The Three Knocks

[Nemo]

Its a ghostly "Knocker-Upper", still doing his/her rounds.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Its a ghostly "Knocker-Upper", still doing his/her rounds.

The ladies should take the appropriate precautions.

 

[IbisNibs]

Its a ghostly "Knocker-Upper", still doing his/her rounds.

Not just ghostly, but dim-witted as well. My neighbor and I are both too old to get properly (so to speak) "knocked up."
The poor old soul is wasting its time!

 

[Solexman]

I get this sometimes but never knew it was a real “thing” so to speak.
I have a spasm in bed just as I’m nodding off often accompanied with a doorbell sound.
Sometimes woken up by the bell just before I’m due to wake up anyway.
I just wish it had a better name!

 

[Spudrick68]

I was asleep in bed this morning when I heard 5 very loud raps together evenly spaced. It sounded like,e knocks on wood. They were so loud together I jumped.

Neither my wife or the dog reacted at all.

If my brain created the noises they felt 8ncredibly loud. This hasn't happened to me before.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

My downstairs neighbor has recently complained of hearing three LOUD knocks coming from her ceiling on multiple occasions. I haven't made them, and I haven't even heard them. She's mad at me for not admitting that I'm her poltergeist.

I haven't dared suggest that the building's acoustics might be weird.

We once lived on the first floor of a 3 story building for a short time, and after we had moved we bumped into the 3rd floor couple of that building. It was so weird because they asked if we had been 'banging on the chimney' for some reason, while we lived there, because the banging bothered them.
I laughed and said of course not, why on earth would we do that, and we were on the 1st floor, they were on the 3rd. And we never heard anything coming from that chimney.
I'll never forget their look of puzzlement! LOL

 

[hunck]

I was asleep in bed this morning when I heard 5 very loud raps together evenly spaced. It sounded like,e knocks on wood. They were so loud together I jumped.

Neither my wife or the dog reacted at all.

If my brain created the noises they felt 8ncredibly loud. This hasn't happened to me before.

How do you know you jumped if you were asleep - do you mean you woke up at this point?

 

[escargot]

How do you know you jumped if you were asleep - do you mean you woke up at this point?

Sounds like 'I was asleep until the raps and then I woke up.'
Could be 'exploding head syndrome'.

 

[Spudrick68]

Yes I jumped as a result of the noise.

 

[catseye]

Yes I jumped as a result of the noise.

But if you were asleep you can't be absolutely sure of the order of events. 'Jumping' from sleep and hearing knocking are quite common events - I'd be on the side of hypnopompic hallucinations.

 

[Spudrick68]

I'm certainly open to a rational 3xplanation.

 

[Mythopoeika]

OK... this morning, I heard 2 knocks at the door (2 knocks in rapid succession).
This was at 4.30 am. I was awake when I heard it. On other occasions, I have heard exactly the same thing at the same time, but previously dismissed it as an auditory hallucination (as I was barely awake on those other occasions).
I had thought it might be my electricity meter changing over from Economy 7 to standard day rate (in a previous house, it made a sound because of the mechanical nature of the meter) - however, I just checked and my meter is completely electronic and I don't have Economy 7.
So what is it?

 

[EnolaGaia]

OK... this morning, I heard 2 knocks at the door (2 knocks in rapid succession).
This was at 4.30 am. I was awake when I heard it. ...
So what is it?

Were you simply 'awake' lying in bed, or were you 'up' (out of bed in a state of active wakefulness)?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Were you simply 'awake' lying in bed, or were you 'up' (out of bed in a state of active wakefulness)?

Awake, lying in bed. I wake several times in the night to shuffle off to the loo (old man problems/overactive bladder).
When I heard the noise, I got out of bed and looked down the stairs to the front door (didn't see anything).

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm all too familiar with the multiple night-time "surfacings" ...

For me there's a variable amount of liminality at the beginning and end of these transient instances of bobbing to the surface - whether or not I make an expedition to the toilet. For example, I might come awake multiple times before I begrudgingly admit I'm "surfaced" and deal with the decision to either get out of bed or roll over and try to go back to sleep.

Earlier this week I surfaced, dawdled about getting out of bed, and the next thing I knew I awoke from a long and tedious dream. Thinking I'd slipped back into a full sleep cycle, I checked my clock. A mere 12 minutes had passed since I'd last surfaced. (Damn! ...)

My first guess is that you surfaced, then slipped back into enough of a hypnagogic state to trigger the 'knocks' as one of those routine auditory hallucinations one perceives when slipping off into the abyss.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I'm all too familiar with the multiple night-time "surfacings" ...

For me there's a variable amount of liminality at the beginning and end of these transient instances of bobbing to the surface - whether or not I make an expedition to the toilet. For example, I might come awake multiple times before I begrudgingly admit I'm "surfaced" and deal with the decision to either get out of bed or roll over and try to go back to sleep.

Earlier this week I surfaced, dawdled about getting out of bed, and the next thing I knew I awoke from a long and tedious dream. Thinking I'd slipped back into a full sleep cycle, I checked my clock. A mere 12 minutes had passed since I'd last surfaced. (Damn! ...)

