Things that go bump in the night

[Lynnedean]

I'm afraid that I'm one of those people who "see and hear things". In case you're thinking it, it's not because I'm going doolally at my time of life ... well, I am, but the seeing and hearing odd things business has been going on for many years. It comes in fits and starts, and I'm experiencing a spate of it right now - hearing strange sounds in the bedroom shortly after I wake up in the morning and am just about to get out of bed (they don't wake me up; I'm already awake when I hear them - and they're definitely "outside" of me, i.e. not in my head). The brief ring of a telephone, for example - just a quick brr-brr, very loud (it's an old-style ring that's nothing like the tinny sound my home phone makes), or a tinkling musical sound, again very loud. It doesn't happen every morning, just now and again. A couple of weeks ago, it was rather disturbing, because that time it was actually a loud groan!

By now, I'm used to such occurrences (and other kinds), and, although they puzzle me, they don't usually bother me, but the blinkin' groan certainly did! The other day, I decided that in this world of tech, I should be able to capture one of these noises by recording it somehow. I found an app for my iPad that, when turned on and left running at the side of my bed, would record any sound made in the bedroom during the night; it's called Sleep Recorder. After switching off, you're given a list of the times any sound was recorded, and can play the short tracks back individually so you don't have to wade through one long sound track to find the occurrences.

Anyway, the only thing of interest that I've caught so far occurred during the early hours of this morning. At around 4.25am, I mumbled something that I can't make out, then suddenly exclaimed loudly and clearly "Well, I don't!" A couple of seconds later, I briefly mumbled something else that I also can't make out. I talked in my sleep, and quite bad-temperedly - I certainly didn't expect that! But what on earth was I referring to so adamantly? Will continue recording each night, but I think that from now on I'll be a bit wary of what I'm going to hear when I start to play back the tracks in the morning!

If you experience anything of this kind, or you just fancy a bit of fun, do try the Sleep Recorder app or one similar. But be warned - depending on what you may be doing during the night, the captured sounds could prove very embarrassing if played back when other folk are present!

[hazeleyes57]

Both of my children and my husband talk out loud in their sleep, and I've woken myself up more than a few times answering questions I've not be asked!!

As to the 'other' gifts, I've had some odd occurrences, but I know three people who have experienced far more profound happenings than I can explain - disconcerting, to say the least!

[Samfan]

[Lynnedean]

[Lynette]

Wow, that's pretty freaky. Poltergeist?

When I hear strange noises, it's usually down to the shenanigans of one of my cats.

[Samfan]

Oh dear. I may have to sleep with my beside lamp on tonight, along with the local classical music station playing. (I don't think I've done that since I watched "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Ring").

Ever since moving into my house in about August 2003, a couple of times a day, I hear a "click" coming from the vicinity of my kitchen (almost like a mouse trap going off, but its not). I don't know what it is--I think it might be something in the electrical outlets.

Last January or February, one weekend when I was at my parents' house (they were in Arizona), on a Sunday night between 9-11pm (I know this, because I was watching either Downton Abbey or Grantchester), there was a loud knock at the front door. It freaked me out and made me jump. I didn't answer it, because I wasn't expecting anyone, and the knock didn't happen again. So, maybe kids fooling around (not too many kids in the neighborhood, though).

But, these sound pretty explainable. I don't think I've had anything like what Lynne as described.

Samfan

[HarperCurls]

You are not the only one to experience weird happenings, Lynnedean.

When I still lived with my parents we had a white cat. Some internal doors in the house were glass panelled so you always knew when he wanted to come into the living room and stretch out by the fire. Then I went off to uni, the cat got old and died and that was that. Until one evening, back home for Christmas I was sitting in the living room and saw the cat walk by the door. Needless to say I freaked out but Dad was like "yeah, he often comes to see us."

Future hubby thought we were mad until he saw the same thing. Having a more scientific mind he went investigating, sure that it was car headlights (we lived on a main road) reflecting through a panel in the front door thus making the white shape pass by the door. He tried all kind of things but couldn't explain it. Years passed, the 'visits' got less frequent, my parents both passed on and I sold the house.

When my then teenaged son told me he'd seen the 'ghost cat' at our present house soon after that I thought he was having me on but no. It's not often but every now and again a white shape will move across the glazed door between our dining room and living room. My three-year old grand-daughter now asks to see the cat. Whether her dad has told her about it or she's seen it I have no idea but I've never mentioned it to her.

[Lynnedean]

I well understand about the cat, Harpercurls, and the description of it as a 'shape' that you see. In the early 90s, our lovely little cat was killed on the road just outside our house, and I'm absolutely sure that I saw him in the house a few days later. It was only once, but the way it happened has left me with a very clear memory of it.

My husband was not well at the time, and often had to get up during the night. We always had a nightlight on in the passage outside our bedroom and left the door standing open so that he could see his way without disturbing me by turning on the main light. Late one night, while my husband lay next to me, fast asleep on his right side, I put down the book I'd been reading (it was Jurassic Park; will never forget it) and turned off my beside lamp. I wasn't at all sleepy, and was lying on my back debating whether or not to get up and make a cup of hot chocolate, when I became aware of movement to my left. A dark 'shape' had jumped up onto the bedside table. It then stepped off the table onto me and I realised that what I was seeing was a cat silhouetted against the backdrop of the low light coming in through the open door at the foot of the bed. It walked across my chest only inches from my nose, stepped down into the dip between my husband and myself, up onto my husband's shoulder and then disappeared as it dropped down onto the floor at his side of the bed. I sat bolt upright in surprise! I wanted to tell my husband what had just happened, but decided to leave it until the morning, as he wasn't well and needed his sleep. I was, and still am, in no doubt that the silhouette was that of our beloved little cat, who had always jumped up onto the bed via my bedside table, saying goodbye. I remember the incident very clearly, and recalling it always brings a tear to my eye.