This can't be a poltergeist...any ideas as to a rational explanation?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, twice in the last couple of weeks, mysterious pools of water have appeared in my house. I just can’t explain them, but I’m a man of logic darn it and there must be a rational explanation!

The first time, I was clearing up my living room and I moved a leatherette-covered beanbag to dust behind it. I noticed that water had pooled in the top of it - probably about two thirds of a cup full. I hadn’t spilled anything, and neither had my girlfriend. The beanbag wasn’t near any pipe or other source of water. I looked to see if it had somehow come from above, and there was no dampness on the ceiling. Weird.

Move forward in time to today, and upstairs to the bathroom. Again there’s about a cupful of water, mysteriously pooled on the floor. It’s kind of near the sink, but both the taps are off, and I can’t see a leak, and there’s no sign of it over flowing. I notice some splash marks around the edge of the pool, which makes it look like somethings been spilled from about waist height, rather than just poured on the floor.

I wondered if it was cat pee? The quantity mitigated against this analysis, but I soaked some up in white kitchen paper to make sure, and it was clear. I even tasted some in the interest of science, and it didn’t taste of anything.

Adding to the weirdness factor, two things. (1) I got the strange impression someone was in the house when I got home today, there were some vague noises upstairs, and the house was warmer than it should have been after being left all day with no heating on. (2) My new cat miaows randomly at walls, looks up at the ceiling and miaows, that kind of thing. He isn’t scared when he’s doing this, it’s just like he’s seen someone and knows and miaows at them. But there’s no-one there.

The weirdness factors I can discount easily, I just mention them in case they chime with anyone. But what’s with the water? I don’t believe in ghosts and stuff like that. Do I??

2

How waterproof is the beanbag chair? The water might have been there for a while if you haven’t moved it recently, and if it’s seriously watertight.

The water on the bathroom floor might be evidence of somebody stepping out of the tub or shower and toweling off and not using a towel on the floor. Since you mention a cat, it might also indicate a cat which fell in the toilet and jumped out…

3

As the proud owner of a gazillion cats, I have to say that the random puddles I find usually come from them. Some of my cats have got cleaner and clearer pee than others. Also we used to have a sick cat that salivated too much, another possible source.

Oh, and all my cats do that looking at the walls thing every once in a while, sometimes they hear mice or cockroaches in the walls, sometimes the neighbours, sometimes a noise two miles in the distance only their sensitive ears can notice.

Granted, I do have this book titled “Necronomicon” in my attic, written in blood, but I don’t think that’s the point here.

4

Hmm, some interesting points there.

The beanbag chair is pretty waterproof I guess, when I say leatherette I mean vinyl. So the water could have been there for a while. Except the bean bag gets moved pretty regularly, and neither of us spilled anything that we can remember.

Sr Siete, I do wonder if the cat is the cause in some way. I really don’t think it’s pee - he pees in his litter tray and it’s always yellow, and, well, distinctively smelling. This is definitely water today - I tasted some and it tasted fine. And completely clear.

The toilet theory is a good one, but it doesn’t stack up in my mind. There was no water on the floor near the toilet, no wet paw prints, and no sign of the cat being wet. But yeah, him miaowing seemingly at nothing is standard cat behaviour, I grant you.

5

I have an idea, but you may not like it, given that you’ve tasted the fluid.

One of our cats is prone to gulping both her food and water, especially if the other cat is bugging her. On occasion, very shortly after eating or drinking, she vomits.

When she’s only had water, the pools of vomit are completely clear. They might be a little bubbly immediately after they’re brought up, but if I don’t find them for a while, they’re just little clear puddles. They are almost completely water, I’m sure, if that makes any difference for you.

Sorry.

6

How old is your cat, and does the cat have any health issues? When our 19+ year old cat was suffering from kidney failure*, she was drinking a lot of water and putting out a lot of clear, non-yellow, odorless** urine. In fact, we didn’t realize it was urine, and from the cat, until we caught her peeing on the floor. Prior to that we’d been attributing the large wet spots to the dog (he can be a drooler) or to one of us spilling/tracking in water. The cat also started to behave oddly without actually acting sick - more vocal, more attention seeking, parking herself in the middle of the floor, etc.

