Creepy experience last night

Howdy ATSers, I had a kind of creepy experience I thought I would share. It involves a weird noise I couldn’t identify toward the end of the events.

Last night I fell asleep while watching some good old YouTube conspiracy documentary. I was in my bed.

We’ve lived in this house for about a month and it has been quiet. I will say that at night it’s a little creepy but I’m not the type to get scared, but my senses do become a bit more sensitive.

Behind us is a dry creek bed and small patch of woods that leads to a large wooded area. Neighbors are close on both sides but in the back the houses are pretty far apart. So it really does come alive at night and you can’t really see anything out back.

Anyway so I’m dead asleep and and am awoken by a loud and furious knock (about 12:30AM) and I bolt upright and my cat looks freaked out too. I wasn’t sure where it came from but I grabbed my phone and checked our Ring doorbell cam and nothing. I peer out of my room to the back door (glass) and nothing.

I turn off the tv and peak out the window and can’t see anything on my neighbors side, mostly because it’s dark and the wooden fence obstructs the view.

My cat settles down and I crawl back in bed and put my tv back on. All of a sudden it happens again. It came from behind me so I’m thinking it’s someone at the neighbors or they are pounding on my gate entrance. All of that is on the other side of the wall behind my bed.

Just as I am convincing myself it’s at the neighbors something makes an awful noise from the area where my computer is. The best way I can describe it is- the metallic sound a music box makes but just a short little few notes.

I have zero music boxes. I go to my computer and it was in sleep mode so I jiggle it awake with the mouse. It looked as though someone hit the “start” bc the panel was up that shows all your programs. I # it down and dismissed it because the speakers were off and nothing was running, just the start button- if that makes sense.

Anyway, just wondering if there is any noise Like that on a computer that you are aware of? I have 2 laptops too but they were both powered down. There are about 5 old radios and some odds and ends in that area but zero music boxes.

Thought this might make for an interesting thread. I still slept like a baby but it was a weird night

The only noise a computer can make is either fans spinning(bearings failing and grinding/howling) or a non ssd hard drive spinning and the head skipping and "grinding".

Honestly, neither one of those could be all that loud and shouldn't sound like knocking.

Sometimes when being pulled from deep sleep you imagine hearing things. I've had that happen alot.

Also, if there is a drastic weather change you can sometimes hear the house creak or pop as wood expands.

We had a deep temp drop one time many years ago and I heard a pop(one pop) so loud at the back of the house I thought a damn truck drove into my house. Scarred the # out of me.

Once upon a time a decade+ ago, my brother gave me a few of his work's busted computers to pull parts from to add to my own. Found out the hard way when the motherboard is firmly in Overheating Territory, it makes one hell of an unholy alarm tone that will scare the bejeezus out of you and kick in the fight-or-flight response. That was my introduction to the alarm firsthand, and it still scares the s# out of me today -- first time around managed to make me permanently edgy regarding it.

Could that be what you heard via your computer, the motherboard alarm?

originally posted by: MisterSpock

Also, if there is a drastic weather change you can sometimes hear the house creak or pop as wood expands.

We had a deep temp drop one time many years ago and I heard a pop(one pop) so loud at the back of the house I thought a damn truck drove into my house. Scarred the # out of me.

Same here. The temp dropped like a rock one night a few winters ago and there was a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot in the house.

Turned out to be a concrete block in the basement wall cracking, people warned my southern ass after the fact that it's not uncommon in the winter here in MI to have one crack that loudly over the years.

a reply to: raedar

Does your fridge have an automatic Ice Maker?

In the deep coldest winters in Minnesota at night, the house would literally sound like a bomb exploded. Being from the south, no one warned me of this phenomena. I was told it was the house expanding and contracting from the cold, usually 20-30+ degrees below zero. I would usually be sound asleep and would awake scared to death. But, no, nothing was damaged. After over 20 years there, I am in Florida. Done with that.

Is there a hot water or steam radiator around the area where the sounds came from? They can make some strange noises some time.

a reply to: raedar

Dunno about the third noise you are talking about...

However, if you ever get knocks in the night the best thing to do is knock back and proceed from there.

Man I hope my mother board isn’t going out, yikes! I ruled out the ice maker due to being awake for the second knock knowing it was coming from outdoors behind the wall of my bedroom. But the ice maker is pretty noisy and took some getting used to, definitely knocks.

