Location: cell phone dying    

My sister had left her cell phone at our house, and every few minutes it would jingle a bit. Maddening!

Iceland
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 12:34 am

Location: A faint beep    

I keep hearing a faint beep, about 2 or 3 times a week. It doesn't happen at the same time each day. I still haven't figured it out.

Italy
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 2:04 am

Location: Smoke detector    

Chirp... (five minutes of silence) Chirp... (three seconds of silence) Chirp... (an hour of silence). Seems to stop doing it in the cold. I need to replace that battery!

Guyana
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 2:19 am

Location: Factual Correction    

Aluminium doesn't rust

Vatican City
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 2:45 am

Location: Correction of a factual correction...    

Actually aluminium does rust/oxidize, creating a very hard and impervious aluminium oxide outerlayer. That's what stops it from oxidizing any further, but sometimes something can break through that layer, like electrolysis with another type of metal flake or particle, which will allow it to oxidize further under that hard outer layer, making white flakes usually...

South Africa
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 2:58 am

Location: Correction of a factual correction... Continued...    

... That vent is more likely made of galvanized metal plate which is resistant to rust, but will eventually succumb to it.

South Africa
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 3:02 am

Location: Very low toned intermittent noise that sounded like a horn    

On rainy/misty days when there was little or no wind, or it was westerly. I would mimmick the tone and intervals as well. Many years later on a tour to Robben Island, mist came over and I heard it very loudly, tourbus drove past the mist horn as it was bellowing to passing ships. I was finally vindicated(nobody else could hear it) because the tone and intervals matched... phew..

South Africa
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 3:14 am

Location: A very intermittant beep-de-beep-beep    

Went mad looking for it, as narrowing down the search area took hours thanks to the break inbetween beeps. Turned out to be the low battery warning for a key-finder gadget.

Norway
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 4:28 am

Location: My camera phone taking pictures in my pocket    

I have a flip phone, and the shutter button on the side is set up so if you pres and hold it, it will enter camera mode while the phone is closed (for self-portraits, I guess--you can see the image on the external screen). Since I'd changed the shutter sound to a single beep, there were a few days where I kept hearing an intermittent beep that seemed to come from the right and below me.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 5:15 am

Location: creepy rustling noises    

They seemed like someone walking with wool socks rubbing them on the floor. Turns out my home had very weird acoustics and it was the janitor brooming 4 floors below...noticed it because it always happened about 6.30-7 am

Argentina
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 5:48 am

Location: Scratching, scratching, scratching    

I heard a scratching sound over my bathroom in the triplex where we rented (middle floor). I figure it was mice or (gulp!) rats. It got louder every day until we finally had an exterminator come, and took out a family of .... RACOONS! They had got between the floors and were having a grand time destroying the house.

Marshall Islands
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 6:21 am

Location: Train whistle    

I live in Citrus Heights (Sacramento County), the nearest train tracks are in Roseville, yet seemingly every other night I'd hear this train whistle that sounded like it was only a couple blocks away. Turns out one of the redneck wanna-be's here had outfitted their Enormo-Truck with a train whistle for a horn. What an a**hole.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 6:42 am

Location: Ice maker    

Neither of us had lived in a house with an ice maker until last year, and we still get spooked when it makes new ice and drops it into the tray. "What IS that??" "Oh yeah, it's the ice maker."

Iceland
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 6:44 am

Location: gurgle    

It was the stomachs of all my neighbors...

Afghanistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:20 am

Location: Sump Pump    

We'd never lived in a house with a sump pump before and the first week, it rained a bit and the sump pump kept going off and freaking us out. We started calling it the smoke monster like on Lost.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:20 am

Location: Makita Boom Box battery dying.    

Thing would beep once every few hours. Did this for about a week. The beep was non directional and I spent quite a long time trying to figure this out.

Afghanistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:36 am

Location: Vague intermittent electrical buzzing, like in movies when power lines get shorted    

It was my cell phone, on vibrate mode, sitting on a wooden shelf in the next room. Freaked me out for a whole day

New Zealand
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:51 am

Location: GPS (while stored in the closet)    

Every 3 weeks or so, our GPS will turn itself on and begin giving us directions - "Right Turn Ahead". At least it was easy to figure out what piece of technology was making the noise!

Dominican Republic
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:53 am

Location: Kids toy with dying batteries    

A couple of years ago, my ex and I woke up in the middle of the night to a "possessed sound" coming from the kids toy box. She made me dig until I found it, then made me put it outside. Was really creepy; a kids song in super slow motion from a toy no one was playing with.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:56 am

Location: Air filter in the heater return vent.    

Every time the heater turns off in our house, it is followed by a haunting, metallic thump. I figured out that the air filter in the cold air return vent in the hallway ceiling was not a tight enough fit. When the air comes on, it sucks the filter up and when it turns off the filter falls back down onto the grate. My solution was to put an old sock along the edge of the filter.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:02 am

Location: High pitched squeal    

We'd usually only hear it at night when everything got quiet. Hunted all over the house. Turned out to be the turbine vent on the house behind ours. Still going on, but knowing is half the battle.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:10 am

Location: Seconding the "kids toy with dying batteries"    

I've had that happen twice and it is indeed, freaky.

