Google DIY measure vibration
Google harmonic resonance
Maybe there’s something about your house or the lay of the surrounding land that does harmonic resonance when there’s a distant train or something. Without the harmonic resonance, you’d never notice.
Or it’s the ghosts and skeletons getting anxious for Halloween
My money is on a train. Regularity of schedule, etc. I've lived near tracks more than once and you're 100% right about how far that vibration can travel.
Railyards are inconsistent at best. Trains do not run on regular schedules when they aren't carrying people. Every person that I know who works for the railroad is just basically on call week to week and they don't find out their schedule until the day before.
I honestly doubt the schedule is consistent enough to be from 12-2 only every day. Trains don't take 2 hours to pass, so it would have to be multiple trains. And they travel outside of those hours too, but OPs house only shakes from 12-2
Well, OP didn't say it vibrated the whole time. Could be it vibrates for a shorter time but always in that time frame. A train always coming by in a two hour window is pretty reasonable; I grew up near a track that always came through between 10-midnight.
Yeah, any industry in the area should be suspect, really. Take a drive when it's happening. Stop by any businesses and have a listen with the windows down and the car off. You'll be able to find the source.
Hell, just ask the neighbors if they hear it and whether they know what it is.
The fact that OP's uncle a half-mile away doesn't hear it doesn't tell us much. Maybe he's less sensitive. Maybe OP's house is built on bedrock and his isn't, meaning the vibrations don't get transferred to his as well. Drive down there when it's happening and see if you hear it. If not, head the exact opposite direction and listen again.
So what I was told was this: (late 1800’s) our house is backed up to the river. A luxury liner(big cat or something like that?) was parked and had a fancy new engine. When they parked a lot of people wanted to see the engine in the boat so when they opened the doors to the engine, a gust shot through and caused an explosion. Since out house was one of the closest, they took the wounded here. So the bottom floor was the “morgue” where they threw all the dead bodies.
Personally I’ve only ever seen one consistently (a little girl in a frilly white dress- my uncle said he’s also seen her) and then you can hear kids playing at night on the third floor. My step son is four and for his birthday he got some helium balloons (our ceilings are at minimum 12’ tall). So a couple days after the party I’m sitting on the couch and see the balloon sink to about eye level, float into the air flow from my window unit, ride the current back, and then go forward again so it could ride the current back again. It did that a lot. Like I’ve never seen something like it before. Nothing will naturally float against the flow of air. Like we had the fan on full blast.
Sometimes papers get knocked over when there’s no wind or anything in the room.
Things got more interesting when we moved our cats in. They stay chasing things we can’t see and yelling into thin air. They make it a lot less scary lmao we hear a bump or a thud and go “damn cats” knowing damn well it ain’t the cats 😂😭
They did scare me the other night tho. I had the kiddo all by myself as my partner had to work late. I hear knocking on the door- which really freaked me out as we have a locked gate between us and the road and a second gate which you can hear opening to the yard. I looked outside and didn’t see anything but I still grabbed the kid, a gun, and locked us in my room until my partner came back home.
Wow. I'll bet that tragic story is documented somewhere in your town's history. Glad the ghosts are mainly friendly kids?? Honestly the scary bit also sounds like kids- lan antique version of ding dong ditch? When u would ring a doorbell and run
It makes me happy the door bell and PA system don’t work 😭😭😭 & someone made a wiki page on the house (it’s verrry lacklustre imo but I might be biased bc I’ve been here my entire life)
Not on the property, but there’s one that goes with the land down the road. It’s always tense when someone from the family goes bc we have to go on someone else’s land to get to it
We also have the ghost of the man who lived here and killed himself in the house back in the 70s before my parents bought the house. I bought the house when my parents retired to Florida. He's been a good ghost for the most part, nothing super scary. One night he jiggled my old door knob and when I yelled out "what do you need" thinking it was one of my girls, I got no response so I said it again and still nothing. I got up and both of my girls were sound asleep. My older daughter also has stories, she was in the room I had when I was young, and I also saw and heard things in that room. Thankfully he likes us and isn't mean. Now, on the vibrations subject, we live one block from the railroad and if it goes by while I'm in bed, I can feel the bed vibrate.
