A Mystery Once Again

I’ve written about this kind of thing previously. In Go Figure I wrote about strange, unexplained sounds in my house. In House Ghost I wrote about a can of bathroom cleaner that was teleported. In Odd Stuff I wrote about a couple of odd incidents, including a flashlight being knocked off the fireplace mantle directly into a wicker basket that I had just placed on the floor below the mantle.

But now it’s time for another mysterious true story. Two nights ago I went to bed at my usual bedtime. I was sober. I had not taken a sleeping pill. Twice during the night I got up to use the bathroom. I experienced nothing unusual. That is, not until the next morning.

I awakened and reached for my phone. I usually keep it on the corner of the dresser beside my bed. A heavy, metal table lamp sits beside it. I didn’t find the phone, so I got up on one elbow to look for it. I noticed the shade on the lamp was knocked askew. The lamp had been moved from its usual location and placed on top of the phone.

I looked further around the room. The wastepaper basket had been turned over and was lying on its side. My pillow was on the floor on top of the wastepaper basket. The blanket on my bed was on the floor. What was going on? I set things aright and went about my morning.

At lunchtime I decided to make a sandwich, so I reached for a partially consumed bag of bread sitting atop the refrigerator. I untwisted the twist tie and opened the bag. I looked inside. All the slices of bread had large holes in the center of them. In fact, they were little more than crust.

I inspected the bag. There were no holes in it. I know for sure that the opening in the bag was securely closed with a twist tie. An ant couldn’t have gotten into that bag. And even if a mouse got in (without leaving a hole) it would have had to climb up the side of the refrigerator to get to the bag of bread. Can a mouse do that? And why would a mouse only eat the inner part of the bread and leave the crust untouched? Are mice that picky about their food?

There was no explaining any of it except, perhaps, for a mischievous poltergeist. But if that’s the case, at least the poltergeist gives me occasional fodder for my blog.