There's something weird going on in my house

[horseHorseHorse]

For the last couple of weeks I've been noticing lights on when I come in when I'm 100% sure I've turned them off. Milk out on the side when I'm sure it's been put away. Stuff moved around but not in an obvious way, just a "huh, I could have sworn I left that somewhere else."

Put it down to rushed mornings and my cats playing with stuff.

Been out most of the day, just went into the upstairs bathroom for the first time since this morning and there's blood on the loo tank. Thought it could have come from a cat bringing something in but the door has been closed all day, and it's on the third floor so it's not like they could have got in and out like that. Windows have been closed too.

I have already bought carbon monoxide detectors in addition to the wired in ones. They're all over the house but haven't picked anything up.

Have a loft but the hatch is tiny and doesn't seem to have been disturbed.

Have an internal camera which shows the front door and hall - no activity though it did show my dog going bonkers barking at something outside a couple of times today (though the external camera isn't up yet so I couldn't see what)

Only direct family have keys and they wouldn't do stuff like this. Will be changing the locks tomorrow!

I'm properly creeped out ATM! Husband will be back shortly from work thank god! I'm in the bedroom with the door wedged shut for the moment!

Please someone give me a rational explanation!

Before you panic about the blood, google images of spider shit

spiders shit!

Exactly what I thought.

It can’t be flea dirt if the cistern was wiped and the door left closed, and do cats routinely sit on toilets?

Wow this is intense! I wonder if the police will turn up.

I'm with the previous poster who suggested changing the locks.

I thought spider poo too.

If you like, OP, we can set up a Mumsnet private detective rota and we can stake out your house to see who is coming and going.

@MeAgainAndAgain Yes......which is why I said look at the time I wrote that! BEFORE OP wrote that the police had come out! 🤦🏼‍♀️😆

Keep up!

I’d say its either the cats have brought a bird/bat in, or a small injury to the cat itself.
Or - when it’s a bit windy, doesn’t need to be a gale, our bathroom extractor fan drops bits into the bathroom. Think it is how the roof catches the wind. Some mosses/small fungus that grow on the roof are red, I’d check that out.

Dont have a suggestion for the milk though - most likely just forgot to put it back.

Husband mentioned 🤣🤣
Have you actually read what OP posted??

@Savingthehedgehogs I did exactly the same thing!! Bullying was horrendous so I came home after registration at school

You can't guarantee anything. Stop digging holes 😂

Haven't read the full thread, but that could be flea dirt that's turned to blood after coming into contact with moisture.

Looks exactly like flea dirt. If the cat was sitting on the cistern while someone was showering, the condensation left would be enough to create that pattern. Cat can easily leave the scene of the 'crime' and the door be shut, yet still be guilty of having fleas.

As others live in the house, lights being left on and milk left out are just other people living in the house.

But sure, let's do DNA tests and waste police time. 🤦‍♀️

There doesn’t look a lot of blood for a mouse to have been put on it, could the cat not have a cut on its paw and sat up on it at some point?

https://www.instagram.com/kittenxlady/reel/C5MjroGPFfs/?hl=en-gb

Example of flea dirt when moisture added

@horseHorseHorse Please keep us updated regarding input on your cameras. might also be an idea to get trail cams in the garden. they wont go to your phone but if anything happens you take the card out and put it into comp to view the pics. they are motion sensored. the last person on here who was worried about weird things happening in her house went awol!

@LittleGreenDragons I can express whatever opinion I like thank you very much! I know what resources the police have access & remit to and whilst every area varies slightly, it's highly unlikely that they'll willingly dna test something that isn't even certain to be blood! So if they can’t do anything, then a visit will be to appease the caller.

I do however, hope OP gets to the bottom of it, whichever way that is.
I'm not engaging in this nonsense back & forth anymore. Stop attacking people for having a different opinion than you.

Once our cat had a really bad cold and sneezed blood. Looked like that.

Just to calm you OP, if I were an intruder trying to quietly live in your house, I wouldn’t leave a load of blood on the loo. Besides, how would that even happen?!

But clearly next step is internal cameras. Just to reassure.

I actually went back to look at timings. I think you are the one without comprehension skills tbh.

OP wrote about an officer being sent out at 00.15. Your post was 00.45. A full 30 minutes later. Doh!

@LittleGreenDragons Incorrect! It was long before that I was fast asleep at 00:45!

Get a life!

Maybe just me, but this all sounds like over-imagination/anxiety? The cistern doesn't look freshly wiped, and if you zoom in you can see hair (cat hair?) on it.

@horseHorseHorse do a quick check in the mornings (not obsessively though!) that lights are off (with the other stuff ie milk out and such like, my first and only thought would be husband or kids).

Is the bathroom fan possibly dropping/spraying dirt onto the loo? We had a fan in our old house that would do that. It doesn't quite look like blood to me.
The milk etc could all be explained by, as you say, rushed mornings and forgetting where you'd put things.

You could try the old trick before your cameras arrive:

As you're about to leave, sift a fine layer of flour or icing sugar over the floor behind you.

So if someone lets themselves in, you'd see footprints.

Back door and accessible window areas too.

On coming back, kneel down and shine your phone torch not onto but across the floor to pick up any marks.

Then photograph them.

Mess to clean up but could be quite conclusive.

Hope you managed a good night OP and feel a bit calmer and more rested. I would be checking the loft tomorrow

My husband’s ex had never bothered to switch doctor’s surgeries. She drove all the way back for appointments and was popping in to make a cup of tea before she drove home again.

No one in all the posts you didn't read has suggested that, good work 😂