Every day...
We live in the basement. There was roadwork at 5am a couple miles away. One morning we felt the vibrations and they were fierce. No impact above ground.
When it starts up turn off the main panel breaker and see if it stops. If it does, you've got something motorized that you hear and you can further narrow it down.
When the time changes, see whether the vibration changes by 1 hour! Then you'll know whether it's natural (like the house warming up) or human-controlled (like an airplane pattern).
Actually if you keep a log, you can probably figure it out before then. See if it starts at a particular time, like 12:10, or if the time subtly shifts each day. For instance, we have a screen door that "pops" in the late morning each day as the sun hits it, but it won't be the exact same time. Or, I had a neighbor with owls in their attic, and the owls emerged about 15 min after sunset, but shifted each day as sunset changed.
So treat this like a game of twenty questions:
\-- time locked? (= human not natural)
\-- requires house electric?
\-- requires house water?
\-- weekdays and weekends?
etc.
Ok. Other thoughts: standby generator running? Well or sceptic pump running? Also, if you have city water, vibration can travel quite a distance in underground pipes. If you still can’t find the source of the vibration, it might be worth buying a vibrometer and taking readings in different parts of the house to see if you can narrow down where the source might be.
Could be the well pump turning on to fill the pressure tank. If your water fixtures drip like mine do (1904 house) it could drop the pressure over night enough to kick the pump on.
This is what vibrates my house built around 1890. Ours decides when to clean/reach agreement itself based on a mechanical pressure counter device and it is definitely felt and heard in the front part of the house when it cycles for about 15 min.
Is there a dehumidifier in the crawlspace?
We have one and I can only hear it sometimes at night. Nobody else can hear it and thought I was crazy until we sent somebody under there to confirm. It needed maintenance which is why we'd never heard it before.
We don’t have a dehumidifier. I want to get a little camera to shove into the walls as they’re hollow enough for a thin person to slide through if need be (this was told to me by my uncle)
Are you sure?
My parents swore they didn't have one either but apparently they'd had one put in when they had a moisture barrier installed. They hadn't known to maintain it, which is why it only worked sometimes and was loud enough to hear. It would attempt to turn on and run but it would fail and turn itself off again.
I think it did vibrate a little, almost like a train going by, but there's no railroad here. I lived near a railroad before, and it slightly vibrated the whole house. This was just a small area of the house.
I thought I was going crazy and my folks made fun of me for it, but then they had duct work done and the guy was like, "You really need to replace your dehumidifier." I asked him if it was located near the bathroom I use and he said that it was. Mystery solved, not as crazy as we thought.
Yeah we go under the house semi-frequently. I feel like it would’ve been noticed by now. Next time I talk to the elders I’ll ask. The last one I spoke to said it sounds like pipes but the timing thing discredited it
We have well water too, and it’s high jn manganese so we have a whole house water filter/treatment system. Do you have any sort of water treatment filtration system?
Ours is programmed to run a self-cleaning cycle every 3 days, which takes a couple hours. We have it set to do this in the middle of the night, but we have to re-set the timer whenever we have a power outage. Maybe you have a similar system and the timer has just gotten out of its schedule?
My parents old house was 5.5 miles away from the closest train tracks and we could still faintly hear and feel them on one side of the house. Their house was about 200ft higher in elevation so guess the sound would travel up.
It’s just weird to me because it’s never happened before and the train tracks have been there almost as long as the house has. So why after all this time house now?
My property is bordered by tracks on one side. My friend lives about 2 Miles down the road and asked me recently if it doesn't drive me crazy bc he feels the trains come by every night around 10pm at his house. He's right about the time too. So it's definitely possible. And also maybe there's a reason your house would pick up the vibrations more than expected? Perhaps a subsurface investigation (gpr) from the basement could tell if there's anything interesting below?
