What was that noise? – New apartment adjustments

“What was that noise?!” I exclaim to my new roommate Desi from the living room of our new apartment on the third (basically fourth) floor in Chicagoland. “I have no idea,” she says looking at me with wide eyes. “Maybe it’s a ghost!” I exclaim excitedly.

Settling In

Moving into a new apartment always comes with its fair share of drama and struggles. For awhile we had Amazon packages arriving at our door almost every day. Boxes littered our spare bedroom, and artwork rested against the wall on the floor. Trash Day was dreaded, as we had to take down stacks and stacks of cardboard and packing materials to the alley behind our building. Once this part died down, we moved into the phase where everything is foreign. Enter the conversation above that has become pretty routine as we settle into our new apartment.

As we figure out our new routines, a good chunk of our time is spent trying to figure out where the strange noises are coming from. When we are both in the same room, we hold strong to the idea that there is strength in numbers. Noises aren’t as scary and usually have reasonable explanations. Here are the things we have figured out so far:

1. The apartment downstairs is to blame for the noise 90% of the time. Loud music. WWE matches on Monday and Tuesday nights. Just general male loudness. Desi can even hear the guy below her yawning every morning.
2. Our front door rattles when someone in the building does ANYTHING in the stairway.
3. Activity in the alley is essentially non-stop. This includes Trash Day, anyone coming in or out of the back doors of their apartments, and cars.
4. Sirens. We live in Chicagoland — there are always sirens all the time.

Would You Rather: Serial Killer or Ghost

While the noises we hear in our new apartment often can be explained away, it’s harder to rationalize at 3 a.m. I cannot tell you how many times I have reach for my phone at midnight to look Desi up on Find My Friends to see if it’s her coming home or a serial killer breaking in. When I know she’s home and asleep the question then becomes is it a serial killer or a ghost? Because as a true crime and supernatural enthusiast, those are obviously my only two choices.

In the morning I hear mysterious knocking noises. After several days of this noise, I’ve finally discovered that opening the pantry door just outside my room makes it sound like someone knocking on my door. Metal rattling noises that I hear in the middle of the night have also been debunked — I’m pretty certain it’s the water heater doing its business in the utility closet, also close to my room.

Perhaps most startling is when the motion sensor porch light, which I can see from my bedroom window, goes off in the wee hours of the morning. This happened around 5 a.m. the other night and completely freaked me out. After lying there for what seemed like forever, I finally built up enough courage to peek outside. Who knows what I would have done had I actually seen someone standing on our back porch, but thankfully it was clear. My best guess is that a bat flew in front of it or a strong gust of wind rattled the light just enough to set it off.

Lessons Learned

I’m sure that the longer we live in our new apartment, the noises will become less startling. Until that time, however, it’s amusing to convince ourselves that we live in a haunted building. It somehow seems safer to believe it’s a ghost and not ponder all the other possibilities. Although, some of Desi’s stuff has gone missing, which leads me to believe that maybe my ghost theory isn’t as wild and crazy after all. But don’t worry, I’ve watched enough horror movies to know that busting out the Ouiji board is only asking for more trouble.

What are your stories from moving into a new apartment/house? Please share in the comments below!