Every house makes an odd sound here and there. From creaky floors to leaky pipes to wind blowing doors shut, each home has its own weird quirks that one gets used to after a while. However, some noises are a sign of something out of the ordinary, something dangerous.
When one woman from South Carolina heard eerie noises coming from her attic, she decided to look into it and try to figure it out. But what she found up there was downright bizarre. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine stumbling upon such a terrifying discovery. Here’s her story.
She Lived a Difficult Life
For Tracy, life hadn’t always been easy. She was a single mother of five who had to juggle work and family life while finding herself each month struggling to make ends meet. She lived with her children in a poor area in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Some of Tracy’s kids were all grown up, yet they returned home so they could save some money and help make life easier for them and their mom. Despite this challenging boarding arrangement, Tracy and her kids were happy with their lives.
The Noises Begin
Their peaceful life was threatened, though, when uncanny noises were heard coming from their attic. The first time it happened was on an ordinary September afternoon. Tracy instantly jumped to the conclusion that there was an intruder in the house.
She lived in a troublesome part of town, after all, and break-ins were pretty common in the area. Tracy was always careful to lock all the doors and windows in the house, and, sure enough, when she scoured the house for signs of a break-in, she couldn’t find anything suspicious.
No Sign of a Break-In
While it was a relief to find zero evidence of a burglary, Tracy still found it unsettling that she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the noise was. Sadly, it would only get worse, because over the next couple of days, the weird noise continued, yet no one could work out what it was.
Eventually, she assumed her children were probably just playing in the attic or something. However, when she asked them about it, they told her that they hadn’t been in the attic at all. This made sense to Tracy, as the upstairs room was dark and scary. She believed them because she knew they wouldn’t lie about where they had been playing.
It’s a Mystery
The family’s attic wasn’t a place Tracy visited regularly either. The space was primarily used as a storage room where they could stuff and shove antique bits and pieces. Therefore, unless she was looking for something specific, she had little reason to be up there.
But if it wasn’t the children, and it surely wasn’t her, then who else could it be? You might be wondering why Tracy hadn’t been more concerned by these strange happenings, or why she hadn’t investigated the noise further. But instead of checking the attic, Tracy had already begun to come up with a theory of her own for these odd noises.
Could It Be an Animal?
While cleaning the house one day, Tracy noticed something terribly odd about the noises she had been hearing for several days. As she shifted from room to room, she noticed that the noises weren’t static; rather, they were moving too. The only thing she could think of was that there was a wild animal living upstairs.
Tracy went over her options: it was either an opossum or a raccoon, she assumed, in which case she would have to call animal control to deal with it. But it was a Saturday, and their offices didn’t open until Monday, so Tracy waited out the weekend while the creature kept making noises above her head.
A Late-Night Development
However, before the weekend was over, and before Tracy could call animal control, things around the house began to get even stranger. Later that evening, something happened that changed her mind about the “wild animal theory” and started to really rouse her concern.
As she lay in bed, Tracy heard a strange creaking noise overhead. When she checked the time, it was 2:30 a.m. The rest of the family was quietly sleeping. What happened next made her jump right out of bed and off to investigate.
A New Sound
Apart from the eerie tapping sounds, there were loud chiming noises, like the sound of things falling on the floor. Tracy got out of bed and looked around, and even though the room was dark, she could see quite evidently that there were numerous nails scattered all over the floor.
If these objects had fallen on the attic floor, they must have dropped from the ceiling. This realization led to the terrifying question: what could have caused those objects to come loose? There’s no way it could have been the work of something as small as a raccoon.
A Spooky Theory
Now that the idea of a wild animal seemed unlikely, Tracy’s thoughts started to take all sorts of frightening twists and turns which kept her up until late at night. As she lay awake until the wee hours of the night, she began to feel a little crazy.
She later revealed that she believed “there was some poltergeist stuff going on.” While this might not sound like a logical explanation, it was the only one Tracy could think of at the time. What else could be responsible for the sounds?
Planning Her Investigation
Tracy knew it was too dangerous to go into the dark attic all by herself that night, so she tried her best to go back to sleep. She hid under the covers and hoped for the best. However, she knew deep down that she had to put an end to this bizarre situation.
Tracy decided that as soon as it was daytime again, she would go to the attic and investigate. Even though she had no clue what was waiting for her up there, she knew that there was no other way around it. Ghost or no ghost – she was going to put an end to this.