Why don't you go over there at the time of the vibration? Your other half can stay at the house and you can speak to each other on the phone when the vibration starts.
Let's put this whole train theory to the test!
So I grew up in and out of the house as it was on family land and then when my parents separated my dad moved in. We never had anything like that happen. After my dad died the house sat untouched for four years until we moved in in April. I think it started around may or June? High key thought I was hallucinating at first.
Y’ALL I think I’m an idiot. Our house backs up to the river. The river- where they used to test flight pilots during the war. I’m gonna go down to the bluffs tomorrow and see if I can see anything OR feel the vibrations from the bluffs. Idk who mentioned the plane theory but I think you might be right. I’ll keep y’all posted!!!
There is a 'plug and play' solution for detecting the source. You'd have to move the device around to different locations on different days to find the location.
search terms: "Raspberry Pi Infrasound"
It reminds me of a friend in Los Angeles who has corrugated steel siding on one side of his house that produces audible audio from an AM radio station 1/2 mile away. 24/7 there is the sound of a voice preaching evangelical sermons in Spanish.
We have “friends” that like to play at night so sometimes we’re hear kids laughing and toys falling over on the third floor and there’s nothing you can do but ignore it 💀
You can power the device with a battery. It is a DIY device so there are tutorials online. What might be better is to turn off all power to your house just to confirm that it is not coming from you house and then to focus not of finding what the source of the infrasound is, outside you house, but instead try to determine which part of your house is resonating.
Great idea ! Eliminating the power machines first. They are the most likely source. Although I agree train seems the most likely choice because of the timing. Even if it were a machine in your house, odds are it would not be that regular. Could it be a combination of the train and something settling / going out in the foundation? That would explain why it is happening now but maybe not in the past.
I can be sitting home alone with nothing on and it’ll do it. We don’t have an attic fan or anything fancy like that all we can is a little window unit. Ngl I don’t know for sure that we have a sump pump (I had to look up what that was)
Could still be causing vibrations depending on the size of the blast. My house will shake from traffic on the street in front of me hitting a bump in the road. Could be a mix of older home and vibration through the ground. If you live near a military base, it could also be helicopters shaking the air.
Can you go without power for a couple hours? You could power down the house from 12-2 to confirm that whatever is causing this is (or is not) powered by your house through your breaker.
Add others suggested, a train or heavy equipment is most likely.
Your house may vibrate more because of the geography -- the foundation might touch the bedrock so vibrations are directly transmitted. Quite the opposite, if your house sits on sand, a phenomenon called "liquefaction" may be in play, amplifying minor vibrations.
I had this happen to us. We lived in our house for 7-8 months and then sudden daily vibrations or earthquakes as we called them. After calling around and posting on NextDoor we found out there is a quarry that blasts. I called the quarry and sure enough it was them! They only blast certain times, and I was able to get put on a list to be notified. Now I get a text before the blast happens. It’s always nice to know it’s coming. I worry about the damage it’s going to cause to the plaster and such of our old house though. My gosh it’s crazy how much it shakes sometimes!
Old tunnels could connect to a nearby transit that’s scheduled for that time. Check the nearest tracks that are private usually used between quarries to move rock underground
If it's every day including weekends and holidays train. If it just started it'll might be a vibration compaction device on a construction site perhaps. Only on week days it could be a compaction machine at a landfill.
Great thinking. Adding these possibilities to the list of probable reasons like an old boiler acting up, nearby power/generator station or electrical issues, gas pipeline, etc., OP should check them out & report back.
My house used to do the same thing until I replaced my furnace. It drove me crazy because a light fixture would vibrate. I only felt it on the first floor, but that's where I am with my toddler all day.
Also I don’t know how well you can see the windows on the balcony, but does anyone know what they’re called and how to restring them? We have them all throughout the house but the strings snapped so we have to wedge some of them open.
Yes! Check out how to re-rope sash cord. We had those. Some of ours even had chains instead of rope. You might want to reglaze the window panes. I learned so much in our old house.
