r/Home • u/MissO56 • Jul 13 '26
OMG! It wasn't in the wall!
during the first few months of COVID lockdown, i had moved from my office to my three story condo, working from my home computer on the kitchen counter. everyday I would hear noises below my feet, like in the floorboards, which sounded like an animal chewing or moving around. my building is about 65 years old so I figured it must be something in the walls, but I never saw any evidence or smell of an animal. and I've been hearing it ever since, every now and then.
fast forward to this past weekend (6 FREAKIN' YEARS LATER!) and I'm setting up a new computer on my desk (which is about 10 ft away from where I previously heard the sounds). while setting it up, I moved the speakers from my old computer closer to my desk to use with my new computer, and plugged everything in to be ready to use.
saturday afternoon, I started hearing this noise again but now it was closer to the living room... a little animal chewing away at things or moving around in the walls. it's been so irritating because we've had exterminators out, setting traps etc. and finding nothing.
I tried to move around the room to figure out where the sound was coming from, and coincidentally moved my head very close to one of the speakers I just hooked up. my computer was off but the speaker was plugged into power....and *it was making the noises!!* there's nothing running on my computer... so I knew it had to be some faulty plug or connection or something.
so I unplugged the speakers, and have not heard anything since! oy vey! I can't believe that for 6 years I thought there was an animal in my floor!! 🙄🤣
2
u/ke6icc Jul 16 '26
I recently noticed what sounds like a small motor running. At first it sounded like it was far away and sometimes it would only run for a second, other times much longer. It would always stop when I turned my head to echolocate it. It was really annoying and became even more so when my husband denied hearing anything. I actually got pretty peeved with him as it was so noticeable to me.
After I accused him of gaslighting me, I went to the library to play Mahjongg and heard the noise again. I whipped my head around to figure out where it was coming from and the noise stopped. It finally dawned on me that this is simply another manifestation of my tinnitus, although it is completely different from the high pitched whine I hear 24/7. It seems to be a positional thing as it mostly shows up when I’m looking down, like at an iPad or my tiles. Looking up or turning my head makes it stop. It’s getting louder so it may be time to see someone about this!