music box mystry

cowhands

Morning All, I wouldnt say Im a non believer but would rather settle on the side of logic that anything else but something strange happened last night that I cant seem to find an explanation for. Thought Id post it on here and see what you all think:

We have a 15 month old baby girl, who is the best sleeper (and eater) going. She goes happily to bed at 7.30 in the evening and doesnt stir till 7am the next day. She rarely and I mean very rarely wakes up for anything at all during the night.

She has a musical box that we wind up everynight for her, it plays a tune until it runs out of momentum and sounds out with a few last notes. We did this as usual last night.

However, last night she took ages to settle. Just as we were snuggling down for the night in our own bed she woke up looking for her "do-do" (soother), the other half went into her, settled her again and came back to bed.

About 2 - 3 hours later she woke again. Neither of us stirred hoping that she would settle herself and half hoping the other one would get up to see to her!
Suddenly the music box started playing. It played at athe fast tempo it plays whe it has been rung up the the maximum, and played its tune for some time till it ran out of steam and sounded off with the last few notes as normal. The music startled the two of us and we both agreed that we did not get up and wind it for her. We both confirmed that it was strange that it would play that fast and for that long after being played hours previously. She went straight back to sleep after.

There is no way Holly could have reached the box from the cot to play it herself, let alone wind it up (its a heavy silver object with the winder at the bottom).
It has no batteries andphysically needs someone to turn the winder to give it its power to play.

Im a light sleeper as it is and didnt get much sleep after that last night!

Strange one dont you think? Open to any explanations or opinions.

My partners two parents have past away as has my own mother. It would have been my other halves mothers birthday on Tue and I guess it would be nice to think that one of them came down to settle their unseen grandchild back to sleep.

maccored

that is interesting though you really should examine the music box and see if theres any way it might kinda get stuck halfway through and then release itself later.

Theres no way of knowing what went on though so imo you can either forget about it and see does it happen again or set up a camera to see if you can video it happening again and at least that way you might have something more to work with.

I'd say its a mechanical problem with the music box though.

cowhands

maccored wrote: »

that is interesting though you really should examine the music box and see if theres any way it might kinda get stuck halfway through and then release itself later.

Theres no way of knowing what went on though so imo you can either forget about it and see does it happen again or set up a camera to see if you can video it happening again and at least that way you might have something more to work with.

I'd say its a mechanical problem with the music box though.

Yeah possibly...but it did sound like it does when it has been rung up to the max..hard to explain but the played fast and loud like it does at the very start - probably not explaining that too well. Will have a closer look at it later all the same

faceman

I know it freaked you out at the time but when you think of it, it's a nice story! It's a common occurence for supernatural activity to be drawn to young children. I remember as a child, my tin whistle play itself for about 2 seconds. My mother was witness to it.

Oryx

It could have been a glitch in the winding mechanism of the box. But you know what? Its a lovely little event, and seems to make you feel good, thinking it may have been granny coming to soothe your child. I say dont overanalyise, it was a curiousity, Id just look on it as a nice thing that makes you smile and leave it at that. At least it made you feel warm and fuzzy, and not frightened!

Our child had a selection of toys all over her room as a baby, you know the usual battery operated stuff. One of them, lying in the middle of the otherwise empty floor, turned on one night and started playing its nursery rhyme tunes or whatever. Unlike your situation, it made my hair stand on end, was like something from Poltergeist.:D

kylith

Was it a music box on a table, or was it a mobile over the crib? How close to the crib was it?

pookie82

I know exactly the type of box you're talking about - my mum gave me a jewellery music box before, and when you wind it up to the last (it too has a heavy and awkward clasp on the bottom that a toddler couldn't manage) it plays quite aggressively for a few minutes and then as it winds down the music slows and eventually peters out.

So I understand that you would be alarmed if you heard it peter out the first time as it finished, and then heard it playing at full throttle later that night, thus indicating someone had reactivated it by winding it up.

cowhands

kylith wrote: »

Was it a music box on a table, or was it a mobile over the crib? How close to the crib was it?

Music box is placed on a corner shelf in one corner of the bedroom...cot is one the other side (afraid to put anything over the bed incase it fell into the cot). Its a free standing item...fairly heavy, silver thing..was a christening present from my boss to the baby actually. Its probably about 5" tall in total

cowhands

pookie82 wrote: »

I know exactly the type of box you're talking about - my mum gave me a jewellery music box before, and when you wind it up to the last (it too has a heavy and awkward clasp on the bottom that a toddler couldn't manage) it plays quite aggressively for a few minutes and then as it winds down the music slows and eventually peters out.

So I understand that you would be alarmed if you heard it peter out the first time as it finished, and then heard it playing at full throttle later that night, thus indicating someone had reactivated it by winding it up.

Yeah thats exactly what its like...you put it alot better than I did!

speedscot

Speaking as someone who has experienced inexplicable phenomena on several occasions, I am inclined to believe that your musical box was indeed wound by some energy we do not yet fully understand.

Both of my children have communicated with entities which we adults could not see or hear when they were infants. There is no doubt in my mind they were visually and aurally focussed on something which was entertaining them... yes, like a granny going "coochy-coo".

My mother in law died three months before my youngest arrived so it was comforting to believe that she was there with us when the baby was born and afterwards. Perhaps I wanted to imagine she was there, who knows.

DANNY22XX

i know its freaky but A MUSIC BOX can play itself there a springs that tighten when they are let loose just like a wind up car etc,,,i have 4 kids when they were small it was a defect in the toy just as if you had a bag of toys and the sounds go of,,,it aint paranormal just springs in the music box you can only wind so far but when you wind again after a while you cant wind as far as you did when you first got it ,,its called wear and tear