Please help me figure out what happened last night

[cinnamonbiscuit]

Please be kind, I’ve had about 1 hour of sleep after last night’s shenanigans! I’m not remotely into anything woo and not suggesting that’s what this is, as I know people often don’t like that on here! I just want people to tell me my own explanations aren’t silly.

My partner works nights so it’s just me and 18mo DD overnight. Last night I woke up at 3am convinced he had come home, I could hear him downstairs. When I realised what time it was I panicked slightly (he gets home at 6am usually), and then there was a massive bang in the house.

I absolutely shat it and lay there trying to decide whether or not it sounded like an intruder. After a few minutes of nothing else happening, I checked on DD and downstairs and nothing had moved and obviously no intruders.

We've spent the last few days putting things up into the loft, I’m thinking something must have fallen over, right?! It didn’t particularly sound like it came from the loft and I don’t know why I initially thought I could hear someone downstairs. Maybe I was dreaming? We are in an end terrace as well so sometimes noises travel from next door. It just sounded so loud and close we have once in the two years we’ve been here had a bird up there as well, maybe a bird knocked something over? The banging noises continued on and off all night, nothing as loud as that initial one though.

To add to this internal drama, we’ve had a very odd noise outside for the last two nights. It sounds like a neighbour’s dog coughing. Do dogs cough?! I realise I must sound absolutely bonkers, this is apparently what I’m like when I’ve had no sleep due to random banging/dog coughing every time I nearly drifted off. It sounds like a sort of honking/retching noise every couple of hours, coming from the same garden.

Please give me your reasonable explanations for all this. Feel free to gently take the mick, tbh I would as well. DH is going to go and have a look in the loft when he’s awake later. I’m really hoping something just fell over. Everything seems fine now in the rational light of day, but last night I was absolutely terrified. Has anyone else had really loud noises caused by birds or other animals in the roof/loft space?

Yes - dogs do cough. It's a strange sound though. Birds on our roof make a surprising amount of noise too.

Noise does travel though and there is such as thing as Exploding Head syndrome which isn't as bad as it sounds!

(and on a woo note - the "witching hour" is 3am, not midnight as is often mistakenly believed!)

Had similar recently and it was a tile slipping off the roof, the noise of it sliding down woke me and the bang when it hit the ground had me convinced we were being burgled. I found the offending tile outside the next day

The coughing could be a hedgehog.

I once heard a strange noise outside at night. Though it was an animal gasping and about to die.

Turns out it was two hedgehogs playing piggyback!

I've had this too! We used to have them snuffle around in the flower beds outside our bedroom window. They are much louder than you'd think for something so small. I thought there was an actual pic outside at first

@Elphame definitely going to chalk this up to Exploding Head syndrome if nothing has fallen over in the loft (and try to forget what you said about 3am)

@ingratitude sadly no tiles anywhere outside!

Interesting that it could be a hedgehog! I did wonder but it just seems to be coming from the same garden all the time. It really is a bizarre noise.. almost sounds like a goose

The 'coughing' could also have been a fox. They have all sorts of strange different barks, I heard similar once and thought it might be a fox, and went to the trouble of finding a youtube video with all the difference noises they make and found it - at 3am

On the off chance it's a hog please could you put some water out at night. Poor little scraps must be parched

Door slamming? We’ve had windows open recently due to the heat that aren’t usually open, and if a bit of breeze gets up it makes some of our internal doors slam shut.

Dog coughing could be a bird - we’ve definitely heard a strange bird type noise outside the last couple of weeks that’s not been there before. Does sound a bit goose like.

I also think the coughing creature is a hedgehog! They are very noisy

@minipie all the doors were shut, and they make quite a distinctive noise when they slam which I would have recognised. I wish it were just that! It was more like a big sudden thump. It’s making me stressed trying to remember what it sounded like one of the many many times I’ve wished DH didn’t work nights

I don't believe in woo but am interested in the scientific explanation of what people believe are psychic phenomenon. There are many well-documented cases are of noise. Humans rely a lot on their eyesight to trace and identify sounds. The banging,clanking of chains,heavy furniture being thrown around the attic,noises,have been found to be due to water flowing under the house. There are a great many underground hidden watercourses,not to mention the plumbing. Plumbing's unlikely to be as loud as you describe. It's interesting that you got the noises in a drought. Water co.,private landowners or Dame Nature may be diverting,closing, or opening up channels that are not normally used.

