Noises in attic really freaked out!!

[happymumof4crazykids]

Came home at 7pm tonight and as I came through the front door it sounded like someone ran up the attic stairs. Had the kids with me and OH is in work. Told the younger kids to go in the lounge and took my eldest with me upstairs to check. The attic is a converted attic bedroom with stairs off the landing. As we got upstairs and turned the landing light on heard a shuffling noise (like someone moving about)and was absolutely petrified if I'm honest.
Went upstairs and found nothing in the attic bedroom. Checked every cupboard and wardrobe upstairs, all doors and windows were locked, no sign of anyone being in the house or anything moved/missing. The attic stairs are a half flight with landing then another half flight up again. On the half landing is an entrance to a storage attic above our double extension. This was unlocked but there is only half a dozen boxes in there so got a torch and couldn't see anything so locked it up and came downstairs. Did bedtime got the younger kids to bed and came downstairs. My eldest has the attic bedroom and he's just screamed out saying he thought he saw someone in his room. (Was asleep he said) There is no one there and the half attic door is still locked. I have searched the whole house and can't find anything. WIBU to ring the police to come check?

I think it's probably rats too as they stop when they hear people moving. We had them in the loft space in our converted barn and pest control said they coming out every day to loft rats at the moment due to the cold weather.

We had a seagull in ours once. We've also had a pigeon, it fell down the chimney and behind the fireplace, it was god awful. Not quite as bad as the seagull, still don't know how he got in.

Where abouts are you in UK, could be Glis Glis if in South East. Either way sounds like vermin, they can get into all sort stuff of places and are bloody noisy.

Not south east. Have been into the half attic checked all the floor and the boxes no sign of rodents or birds. Woke up about a hundred times last night thinking I could hear something but was just the wind I think. The noise was just like someone running up the stairs then someone shuffling around in my sons attic bedroom. Neighbour who shares that wall doesn't have an attic conversion so no stairs so wasn't her. Have pulled out all my sons furniture in main attic and checked everywhere no signs of rodents in there either. Haven't heard anything since so am putting it down to imagined noise

Have you been reading the creepy places thread OP? I've had to stop reading it as was getting spooked in my microscopic non scary house...

No I must of missed that one! I don't scare easily normally so I was freaked out last night but all is well. No one here thank goodness!

It was very windy last night OP. Maybe that was kept waking you. My bedroom door was rattling as if someone was trying the handle

Do you have a boiler with a vent? We do and when it is windy like last night, it sounds like someone is banging around up stairs and running across the floor

Could it be rats? There are rats in my loft (communal loft,so not actually my responsibility). They make a hell of a racket,sounds like a person clomping around up there. The council have come out intermittently and put poison down,and then it sounds like they're playing football with the 'bait ball'. My cat has begged me to let her up there and sort the little bastards out,but the loft hatch is locked and only the council and fire services can access it.

That sounds like a ghost. They always live in attics God knows why.

OP, are you ok? Any updates?

In some terraced houses, particularly old ones there is very little in the way of partitions between the lofts of the houses, although if yours is converted presumably there is no way someone could access from next doors loft? I'd be tempted to get some motion sensed cameras up.

Squirrels? We had them in our loft. And this is one of the times of year they are active and seek out places to breed. Bam-chika-wah-wah! Your actic is a squirrel love nest!

I kept being woken up by a noise, like someone creeping around the house. It happened every night, at around the same time - 2.30am. I could tell it wasn't just me who could hear it because my cat was concerned. When he heard the footsteps, he would sit bolt upright, with huge staring eyes and miaow silently, in a terrified way. When I got up to investigate, there was a rushing sound and then a mysterious clank - but by the time I had got downstairs, no sign of anyone there.

I set up a wildlife camera, one of the ones that triggers when movement is sensed. And waited.

The next morning, I reviewed the camera. It showed my neighbour's very fat white cat forcing his way through the cat flap and trying to find food, then unceremoniously weeing on my fridge door.

Ghost

It might be worth calling a pest control company to come and check it out. Ames Pest Control are amazing. We had a problem in our house in London with rats in the walls (it's a very old house). The noises were very strange (sometimes sounded like people walking around), so we called in Ames Pest Control and they confirmed it was rats and sorted the problem for us. It could be you have rats inside the walls or the ceiling perhaps? Might be worth getting it checked out. The contact for Ames is here if that helps: www.amesgroup.co.uk/contact-us/

OP what I am about to say is so far fetched but I've read a few stories about it:-

have you checked the walls (the plasterboard ones) etc, to make sure that aren't any marks to show that someone could have pushed It through. There have been cases of people gaining access to people's property this way- stealing food, wet towels etc being the only indication.

As I said far fetched I know. My first thought was access by neighbours- my aunt and uncle had this with their house and they and their neighbours used to play jokes on each other, they were proper wind up merchants. But you've said that's not possible.

Agree call pest control. We saw no droppings but heard noises and there were rats there. Best to get them out early as it prevents too much nesting etc.

Could there have been a window or door open upstairs and when you opened the front door, a gust of wind went through the house and was responsible for some of the noise...I think the shuffling noise in your sons room could have been imagined due to fear.

No rats and no people! There has been some more footsteps sounds but definitely no one here! The main attic is a bedroom absolutely no access to anyone else and is totally secure. The small attic over the extension is boarded on the floor and I can crawl in and stand up and walk around. Nothing at all in there apart from Christmas decorations and Halloween decorations. I went in there yesterday morning and shone a torch in every nook and cranny checked the outside and inside the boxes no sign of anything. My son hasn't heard anything at all while in his bedroom and I've not heard anything at night when in my room below. The only time you hear anything is as you walk in the house from the front. Decided it must just be something to do with the wind!

We had squirrels and it was really noisy at times. We thought it was days and got the pest control in and he said it was actually squirrels. Either go up/get someone to go up and check for droppings, holes etc or call pest control to look

Op I don't mean to freak you out but your attic extension sounds like my aunts and when the wired it up, lights etc, they lost a few feet of space to plasterboarding because of the way it was wired. Long story short there was basically a little access panel just big enough for a slender person to wiggle through and then they could stand up and walk around behind the walls in order to service the wiring or whatever it is they do to it every 10 years. Could yours be the same? Is there any point of access where a person could have gotten behind the plasterboard and hidden? We always used to joke that if someone broke in we could hide in there and mess with their heads but if we had ever disturbed a burglar they could theoretically have stayed back there for hours waiting till the coast was clear.

You don’t need pest control, you need a fucking priest!!

Weird! Did you get to the bottom of it?

That sounds like something to do with the wind that happens when you open the door - it's causing something to sound like footsteps. A vent in a wall where something has dropped behind it?

I once spent an evening convinced I was about to have a nest of rats drop out of the ceiling on me. When I investigated in the light of day it was some tatty old plastic in the drafty attic, rustling in the stiff breeze.

It's extremely unlikely that there's anyone living in your plasterboard, seriously.