to be struggling to explain this (bit woo!)

[Elphame]

I'd just left the dining hall yesterday when there was this huge crash from behind me.

I shot back in to find the hanging lampshade from the landing pendant light shattered on the floor, shards of glass all over the room, up the stairs and all over the landing (there is a wrought iron open spiral staircase from the room to the landing and the light hangs directly over it)

The bulb holder is still intact - the ring that screws tight to hold the shade in place is still screwed tight as it was when I fitted the shade months ago. There is no way it could have just fallen off. Everything is just as it should be

Even the bulb itself was still in place - in fact still alight although all glass was missing and the live parts all exposed. The glass must have shattered though before the it hit the stairs or all the glass would have been downstairs which it wasn't.

Mighty puzzled here - anyone have a rational explanation?

In perfection in the glass caused it? But, OP, where do you live? Sounds very grand

I think that's probably what she was getting at Rock

Oh, this will be good.

Sounds like the glass gave way.

Also, dining hall?!

We need a picture

My guess is there was a small crack or flaw in the glass. Cold weather makes this sort of thing more likely to happen, the glass shade has possibly got very cold overnight while it's off, then when the light is turned on the shade heats up very quickly and in heating up expands too fast. This fast expansion could make a flaw or crack widen until the shade just shatters.

Haha - not grand at all - 200 year old cottage where the door front opens directly into hall which we use as a dining room. There is just enough space for a dining table and chairs. It's a very common arrangement around here.

Pictures provided - the shade is the twin of the one that fell down - there is no way it could come off without unscrewing the bulb holder (all the glass was from the bulb)

I would think as about it exploded from being cold and then heating up whether through heating or bulb on. We had a glass shower screen exploding from heat from window. Everything else screwed in and looked fine but glass suddenly just exploded everywhere

That should say i would think same as person above

Are you saying that the lampshade was also made of glass? That's your answer. Glass can have flaws, and can be quite pernickety in temperature changes.

Thermal expansion.

That'll be 40 quid please.

Yep,what the pp's said.

IT broke from heat.
Have you got the receipt, wondering if it was fit for purpose?

Always happy to do ghost stories btw but this isn't one.

The wattage of the bulb was too high for the lampshade, so it was shattered by excessive heat.

The light couldn't stay lit once the glass had shattered. Light bulbs are filled with argon gas which stops the filament from burning out immediately.

There is always a rational explanation.

There is a 'haunted' table at my local pub, where glasses apparently fly off and fling themselves on the floor. This would happen about 2-3 seconds after someone had walked past, even though no-one had touched the glass. Everyone was much puzzled by this until a bunch of engineers sat there, and figured out that a slight tilt on the table plus a draught caused when the door to the side of it was opened (this being the destination of those walking past) caused the glass to move and then gather momentum.

My guess is that the bulb shattered, and the breaking of this shattered the shade. Hot glass shatters more easily than cold, as anyone who owns a dishwasher can attest.

Alternatively, the lampshade might have spontaneously broken and taken the bulb with it!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage

There is always a rational explanation.

shovetheholly, don't be such a spoilsport.

Was Grandad Trotter in the room above you?

You have a ghost, for sure. Go & have a look for ectoplasm in the room above, either under the rug or oozing from the ceiling...

Have you recently said Beetlejuice three times?

Ghost. This is the handiwork of a ghost. You need an exorcism. Rational explanations are usually the least likely.

Although, are ghosts exorcisms or is that just demons that are exercised? What is getting rid of a ghost called? I forget.

Sorry lovelearning - I love a good ghost story as much as the next woman!

I just find it hard to believe that poltergeists would be so boring. If you have the power to invisible move or break shit, why restrict yourself to a few boring household objects? It suggests a lack of imagination amongst the see-through fraternity. If I had the power to walk through walls and intervene in ghostly ways with the world, I'd be having a lot more fun than smashing a boring old glass shade (no offence, OP, I'm sure it was lovely).