Thailand
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:18 am

Location: Birds nesting in the bathroom exhaust vent    

Kept hearing a scratching/fluttering sound coming from the wall in or near our bedroom. After spending quite a bit of time with my ear pressed against the wall, I finally located the sound eminating from the master bathroom wall... and specifically the exhaust fan vent. Evidently a pair of birds had found that to be the ideal location to set up their home.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:38 am

Location: VERY high pitched squeal coming from one side of the bedroom    

It happened late at night (around 11pm) a few days a week. Eventually noticed it was also coming from the same side of the living room. Opened the front door and it was louder, so it was obviously coming from outside. Finally roamed around in the front yard with a flashlight and found some kind of filter for the sprinklers that was bad.

Croatia
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:48 am

Location: A loud whistle or howl caused by the sprinkler system.    

It only happened at 3am so it took me a while to finally get up and check it out. Just needed to replace a pipe that had cracked in the valve box. It was blowing air through the crack, making the sound of a elementary school recorder but much much louder.

Spain
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 9:18 am

Location: windows in extreme cold    

I live in Wisconsin and my windows occasionally make a very loud cracking sound when its cold outside. I'm not sure why.

England
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 9:43 am

Location: creaky-whisphery sound    

Started up one night while the husband was out of town. Weird sound started in the middle of the night and woke me up. It would stop, but then start up again whenever I closed my eyes and was laying on my right side. Thought I was hallucinating, but it turned out to be a frog outside the window with uncanny timing.

United Kingdom
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 9:44 am

Location: A rapid rattling sound that would wake us up in the middle of the night    

Turns out it was caused by an internal instruction label that had come partially unglued inside the motor cavity of our refrigerator. It has slipped in the way of the cooling fan and was rubbing up against that. I have no idea why it only went off at night. It was a pretty easy fix though; I just ripped the label off.

New Zealand
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:06 am

Location: Popping/dripping noise in the bathroom    

Heard it one night after we went to bed shortly after moving in. We thought it was a dripping sink, but it turns out it was the plastic cover on the light fixture. When the lights were on, it would get warm and after they were turned off, it was the plastic cooling down and flexing back to its original shape.

Bahrain
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:11 am

Location: A clunk every ten minutes or so while sitting on the back porch.    

The ice machine to an old refrigerator sitting outside. It wasn't hooked up to a water line, but would still try to make ice. Resulted in a search all around the backyard one night until it was found.

Tanzania
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:26 am

Location: An idiotic blather on the airwaves    

It turned out to be Sarah Palin

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:36 am

Location: water drip in downspout    

Like Rob I had very loud drips. My local Hardware store sold me a small plastic device specifically for this problem. It was a small rectangle of plastic with small bumps (somewhere between the softer "loop" half of velcro and astrotruf) but the sticky back never held so I had to shove it back in after any strong rain.

Benin
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:47 am

Location: Crazy maniacal serial-killer-style laughter    

Again, a kid's toy (in this case a Gravedigger monster truck) with dying batteries. Had to put that one outside, under a plastic bin.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 11:19 am

Location: An idiotic blather on the airwaves    

"It turned out to be Sarah Palin" - That's interesting that you heard that but haven't heard any of the mindless dithering and blather coming from Team Obama, Pelosi or Reid over the last year...

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 11:36 am

Location: Owl    

I once heard an owl around 4am, thought it was in our kitchen. Turns out, it was sitting on top of the stove hood exhaust vent (on the roof), hooting away. I got a good photo of it before it flew off.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 11:43 am

Location: A rap rap rapping    

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.' But after a few days we figured out it was the clothes dryer vent outside. When the wind blew just the right way, a flap that keeps animals out of the would bang.

Afghanistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 12:31 pm

Location: STILL UNKNOWN    

Right at the head of my bed, there is a tapping sound on my wall, as if somebody was knocking on the wall next to my head. Of course it only happens late at night when I'm trying to sleep! IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 12:31 pm

Location: Echo of the neighbor's gutter    

A blank, central wall in the apartment kept making dripping-pinging noises. Eventually realized it only happened in the summer, when the window was open. Finally, we realized it was the rain gutter across the street. The sound somehow echoed across the street and across the room, past where the computers are, on the empty wall. It stopped when we put a bookshelf up against the wall.

Armenia
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 2:36 pm

Location: Indian Powwow Drums Beating    

Every summer when I was young, I would hear a "thump-thump... thump-thump..." from out in the back yard. It would start every 30 minutes and last for five. Turns out an Indian Powwow was responsible from across the street in the park. It took me five years to make the connection.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 3:15 pm

Location: Pakistan    

It was just Pakistan.

Pakistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 3:26 pm

Location: Very loud beep    

Heard a loud beep about every 30 seconds. Eventually tracked it down to the dumpster outside my apartment complex. I thought someone had thrown something that beeps in there until it started doing it on other occasions. I still don't know what the beeping was supposed to indicate. How annoying.