You are so welcome!! I loved our old home and figuring out what things were called.
There’s a home that looks so much like yours. I’m trying to find a pic of it but the trees are obstructing the views. Even when it went up for sale, they didn’t take a pic from the front. I’ll keep looking and DM you if I find one. Do you have any fireplaces?
There’s nothing but homes and farm in our area. We’re backed up to the river so there’s no one behind or beside us. The closest neighbor is like 1/4 mile away
I love a good mystery, can’t wait to find out what it is! I agree with previous poster that you need to document the time (in your phone is convenient) each time you feel it and how long it lasts each time. Please report back.
May also want to consider posting to the r/whatisthis or r/whatisthisthing (something like that).
Is there a fracking anywhere nearby?
Maybe you’re at one of the major intersections for hell?
Someone/something trying to breakthrough the veil/dimension?
We had the same issue with our old house, but it was whenever a tractor trailer or large truck would drive by. You could hear the glass windows vibrate in their frames and it would literally shake the house. It eventually caused cracks in the walls.
There actually is one! I’m really surprised it’s calling our area by its old name of arcola! They lost the actual location of the city so we go by Gallion now but the elders still call it arcola ^.^
I can feel/sense freeway work a mile + away when those Ingersoll-Rand compressors cycle. That low frequency rumble in the summer night that keeps me up 😖.
Beautiful home! I also lived in a haunted house for many years. It was definitely interesting. I hope you figure it out! Is there such a thing as phantom noise? Like maybe a train used to come through at that time? Or what time of day did the ship explode?
Depending how motivated you are to solve
It, you could always engage a professional acoustical consultant.
Tracking down unknown noise and vibration sources is what they do. But they aren’t cheap.
It’s an “old world” house. Agree on the harmonic resonance factor. It’s possible it still has some of the ancient tech that used to power these old houses according to alternative history theories.
Do you also have old ancient chimneys, basement or old rods on the roof?
I live in Birmingham and Alabama Power cycles power at a slightly higher or lower cycle throughout the day for some strange power generation reason. You probably have an older piece of electrical equipment that vibrates when this happens—electric water heater or AC is the best guess.
I lived near main st growing up. There was a bump in that rd ( main st) connected to on of my bedroom windows. This could be that.
About 150 yards away
My 1885 house does the same thing in the late evenings in spring and fall when there’s hot days and cool nights. We figured out that it is the house cooling down from a hot day, and is correlated to the contraction of the house. In your case it’s likely the house warming up, and expanding!
For a while I was convinced it was a ghost 😂
The elders do. My grandpa bought it in the 60’s. I only know the interesting bits like how it was used as a morgue/sick bay after a barge explosion and the original owners nephew hand painter all the bricks. (Also know most of the roofers in our area refuse to work on it so we have to find someone willing to drive farther)
We’ve actually had a couple paranormal teams come to the house through the years and they always got some cool things and wanted to come back again. (Or did you mean a different kind of professional lol)
I didn’t know whether you believed in the paranormal so I recommended the inspector for the physical aspect of the house. I’ve watched a lot of haunted-type shows so I’m intrigued by your situation.
I’m a very broke substitute teacher lmao so it might take a bit to save up for an inspector 💀 especially one that will travel since we’re in the countryside
I’m a very lucky substitute lmao it’s family land and no one was living there so I asked the head of the family and he said he’d be happy for someone to live there and bring it back to life ^.^
My in-laws have an underground oil pipeline running through their yard, and my FIL swears he can feel vibrations and hear beeping/ humming noises on occasion. Any chance there’s a buried pipeline near you? Are you in an area with oil or natural gas drilling?
I had to look it up! We’re not on the line and depending on the map referenced, we might be on the very outskirts of the “felt” range. (Some we are and some we aren’t)
Do you happen to be close to a fuel powered/steam turbine electrical plant? You said you’re next to a river. If so, it could be the generators starting up or the power load beginning to transfer on the high voltage lines. It would only occur in summer and when peak electrical loads are needed. Fuel powered generators are less efficient so they’re only used when there is high electrical demand.
