Live on my own - someone has switched oven on - all doors locked

[Seeingadistance]

Ok - I never thought I'd be posting one of these threads, but there you go! I also don't know what I'm posting for, tbh.

I live on my own in a large bungalow. I have two cats.

Was out this morning.

Spent afternoon sitting in bed, where it's warm - watching Youtube videos, writing Christmas cards, procrastinating ...

About 20 minutes ago went through to kitchen to feed cats, and immediately noticed light on in oven. No heat, just the light and fan on. Knob was in 7 o'clock position so very definitely turned deliberately - so seems very unlikely that it was caused by cat jumping around, and even when I had cats who could open doors and turn handles - which these ones don't - I've never had a cat turn the oven on. Cats have either been with me or out all afternoon.

Front and back doors both locked and keys in both locks. Both doors are fairly new - I've lost the spare key for back door but it's in the house somewhere. The spare key for front door is in key safe in garage and the number is known only to my son who's not here, and a trusted friend.

The loft hatch is bolted on this side, but there is another loft hatch in an extension I rarely use, and I've never actually looked into that loft or touched that hatch. However, anyone who was in that part of the house would need to come through a door which is closed and makes a noise when opened and closed, then walk past my bedroom to get to the kitchen.

I'm trying not to be freaked out.

The only other strange thing was maybe a couple of weeks ago, late evening. I was in bed, cats were both sitting on bed, and I heard a noise somewhere in the house. Just one noise - like something fairly light had fallen - so not a loud crash or thump. The cats heard it too - they both lifted their heads and looked towards the bedroom door which was ajar. It was the kind of noise which I would have blamed the cats for making, but they were both with me.

Fuck!

Give me reasonable explanations for how my oven could have turned itself on!

And, no I didn't turn it on myself and forget. I hardly ever used my oven before and pretty much never now as I have an air fryer.

I've reported your post. You're just being plain nasty.

Hope you can solve the mystery - or at least not be creeped out by it.

Seeingadistance
Yeah, I can't say for definite where the lost key is. I suspect it's with various other mysterious keys in the drawer of crap but don't really know for sure.

There is a proper name for the drawer of crap, y'know. Those are called "the anything but drawer", because when you go to them looking for something, you will find anything but what you are looking for.

You can deceive them by saying, as you open them, "I'm not looking for a small flathead screwdriver/red golf tee/wind-up set of false teeth" (to name three random things you might have in there and want for some reason); knowing that is not what you are looking for, the drawer will try to mess you up by bringing whatever you have mentioned to the surface.

Don't blame me: that was Diana Wynne Jones, not me...

I did watch one of our old cats through a pet cam... take a flying leap at something on our cooker, dangle off a knob in a way i thought impossible (knob on the top, horizontal surface), dangle, kick the door open and yank the knob round and then drop off... and didn't even kick the tea towel off the door rail.

I'd have sworn up and down that cat couldn't jump, I'd never seen him jump, he was the most ground based, gravity afflicted cat in the world and I'd love to know what he thought he saw on there (cam far too crappy quality to show that) worthy of such flight!

I also once came home to find the oven door (drop down) open, all the glass smashed - pet cam revealed lurcher related activity to be responsible... he'd yanked a heavy frying pan off, which had knocked the door open, the pan landed on the glass smashing it... he skittered away and came back ten minutes later to haul his prize, the pan, off to his crate to clean out the cold bacon fat, hence the frying pan nowhere near the scene of crime.

You definitely have someone living in your loft...

It being the cat is much more likely than anything else.

The cats. There is NO other logical explaanation.

OP, something similar happened to me in the past and I was so freaked out as there was no logical explanation as to how it could have happened. I went as far as messaging some friends as I was genuinely concerned someone must be in the house. Anyway a few hours after the sheer panic I suddenly remembered (literally out of nowhere!) how it happened and it was me all along! I was so taken aback how in the moment of fear a few hours earlier I had complete amnesia of how it had happened and was ready to accept there was an intruder even though same as you that doors were locked etc. Sometimes our mind plays tricks on us…

Anyone close to you passed recently?
Do you know anything about previous house owners?
I experience stuff like this fairly regularly and also live alone. It’s always the kitchen too - turning on dishwasher, moving small items etc.
there’s never any sense of menace so it doesn’t really bother me.
please know you are not going mad!

lock the other loft hatch and order some alarms of amazon window and under door alarms xx

You’ve referred to your house being quite cold a few times - you didn’t think ‘I’ll pop the oven on to take the edge off’ and just forget ?

your son wouldn’t prank you? (Not that it’s very funny!)

Is the oven built in to the kitchen or stand-alone?

If it's standalone I can absolutely imagine a cat on top of the oven jumping off with one back foot on the dial.

There's a lot of force when they jump (mine mostly jump on me)

I had a ghost in one house I lived in that put dirty cups by the sink for washing and opened the curtains in the spare bedroom.

I also have a poltergeist that hides stuff, if I ask him nicely things randomly re-appear.

I’m aware I sound quite bonkers.

@Notsuretoputit have you lived in the house long?

I'd get the locks changed for peace of mind.

This won't happen. Too outing in more ways than one.

Weird stuff happens in our house. In fact it's weird stuff that I experienced as a teen in another house now happens to my teen.

He has a blunt sword and one day he looked everywhere with the sword in the house while I pooped myself.

Search the house. There's nothing to find.

And blame each other. This is why you should never have more than one cat at a time.

I’d love to say ghosts someone living in your loft but in this case it’s the cat. They’re sly buggers.

Has your phone been at the magic mushrooms again?? 📱
HOW do they come up with such utter flummery?
Year peel?..I was truly puzzled.

Bad phone!

Two actually do blame each other. My white cat (Snowy) always got blamed by his mostly black but with white “bikini” and white bits on paws sister (Sooty) but he didn’t do the same back to her… she was just as naughty as he was too. funny how two cats from same litter have such different personalities!

This is not a thing.

I think I've solved the mystery!

Reading accounts of other MNer's pets exploits reminded me of something.

I heard the cats fighting this afternoon. The most likely explanation for oven being on is that one cat was up high reaching down and the other on the floor reaching up - and between them they've managed to turn the knob.

As pas have suggested and confirmed - cats working as a pair!

Furry bastards!

Her son could prank her and might do. That’s a point.

Cats are plotting to rule the world, one household at a time….

Ha!

Good tip - I'll remember that!