Ok, I know how weird this is going to sound but there is a strange ‘croaking’ sound emitting from the main lampshade in the bedroom. I’m not even sure lampshade is the correct term, as it’s covering the main ceiling light.
Anyway…
The sound is weird… an intermittent croaking sound that lasts around 2/3 seconds, followed by a consistent silence of around 15 seconds.
After taking it down, and establishing its nothing to do with the electronics, wires etc, my gf and I put it onto a wooden desk, and all seemed well in the world…
After getting back into bed and a period of 10-15 minutes, we noticed it had restarted, with the same sounds and the same consistent time duration between ‘croaks’.
We picked it up, and the sounds stopped. We held it by the two pieces of string (used to tie it to the light chord) and it stopped - but placing it back onto the desk caused the sound to restart…
Safe to say… we’re totally confused. This lampshade is seemingly made from cardboard and can be seen in the following link; (it’s the black, purple and blue star towards the left)
It’s not supernatural, obviously… but what is possibly causing this sound? The croak is fairly loud, yet the object doesn’t seem to move. Why is the sound so consistent following an intermittent silence?
Any educated guesses or actual scientific explanations are welcome!
It sounds like you may have picked up a cricket or something. Put it in another room so the sound doesn’t bother you until you have a chance to thoroughly investigate it. As a bonus, whatever it is may crawl out before you get to it.
My second guess is that there is a slight air current in the room that is causing the cardboard to rub against some of the innards ever so slightly. I would think that taking it down would end that, however. Again, if the noise is bothering you, banishment is in order until a full vivisection can be accomplished.
If there’s nothing living inside the lampshade, the bulb or another source of heat may be causing expansion and contraction. Otherwise, you could try freezing the lampshade to kill anything that might be living inside it.
Is there any Styrofoam or plastic on it. That crap can make weird sounds with very minor movement. We kept hearing my dryer make croaking sounds turned out to be a Styrofoam ice chest on a shelf. The vibrations from the dryer made it croak.
Presumably, it’s cheap enough to just buy another, and, as it’s made of paper, it’s going to have to be replaced in a few years, anyway. I’d try freezing it, as suggested, although I imagine it would bother some people greatly to discover that the noise has stopped but no frozen remains of a cricket or whatever are found.
Our new washing machine moved a couple feet across the basement floor in the process of digesting several loads of laundry and turned 40 degrees to the right.
In lieu of summoning an exorcist, we installed rubber pads under its front legs, which for now seems to have inhibited its desire to roam. :eek: