WHAT is breathing in DS's room??

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

The other day, DS7 told us that he could hear something breathing in his room at night. He doesn't believe in ghosts (thank God) but is understandably freaked out.

He told me again tonight that he could hear it, so first I lay in his bed and listened, then we both did and held our breath. I think I heard something...Like very quiet breathing, a bit like when our dog is deeply asleep, but I couldn't hear it clearly and couldn't tell where it was coming from or what was causing it.

Checked DS room thoroughly, including under his bed, to try to reassure him, but it didn't work and he's now asleep in my bed for the time being.

DH and my best guess is it's coming from next door, as noise does carry from there. No idea what though. Ideas please!

Oh, and as I was writing this, DDog just howled in her sleep and scared the crap out of me.

Is your son by any chance autistic? It may seem a silly question but both my son & I are & we can both hear electricity on the walls, I told my son's consultant & was told that autistic people often can hear things that other people cant.

bellagood - your username is wrong. Bellabad...

We've had wasp nests twice, both in the eaves outside our bedroom. Both times I heard them weeks before realising anything was wrong. However it's not a breathing noise, more like very quiet clicking. Only audible late at night when it's very quiet.

Does your DS have any wifi devices or similar, OP? Could it be accidentally be picking up the noise of another device in the house? I don't know if that's even possible?

It really could be a wasps nest, I was amazed at how it sounded with further investigation it was huge nest in the wall cavity. Also have had a heavy breathing ghost but he was usually in one area in the kitchen and the air was very chilled in that room. Little old man with bad lung/chest trouble lived there previously he was no trouble. I’m thinking wasp nest.

If you think it's next door, it might be an oscillating fan they've got for the warm nights or something - vibrations travel weirdly and it would explain the 'breathing'...

OP didn't come back . That's even creepier. 👻

It could be cars passing by in the distance??

My neighbour told me she was sleeping one night with her dog by her bed, she lives alone. She kept being woken by a loud breathing, snarling noise. She first thought it was the dog but he was barking at the noises too. Turns out she was being woken by the sound of her own snoring not an axe murderer 🤣 I couldn’t stop laughing for days!

Placemarking!!!

Hope op n son are ok

I used to hear the man upstairs snoring even with the windows closed in the winter!
It was really strange as you never heard them walking around but somehow the snoring came through the ceiling.
And no.... I never heard him having sex if he had a lady friend over!

How close to the coast are you? In the right conditions you can hear the sea from miles away.

Bat nursery? We have one in our loft at this time of year and they make a very odd, low noise as they settle down at night. Used to it now, but it was as spooky as hell the first time they visited.

Watching with interest! My mum's fridge growls/moos, maybe next door has a mini-fridge in their bedroom?
Is the Rachel thread still going? Someone up thread asked for a link but I didn't see one and forgot to place mark on it.

How do wasps nests get in the walls?! I knew they got in lofts, but walls

Wasps nests make the most peculiar noises, could you have one of those?

Sounds like a wasp nest to me too . My daughter's room had a breathing noise . (coming from chimney breast) Apparently , when the nest gets hot all the wasps flap their wings to cool it down and it makes a weird sound that sounds like breathing coming through the wall .

You know that dog of yours? The one that made you jump from howling in its sleep?

Yeah. That one. That must have been asleep and breathing wherever it was laying down.

You'd be surprised how far an animal breathing/snoring can travel - one of the dearly departed cats could be heard three rooms away, but it wasn't obvious it was him until you stood over the silly sod and heard the hoooooooooooooo sound.

If there’s any fireplaces or chimneys on your house my money is on that. I hear a lot of noises that other people don’t hear, and I’m houses with chimneys there is a constant faint beathy type sound.
Fridges make all sorts of strange sounds not just the expected whirring. Sometimes mine sounds like a ghost moaning.
When I was a child, in bed at night I could hear loads of sounds, and as a child my brain would make up what it thought the sounds could be, now if I hear something I investigate it until I find out what it is, and then it usually sounds a bit different once I know. If it’s a scary sound, your heightened fear can make your hearing even more sensitive and the sounds louder or creepier.
Can you let us know what it ends up being?
I like a radio on quietly to cover random teeny tiny or weird sounds. But rule out the wasp nest first won’t you.

I am The One Who Breathes. The OP and her child are with me now.

Well, we survived the night, and DS is flattered to hear that he is the subject of a MN thread (one that he knows about, anyway).

Some really good suggestions on here, thank you! I promise I will let you know if I ever find out what it was.

Poor old DS, I had forgotten what it was like being small and scared of the dark, till he freaked me out last night. At first it made a nice change from what usually keeps me awake (basically worrying about people I may have inadvertently offended, then having imaginary arguments with those people). On balance though, I definitely prefer grown up worries!

oooh excellent poster name...TheOneWhoBreathes ...I feel a namechange coming on! :D

glad you both made it through the night! Can either of you hear the breathing in the day??

@Nat6999 I "hear" electricity, and know when things are on or off by listening, that used to freak the children out cos I knew if they had something on in their room without going in
I also have a weird thing where I know what radio station is on, and it's not to do with who is speaking, just the way a tune sounds on the radio.

Yep, wasps nest. We had one of these in our wall downstairs. Apparently, when the weather is hot, they fan their wings to cool the nest down and that's what makes the breathy noise.

I left ours alone and they buggered off at the end of summer and never came back, so no need to poison them or anything.

Mystery solved (we hope) - I asked NDN and they have recently put a fan in their bedroom because of the heat. Very much hope it's that and not a wall-full of wasps

I guessed that! So unreasonably proud of myself. Glad you’ve figured it out though, I hate creepy things.

We had a wasps nest in the eaves and the buggers ate a hole in the ceiling of the spare room they were above. Absolute bastards. Glad it’s not that.

Glad it’s just a fan OP!

Phew!