do this is you are sure you can be firm enough that it would leave, otherwise it might just get angry. I hope I've provided some help for you, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I don't think you're crazy at all.

All of these people have said that "ghosts aren't real" and "it's all natural" but I don't particularly agree with that.

Firstly, I didn't used to believe in ghosts, but there are too many things that happen in this world that cannot be explained naturally.

However, this doesn't mean you can assume that you're house is haunted. The paranormal activity that happens could be happening through natural occurrences.

The topic of demons and spriits is largely controversial too, so I won't go into that now.

I suggest that you contact a priest or a private paranormal investigater. Then if they say that there are spiritual warfare going on in your home, consider calling an exorcist.

But just remember, this could all be stress related paranoia. I think that your next step is to take pictures/videos of the supernatural occurrences and sent them to an expert to investigate.

Just because a place is old, it doesn't make it haunted. Old homes often contain a lot of wood fixtures, wood absorbs odours and can hold them for years and years. For example if a heavy smoker had lived there some 50 years ago, it would be reasonable to expect a whiff of tabacco here and there when walking into certain rooms in the home. Every street in every town will have had people die or kill themselves on the land at some point over the centuries, to be honest if you dug a good way down under most homes you'd probably find bones, Earth moves. Again someone dying on or near a location does not qualify it as haunted. As for your kitchen cabinets, you stated the home is 116 years old, there is your answer, old, replace the hinges or doors. Let go of the idea in your head that the home is haunted and stop attributing every draft, knock, creak, groan, dripping tap, smell or loose hinge to the spirit of someone who happened to kill himself within 50 yards of the home 50 years ago.

I don't see any reason for you to start believing in ghosts now. Replace the catches on your cupboard doors, have the place checked for rodents and if the absent mindedness gets worse, talk to your doctor.

There is no good evidence for ghosts, despite hundreds of years of modern science and decades of ghost hunting shows and groups. Which is more likely - they are all imcompetant or there are no ghosts?

Yours would be a pretty lame sort of ghost of the best it can do is open a few cupboards, switch lights on, and make random smells and tapping noises. And how could a non-material/non-physical entity do these things anyway?

I would not be able to comment on drawers, but the smell of hot metal, may just be that. The wiring maybe arching somewhere, causing interference with lighting. You really need to get that looked at immediately. A pal of mine, just lost a load of personal items, when this similar fault burned down his home when he was out. Get an electrician, and forget about the rest untill you have had a wiring check.

A house as old as yours will have quirks, like electrical shorting and creaking and such.

Also, there is most likely residual haunting going on, which means that energy can be held and then randomly played back at any time, years later and no set time when it will randomly play like a DVD or taped moments of time.

Then there might be intelligent haunting where you will interract with the living. I would suggest that you speak up to the ghosts and tell them that they either need to go into the white light and end their time on the earth. And if they chose to stay they need to not scare of interrupt the living.

JUST TALK TO A PRIEST OR HIRE ONE. DAMN IT