My first guess is that you surfaced, then slipped back into enough of a hypnagogic state to trigger the 'knocks' as one of those routine auditory hallucinations one perceives when slipping off into the abyss.

As far as I could tell, I was wide awake.
When I wake up, I am usually fully awake - there's usually an instant transition between sleep and wakefulness. I'm not aware of any lengthy transition between the two.
I might get up and lie in wait next to the front door, to find out the source of the sound. If it's a person, I'll give them a bit of a shock.

 

[escargot]

As far as I could tell, I was wide awake.
When I wake up, I am usually fully awake - there's usually an instant transition between sleep and wakefulness. I'm not aware of any lengthy transition between the two.
I might get up and lie in wait next to the front door, to find out the source of the sound. If it's a person, I'll give them a bit of a shock. View attachment 51869

Yup, certain bladder issues wake you up like nothing else.

It's not like when you hear the alarm go off and drag yourself out of bed still half-asleep in case you drop off again. The feeling of the bladder contracting is like an elbow to the guts. You're straight up and out.

 

[Lb8535]

If you live in a wood house it may be that seasonally your house reaches a certain cold point at around 4 am and a particular item contracts to make the noise. There were predictable noises in several houses I've lived in, and they could be quite loud. My heat is on a timer in the winter and at 6:35 am some framing pieces start expanding, also noisy. But I think sleeping next to the door is a good move.

 

[Mythopoeika]

If you live in a wood house it may be that seasonally your house reaches a certain cold point at around 4 am and a particular item contracts to make the noise. There were predictable noises in several houses I've lived in, and they could be quite loud. My heat is on a timer in the winter and at 6:35 am some framing pieces start expanding, also noisy. But I think sleeping next to the door is a good move.

This is a brick house with a wooden floor upstairs. There's not much wood downstairs, which is where the sound came from.
My heating comes on at 5 am, so it's not that.

 

[Floyd]

OK... this morning, I heard 2 knocks at the door (2 knocks in rapid succession).
This was at 4.30 am. I was awake when I heard it. On other occasions, I have heard exactly the same thing at the same time, but previously dismissed it as an auditory hallucination (as I was barely awake on those other occasions).
I had thought it might be my electricity meter changing over from Economy 7 to standard day rate (in a previous house, it made a sound because of the mechanical nature of the meter) - however, I just checked and my meter is completely electronic and I don't have Economy 7.
So what is it?

Kids 'Knock door run'. Bit early for them perhaps though.

 

[Floyd]

Yup, certain bladder issues wake you up like nothing else.

It's not like when you hear the alarm go off and drag yourself out of bed still half-asleep in case you drop off again. The feeling of the bladder contracting is like an elbow to the guts. You're straight up and out.

'The washer's gone' as my old Grandad used to say. Mind you, he also used to drink his 'home brew' which even he disliked, let alone the rest of us.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Kids 'Knock door run'. Bit early for them perhaps though.

Perhaps a neighbour on his way to/from working a shift.

 

[Floyd]

Perhaps a neighbour on his way to/from working a shift.

Do you have a person in mind?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Do you have a person in mind?

No. I have no idea who it might be.

 

[Spudrick68]

A popping sound from a dodgy seal in double glazing has been suggested before, possibly on this thread.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Didn't hear it this morning, probably asleep at the time.

 

[IbisNibs]

Do you have wooden furniture near your door downstairs?
There is a solid wood stand on one side of my bed that knocks (once) at night sometimes. it is next to a window, which I open just before I go to bed. On cold nights, a couple of minutes after I get into bed—KNOCK!

 

[escargot]

I had a 3 knocks incident a couple of days ago. Was in the kitchen & 3 loud thumps on the front door - I have a bell - went to the door, nobody there. Not a rap with the knuckles sound but more of a heavy thump with with a fist. This was in broad daylight about 3.30 in the afternoon, & no-one nearby looking likely. Odd.

Came'ere to report an almost identical incident.

At 13:27 or so today I was standing in the kitchen, cooking, with a good view of both front and back doors.
Heard three loud thuds from my right, like someone pounding on the glass front door.
I looked at it, nobody there. Watched for a moment in case they'd stepped away; still nobody.

The back door is inaccessible from the street so that wasn't being banged.

Techy was in the shower. I asked him afterwards if he'd been banging around up there or heard any thumps but he hadn't.

So whatever visited @hunck may have also have dropped by my gaff.

 

[escargot]

My family reckon the Three Knocks means a death. Can't say it was a reliable indicator over the years when my numerous elderly relations were dying off, although I've certainly had the knocks closely followed by the bad news.

 

[escargot]

Do you have wooden furniture near your door downstairs?
There is a solid wood stand on one side of my bed that knocks (once) at night sometimes. it is next to a window, which I open just before I go to bed. On cold nights, a couple of minutes after I get into bed—KNOCK!

A downstairs wall in my concrete house used to give a CRACK every night.

More interestingly, every evening at 9pm the landline used to give a single ting. When Techy moved in I made him listen to it. Never got to the bottom of that.