Help Is at Hand
Determined to crack the mystery, Tracy woke up the next morning eager and ready to investigate. Luckily for her, despite planning to take on the challenge herself, one of her nephews came over to visit her sons, so she asked him for some help.
Tracy explained that she had been hearing weird noises for several days now and that she was positive that they were coming from the attic. Tracy even shared with her nephew and her two grown sons some of the crazy theories she came up with. After hearing her story, the three guys headed up to the attic.
The First Signs of Trouble
While they climbed the attic stairs, Tracy waited in the hallway, nervous and on edge. She waited patiently for news of their discovery. As soon as the men got near the attic, it was clear to them that things weren’t looking as they should be.
The first troubling sign the men picked up on was the smell. As soon as they reached the room, a foul stench hit their nostrils. They looked around and spotted garbage all over the floor. They knew they weren’t dealing with a wild animal.
The Pile in the Corner
The stinky garbage was just the start of the scenario that unfolded before their very eyes. They spotted old jackets that had been thrown into a pile and in the corner of the room against the heating unit. Tracy used to store some of her jackets up there, but definitely not in that manner.
The strange pile of jackets led them to investigate the place further. As they advanced towards the corner, they noticed something: they weren’t alone in the attic. Someone was on the floor, all huddled up, sound asleep near the heating unit.
The Shocked Stranger
The sound of the men’s footsteps must have woken up the stranger, for the pile of clothes began to move before they reached it. All of a sudden, a man got up from beneath the clothes, and for a while there, all they could do was stare at each other in shock.
The frozen situation between the four men didn’t last long, though. The stranger quickly sprang to his feet, and before any of the men could act, the intruder rushed past them and ran out of the attic, escaping for good. It was clear, though, that whoever this guy was, he was up to no good.
The Frightening Recognition
Throughout all of this, Tracy was patiently waiting in the hallway outside. Then, all of a sudden, she saw the intruder race out and push her aside. But as he shoved past her, she was able to identify his face and realized that he wasn’t a stranger after all.
With zero chance of catching the man who had been hiding, Tracy’s family called law enforcement to deal with the situation. Luckily, because Tracy had managed to get a look at the guy, they were able to give the cops his name.
Their Past Together
As it turns out, Tracy had known the man hiding in her attic for 12 years. The two had first met him when Tracy was looking for someone to help her with the house chores. Their relationship started out as being strictly professional, but at one point, they began dating.
Tracy had been seeing the man for a year before learning of his criminal past. Like any smart and cautious woman, she knew she had to end things right then and there. At this point, she broke up with him. But the guy wasn’t willing to let her go so easily.
His Involvement With Drugs
After she broke up with him, he tried to win her back on several occasions. However, his ridiculously obsessive behavior caused even more friction between them. Tracy didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. “It’s a lost cause,” she told him.
Tracy had five young kids to think about, and she certainly didn’t need this bad influence hanging around them. The man’s problems began when he got involved with drugs, began hanging around dubious people, and running into unlawful activities which escalated to things like robbing a flower shop. There was no way Tracy was willing to tolerate that kind of behavior.
He Ended Up in Jail
The moment Tracy broke up with him, she never once looked back. However, her ex-boyfriend wasn’t willing to make peace with her decision. He couldn’t seem to better himself or try and work on his delinquent behavior and detrimental habits.
He continued committing even more crimes and, eventually, ended up in jail. Clearly, this man couldn’t be trusted. With the felon behind bars, Tracy felt like she could finally start anew. The prison walls held him for stalking her, right? But those walls couldn’t stop her ex-boyfriend from thinking of her or prevent him from planning his next attack.
The Crimes Continue
Upon the man’s release, he was determined to get his revenge on Tracy for all the times she had rejected him. He went over to her house and stole her car. Unfortunately for him, though, he didn’t think his plan all the way through.
Tracy reported her missing car, and her ex-boyfriend was instantly apprehended by the cops, which landed him back behind bars, where he continued to write letters and try to convince Tracy that he was sorry and that he was now a changed man.
A New Start
Tracy knew that the man would soon be released from prison for the truck theft, and she was more concerned than ever of that dreadful day. However, she was a bit relieved after hearing a rumor that he had been transferred to a different town.
His new house was reportedly in Charlotte, South Carolina, which was a 40-minute drive away from her place. And even though that wasn’t a long drive, it was still reassuring to know that he wasn’t as close anymore. She felt like he had finally given up on trying to get her back.