Western Sahara
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 3:39 pm

Location: beep, beep, beep, once every 4 hours    

For three weeks my roomates and I tried to figure out the beeps. I finally found it in our downstairs laundry room-- a stopwatch I used for auto racing had a button jammed against my toolbox!

Tajikistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 4:32 pm

Location: high frequency rattling, like a baseball card in spokes    

One night our windows made this high frequency rattle for 2-3 seconds, every few minutes. Sounded like a baseball card in bike spokes, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Turns out some strange changes in air pressure outside (or inside) were forcing the the 3M plastic winter insulation to press against the glass and vibrate like a drum.

India
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 5:53 pm

Location: beep every hour    

There is an old watch somewhere in my bedroom that beeps every hour. It obviously doesn't keep time very well, because it beeps every hour on the half hour.

Eritrea
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 5:53 pm

Location: loud quick short thunk    

BIG Marine Corp Ammo Can - has a great rubber seal and as atmospheric pressure changes the sides kinda bow in or bow out - makes a very mysterious noise that took me about 15 years to figure out where it came from.

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 6:04 pm

Location: loud THUD    

Really a little uncharted island in the Pacific somewhere. I was stranded there and hearing that noise could happen anytime. Finally figured out it was a coconut dropping from a tree into the sand. WILSON!

United States
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 6:07 pm

Location: High pithched beep    

So my roommate tried to prank me by getting an annoy a tron from think geek. I spent weeks looking for the source, becausebhos was a pretty urgent sounding beep. It came at random intervals and just wouldn't stop. I checked everything in hte house until I found of stuck on the back o the washing machine.

Afghanistan
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 7:53 pm

Location: The voices in my head    

Ukraine
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 8:16 pm

Location: Loud high pitched scream that apparently is outside of most other's range of hearing    

I'm known to suddenly look up from what I'm doing when an old CRT TV is turned on and the flyback transformer fires up, but I've also found that I can (un/fortunately) hear things like failing MOSFETs or caps in switching power supplies screaming as they fail. Proves useful at times, such as if a PSU is about to catch fire, but mostly makes me look weird. Oh hay, I hit a character limit!

Canada
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 10:55 pm

Location: Dripping    

I thought that my faucet was dripping, but whenever I checked, it was always shut tight and the tip was dry. Eventually I figured out that it was coming from the sump pump.

Iceland
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 11:09 pm

Location: Eight    

The answer is eight! 20 - 12 = 8

Vatican City
Wednesday 10th of February 2010 11:11 pm

Location: video card cooling fan    

It was a quiet ululation that I was sure was part of the computer game I was playing, Diablo, in the wee hours. It was really creepy smiting evil while tired and groggy. Diablo was the only program I used that stressed the video card enough for the fan to bother spinning. A shot of compressed air, and some bike chain oil and I could go to sleep with good dreams.

Canada
Thursday 11th of February 2010 12:13 am

Location: Fast rattling sound like a card in a bicycle spoke    

Heard it while sitting in the car at intersections, thought it was a leaf in the blower fan. On our way to the camping site, it also sounded while the car was parked and shut off. Found out it was a tie down strap a few millimeters away from the top of the trailer lid which would vibrate as the wind blew across it.

South Africa
Thursday 11th of February 2010 4:26 am

Location: Air duct goes bang    

It's a large rectangular air duct right after it leaves the furnace. When the furnace kicks on, it pushes out one of the sides, makes a small bang that's hard to hear. But then when the air stops, it springs back into place with a bang that sounds like it was punched. It's easy to ignore during the day, but very noticeable at night.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 5:53 am

Location: Thunder    

Every night in the summer after I moved into my new house, I'd hear what sounded like thunder. It was always at the same time (10:00pm,) lasted for only a few minutes, and was never associated with any rain or weather (in fact it would happen when there wasn't a cloud in the sky for miles.) Cause: The nightly 5-minute fireworks display at the King's Island amusement park 5 miles away.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 6:46 am

Location: Curmudgeon    

I knew Rob was a big ol' curmudgeon, I just knew it! (Get those damn kids off my lawn!)

Bhutan
Thursday 11th of February 2010 8:48 am

Location: Fireworks    

The first year living in our new house, my wife and I heard this muffled banging sound. We searched the entire house looking for the cause. We were getting worried enough that we barricaded the basement windows in case someone was trying to get in that way. It turns out that it was the 4th of July and we were listening to the distant fireworks.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 9:57 am

Location: Loud bang! on extremely cold nights    

on exceptionally cold nights we would occasionally hear a loud bang in our house. I've never found out for sure, but I suspect that it was nails shrinking in the cold and pulling themselves out of the wood just enough to reverberate throughout the house.

Canada
Thursday 11th of February 2010 10:55 am

Location: squeaky door    

I'd enter my house, and it would sound like I left the radio on in another room, but it'd always stop like a second or two after I walked in. Ghost radio! It took me a few years to figure it out, when I was bringing a bunch of stuff into the house at once.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 11:07 am

Location: These answers are really incredible    

These are great comments! All of these are so good!

