To be amused rather than freaked out? (Woo!!)

[Elphame]

Ok to get the mundane stuff out of the way

No one but DP and me have been in the house since Friday

We’ve lived here 20 years and are the only ones with keys. All spares are where they should be

We have 2 burglars alarms which we set when we go out. They have not been activated.

We have cctv camera front and rear covering all entrances to the house and garden. The only comings and goings recorded are DP and me.

We have 2 dogs

DP never plays practical jokes.

Now the mystery. My lovely heirloom grandfather clock stopped sometime since Monday night. I can’t say exactly when but I noticed this afternoon and asked DP to wind it.

5 minutes later he came into the kitchen looking rather pale and told me that the clock has stopped as the winding chains are missing. Both of them. They are some 8ft long with heavy weights on the ends and to remove them requires some dismantling of the clock as well as knowing how they are fixed.

They are not on the floor of the clock case. They have quite simply vanished.

We’ve gone from WTAF to freaked out, annoyed and now somewhat amused. Clearly something doesn’t like my clock!

I am totalling unable to come up with a rational explanation for this. There just isn’t one that either of us can come up with

That is weird. I have an old grandfather clock too so know how big the chains are. Was it def working Monday or has it been out of action longer? Are they def not wound up into the mechanism? If not then yes, very weird ( and a very niche sort of haunting if that’s what it is!?)

How odd.

Yes definitely. I was awake into the small hours of Tuesday and heard it strike 2am. I don’t remember hearing it afterwards but it’s the sort of background thing you tune out when busy.

No the chains are not anywhere in the clock or case. We even took the hood off and checked inside with a torch!

They will turn up exactly where they should be. That's what always happens when I can't find things, anyway.

Got tied around inside clock?

The only other explanation is one you've somewhat ruled out - that someone fucking HATES your clock chiming and has snuck
into your house in the evening when you let the dogs out

WAITED THERE until after the clock struck 2 and then removed the chains and left the house..

Good luck getting to sleep 😯😯😯

Assume you have to wind it periodically? So the chains could've been removed anytime since it was last done.
(Or are the chains required for it to work constantly? I know nothing about clocks)

Are they valuable on their own?
Do you have any friends or relatives that have a similar clock that may have needed replacement chains recently that have access to your home?

How could you not notice they were gone? Unless I just don't understand grandfather clocks, aren't they the hangy down chains that sit near the pendulum?

The clock won’t work without them. The chains drive the mechanism

The chains are inside the clock case so the only way I’d notice they weren’t there would be noticing the clock had stopped and opening the door into it which we normally wouldn’t do. It was only because DP couldn’t wind the clock and felt no resistance to the key that he opened the case

I’m absolutely sure we’ve had no outside visitors. No one can get in without being caught on camera. We have 4 cameras which record 24/7.

Maybe I need to set up a camera in the hall!

The chains aren’t valuable in themselves but it’s going to be a nuisance finding replacements and they won’t be cheap. Nothing about grandfather clocks is cheap. Serving is over £500 a time.

There is absolutely no explanation I can come up with to explain this!

If no one else has been in or out then it was either you or your DP.
It's that simple.

Unless you have a ghost, who like me, would do anything to silence a ticking clock in the night.

Do either of you sleepwalk?

Has your DP left the house with a bag in the last few days?
If not they can only be hidden somewhere in the house.

Is your house detached? If not do you have an attic or a cellar? ...

Do your neighbours have an emergency key , and the chimes have finally driven them insane so they have let themselves in and snuck under your cctv to dismantle the clock ?

Otherwise it’s a particularly sophisticated ghostie

Disappearing Object Phenomenon! It’s a thing!

I’ll just leave this here…

Definitely not DP or me so definitely not simple!

As I said in the first post, no one but us has a key.

We are detached with 18" thick stone walls so no one but us can hear the clock and we can only hear the tick in the hall and the chimes don't penetrate far. I can only hear them dimly in bed and then only if the door is left open for the cat. You can't hear them at all in the sitting room.

The cat you say… 🤨

so are the weights missing too? the most likely explanation is that the chain broke and chain + weight is somehow hidden in the bottom of the clock case. or even that one weight fell off and the rest of the chain got wound around the clock mechanism.

does it sometimes strike 13?

Your neighbour's cat got in, couldn't get out again, got tangled around the chains and then ran off when it smelt crab sticks being thrown through a window. Definitely what happened

That's a good explanation, could it be that?

😅

It's due for a service anyway....

Yes this, pls go check OP!

It's a very niche item for anyone to want to detangle and steal. If you're detached and no-one can hear them then they've not been taken by someone disturbed by the chimes.

It's either your DH

... or a 👻

How much do they cost to replace, are we talking thousands or tens of thousands ?

is there a mysterious white cat stalking around?