It’s Not Over Yet
Unfortunately for Tracy, the story of him moving to a different town was all just a lie he had formulated to get her to lower her guard a bit. It was all part of his deceitful and criminal way. The man didn’t move to a different state; he remained closer to Tracy than ever before.
In addition, all those letters he had sent to Tracy from his prison cell were nothing but a scam. He was still a criminal. But there was one thing written in the letter that was true – he still desperately wanted her back. And when she rejected him, the man did what he believed was a reasonable thing to do: he moved into her attic.
The Hunt Begins
After Tracy and her family spotted him that day, law enforcement immediately started a manhunt for the shady ex-felon. They had a good description of him, so they believed it would be easy. But the man’s knowledge of the area allowed him to slip under the radar quite quickly.
With this unsettling news, the cops returned to Tracy’s house where they attempted to figure out exactly what had happened. How could he have entered the house? How long was he living in the attic? What had he been doing all this time?
Evidence in the Attic
The cops looked at the stuff he left behind in the attic and reached the conclusion that he had been living there for several weeks, probably around the time he had last been released from jail. “He had packed all of his old coats and jackets into the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit,” Tracy reported.
Even more disturbing though, was his collection of plastic cups that were serving him as his toilet. As it turns out, his urine was the nasty smell that they had sniffed coming from the room. As the cops investigate the room further, they found evidence of some creepy activity that had been going on.
He Had Been Spying
According to the police, not only had he been sleeping in her attic, but the man was also using the opportunity to peep on her. In the attic, the man had figured out which part of the room was directly above Tracy’s.
After walking back and forth and discovering which place was the spot above Tracy’s bedroom, the man then messed with the air vents so that he could peep directly into her bedroom and spy on her.
The Unsettling Truth
Now that they knew what the man was up to, not only were they not relieved, but they were more concerned than ever! To think that someone with criminal tendencies, and a criminal who couldn’t take no for answer, had been stalking her for weeks from her own house sent shivers up and down her spine.
Startled, she admitted in an interview, “It’s got me flabbergasted. How can you look at someone through an air vent?” However, for Tracy and the cops, there was still one question that was left unanswered: how had he managed to get into the house in the first place?
How Did He Get In?
The most worrisome part of this story is that the only way to access the attic in Tracy’s house was through an entrance near her children’s bedrooms. It killed Tracy to think that the man must have been super close to where her kids slept.
Police officers could find no other entrance from which he might have entered that part of the house apart from the hallway near the children’s rooms, so Tracy just prayed that he had broken in while she and the kids were out for the day, and not during the night while they were all sound asleep and vulnerable.
The House Was Empty
Tracy was working as a nurse at a hospital and spending long periods of time away from the house (sometimes as long as 12 hours). Her kids, even though they’re all at different ages and stages in life, were normally out of the house too: either playing sports, at school or working a job of their own.
If the man had crept his way in during daylight while they were all out of the house, it’s surprising that no one saw him lurking around during that time. Tracy’s neighbors insisted that no such sightings had ever crossed their eyes.
Praying for His Capture
The only good thing about this whole situation is that Tracy could identify the man on the spot and give police his full name and a detailed description. This made things so much easier. And even though he has managed to evade the cops, the details they have about him are extremely helpful.
As for Tracy, she still isn’t feeling very calm about the whole thing. She wants him back behind bars and fast before he dares to commit the same crime again. “I want him to be charged with it,” Tracy insisted. “It could be somebody else he does the same thing to, but she might not be so lucky.”
They No Longer Sleep Soundly
As for Tracy’s family, the experience has, understandably, left them completely shaken and utterly suspicious of strange sounds or movements around their house. As long as the man is on the loose, they can’t really relax in the comfort of their own home.
Even though they know that he no longer lives in their attic, Tracy’s kids are still terribly unnerved by the fact that he used to be so close to them at one point. Nowadays, they struggle to sleep in their own beds. Instead, they prefer to sleep on mattresses out in the living room away from the attic.
A Safe Future for Her Family
Tracy’s family believes that if he was able to sneak into their house once without them knowing, then there is nothing to possibly stop him from doing so again. However, this isn’t necessarily true. The man may be so terrified of getting caught that he will never step foot in their house again.
Even though Tracy and her family will never forget the sheer horror that this intruder caused them, they’re still doing all that they can to lead a relatively normal life. They pray that he will eventually be caught so they can return to their normal lives. This story is a lesson for us all – don’t let odd noises in your house go unexplained.