# Whats this strange ticking sound in my house? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428 "2010-03-31T05:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/1 "2010-03-31T05:24:30Z")
During the quiet of the night I can often hear a faint tick…tick…tick… sound coming from a specific area in our house. I have been trying to work out what it is but am completely stumped. Before you get too excited - it is not a clock or a watch or a bomb. Here are some observation: - the sound is a rapid tick…tick…tick - say that quietly and as quickly as you can - that is what it sounds like - it was on our dresser, now it is on a desk in our bedroom - I have heard it for over 6 months, a few times a week - i have heard other instances of it in other points in the house - none of these sources of the sound move around - when i disturb something near the origin of the sound it stops for about 30 seconds, then starts up again. This happens when I try to track it down by moving staff around. - i have not seen anything that could be the source So I recon it is some tiny critter that doesn’t wander around. Can someone put me out of my misery - what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/2 "2010-03-31T05:34:01Z")
Probably [Death Watch Beetles.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_watch_beetle) They are wood boring beetles that make a tapping sound. [Here’s a video of one with the sound.](http://www.arkive.org/death-watch-beetle/xestobium-rufovillosum/video-09a.html) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/3 "2010-03-31T05:54:30Z")
It might be a time bomb! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/4 "2010-03-31T06:07:04Z")
A tell-tale heart? ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/5 "2010-03-31T06:09:05Z")
Could it be vibrating glass? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/6 "2010-03-31T06:19:24Z")
[“Snape, Snape, Severus Snape … .”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/7 "2010-03-31T06:29:07Z")
Isn’t this a classic “Need Answer Fast” situation? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/8 "2010-03-31T06:51:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Probably [Death Watch Beetles.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_watch_beetle) They are wood boring beetles that make a tapping sound. Seconded as a suggestion. My grandparents had them in their (15th century) house when I was a kid, mainly in a big beam above the bed where I slept. Or rather, was too scared to sleep. I think it was the name that frightened me more than the ticking. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/9 "2010-03-31T06:55:41Z")
Get out of there, it’s gonna blow! ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/10 "2010-03-31T08:23:32Z")
Ticking eh? Could be the crocodile that ate Captain Hook’s hand from Peter Pan. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/11 "2010-03-31T09:56:11Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Could it be vibrating glass? Some other kind of vibrating object or device? Perhaps battery powered? :D:p ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/12 "2010-03-31T10:18:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Probably [Death Watch Beetles.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_watch_beetle) They are wood boring beetles that make a tapping sound. > [Here’s a video of one with the sound.](http://www.arkive.org/death-watch-beetle/xestobium-rufovillosum/video-09a.html) Ahhaah. Psocids!!! Thank you. From your wiki link it mentions that psocids also make this sound. I had seen the psocids, and did at one point think that it could be them, but dismissed the idea since they seem too frail to make such a loud noise. They squash with a light touch of the finger. Maybe we have a few specimens of a more heavy duty variety that makes this noise - otherwise our house would sound like a clock factory. A quick [web search](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=rP0bvIdQt5gC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=Psocids+ticking+sound&source=bl&ots=A_TAcuZox_&sig=UlivNkBD3QhZBYeh46m0bF7sGuQ&hl=en&ei=0x2zS6yXMsuTkAWM_Z2IBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=&f=false). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/13 "2010-03-31T12:12:54Z")
It’s your biological clock. Go ahead and have a baby. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/14 "2010-03-31T17:57:27Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It’s your biological clock. Go ahead and have a baby. They’re best with a nice Dijon mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/15 "2010-04-01T09:07:02Z")
[A novel by John Bellairs](http://www.amazon.com/House-Clock-Walls-John-Bellairs/dp/0440437423/). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Mooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Mr\_Mooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Mooo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/16 "2012-03-21T02:46:45Z")
Okay, I bet a million dollars if there is a strange clicking sound a feeling of constant surveillance then your in the media or military (or want to be or have been in the past or someone you live with is) I once heard from a governmental source the days of planting bugs in peoples homes are over and have been for a very very long time. today they use a sort of sonar to listen in from a distance, if you go outside at night and walk out to the road while it’s very quiet the chirping over my house is loud to me, but others around me could barely hear it. Sometimes I would struggle with it in my mind I was certain it wasn’t spiritual and that it was a technology being deployed against me. A new form of torture from a distance, hitting people with invisible rays that make their hearts race with fear & trepidation Awful technologies designed by lunatics with deep dark ops kinds of funding. they’ll steal the words from peoples mouths and the sounds they make around their homes (the sound of cutlery being tossed into a drawer makes a nice high hat) package them up as the latest & greatest. while your in the dark wondering why all your words & ideas keep coming right back at cha through your favorite recording artists & movie makers etc (Spy vs Spy kinda stuff uno) you have to pay for your development nothing in this life is free, but it’s nice to think it is…I’ve been were you all are. I know how awful and confusing it is chirping on the kitchen bench top for a few day then in the bedroom & I know it seems like it’s ghostly because it’s emanating a magnetic field which can make your hair stand on end. (ghostly/supernatural phenomena is more subtle in it’s frequency to me) Lol I noticed the chirping technology being used at the hospital the other day tracking everyone who enters with a sonic signature which is taken from your voice (usually but it’s not required) you cant get away from it until you leave the grounds. So stress not everyone it’s being used for good and for bad reasons, think satellites & super technologies designed to manage people. This is the best answer your ever gonna find on this topic it is a deep dark ops technology being deployed on people all over the world. I truly love people (because I am one for now) and as we all grow live and learn together I think it’s important to communicate what strange things that happen in our lives with each other over the net so we actually can find answers to deeply personal things such as this. The other thing that worries me is the use of Xray technologies at airports frequent commuters would have their life spans destroyed think about that and what it means. people carrying drugs & other contraband inside themselves are only small amounts and does not warrant the use of such cellular destroying rays on frequent international fliers. ( who are in their own right an economical & political backbone) weve got big problems coming up did anyone catch the news about the massive alien spaceship tinkering with the sun? incredible footage, it seemed to be injecting something into it they said Amazing. hold it together okay…secret mind link technology is about to jump in leaps & bounds it’s gonna be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/17 "2012-03-21T02:53:08Z")
Are you familiar with paragraphs? The space bar? Taking a breath? Wall of loony-text. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/18 "2012-03-21T02:53:44Z")
> [@Mr\_Mooo](#): > > Okay, I bet a million dollars if there is a strange clicking sound…(_snip_)..secret mind link technology is about to jump in leaps & bounds it’s gonna be awesome. I like this one better than the Death Watch beetle explanation. _Much_ better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/19 "2012-03-21T15:57:00Z")
Zombie thread I know but my Braun rechargeable toothbrush ticks quietly to itself, most noticeable in the middle of the night. Might explain the dresser / desk / bedroom connection. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428/20 "2012-03-21T16:10:09Z")
I think we’ve waited long enough. So what was it, bomb, bug, vibrator, toothbrush (try not to confuse those last two), or some kind of mind control device? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-strange-ticking-sound-in-my-house/534428.md?page=2)