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Original poster

To ask for an explanation for wtf just happened? **MNHQ UPDATE: Mystery solved!**

357 replies

WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 19:59

I'm seriously creeped out and can't figure out a rational explanation so I'm hoping someone can!

Sitting in the kitchen, eating dinner when a black shape ran past my legs, close enough that I felt it pass. Figured it was my cat at first but when I stood up, she was sitting on the windowsill!

The dark shape ran into the living room where my partner is (he saw it too, because he shouted me!)

It apparently jumped on the sideboard and vanished in front of his eyes. There's nowhere it could go - the sideboard is solid oak on a solid stone wall.

The dog is now going mental at the sideboard like there's something there (if there is, we can't find it!)

I'm genuinely creeped out - anyone have a rational explanation? What the hell did we see?

OP posts:
IncompleteSenten · 13/02/2022 20:51

It'll definitely be a rat. They move like lightening and no matter how much you think ohhh they could never get through that gap... They can.

I had pet rats when I was a kid. Gorgeous, friendly, loving little poppets but they can hide!

Ballcactus · 13/02/2022 20:50

Hard to know but I think you should burn the house down tbh

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 13/02/2022 20:48

Rat. They can jump and flatten and do a mass of surprising things.

They can jump 77cm or 2.5 feet high.

www.wildlife-removal.com/ratjump.html

Staffy1 · 13/02/2022 20:44

Rats can definitely jump large distances. Your cat is a bit dud, been shown up by the dog.

Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:43

I just saw a dark shape run away from me. The hall light wasn't on so it was hard to tell but it looked animal shaped! Genuinely thought it was my cat at first until I saw her.

OP posts:
Theforest · 13/02/2022 20:41

What did it look like if you both saw it? Surely if it was a rat your partner would have seen it as one on the sideboard ?

Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:41

@BabyInTheJungle

Well I'm voting ghost. I never used to believe but my DS tells me that a ghost came into his bedroom and ate his yoghurt while he was in the bathroom so I'm now fully woo.
🤣🤣🤣

Maybe I should vote ghost too-it would explain where my good chocolate went ~~and who shrunk my jeans~~ 🤣

OP posts:
Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:39

@blyn72 if it is a mouse or rat, then poor thing is doomed with a terrier and ex-feral cat!

OP posts:
BabyInTheJungle · 13/02/2022 20:39

Well I'm voting ghost. I never used to believe but my DS tells me that a ghost came into his bedroom and ate his yoghurt while he was in the bathroom so I'm now fully woo.

Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:38

Not a woo type at all - if anything I'm the opposite and don't really believe it all that!

Walls are solid with no gap. We had the living room replastered recently so it's a smooth wall.

Dog has finally settled down so I'm going to out the dishwasher on and catch up with Call the Midwife!

(oh, and no mushrooms for dinner - just roast chicken and chips!)

OP posts:
DiddyHeck · 13/02/2022 20:38

Can't see anything behind the sideboard and it's too heavy to move!

Just empty it and between the two of you you'll manage to move it. My dog whined, sniffed and scratched at our sideboard for almost a week when suddenly a mouse ran out from underneath the minuscule space underneath it! It was honestly no smaller than a little crack but the mouse was huge!

blyn72 · 13/02/2022 20:38

Sounds like a mouse - something with which I am well acquainted! I suggest you buy a humane mouse trap, bait and wait.

www.buyspares.co.uk/product.pl?pid=1656106&utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3fWQo8T99QIVNJBoCR22DQn3EAQYAiABEgJwBvD_BwE

MissAngorian · 13/02/2022 20:38

🐀 Absolute motherfuckers. My uncle used to regale me with stories of what he referred to as a "bitch rat", basically the queen, who was the size of a dog and would leap out at him from grain silos. I still have the occasional nightmare about it.

wifiovenidiot · 13/02/2022 20:37

My cat died last week.

For many years, I used to hear her jump off the bed when I was downstairs.

Each day since she died, I have heard her jump off the bed.

Either I now have a ghost cat, or the noise I heard each day wasn't the cat after all 😁

drybird · 13/02/2022 20:37

Rat, I live on a farm.. trust me they can jump and slip through the smallest of holes! The dog also going mental is a sure sign.

wheresmymojo · 13/02/2022 20:36

Was there noise?

A rat or whatever would still make some noise as it ran across the floor, unless it's all carpeted?

Did it make a noise as it landed on top of the sideboard?

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 13/02/2022 20:36

I’d say rat. Get a trap, bait with cheap cheese and peanut butter. Dispose of once caught.

Then set more traps - where there’s one, there are more.

VladmirsPoutine · 13/02/2022 20:35

Are you a 'woo' type in general? Surely if it was a rat you would have heard the tip tap on the floors?

Fuckitydoodah · 13/02/2022 20:34

I'm going with a rat. They can get bloody big, they're fast and yep those fuckers will get in places you'd think impossible.

OnaBegonia · 13/02/2022 20:34

Between the two of you I'm
sure you can shuffle sideboard out a wee bit. Not having a skirting's suggests a gap for a rat to go through.

Teeturtle · 13/02/2022 20:33

Squirrel.

musicalfrog · 13/02/2022 20:32

Your cat played a fiendishly slick trick on you and is laughing at you behind that cool exterior.

TheSpottedZebra · 13/02/2022 20:30

Badger?

me4real · 13/02/2022 20:28

My vote is for ghost cat as you say it was that size. I've only seen ghosts a couple of times and one of them was a ghost cat at a friend's. But I could see its tabby colours.

steff13 · 13/02/2022 20:28

A rat. Or a gremlin.