Panic over nothing!
By GreenMoo
@GreenMoo (11833)
January 17, 2013 3:39am CST
Last night I was working outside whilst the kids were indoors alone. They came barrelling out of the house yelling that the roof was going to fall in. It was really windy, so parter and I both rushed in to see what was going on, leaving the kids stood in the chicken shed to shelter from the rain yet not get squished if something did come down.
But inside, nothing. No sign of anything loose, nothing.
Outside to the kids again to find out what's scared them so. Apparently they heard a creaking noise which made them think the beams were moving. So back inside we went, and if we were really quiet we could indeed hear a creaking. A weird, weird noise but we couldn't place it. We climbed all over the top floors and peered in all the nooks and crannies. Eventually we decided that whatever it was, the roof wasn't going to fall down at least so we let the kids back in, made our dinner and went to bed.
Then it started again! And do you know what it turned out to be? A cat chewing on the plastic net bag which makes up part of the cat box in front of the fire! Stupid animal had us crawling around the place with torches for half the night and it was him all along.
Have you had any unidentified noises in your house? What did it turn out to be?
5 people like this
24 responses
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
17 Jan 13
We have heard noises sometimes all night long. It was a weird noise as well, like something moving really fast on our floors, almost like footsteps but lighter than a person's steps.
We could not figure it out for the longest time. Until...we were outside one day and saw the cats underneath our house in the crawl space. They would run all around under there and that is what the noise was! Lol.
They are just stray cats that live under there to keep warm and to have shelter I guess...
1 person likes this
@wolfie34 (26770)
• United Kingdom
17 Jan 13
Well I am glad you got to the bottom of it! There's nothing worse than lying awake at night, especially and hearing noises and lying awake trying to identify what the noise is, Our cat is darn noisy and she is extremely vocal and many times I have been awoken by a noise downstairs, it turns out to be the cat knocking something over trying to get up on the furniture. One night a few years ago I heard this horrid noise like screaming coming from outside, well I jumped out of bed and looked out of my bedroom window, of course I couldn't see anything, so I went to bed and the noise started again. Turns out it was over amorous foxes and their mating calls! It was an awful racket and those someone was being murdered!
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6430)
• Canada
18 Jan 13
That must have really startled the kids! I've had unidentified sounds before, but nothing that made me think the roof was going to come down or anything like that.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
17 Jan 13
That reminded me of the story of Chicken Little. If you haven't heard it, Chicken Little is walking around and an acorn falls on her head. She thinks the sky is falling and runs around the farm (like your kids!) screaming that the sky is falling. A young rooster who never believes anything he is told finds out the truth and stops the panic. You should tell your kids that story, not to make them feel bad but to entertain them. I remember it from when I was a child, you can find one version of it at: http://petcaretips.net/chicken-little.html I prefer the version where the young rooster is hailed as a sensible hero rather than the one in which everyone is eaten by a fox or rescued by the King's dogs.
I've had strange noises in my house that turned out to be the wind or branches against the side of the house. Most often, I think I hear someone downstairs at night but upon listening more closely, it's the sound of my dog Gus snoring under the covers--no kidding, it really does sound that loud and that crazy!
1 person likes this
@chicksdigscars (5483)
•
21 Jan 13
Yes actually lol!
My partner bought me a pygmy hedgehog for Christmas (I’m nearly getting as bad as you for my mini zoo lol)
She lives in a little plastic igloo in a hutch in a room next to a radiator. She doesn’t make much noise, and she usually only comes out at night.. and we have had her for a few months now (it was an early Christmas present) with no bother.
But about 3 nights ago, we had her cage/hutch in the living room to keep her warm, due to all the snow, as she was bred in captivity and it is life threatening for her to go into hibernation. We heard this thudding sound, like when a dog scratches itself but its foot keeps hitting off something. Of course our dogs went mental barking wondering who was in their house. None of the dogs were scratching, no one was at the door.. and we were utterly baffled, until about half an hour later, I just happened to lift the igloo up in the hedgehogs cage, and there she was fast asleep on her side, running in her sleep, and hitting the side of the igloo haha!