United Kingdom
Thursday 11th of February 2010 11:40 am

Location: A series of three beeps    

We have a 2008 Braun Ambulance that at random times in the shift will set off three beeps in random sets. It will be two sets of beeps one time, one set the next, or three sets each about 15 seconds a part. We have tried to figure it out but over the last five months have kind of given up. (we even read the manual)

Azerbaijan
Thursday 11th of February 2010 11:51 am

Location: Beeping from smoke detector    

After graduating and moving back home, we moved into a smaller place temporarily. We packed up everything and stored a lot of it in a closet. We heard beeping from the closet, and finally figured out it was a smoke detector low on batteries. It took about an hour to find it 'cause it would only beep every few minutes, and we had to wait for the beep to find out which box it was in!

Honduras
Thursday 11th of February 2010 12:11 pm

Location: Weird tweeting/scratching    

We had a weird high-pitched tweeting/scratching. I opened our crawlspace attic to find a pile of bat shit. I assumed that was the problem. I didn't do anything to get rid of the bat, we just moved.

Ghana
Thursday 11th of February 2010 1:32 pm

Location: A beep that sounded almost like the fire detector    

We took the batteries out of the smoke detector and it kept beeping, but at weird intervals. Sometimes not for days at a time. Finally we discovered it was the microwave. It didn't have an error message, and was still working fine, but that beep drove me nuts.

Canada
Thursday 11th of February 2010 1:57 pm

Location: Creepy Voice    

Another Kids toy Creepy low voice, could be heard at random times. Turned out it was a dancing Easter Bunny that sang... batteries were dying and it would randomly start singing... in slow mo, freaked me out a few times cuz it would stop before I found it.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 3:31 pm

Location: really faint buzzy whiny scratchy noise    

Our 20's era house makes a lot of weird noises, but that faint whiny buzzy scratchy noise in the bedroom was a winner. I didn't hear it at first. Slowly, patiently, my wife got me to hear it. And I tracked it down to a part of the wall. It's... it's... bees. They were beating their wings to keep the queen cool. Only time our house ever had A/C. We encouraged them to leave w/ WD40.

Vatican City
Thursday 11th of February 2010 4:43 pm

Location: Thunk. Pop. Creak.    

I thought things were falling over @ nite, but I never find anything have fallen, in the morning. My floor is over 1/4" lower than the doorstep (was even last summer), so I guess I was hearing my house settling. I guess I'll be under my house this spring w/ a 6-ton jack, some shims, and a level.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 7:02 pm

Location: like water trickling in an aquarium    

it sounds like running water - we figured out it was the fridge making the sound. it doesn't dispense water or make ice cubes though, so it's probably about to break.

United States
Thursday 11th of February 2010 10:33 pm

Location: BAM!    

Every once in a while there is this loud knock from the north west corner of my house which I have yet to identify. I don't know if it's unequal cooling of wall materials suddenly shifting, a bald eagle smacking into the window or just someone giving the siding a quick, sharp rap with a hammer. In any case, the sound was not appreciated the night I came home from "Paranormal Activity."

Panama
Friday 12th of February 2010 1:03 am

Location: Sounded like a toilet flushing    

I'd be sitting coding away in the dead of night when it was really quiet, and hear the toilet flush like every 30 minutes or so. Eventually told my wife she musn't go so often, it wastes water. Was standing next to the fridge one night, and heard the flushing as it turned on.Must be the gas starting to circulate after it stood off...

South Africa
Friday 12th of February 2010 5:10 am

Location: IT WAS THE BEATING OF HIS HIDEOUS HEART!    

They KNEW! They were making a mockery of my horror! This I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!and now again hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more I admit the deed!tear up the planks!

United States
Friday 12th of February 2010 6:13 am

Location: Mysterious knocking at door    

'Twas the raven, nevermore.

Great Britain
Friday 12th of February 2010 6:28 am

Location: Water Heater    

When we first moved into our house, on cold nights there would be this awful sound like somebody stomping around on an inner-tube half-filled with water. SQUEEERSH! SQUEEEERSH! It turned out just to be the water heater doing its thing (it's obviously old and needs cleaning), but it sounded like some freak lived in our closet and waited to torment us on cold nights.

Afghanistan
Friday 12th of February 2010 7:20 am

Location: A bird.    

Me and my father in law were inspecting an newly finished, empty house one night when we thought we heard a bird flapping against the windows or roof. after running from room to room for a good 20 minutes, we were in the kitchen when we hear it. Turns out it was the rotating sprinkler hitting the glass every few minutes. Laughed for months...

Australia
Friday 12th of February 2010 7:35 am

Location: Fart machine    

While I was a student my flatmate hid a remote controlled fart machine under the foot of mattress. It went on for days - I would be asleep and then a mysterious noise would wake me up. The trouble was that my flatmate only ever used it to wake me, when I was awake he would stop using it, so I was never able to identify the sound or in fact what sound had woken me up!

United Kingdom
Friday 12th of February 2010 8:38 am

Location: A mysterious whisper    

I turned around to find the thing that made the sound.