Foxes can be very noisy! I was woken up the other week by one walking along the middle of the road outside our house chatting loudly to itself 😂
Beautiful animal though

Foxes make all sorts of weird noises, I sleep with ear plugs in if I have the window open and can still hear them!

I am regularly woken by foxes, they are bloody noisy. The worst was the one sitting on top of a neighbour’s car at 2am announcing it’s presence to the world. So your coughing dog could well a fox they do sound odd.

Hedgehogs are ridiculously noisy. I was woken up once by what I thought was someone trying to steal the digger we had on hire - nope, was a hedgehog muttering to himself. Sounded like someone trying to get the engine to start up!

Did you have a window open downstairs? Could a cat have got in and been making the 'someone downstairs' noises? Maybe knocked something outside over on its way out?

Sheep cough like people, if that's relevant. My grandad nearly shot one when he was in the home guard - it didn't answer to 'who goes there?!' apparently! 😂

Could you have squirrels in your loft? When we had them, they were really noisy and regularly woke us up at night. They can also make a barking type noise when they are stressed/angry with each other.

A homeless person is living in your loft and was having a look in the fridge last night?

I have "exploding head" episodes and it does sound like a large bang. I often thin "WTF was that?", then realise that it is literally all in my head as DP is sound asleep and hasn't heard a thing (trust me the noise, if it had been real, would be enough to wake even the deepest of sleepers).

Last night was a full moon and a lot of wildlife tend to be more active at night during one. It was also very still and so sound travels more. I would agree with PP's that what you heard coughing was more than likely a hedgehog/fox/badger.

This sounds like a ghost to me, OP. My money is on either a Frankenstein or a giant marshmallow man

No wonder they make weird noises, if their backs are covered in spikes!

Yes I suppose it could also be a fox- it’s just odd because it always sounds like it’s coming from the same garden! That’s why I originally thought dog but I don’t know why I’ve never heard it before in that case.

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut no no windows open downstairs ! Downstairs in our house is very small and there is only the patio door, front door and kitchen window which I would never leave open in case of burglars. Our neighbourhood isn’t particularly dodge but there are a fair few break ins. And no sheep not particularly rural, just a big housing estate.
@DayYTY could potentially be squirrels up there yes- we just had a look at the roof and the tree nearest the house is getting quite close to our roof which I hadn’t really noticed till now! I’m sure I’ll enjoy using squirrels as a nice calming explanation tonight at some point..

@Discrimination1234 crikey. The thought of that makes me want to cry. Thankfully I know it can’t be that because we’ve only just bought a ladder to access our loft this week.

@AclowncalledAlice I would love to be able to explain it away as that, but to be honest I was wide awake by the time the loud noise happened. I think I actually may have experience Exploding Head syndrome before now that you’ve explained it like that, but it was very much a noise in the house. I actually just said to DH about the full moon, maybe I’m in fact the crazy one?!

A little update - DH went up to have a look in the loft. I think he was slightly more scared than he wanted to let on! There was a baby bath lying on the floor that he thinks he left leaning against something. So nothing really to explain the loud bang but perhaps evidence that something was moving around up there. He says there are twigs and leaves scattered about as well. I feel like this is just enough to give me a sufficiently rational explanation that I should be able to sleep tonight! 🙏

Squirrels can be alarmingly loud. They make a terrible noise when they get arsey.

I though dh was snoring upstairs one night whilst I was watching the tv. But it wasn’t him, It was coming from the front garden. We are rural so either a badger or fox

I had a phase of waking up convinced of a bang and noises like you say of people moving about. Get up and check inside and out and all is quiet. I honestly think it's mostly the exploding head thing and or some unrest or anxiety on the mind.
Yes also the creatures making noises or things falling over. Its annoying as it's so real in the moment.
I tend to twitch as the slightest sound as well after years or kids waking up and having an ear to then.

Could it have been a deer barking. Initially right outside, then later further away. Sounds terribly like a throaty dog but could be mistaken close up for something falling over.