I never thought a simple home renovation could unearth something so utterly disturbing that it’d gnaw at the edges of my sanity. I’m sharing this now because I can’t keep it locked inside anymore, and maybe someone out there can make sense of what’s happening—or at least confirm I’m not completely losing it.
About two months ago, I bought an old Victorian fixer-upper on the outskirts of a small town. The place needed work, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The previous owner had left in a hurry, and the house smelled faintly of damp wood and forgotten memories. I started by tearing up the old carpet in my bedroom—just to see what was underneath.
That’s when I found it: a section of the floor that felt… off. When I pried up the boards, I discovered a shallow cavity about two feet deep, just below the floorboards. Inside was an assortment of strange objects: old, warped dolls with cracked porcelain faces; a handful of clenched human teeth; and several pieces of paper covered in cramped, nearly illegible handwriting. I snapped some photos and started reading.
It was a diary, dated back to 1903. The entries described a woman’s slow descent into paranoia. The handwriting worsened with each page, spiraling into frantic scribbles about “the quietness below” and “something stirring under the boards.” She wrote about hearing whispers at night, always just beneath the floor, like the house itself was breathing.
*That’s where it should’ve ended,* right? An old diary and some creepy tchotchkes. But no. After a few nights, I started hearing it too. The quietest, faintest sort of scratching—like nails tapping lightly against wood—coming from directly beneath my bed.
At first, I leaned into it, telling myself it was just old pipes or settling wood. But then the noises got louder. More insistent. The scratching turned into a slow, deliberate tapping pattern. I tried recording it:
[Audio Clip: low, irregular tapping mixed with faint, unintelligible murmurs]
(Timestamp: 2024-05-18, 2:34 AM)
When I played back the recording, I heard a second, deeper layer beneath the tapping—something like a voice, warped and distorted, whispering *“help me.”*
I started leaving a tape recorder on overnight. Every morning, the battery would be drained, and the device sometimes glitched out, playing back warped static mixed with a high-pitched screeching. On one playback, the voice clearly said, “*You can’t leave*.”
The diary mentioned a ritual the woman attempted—burying a small box beneath the floorboards to “seal the restless.” I searched more carefully and found a rotten wooden box embedded below where the floorboards meet the wall. Inside was a tangled mass of hair, brittle bones, and a rusted locket bearing a faded portrait of a woman with hollow eyes.
That night, the house’s atmosphere shifted. The air turned thick, cold, and suffocating. The whispering voices became louder—no longer restrained to the lower frequencies but filling the room with a suffocating presence. I could feel something moving under my feet, like a living thing trying to claw through the floor from underneath.
Then, I noticed the floorboards started to warp and pulse subtly—as though the wood itself was breathing. The nails holding them down began to bend slowly, twisting in impossible ways. I tried to pull up the affected boards, but they wouldn’t budge; it was as if the house itself was defending that cavity.
Last night, I woke to a loud crack and a sudden, searing pain in my foot. I looked down and saw a long, thin scratch bleeding across my skin. The blood was dark and thick, almost black. I’ve never been outside or near any sharp objects in my sleep. I’m terrified of what’s under there.
The worst part? My phone’s camera sometimes glitches and flickers when I point it at the floor, displaying strange glitches—like pixelated shapes that look vaguely humanoid burrowing in the soil beneath, or eyes staring back at me before the feed cuts abruptly.
[Image attached: a blurry photo of the floor with a faint, warped shadow resembling a face pressed against the wood]
(Timestamp: 2024-06-02, 3:17 AM)
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’ve contacted local historians, but nobody knows of any sinister events tied to this house. The previous owner disappeared without explanation last year.
I’m too scared to leave my bedroom. The tapping’s constant now, rhythm growing impatient. Some nights, I hear footsteps pacing under the floor, slow heavy thuds, like something pacing just beneath me, waiting.
I’m posting this because maybe... maybe someone here has heard of something like this. Or knows how to stop whatever’s under my wall. I fear that “quietness below the floorboards” is never going to be silent again—and that soon, whatever’s down there will break through.
If I don’t update again… please assume the worst.
— OP
[UPDATE 06/05/2024]
I set up a new camera directly beneath the floor cavity using a fiber optic scope. The footage is incomprehensible—distorted shapes, shifting too fast to recognize. But at one point, a face appeared—sunken eyes, skin like cracked bark, mouth opening impossibly wide to emit that same tapping rhythm. It stared directly into the lens for several seconds before vanishing.
I’ve contacted a contractor to remove the floorboards tomorrow. I’m terrified but see no other choice. Will update if I survive.
— OP
[EDIT: 06/07/2024]
The contractor never showed. He called to cancel, saying he “couldn’t do it after seeing the house.” Since then, the tapping is louder—closer to my bed now. I’m starting to hear breathing in the ceiling too. The house feels alive.
I’m locking myself in the bathroom tonight. If anyone reads this after I’m gone—I’m sorry. The quietness below the floorboards isn’t silent anymore. It’s hungry.
Story Analysis
Themes
Haunted House and Sentient ArchitectureDescent into Paranoia and MadnessUnseen Malevolent Presence Beneath Domestic Space
Mood Analysis
Key Elements
Creepy Victorian-era diary detailing psychological unravelingSupernatural phenomena localized beneath floorboards (tapping, whispering, breathing wood)Physical manifestations affecting protagonist (dark black blood scratches, warped floorboards)Multimedia evidence (audio clips, glitchy photos, fiber optic footage) enhancing realismSentient house behavior rejecting attempts at investigation and escape
Tags
haunted-housepsychological-horrorsupernatural-entityfound-footagesentient-architectureparanoiaaudio-evidencevictorian-eracreepy-artifactsinvisible-terror
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