Costa Rica
Friday 12th of February 2010 9:45 am

Location: sounded like a toddler running across the roof    

Staying on the top floor of a hotel near Dallas last summer. Every morning I would be awakened by the sound of something large scampering across the roof. Turns out it was a bunch of buzzards running/hopping around.

United States
Friday 12th of February 2010 12:54 pm

Location: Chair wobbling    

Sometimes when going into my kitcken, I thought I heard what sounded like a rubber ball being dropped in the basement. This was at the same time I was watching way too much Ghost Hunters, so I got really freaked out. When I decided to use a logical mind to solve it, I found that sometimes I would bump into a wooden chair, it would then wobble on the tile and stop.

Canada
Friday 12th of February 2010 2:44 pm

Location: Woodpeckers    

I'd awake in the early morning to hear a fast, metallic rattling... like a hammer-drill on sheet metal. The noise would stop when I'd get up to investigate. Eventually discovered it was a woodpecker trying to get into a screened vent under the eaves of my house.

United States
Friday 12th of February 2010 4:03 pm

Location: Our song    

I was telling my SO about this thread. He'd taken me to lunch and when he got home, he kept hearing our song. Not the alarm clock. He was getting a little freaked out. "Seriously, is she beaming the song into my brain?" I'd given him my ipod to load and it wasn't off. It was in his pocket and he couldn't figure out why it never got closer or further away.

United States
Friday 12th of February 2010 8:01 pm

Location: Sounded like plastic grocery bags being crumbled up...    

every time I walked downstairs. Turned out it was my knee making that noise!

Belarus
Friday 12th of February 2010 11:05 pm

Location: Rumble    

American bulldozers driven by religious fanatic regime..

Palestinian State*
Saturday 13th of February 2010 9:14 am

Location: The raindrops    

the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops the raindrops

England
Saturday 13th of February 2010 10:11 am

Location: A regular squeaking sound    

It was actually the air filter.

United States
Saturday 13th of February 2010 1:43 pm

Location: the furnace or the pipes?    

I live in a fairly new apartment building and whenever the furnace turns on I hear a steady, rythmic clicking/thumping sound in the tub drain. Very strange. Haven't figured it out yet.

Mexico
Saturday 13th of February 2010 6:18 pm

Location: Intermittent thumping on window    

I thought it was maybe rain going against the window - but it wasn't raining. I peak around the side of the curtains and there's a giant locust that had somehow gotten inside, crawled into my room and tried to escape via the window but was really just jumping against the window occasionally. It was terrifyingly odd.

United States
Sunday 14th of February 2010 2:40 pm

Location: BANG! BANG! BANG! On the roof. All night long.    

It sounded like kids hitting the walls with sledgehammers. Turned out to be rainwater pooling on the flat roof and freezing overnight.

Canada
Sunday 14th of February 2010 3:58 pm

Location: Thump. Thump. Thump. On the outside wall.    

I used to live in a concrete high-rise. I was woken out of an afternoon by a steady thumping just below my window. Not loud, just unusual. The cause: two girls playing handball.

Canada
Sunday 14th of February 2010 4:01 pm

Location: faint chattering sounds    

went into a quiet room, heard sounds like people chattering. Left and came back half an hour later, still happening. Opened the front door, the lady next door was outside screaming because her husband dropped dead of a heart attack.

Vanuatu
Sunday 14th of February 2010 6:03 pm

Location: Faint ringtone sound....    

I was cleaning the house on the first nice day of spring and I had the windows and patio door open. I kept hearing a faint sound, much like a cell ringtone. I looked around the house and in the couches to see if a friend had left one behind. I realized after stepping outside that it was bagpipes/taps being played in the cemetery behind our house during a funeral service.

United States
Sunday 14th of February 2010 6:39 pm

Location: Tapping.    

There's an unknown tapping noise on the ceiling of my dorm room. We talked to the people who lived here last year and they said that it was there last year. Still have no idea what it is. I'd think it's water, but apparently there's no pipes that run through our ceiling.

The Netherlands
Sunday 14th of February 2010 11:12 pm

Location: Clopping    

We kept hearing a faint clopping sound while sitting on our terrace. Sometimes it was accompanied by a swooshing sound. It took us most of the afternoon sipping wine to figure out that it must be coming from the four riders of the apocalypse who had been predicted to arrive any moment now.

France
Monday 15th of February 2010 2:27 am

Location: drip.drip.drip.drip.drip    

Sounds like a really fast drip, thought it was the lights cooling down at night, but the sound is STILL THERE in the morning. Still to figure that one out.

Scotland
Monday 15th of February 2010 2:46 am

Location: Laughing loudly...    

A prank? We were in the living room, and suddenly= laughter... but loud laughing without tv on, or any computers on.... we live in a house, with neighboors at least 20 meters frome the house... It was at supper time... what the heck is going on? Am I crazy? My wife hears the same thing... so we should'nt be crazy at the same time without knowing it...45 SECONDS OF LAUGHTER... it stops...