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
17 Jan 13
It never ceases to amaze me how bizarre and deceiving some noises can be. I used to live in a pub, so being an old building that had many customers walking around during day, there were lots of creaks and growns as the stairs adjusted and the whole building cooled down in the evening. I remember one night laying in bed and I heard a rather strange long creak followed by a short creak, which repeated after a short interval. The uniformity of the sound intrigued me and I must have lay there for over 30 minutes concentrating in order to place the source. I knew that it would be something natural, but simply could not identify it. Finally I realised that it was the pub sign outside my bedroom window that was gently swinging due to a mild breeze. I had already lived there for at least a year, but never even noticed it before.
@BarBaraPrz (51838)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
17 Jan 13
I don't know what they were: they were unidentified. 
But we had some severe winds last night, and I did wonder about things falling apart.
But we had some severe winds last night, and I did wonder about things falling apart.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
17 Jan 13
Yep, my cats are always thumping and banging around getting me scared or nervous, especially in the middle of the night.
One time when I was home alone I kept hearing a door creak like it was opening or closing itself. I was just getting out of the shower when it happened, and I wandered around the house looking to see if a door was being blown by a breeze or something.. couldn't find it. I kept hearing it over and over, but never did find the cause. Actually I learned that none of the doors in my house actually creak.. so I'm stumped. We may have been visited by a ghost.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
17 Jan 13
For about a week I was certain we had a ghost in the house.. but we haven't noticed anything unusual since.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
17 Jan 13
Hiya GM,
Very high Winds here can make this place creak and squeak too last night I was hearing strange noises again but having gone around the place there was nothing out of the ordinary either.
Most of the strange noises you can account for but not the Cat chewing that. I would not have guessed that either.
Think that the "noises" have to do with somebody who lives near but you turn a deaf ear to all of it in the finish.
Hope you had a good nights sleep in the finish.xxx
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
17 Jan 13
Hiya GM,
Our Dog makes strange noises too but funny ones he will let out a very soft whine every ten minutes or so to remind you of something if you have forgotten he sure has´nt.
Other week he had a nightmare of some kind and was scratching to get out of the kitchen door I ran in there like the wind I had never heard him like that before and I thought he might have been very ill or something.
Luckily he was fine just scared and wondering what all the fuss was about too.xxx
@bounce58 (17380)
• Canada
17 Jan 13
No, I can't say I've ever heard anything funny in our house.
But that's a bit funny. I bet the kids were red on their faces when you finally found out what was making that sound!
And my kids are the same way. They'll panic over the littlest things. I remember when my oldest was young, he'd panic inside a mall when somebody would start talking on the PA system.
@Raine38 (12387)
• United States
17 Jan 13
We did encounter this kind of "panic" before. One night, me, my in-laws and my nephews were hanging out in my in-laws' place. Then suddenly, we heard like someone threw something at the house from the outside. We ignored it thinking it was just nothing when we heard it again. We tried to look into that part of the house where we though the wall from the outside was being thrown stones with to see if there are any things that could be just making that noise before we check outside. We found nothing. Then we heard it again. My father in law decided to go out and confront whoever that is that's throwing at his house to the panic and fear of my mom in law. I was also scared because only bad folks would throw stones at someone else's house like that. My father in law went back in and he said nobody's there. We still heard that noise again. Until we found out that the cat would jump at the top of the paper shredder and keeps on knocking the portable car vacuum that's sitting on top of it. And that is what's making the noise. We don't know what's the cat's interest on that shredder that it seems to want to knock off the vacuum off of it but that solved the mystery of the "stones being thrown at the side of the house".
@GardenGerty (169564)
• United States
17 Jan 13
We have had wild critters get on the roof and in the attic and that can be totally weird. I have not had this issue with any of my house animals though. I certainly am glad your roof is not falling in.
@leateagee (3667)
• China
17 Jan 13
It may be nothing for now but it is always good to be observant and making sure everything is okay. It's a good thing the kids are very attentive, accidents will be far from them. Windy weather really brings a lot of creepy noises. I am glad everything is well. 
@BigMoney25 (1286)
• Philippines
17 Jan 13
That cat can really turn your day in to a bad one I can say. Well for us we haven't experienced anything of that yet in our house, usually we can identify where the noise is coming from :D
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
17 Jan 13
Its better to check and make sure, sometimes when winds blow hard it looked like things are moving. Hope all is well there. Take care..
@vernaC (1491)
• Romania
17 Jan 13
We used to have noises in the car and we kept on looking and listening where it came from. He then decided to open up the stereo, check the wirings but he found nothing, yet the noise is still there. Later on I picked up the box of tic-tac just to get one candy and the noise stopped
. So it was just the tic-tac
. So it was just the tic-tac