*We were working with the vet to control the kidney disease, but by then the vet had run out of options. He left it at “feed her whatever she’ll eat and do whatever makes her comfortable. You’ll know when it’s time.”

**Can’t tell you how it tasted, sorry. That particular test didn’t occur to either of us humans, and the dog isn’t talking.

7

I’m wracking my brain to come up with something more disgusting than toilet water, cat vomit, or cat urine that you could have potentially put in your mouth, but I’m coming up blank. I’ll return to this thread if I think of anything.

8

I just love when some rationalist tries to reason away spirits when they are effecting them.

Sometimes animals can see/perceive them, yes they can effect temperature, and yes you can sometimes ‘feel’ them.

I suggest praying to Jesus for Him to get rid of them.

9

Pools of water = ghosts?

10

Read the 2nd to last paragraph of the OP, Posted below:

11

I’ve seen a cat puke clear liquid a number of times. I’ll bet on the cat barfing up a water like substance.

12

Thanks, I had read that part also. It’s the “pools of water” bit that threw me. Weird feelings of being watched and animals behaving badly is pretty standard ghostly fare. I’m not debating that. But where does the water come in? Do ghosts contain water? Do they leak? Do they pee? I don’t recall encountering this particular detail in traditional ghost stories. “An eerie figure appeared out of the darkness, and then my T-shirt was soaked through.”

Alls I’m saying is, if I found a random pool of water on the floor, even in a famously haunted house, my first reaction wouldn’t be: “Oh, I guess the ghost must have put it there.” Unless it was an historically wet ghost, like a drowning victim or something. I concede that if ghosts can leave pools of steaming blood from their phantom wounds, I guess there’s no reason why they can’t leave pools of water too.

Oh well. Something new to sell over the internet, I reckon. Ghost water! Hear that zlhf210? It was my idea, so I get a 10% cut of the take, fair?

13

GOOD POINT! Occam’s Razor suggests that this was probably a ghost, or Jesus. Cat pee or condensation or a leak would be crazy, after all.

Wait, which board am I on?

14

It is unquestionably the cat(s).

If the poster is effecting them, why would he then try to get rid of them?

ETA: unless you meant “affecting”, of course.

15

What’s the weather been like? Rainy or snowy?

Could be an ice dam – leaks are often harder to detect than you’d think.

16

Everybody knows that ghosts are associated with cold spots. Should a ghost hunker down on zhlf210’s beanbag chair or linger in front of the bathroom sink for a while, its incorporeal chill may cause significant amounts of condensation, and puddles may ensue.

I suggest a dehumidifier or an exorcism.

17

Ah, well that makes sense. Thanks for connecting the dots for me like that.

Clearly this is an exceptionally lazy ghost, then. No wonder the cat is jealous.

18

You have an incontinent ghost who objects to you trying to save money on your energy bills by messing with the thermostat while you’re gone. Your cat, by meowing at the ceiling, is trying to tell you, “Stupid hairless monkey! I didn’t pee on the floor, blame the dead guy upstairs!”

'Cause, you know, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.

Seriously, though, I had the same problem where I used to live. Random puddles of water would show up on my kitchen floor. In my case, though, it was because my incredibly lazy daughter and husband would drop ice cubes on the floor and neglect to pick them up. Problem solved, once I finished yelling. Do you have an ice cube dispenser in your fridge door? Maybe your cat has figured out how to operate it and is hoarding ice cubes around the house.

19

“A Dios rogando y con el mazo dando” (Pray to God, but grab your mace).

I am sure that if it was God that put that pool there, He did it through condensation or cats or something. And if God wants that pool to be gone, He will probably need me as an instrument of His Grace and do His work with a mop, a plumber and a vet.

But maybe yours is a different religion.

ETA: Or maybe God is preparing you to fend off the Alien invasion (a la Signs)

20

… and I’d change my locks before I called in an exorcist.

Pools of clear, tasteless, and odorless water sound more like condensation that cat vomit.

Could you leave some paper towels where the puddles occurred, and check for water accumulation?