Canada
Monday 15th of February 2010 7:06 am

Location: Laughing loudly continued    

It stops while I am searching where the sound comes from... We are scared... My wife set me up, with my brother, that was hiding and covering his mouth with a cloth to pitch the sound.... He even moved a couple of times in the 45 seconds .... going from the basement to the guestroom.... the prick.

Canada
Monday 15th of February 2010 7:09 am

Location: annoying voice on airwaves.    

turned out to be Obama

Brazil
Monday 15th of February 2010 9:50 am

Location: A very soft ringing sound in my home office.    

When I'm working extra hard and the radio is off for optimal concentration I am constantly annoyed and distracted by a very slight ringing noise, like a phone. I'm starting to think it is coming from my fax/printer, but I'm not positive.

United States
Monday 15th of February 2010 10:33 am

Location: kids toy- Sleep 'N' Snore Ernie    

Our daughter's Sleep 'N' Snore Ernie would turn itself on in the middle of the night and say "I Feel Great!" over and over again, which is very disorienting coming over an infant monitor at 4 AM. One time it wouldn't stop so I grabbed it and threw it down the basement stairs, yelling "How do you feel NOW, ERNIE?" after it.

Gambia, The
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 9:30 am

Location: Low Battery Warning on a Water Detector    

I was living in an apartment that had a water heater sealed beneath the kitchen counter (so tenents could not access it). Apparently, the landlord had placed a water detector on the floor behind the water heater (sounds an alarm is there's a leak). In the middle of the night it started beeping (one loud beep every few minutes) - took me forever to find it.

Jamaica
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 11:52 am

Location: Tapping/Dripping    

We have a tapping/dripping sound coming from the fan in the ceiling of our upstairs bathroom. After a few months without seeing any water stains in the ceiling, we started investigating. We opened the fan up and there's a piece of plastic that is affected by wind coming through some exhaust pipes in the roof that kept flapping back and forth, creating the drip sound. Felt should fix it.

Antigua & Barbuda
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 11:58 am

Location: tink...tink...tink...tink...tink...tink...tink...tink...tink    

On a 100 mile bicycle ride (hotter n' hell hundred) I started hearing a tink sound. Finally got off the bike and my air pump had moved just enough to let my crank hit it while I peddled.

United States
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 1:11 pm

Location: sounds of dawn breaking    

1. A machine-gun like metallic noise. Turned out to be a woodpecker hammering on the aluminum gutters - probably signaling to its mate. 2. Creaking and popping on exterior walls. Turns out to be the vinyl siding heating up as the sun rises after a cold night.

Belgium
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 2:38 pm

Location: Ghost in the closet    

I shot it.

United States
Tuesday 16th of February 2010 8:40 pm

Location: cat in a hot tin tube    

My childhood home started making ethereal howls and moans, everywhere at once, which was disconcerting. But not as much as realizing the new kitten is missing, or finding the open heating duct. That Siamese cat could sing the blues. She popped out a few hours later.

Canada
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 2:54 am

Location: WHY DO KIDS' TOYS ALWAYS GO FREAKY AT NIGHT??????????????    

We've had 2 freaky kids toys incidents. One a ride on Thomas the Tank engine. 3am started to hear the chug chug and then the Thomas song that plays when you ride the thing...but no one riding. Another time a baby kick toy..again middle of the night...went off but no one kicking it.....removed batteries in both. Cross yourself and shout "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" eerie.

New Zealand
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 5:05 am

Location: wind chimes    

For months after moving into a new apartment we griped about our neighbors' loud windchimes that would keep us up at night. Eventually we realized the sound was coming from our own back porch, left by the previous tenants.

Barbados
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 6:24 am

Location: Watch    

I have an old watch that sometimes i can hear ticking in the bottom of a full drawer... annoying. I have also encountered ticking walls, creaking windows, and a phone vibrating in the upstairs neighbor's bedroom.

United Kingdom
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 1:05 pm

Location: very tinny sounding music    

i woke up several times hearing music that sounded like it was coming from an old mono am radio. i made sure my itunes, ipod, speakers, phone, tv etc were off. days later, i traced it down to a receptacle next to my bed. the conduit is piping my neighbor's tv into my bedroom all night. it makes a funky amplifier into my bedroom. the apt downstairs was empty when i moved in.

France
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 3:42 pm

Location: Meowing, on the roof    

Every morning for about a week I'd wake up and hear a cat mewing on the roof of my 3 story apartment complex in Southern Indiana. After a little investigation, I'm pretty convinced it was a mockingbird that kept me from restful sleep for a good number of weeks. Always a cat sound, never a cat. Youtube of this phenomenon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yup8slN9FVU

Ireland
Wednesday 17th of February 2010 8:52 pm

Location: That aluminum vent    

Hey, we had the aluminum vent problem just a few weeks ago! For us, it was so high-pitched that it sounded like a pure, electrical tone. I can't quite describe it but, if you've ever pulled the trigger on a power drill just enough for it to make a sound but not enough for it to turn, that's roughly what it sounded like. It drove us nuts for a few days.

