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!

Apparently not. But I'm with you.

Another thought for the bathroom as I can’t see if you mentioned if there’s a blind on the wall near the toilet? I was getting weird black specks all over my toilet that I thought was dirt blowing in from the window. But the back of the old blind was really mouldy and I hadn’t seen it as I never turned the blind over 🤢

Yet here you are... 🤔

Has it been asked, does your house join onto any other houses? Could there be an adjoining door?

Could an elderly parent be doing it? It seems either very forgetful (or very blaise) of someone to bleed in a house they've broken into and not clean up.

Maybe it is more than one thing?
The cat got in to the bathroom. When your sister arrived the dog was in there so she called him out and shut the door.

The milk though. I can't think a cat or dog would do that but maybe you left it out and it just happened the same day?

It's not that. We have had that and it's totally different. Doesn't look like blood for a start.

Could be that they’re all unrelated. The first incidents could be to do with your memory. You sound like you could be anxious and that could be affecting how well you’re remembering things. You may have left the lights on and the milk out. The blood is likely from the cat. Could there be a chance you’re at the age where oestrogen is depleting and leaving you feeling a bit baffled & anxious?

A good example is when I was 45, I’d called the police to report the fact my car had been stolen. I’d searched for a good 45 mins. They found it. It was only 50ft away. Despite the fact I’d been looking for it I just couldn’t see it. I was convinced it had been stolen & so embarrassed when it hadn’t. It was the same time I noticed anxiety creeping in to my life.

It was the start of peri menopause.

If it was blood spattered on the cistern top, you'd expect a bit to also be on the tiles above and the cistern front?
A pp mentioned serratia and I think you said you'd wiped the area earlier with a damp cloth?
Might be worth checking the tap you used to dampen your cloth. Look up at the bit where the water comes out from below. You might need a mirror to get a proper look. We had a pinky/orange ring of serratia there around where the water was coming out.
I had to keep bleaching all the places it appeared and eventually it stopped coming back.

Hope you manage to solve it, I too would be creeped out!

I am absolutely amazed the police came out.
They won't come out for a burglary here or look for anyone who has absconded from ED.

Were you at work yesterday OP, and if so did you remember to do the video before you left? Had anything been moved?

So frustrating for you OP!! I think most PPs have offered the most likely situations. Unfortunately my bet is on a 3rd person, having managed to get a key cut. In all the time you've been there, when have you had trades people in? How many delivery people have had to come inside? Has sister had a dodgy boyfriend? Do your parents have carers? Any opportunity for a 3rd person to pick up your key and get it duplicated...have you (casually) checked with parents where their key for your house is?

Hopefully with your camera, you'll pick up the reason why this is all happening.

Failing that, you have a 👻

i think this may have been suggested down thread but my sink looked like that when my cat had flees. She’d sit in the nice cool sink and scratch away, taking bits of blood/skin off when she scratched, the poor wee lamb 😞

I was about to ask this?

Why not tell your sister to not pop round for a week and see if anything happens in that week.

@catherinemeg OMG, that’s awful.

For those posting but haven't read the thread:

There are numerous references to the fact that the OP lives in a fairly new detached house.

OP has said that her sister has a key and comes in every day to walk the dog. She has one dog and two cats. There are no children.

There is now a lock on the hatch to the small loft space, which does not have a loft ladder fitted and the loft has been checked out. Cameras have been fitted and there is a Ring camera on the front door.

OP said early in the thread that she called the police who came out and checked the property.

You can see the door & stairs on the camera. so it's got to be someone coming in through a kitchen window. But that doesn't explain going upstairs without being caught.

@horseHorseHorse Has anything else happened since the police had a look around, OP?

I could understand the theory about someone else having a key and having been in the house if anything significant had happened BUT I seriously doubt that anyone who was going to do this would take a carton of milk out of the fridge, turn on a couple of lights, move a pair of glasses, and then think that was sufficiently spooky and leave! The marks on the cistern are clearly insect related, serrated, or another natural cause.

Am I the only person on Mumsnet who admits to thinking that it's normal to be a bit forgetful at times? When I got up yesterday morning and came downstairs, my kitchen light was on. I didn't think someone had been in the house - I assumed that I had forgotten to turn it off when I went to bed. This thread really is a non event.

Im here waiting for the discovery of the phrogger in the walls or the time slip, The Devil's Hour style.

There are some really mean comments on here! Insulting too. Clearly something happened, whether they are several isolated incidents or all connected is not known - yet. It is not a non event, and it seems the OP does not have dementia. If you’re bored reading about it, ignore the thread!

I've already said there's no one living in the house and I have no idea what a time slip is.