Theories?

kryogen

This is long! Sorry in advance if its a waste of your time


Ok, pretty much nailed on sceptic here but struggling to find an explanation to what just happened in my house.

I am home from work, watching the tv and messing on the laptop, the tv is a little loud I guess and I hear what I think was a bang, but more like a slap if you know what I mean, that kind of sound anyway, I pause the tv so I can listen.

The door to the sitting room, where I am is closed, but not fully, just slightly ajar, then after a few moments listening I hear what sounds like someone rubbing their sock along the end of the door, on the other side obviously. We have two young kids in the house, 3 and 6months old. I think then that maybe one has woken and my partner is downstairs getting something for my 6 month old possibly, I assume she is trying to freak me out so just ignore it.

Then the noise happens again, same kind of thing, like a foot, with a sock sliding across the door, this time though the door actually moves a little, opening slightly. I am now obviously convinced its her and call out to her to stop messing with me that I was tired!

No response, I go back to the laptop, then the noise again! Now I actually start to get worried/anxious tbh, I get very silent and just listen, silence. I am a little concerned maybe someone has broken in, but I quickly put that out of my head as it is not exactly the behaviour of a burglar. I armed myself with a screwdriver, only thing I could find in the room and went to investigate.

Opened the door and turned on the light, nothing. Nothing in the hall at all, I went to the kitchen, nothing, window locked. Door to utility room locked. Downstairs toilet window closed and no sign of anything. Oh, front door locked too. I make my way upstairs, can hear the sound of my girlfriend breathing, sleeping.

I nudged her, asked her was it her, had she been trying to (successfully) freak me out? She doesn't have a clue, she was fast asleep. I know this, so I check on my kids. Both sound asleep.

I gotta say I am a bit freaked out here, I definitely heard something, what I have no idea and now Im sitting up, lights on with the door to the sitting room open so I can see the hall. Dunno how Im going to sleep at this rate. The whole house has been checked and there is nobody here.

I don't go in for ghosts and stuff, so there must surely be some logical reason that fear is blocking from me right now, any ideas?

maccored

have you a cat?

Kinzig

maccored wrote: »

have you a cat?

or has a cat sneaked in?..that happened to me once, cat sneaked in through an open window and didnt show itself till night..

Fox_In_Socks

Rats. Sorry, but it's a possibility.

kryogen

Thanks for the replies, but the cat one I can rule out, as I said, no open windows, and no cat

Mice/rats would be possible except we had a mouse last year and after killing it and its little buddies we completely sealed off the house, it is practically impregnable to rodents imho. No openings anywhere anymore.

Still freaked out by this!

oceanman

ah you would be surprised where mice can in!

kylith

Are you in a terraced house?

degrassinoel

Few questions for ye OP

What time did this happen at? Late evening, night, early morning, still dark etc?

What was the weather like prior to it happening? Sunny? Rain? Cloudy? Freezin' Roastin' ?

How old is the house?

How long have ye been living there?



Tbh, it sounds like contracting doorframes or girders. If it was really hot that day and it happened at night, that's the likely culprit. Happens at my place too, especially loud bangs after a really warm day in summertime. 99 times out of 100 ye wouldn't notice these as you'd be asleep or a tv etc.. would drown out the noise.
It can happen in new houses more often than old ones, but then old houses can have warped doorframes without you ever even knowing which would causes odd noises every so often, again usually depending on weather/air temperature etc..

I doubt it's a rodent, you'd hear it far more often if it were. And ultimately see it.

maccored

you'd hear it far more often if it were

which raises the point - have you heard it again since? If this was a once off then theres really nothing to be freaked out about. If it happens periodically though then at least theres a chance you might be able to figure out what it is.