Elusive spirit?

For the last 6 months or so, we have had an elusive spirit visiting our home. At first I thought it was a loved one but am not sure. We live in an isolated area of the forest and are fenced in. We have 3 dogs so no one dares to come in uninvited. But at times, and I do mean very sporadically, we find our outside light has been turned on. This has to be a switch that is flipped up by someone and is located on our power pole. Although we live in a desolate area I still take the dogs out on leash as they have a tendancy to chase things in the woods and I don't want them getting injured. So that rules them out as far as being able to jump up and turn the light switch on. So.... One night a couple of weeks ago, I had the dogs out on leash and they were very anxious and excited. They kept pulling me to the front of the property and then you could see as they watched something going towards the back. So back to the rear of the property we went (or should I say was dragged) to the picnic table area. they would sniff and again get really excited. Then the heads would turn and here we would go again toward the front of the property. This went on and on for a bit and during one trip towards the front of the property I saw a fast moving shadow of what appeared to be a human shape and was almost running towards the back as if trying to stay away from us. I tried talking to make contact. No results. I have set up varied equipment but apparently this visitor isn't here constantly and only seems to visit yet doesn't seem to want to communicate. I find this puzzling. My son, who recently moved back in with us has had some experiences also. Once inside the house when he turned around and saw a black mass shadow standing behind him. The dogs at times seem to follow something within the house and try as I might, I can't see a thing. My son has also had a recent experience outside. There is a chair we have located out where my father use to have a camper that he lived in. He passed about 4 years ago. the dogs led him to that chair. He saw nothing but yet when he touched the chair he said it felt like there was a vacuum that was sucking his stomach in so hard that he felt it in his lower back.

Sometimes it will be a couple of months with no signs at all and then other times 2 or 3 nights in a row. So it is difficult to capture. I still haven't given up. Anyone ever hear of such a thing or had any experiences like this? Would appreciate letting me know!
Thanks!

We once lived in a house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where we frequently experienced light switches turning themselves on and off.

My girls were very young at the time. My youngest, who was about 7 at the time, absolutely, positively could not be dragged either upstairs or down to the basement!

In an attempt to rule out faulty light switches, I replaced the ones in question with new ones, that had very stiff actions.
And guess what? They would still turn themselves on and off!

This house had an incredibly creepy feel to it. We did some research on the property and found that it was the foreman's house at a time when people who worked in the local industry were virtually all indentured servants.

The house was built in 1886, just at the end of the Civil War.

We frequently experienced dark shodows in brightly lighted rooms, and our pets couldn't tolerate being indoors for any length of time before they would start to whine and scratch at the door to be let out.

Last night was yet another strange night. My son had taken one of the dogs out around midnight or so. He suddenly had a "creepy" feeling like being watched and it was all in the same area that I had seen the shadow and the dogs were acting strange. Once again, the dog started pulling him towards the area he was secretly dreading but wasn't barking. Once he got over there he swore that he heard what sounded like a young or possibly a child's female voice and then a giggle.
We were going to set up our equipment tonight and see what we could catch, but today has been extremely busy for us and we still have company now to boot. Tomorrow is also out .. so maybe monday. Oh, also forgot, Ryan also observed a door to a room being opened in front of him and no one there. Then there was a loud "thud" near the washer and dryer. I heard it all the way at the other end of the house and one of the dogs started barking. But after that all was quiet once again. We are beginning to believe it may be my mother in law. We were really close and she lived across the street from us and depended a lot upon us. Being she had had vocal cord damage due to surgery once she had a very high pitched squeaky voice which could sound childish if you didn't know it was her.
Hopefully whoever it is will quit being shy!!!! Would love to catch her on one of the cameras. Will keep ya updated!