I know some desktop computers have little speakers in them but I don’t think mine does. I got a pretty nice graphics card put in last year and the computer was full sleep mode.

Honestly I was more alarmed by the creepy music box sound. I considered an alert or ring tone of some kind but my phone was in my hand and the source of the sound was from across the room.

Hoping for a quiet night lol.

a reply to: Lumenari

That sounds kind of scary. Might have to take back my claim of not being scared

originally posted by: raedar
a reply to: Lumenari

That sound kind of scary. Might have to take back my claim of not being scared

Well, it is considered a polite way to meet your new roommate(s).

I'll let myself out now.

The house creeks, pops and bangs all the time at night, and it's a newer house too. That doesn't bother me too much, but someone coming up our driveway sure as hell does! (it's 900' feet long, and 2 miles down a private road).

One night I heard a truck coming up our driveway. I looked at my watch and it was 2am. I grabbed the 12 ga. riot gun loaded with 00 buckshot and a light. I saw the tail lights of the truck drive up beside our house and our upper corrals and disappear. It was snowing hard, and I couldn't see but 50 feet. I was not a happy camper...and somebody was in serious danger!

Getting in a gunfight in a serious snowstorm was not my idea of fun that night! I could hear the truck, but I couldn't see it. So I walked towards the sound. Out of the snow all of a sudden this big rotund guy in coveralls appeared, and he was looking down the barrel of my shotgun. He froze. I hollered for him to get on the ground, but he didn't. He was saying something, but I couldn't hear him, the wind was blowing too hard. He had his hands inside his coveralls and then pulled them out up in front of him as he was yelling.

Well, it turns out the guy was one of our garbage men, who had come to the house to pick up our dumpster...at 2am in the morning!!! I told him (and his buddy) to GTF off our property and NEVER come back at 2am in the morning! I called the owner of the company (a gal) and told her what happened. She apologized and said she'd told her drivers they could go out early and take off early that day because of the storm. So, these two knuckleheads decided "early" meant...when they left the bar that night. I told Sandy, the Owner, she better tell those two drivers to go to church and give thanks before coming back!

Lucky that one boy didn't wind up with some buckshot in his behind that night!!!

Boy, that still makes me mad, even today! What kind of crazy idiots would do such a thing???

a reply to: Lumenari

Oh man, I guess I asked for it

I really hope there is a more worldly explanation...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You are brave! That’s a great story lol!

a reply to: raedar

So these noises are new? Have you purchased any used items lately? Have you lived there for very long?
let us know if you have any more unexplained events.

a reply to: raedar

You were probably dreaming and your fear woke you up.

Something came loose on the house?
Bucks in rut do some silly things, getting tangled or knocking may be possible? One tree into another ?
Was a decent wind storm last week an you may have a loose branch?

Since you've only been there a month I can tell you it takes a lot longer to get familiar with all the "normal" outside noises. It's great you had the cat's reaction to go by! I don't take unexpected outside noises seriously unless my animals "react".

Lots of the unusual banging here turned out to be retired guys working on farm equipment late at night. It was random, but noise really carries up the valley. It took us a couple of years to find out it was just a bunch of older guys having a couple of beers an deciding to "mechanic" all night!
Too far away to ever hear voices, but metal screeching on metal was totally freaky!

a reply to: raedar


I’ve experienced knocks throughout my life. Ignore it. Don’t interact with it, it will stop.

Why didn't you go outside to see who or what was knocking?
The majority of people don't realise how a house can move, making all kinds of noises. Houses are not static.
The prime one, in old houses, is people hearing some-one follow them up the stairs. This occurs because when you walk up the stairs the treads on the stairs flex with your weight. They are held down by the friction or nails of the stair risers. They release this tension, sometimes straightaway, sometimes taking many minutes, and as they release it sounds if someone is coming up the stairs.

Do you have a home security system with a pad installed by the front door? Im asking 'cause mine makes a loud scratchy sound and a few tones for weather alerts. The loud bangs might've been tree branches slamming into your house? I have a couple that need to be trimmed back and I'm reminded of it every time we have some wind. And lol, I have the KXAN weather app on my phone and I've been woken a few times hearing Jim Spencer, their weather guy letting me know that lightning has been detected in my area, really creepy in the middle of the night.