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Ghost story - possum in chains?

Flange Desire

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Flange Desire
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
572
If I were more wooish I might think I have a ghost in my house!

For the last few weeks I have been hearing very strange sounds
coming from my ceiling, almost always in the late evening.

Now I have a 'flat iron roof' (not actually flat and not actually iron).
It has no crawl space between the roofing material and the ceiling plaster;
just enough gap for the timbers (and normally you would have insulation bats in this gap but I don't have these).
The strange sounds are coming from inside this gap.
One might suspect a brush tailed possum, as these are very common, and often very noisy for their size - they can sound like people stomping around on your roof. I have had plenty of these on the roof before.

BUT - the sound is coming from inside the gap and it sounds just like something is dragging a metalic object along the plaster.
Yes, it does sound a bit like some animal (rat or possum) up there -
but it seems to be DRAGGING some metal object around with it at all times!

Without ripping out some light fittings or lifting some roofing iron, I cannot really investigate.

I am tending towards thinking it is a possum that has somehow got ensnared in something metalic - though I cannot imagine what or how this might be.
The object sounds to be fairly small, and does not sound like it catches on anything (like wires or timbers) whilst it is moving about.
I said it sounded metalic, but I suppose it could be any hard dense material.

Any ghostbusters with good ideas out there?
 
I considered a dog with a choker chain which sounds about right
- but the gap is far too small for even the smallest of dogs (and is too high for a pooch to access anyway), and small cats don't normally wear choker chains.
 
maybe whatever it is has claws or nails and thats what your hearing?

BTW they make some pretty small dogs, although how youd get a teacup chihuahua in your roof is beyond me
lola.jpg
 
Flange Desire said:
No, not clickedy clack like claws.
Definitely something being DRAGGED, every where it travels.
And it travels all around, seemingly without any restriction.
Click to expand...
hmm, maybe it is a teacup chihuahua in a choke chain, lol

or the eternally tormented soul of a possum
 
I don't know, but "Possum in Chains" sounds like the title of a porn movie shot entirely in Alabama, using local talent.
 
Spent a few years as a pest control guy and it's amazing some of the things you can see.

Your story brought to mind something I saw once. A rat with a small mousetrap stuck on his tail was ambling about an attic. Made an interesting racket as he was cruising about. I had to put him out of his misery
 
Something scratching the outside of the roof and the way the vibrations are traveling it makes it sound like it is under the roof?
 
It's possible there is a run of BX cable (armored AC power cable with a spiral-wound aluminum jacket) in your ceiling gap that is not well secured to the joists. BX is often looped around on itself when routed. Critters moving around in the tight space could cause the BX to rub against itself and against the plaster ceiling.
 
Axenos said:
Spent a few years as a pest control guy and it's amazing some of the things you can see.

Your story brought to mind something I saw once. A rat with a small mousetrap stuck on his tail was ambling about an attic. Made an interesting racket as he was cruising about. I had to put him out of his misery
Click to expand...

That would explain it!
More plausible than a chain I recon.
 
Proof

If the possum, rat or whatever, starves to death, you will detect its corporeal presence soon, and probably for a week or more. Better hope it finds a way out.
 
I like the idea of the "possum in chains", roaming the ceiling space like Marley's Ghost. :-)
 
Outhere said:
If the possum, rat or whatever, starves to death, you will detect its corporeal presence soon, and probably for a week or more. Better hope it finds a way out.
Click to expand...

I can hardly wait for the putrecent body fluids to start dripping though the white ceiling plaster. Not!

Strange that it has been up there for so long - it would seem that whatever it is dragging around is not hindering it too much.
 
"Possum in chains" would make a great screen name for a forum or message board. Too bad I already have one.

The avatar would be hilarious. :D
 
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