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

Do you have an accessible loft in the house?

They've got to be inside or have fallen through and are between the case and the floor in the foot.

Or in the gears tangled up? If the weight came off

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.
But you've hardly viewed 24 hours x however many days worth of footage, or have you?

Nope - shone a light into the bottom of the case and there is nothing there.

We've had the hood off and there is nothing trapped in the mechanism - the chains would be too big anyway. Each one with the weights is about 400g.

The cameras are set up to email us an alert when triggered.

Plenty of DP and me coming and going. Nobody else. They couldn't get in undetected. They'd have triggered either the alarms (if we are out) or the dogs (if we are in).

The clock case is open at the bottom and there is nothing on the floor.

@GasPanic Not that bad - I suspect we'll get no change from £100 though as we'll need to get the chains installed by a clock specialist. Removing them really isn't a straightforward process. This is another reason why I do not consider DP a suspect. He would never do anything that would require him to disturb the moths in his wallet!

A very similar thing happened to me the other day!!!! I opened a toy from its packaging for my son on the empty kitchen table. The toy had 3 parts to it which I saw before opening it. Opened it all out and one piece has gone. I checked every possible space and explanation. Nothing. Very spooky!!!!

Why haven't you had it serviced since 96?

Ask for them back! Just stand near the clock and ask for them back, then go along with your day.

I know it sounds crazy but I’ve found things like that before

I hope they appear soon. It’s mysterious. The clock can’t work without them.

So without the chains the clock would stop working immediately?

Surely you must know what time the clock stopped, as it will be the time on the clock face? Or am I being dim?

😂😂

Good point.

2am wasn't it?

I am shamelessly place marking a great woo thread.

I think your DP hates that clock 😬

So I assume, like others, that the clock won’t work without the chains from what you have said?

I was wondering if the chains could have been gone longer, if it takes time for the clock to stop working? Does that make sense? I have no idea how clocks work.

What time.did the clock stop and what we're you doing at the time? And was there anything on your cameras.at that time? If they are not tangled up or in the bottom of the case.someone must have taken them. They are way too big to just disappear.

Hmmm yes googled them. Don't look too pricey.

It's a mystery.

That clock does look like it has a big base with lots of space. Maybe they slid down into some gap ... but I guess it would be hard for the weights to get through.

Myabe Dr. Who used them in the past to throttle a Dalek and caused a time paradox.

Ask for them back! Honestly it works, I don't want to know why 👻 this what I would do, though.

Alternatively...

Do either of you sleepwalk? Logically it's one of you, but neither of you have knowingly done it which leads to the next most reasonable explanation, you've done it unknowingly.

Story: my grandad. Born 1915ish. In 1980, living in a 2br house, 1900 vintage, with his wife, separate br. He, a man of lax Methodism but methodical.

So, as usual, 6.30am awoke. Missus still fast asleep, next door. He headed across the upstairs corridor to the airing cupboard to collect fresh underwear and socks, as always. Laid them on his made bed, then headed 4 steps to the bathroom to bath.

He returned to his room, to dress; underwear, shirt, trousers, socks.

But, one sock was missing. Although he'd laid it on his bed, ready to wear. He hunted high and low. Then 🤷🏻‍♀️ returned to the airing cupboard to get another pair. In doing so, he picked up the single sock, and found it a bit 'weighty'. On investigating, he found one sock inside the other, neatly pressed right into the toe and heel curve.

🤔

Also...it can't have stopped on Monday night, if you heard it on Tuesday at 2am.

Unless you mean Tuesday last week?? In which case it could have been out of action since then.

This is so creepy and I don't believe in woo.

They were stolen by the man who lives in the hidden room behind the kitchen.

There is a passageway going out from the room, into the field behind your garden.

he has made friends with your dog. Get a cat, they hate everyone