Ethiopia
Thursday 18th of February 2010 3:31 am

Location: ... and my car's side mirror    

Far worse, however, was a persistent whistle whenever my Toyota Camry got up to about 70 mph. I'd made several trips from Woodland to LA and it was driving me nuts! I learned how to take apart the door panel but we still couldn't find it. In desperation, we took off the side mirror. The whistling stopped so we shoved some tissues in it, screwed it back on, and it's been gone since!

Ethiopia
Thursday 18th of February 2010 3:36 am

Location: Faint Beep or Chirp    

Every 30 minutes or so I would hear a faint chirp in my kitchen, and I couldn't track it down for the longest time as it would beep only once or twice in an hour, and sometimes not at all. I finally discovered it was the dishwasher concerned about being slightly ajar. I didn't even know that the dishwasher had a beeper.

United States
Thursday 18th of February 2010 8:45 am

Location: ... and a banging/knocking noise    

Every few hours I would hear a knock, like the door, but no one was there. I eventually tracked it to my basement and found it was a pipe which was knocking against the floor supports. Every time a certain leaky toilet would need to refill, the pipe was loose enough to smack against the supports. I bought new gaskets for the toilet, and installed a bracket to hold the pipe better.

United States
Thursday 18th of February 2010 8:49 am

Location: ...and a sporratic ticking in my bedroom.    

Sometimes at night I would hear a creak that sounded like a tick of a watch. I searched through nearby drawers looking for a watch that had been forgotten about, but couldn't find it, or even hear the ticking anymore. So I would lay back down and try to sleep. Eventually I realized that if I lay a certain way, my own heartbeat would shake my bed. If I shifted, it would stop. Weird.

United States
Thursday 18th of February 2010 8:54 am

Location: A "Tsssssssss...." sound like rice spilling on the floor    

So we wake up from hearing a sound in the middle of the night every now and then that sounds like someone is spilling rice all over our kitchen floor. Rice burglars maybe? I've realized that it happens at exactly 3 am every time. I think it might be the sprinklers outside the apartment turning on and sputtering but I'm still not sure. It hasnt happened during winter so that makes sense.

United States
Thursday 18th of February 2010 9:01 am

Location: Creaking floorboards and wall, as if someone was walking across them very slowly.    

Turns out it was garage door beneath me wobbling slightly in the wind.

Korea, North
Thursday 18th of February 2010 4:51 pm

Location: Ticking and tapping noise    

BIRDS IN OUR FRIGGEN ATTIC.... still there.

United States
Thursday 18th of February 2010 6:23 pm

Location: Previous tenant's wireless doorbell    

In my old apartment, a doorbell sound would occasionally ring at random times, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. This was strange, because the apartment had no pushbutton for a doorbell. It turned out someone had installed a wireless doorbell and left the receiver/doorbell but removed the transmitter/pushbutton. The bell was being triggered by random interference.

Antigua & Barbuda
Thursday 18th of February 2010 9:13 pm

Location: beep    

A strange beep in my bedroom at 4am every morning. Turns out it was a dollar store stopwatch packed away in a drawer. Took me a year to find it, and when I did a promptly broke it in half.

Belgium
Friday 19th of February 2010 12:05 am

Location: WHUNG! WHUNG! WHUNG! WHUNG!    

I have "oil canning" in the return vents of my HVAC. Four loud "WHUNG!" noises when the furnace fan comes on, or goes off. Some previous owner had "fixed" it by putting a register in the return duct RIGHT NEXT TO THE FURNACE!!! Well I closed that off because asphixiating in my sleep might be peaceful but....

Afghanistan
Friday 19th of February 2010 10:05 am

Location: BRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM far far away    

We had slow deep humming noise that we couldn't locate. Turned out to be a vibrating men's shaver (Mach 4) that had a tube of toothpaste resting on the ON switch.

United States
Friday 19th of February 2010 12:50 pm

Location: soft clapping    

I once couldn't get sleep when I kept hearing a faint soft clapping-like sound. Window was open so I closed it, didn't help. I tracked the source to my computer desk. Computer was off. I searched for what felt like an eternity. Found a very large and alive moth/butterly inside my printer's hood.

Finland
Friday 19th of February 2010 2:11 pm

Location: 1 am alarm    

while my husband was deployed to Iraq for a year, one of his watches would go off every morning at 1 am.... I still dont know which one it is, but now that he's home I don't seem to hear it anymore

Iraq
Saturday 20th of February 2010 12:12 am

Location: Music in my head?    

While shopping during the holiday season, I heard Christmas songs that never changed in volume, no matter which part of the store I was in. Turns out it was the Pandora on my cell phone in my pocket. I didn't feel REALLY stupid - only moderately stupid.

United States
Sunday 21st of February 2010 9:47 pm

Location: Watch or Alarm Clock    

Its the beep beep beep, beep beep beep of some form of alarm, but I only hear it like, every few weeks. Its been at least a year of sporadic alarms and I still can't find the alarm source. I swear some previous tenant here must have hidden a watch in the walls, because I don't buy watches with alarms and I know where my alarm clocks are.

