Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Mumsnet classics

Relive the funniest, most unforgettable threads. For a daily dose of Mumsnet’s best bits, sign up for Mumsnet's daily newsletter.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To ask for an explanation for wtf just happened? **MNHQ UPDATE: Mystery solved!**

357 replies

WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 19:59

I'm seriously creeped out and can't figure out a rational explanation so I'm hoping someone can!

Sitting in the kitchen, eating dinner when a black shape ran past my legs, close enough that I felt it pass. Figured it was my cat at first but when I stood up, she was sitting on the windowsill!

The dark shape ran into the living room where my partner is (he saw it too, because he shouted me!)

It apparently jumped on the sideboard and vanished in front of his eyes. There's nowhere it could go - the sideboard is solid oak on a solid stone wall.

The dog is now going mental at the sideboard like there's something there (if there is, we can't find it!)

I'm genuinely creeped out - anyone have a rational explanation? What the hell did we see?

OP posts:
Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:41

@BabyInTheJungle

Well I'm voting ghost. I never used to believe but my DS tells me that a ghost came into his bedroom and ate his yoghurt while he was in the bathroom so I'm now fully woo.
🤣🤣🤣

Maybe I should vote ghost too-it would explain where my good chocolate went ~~and who shrunk my jeans~~ 🤣

OP posts:
Theforest · 13/02/2022 20:41

What did it look like if you both saw it? Surely if it was a rat your partner would have seen it as one on the sideboard ?

Original poster
WeirdlyKind · 13/02/2022 20:43

I just saw a dark shape run away from me. The hall light wasn't on so it was hard to tell but it looked animal shaped! Genuinely thought it was my cat at first until I saw her.

OP posts:
Staffy1 · 13/02/2022 20:44

Rats can definitely jump large distances. Your cat is a bit dud, been shown up by the dog.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 13/02/2022 20:48

Rat. They can jump and flatten and do a mass of surprising things.

They can jump 77cm or 2.5 feet high.

www.wildlife-removal.com/ratjump.html

Ballcactus · 13/02/2022 20:50

Hard to know but I think you should burn the house down tbh

IncompleteSenten · 13/02/2022 20:51

It'll definitely be a rat. They move like lightening and no matter how much you think ohhh they could never get through that gap... They can.

I had pet rats when I was a kid. Gorgeous, friendly, loving little poppets but they can hide!

ambereeree · 13/02/2022 20:52

Rat.

AllOfUsAreDead · 13/02/2022 20:52

@itsfreeeeeeezing1234

Spider ??😂
I was thinking the same, some of them are massive now! Or a neighbours tarantula could have escaped..
WomblingWilma · 13/02/2022 20:53

Are you seriously going to sit in that room and watch TV Shock when you haven’t ransacked it and pulled out the sideboard!

Benjispruce5 · 13/02/2022 20:53

Are you on drugs? If not, a bat?

ScrumptiousBears · 13/02/2022 20:53

@WeirdlyKind

I just saw a dark shape run away from me. The hall light wasn't on so it was hard to tell but it looked animal shaped! Genuinely thought it was my cat at first until I saw her.
Is this a second incident or part of the first story?
ufucoffee · 13/02/2022 20:57

A rat

RandomUser10093 · 13/02/2022 20:57

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

lapasion · 13/02/2022 21:00

Until this thread I had no idea ghost cats were a thing. My grandad swore his old house had a ghost cat and it regularly ran round his ankles. I feel them quite often too and I don’t believe in ghosts or woo stuff.

ladyvimes · 13/02/2022 21:01

Definitely a rat. They can jump very high and squeeze through tiny holes.

Georgeskitchen · 13/02/2022 21:01

Surely if its a rat the cat would be after it?

Sharingplatter · 13/02/2022 21:03

Defo a rat. Similar thing happened to me. They can really move!

thetemptationofchocolate · 13/02/2022 21:04

I also think possibly a large rat.
I found a dead rat in the shed once and it was so enormous I fetched the ruler to measure it. Not including the tail it was 9 inches long.

AcrossthePond55 · 13/02/2022 21:05

I'm still betting it's a rat. Those bastards are fast and sneaky. We had one run behind our china cabinet and we couldn't find it anywhere. DH later found a teeny crack in our entry room (adjoins the dining room) down by the floorboards that had a few rat pellets by it and we figured it skittered along the wall into the entry room and disappeared.

There may not be anything near the sideboard but I'll bet there's a cranny or crevice in a room nearby.

tempester28 · 13/02/2022 21:06

A rat

AcrossthePond55 · 13/02/2022 21:07

@Georgeskitchen

Surely if its a rat the cat would be after it?
Depends on the cat. Our current cat would be after it in a heartbeat. One of our former cats considered pest control to be below her pay grade.
oakleaffy · 13/02/2022 21:07

A very staid male friend said he complimented someone on their cat..
The householder asked for a description, and it was indeed the description of a cat that they used to have, a female black and white one.
I have heard ghostly knocking, loud and sharp, that made me go to the door{of my parent's old 16th C cottage} at 11 at night.
Upon opening the door, there was just a thick silence, and rainwater gurgling down the lane.

The woman who bought the house after also heard the knocking, and got in touch with Estate Agent over it.
@WeirdlyKind I had a baby rat come in in Covid summer {first lockdown} but it kept out of my way.
I think I made a thread about it a couple of years ago..
Definitely didn't try and squeeze past my legs..I'd guess a ghost cat in these circumstances...

BruceAndNosh · 13/02/2022 21:08

It was the remnants of Boris's reputation.
Moves fast, difficult to see then disappears without a trace

Poppins2016 · 13/02/2022 21:08

@Georgeskitchen

Surely if its a rat the cat would be after it?
Ha. It's amazing what my cats will drag in and then refuse to bother re-catching... it's as though they enjoy watching their human struggle (although I must say that I've now perfected the art of catching mice and voles with just my bare hands and a tea towel). 🙄🤣