Australia
Sunday 21st of February 2010 11:25 pm

Location: Footsteps    

It sounds JUST like someone on a floor above is walking around, except there is no floor above me! Its totally random, too, sometimes at night, sometimes during the day.

Sierra Leone
Sunday 21st of February 2010 11:28 pm

Location: ding ding ding ding ding    

It's not constant, but I'd say it goes for at least a couple of hours a day. I can only hear it in the bedroom. It sounds like the dinging sound an older GM car makes when you leave the keys in the ignition and open the door. It's between a G flat and a G. It's been driving me nuts for a few months and I can't locate it for the life of me!

Belize
Monday 22nd of February 2010 3:06 am

Location: My neighbor's TV being on, but muted.    

My bedroom window face my neighbor's living room, they got a brand new 52 inch monster of a TV a few years back. I'm very sensitive to the sounds monitors and televisions make when they are powered on, I can tell if my TV is on from downstairs cooking breakfast, for instance, even if it's just sitting at a blank input screen. For about a week straight I would stalk through my house trying to locate whatever was making that noise. It wasn't disruptive to my sleeping/daily life but I became obsessed. I would talk about it constantly to anyone who would be foolish enough to be within earshot. My solution was to change the orientation of my bed so my head was in an acoustically dead corner relative to the window, problem solved, crisis and mental hospital stay averted.

United States
Monday 22nd of February 2010 5:12 am

Location: Super-high-pitched whine    

Ice maker getting water. No one can hear it but me, and it lasts 10-15 minutes. ANNOYING!

Chile
Monday 22nd of February 2010 2:28 pm

Location: A ceiling fire alarm with low battery    

We spent about 3 months trying to track down a mysterious beep sound coming from the area where my father's office and my room were located. It sounded like it was a UPS (battery backup) going bad and beeping periodically. It ended up being a fire alarm with a low battery buried in a box.

United States
Monday 22nd of February 2010 11:56 pm

Location: A weird fluttering noise in my car only when I was driving    

A leaf stuck in the air intake vents of the hood near the windshield that fluttered when the car was moving. Actually took it to a mechanic who figured it out in about 5 mins. Duh! At least it didn't cost anything to remedy.

Italy
Wednesday 24th of February 2010 2:49 pm

Location: The radiator pipes expanding    

"Kuddderrrump clank clank clank clank clankclankclankclankclank" whenever the heater turns on. You can hear it all over the apartment Not nearly as annoying, however, as....

São Tomé & Príncipe
Thursday 25th of February 2010 3:09 pm

Location: The cat pawing at the door    

I keep my bedroom door closed most of the time. If the cat decides she wants in, she'll flop down on the floor in the hall, stick a paw under the door, grab hold of the bottom of the door, and pull it towards her, banging it against the doorframe until I let her in.

São Tomé & Príncipe
Thursday 25th of February 2010 3:12 pm

Location: swamp cooler float valve, neighbors swamp cooler.    

for the longest time, there was this constant hissing sound, finally realized that the float on my swamp cooler was out of whack, and not shutting off the water fully, so once i fixed that, I kept hearing this humming sound that sounded like my swamp cooler motor was buzzing, took me a month to realize that it was the sound of my neighbor across the street's AC unit running.

Afghanistan
Friday 26th of February 2010 7:25 pm

Location: Loud TICK...TICK...TICK every 30 seconds    

Sounded exactly like someone digging a shallow grave with a pick and shovel. stayed for about 5 months, then quit, eventually returned. found out it had something to do with all the locomotives sitting idle at the railyard behind my house.

Fiji
Saturday 27th of February 2010 3:42 am

Location: same cat problem    

dear person above with the cat thing. i have the exact same problem. the cat lives in the garage and claws the underside of the door to the house, for no apparent reason at 5am. i found that wedging 2 socks in the door while closing it helps, until cat gets stronger.

Uzbekistan
Saturday 27th of February 2010 3:45 am

Location: DING DING DING    

sounds like someone leaving the keys in their ignition for a few seconds, but outside, and seemingly at random. it sounds like its coming from on top of a mountain. then i figured out it was a church bell about a mile away chiming the hour.

Barbados
Saturday 27th of February 2010 3:49 am

Location: da da da doo doo    

Used to hear a soft tinkle of "da da da doo doo" from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when I lived in Colorado Springs. Then one day I found Richard Dreyfuss kneeling by a crappy fence in the backyard with a rusty windchime blatantly making alien contact...and right under the nose of NORAD....

United States
Sunday 28th of February 2010 9:28 am

Location: An aerosol can of dry shampoo    

Trying to go to bed, I kept hearing this odd repetitive noise, very similar to a car alarm except...not. I even opened my windows, but to no avail, and could not find the source of the noise. Leave room, don't hear it, realise it's in my room, silently freak out for a second, and realise that it's coming from my can of dry shampoo on my dresser....and not an alien ship. Hurrah!

United States
Friday 05th of March 2010 2:58 am

Location: A drilling noise    

At random intervals at all times of day, I keep hearing the sound of drilling. Surely someone in this building can't be constantly drilling walls, so what else could it be?!

United Kingdom
Thursday 11th of March 2010 7:50 am