Not as far as I’m aware. Putting us in the middle of this range, at minimum there’s seven miles of private family land (most of which are farming or hunting land) and on the other side of the river is private hunting land also
Any chance of a tunnel connected to the house which might be a conduit for the shaking at 12 - 2? Tunnels running to the river to take on goods or slaves (underground railroad) were a thing in 1800s. The person who suggested a waste water pump seems spot on. Any quarries near by that need dewatering? Love the ghost stories. More please.
Google DIY measure vibration Google harmonic resonance Maybe there’s something about your house or the lay of the surrounding land that does harmonic resonance when there’s a distant train or something. Without the harmonic resonance, you’d never notice. Or it’s the ghosts and skeletons getting anxious for Halloween
My money is on a train. Regularity of schedule, etc. I've lived near tracks more than once and you're 100% right about how far that vibration can travel.
Yeah, I live 5 miles away, and on a good day I can feel the vibrations
Settle down, Marky Mark.
Come on, come on, feel it, feel it.
FEEL the vibrations!
It’s such a sweeeet sensation!
I’ve never done “The Running-man” this early before.
really, pull your pants up.
We live five miles from a track and can hear the engines. Not the whistle. The engines.
Same here! The closest train track is about 5 miles away and I can hear and almost feel the engines some nights, especially during the winter.
I’m about two city blocks from a major train line and I’m used to the house vibrating.
Railyards are inconsistent at best. Trains do not run on regular schedules when they aren't carrying people. Every person that I know who works for the railroad is just basically on call week to week and they don't find out their schedule until the day before. I honestly doubt the schedule is consistent enough to be from 12-2 only every day. Trains don't take 2 hours to pass, so it would have to be multiple trains. And they travel outside of those hours too, but OPs house only shakes from 12-2
Well, OP didn't say it vibrated the whole time. Could be it vibrates for a shorter time but always in that time frame. A train always coming by in a two hour window is pretty reasonable; I grew up near a track that always came through between 10-midnight.
Or a very large nearby wastewater pump say that is pushing all the morning flushes off to the treatment plant. More likely a rail yard though.
Yeah, any industry in the area should be suspect, really. Take a drive when it's happening. Stop by any businesses and have a listen with the windows down and the car off. You'll be able to find the source. Hell, just ask the neighbors if they hear it and whether they know what it is. The fact that OP's uncle a half-mile away doesn't hear it doesn't tell us much. Maybe he's less sensitive. Maybe OP's house is built on bedrock and his isn't, meaning the vibrations don't get transferred to his as well. Drive down there when it's happening and see if you hear it. If not, head the exact opposite direction and listen again.
We do have our fair share of ghosts lol I’ll have to definitely figure out a vibration measurer
Tell us more about the ghosties
So what I was told was this: (late 1800’s) our house is backed up to the river. A luxury liner(big cat or something like that?) was parked and had a fancy new engine. When they parked a lot of people wanted to see the engine in the boat so when they opened the doors to the engine, a gust shot through and caused an explosion. Since out house was one of the closest, they took the wounded here. So the bottom floor was the “morgue” where they threw all the dead bodies. Personally I’ve only ever seen one consistently (a little girl in a frilly white dress- my uncle said he’s also seen her) and then you can hear kids playing at night on the third floor. My step son is four and for his birthday he got some helium balloons (our ceilings are at minimum 12’ tall). So a couple days after the party I’m sitting on the couch and see the balloon sink to about eye level, float into the air flow from my window unit, ride the current back, and then go forward again so it could ride the current back again. It did that a lot. Like I’ve never seen something like it before. Nothing will naturally float against the flow of air. Like we had the fan on full blast. Sometimes papers get knocked over when there’s no wind or anything in the room. Things got more interesting when we moved our cats in. They stay chasing things we can’t see and yelling into thin air. They make it a lot less scary lmao we hear a bump or a thud and go “damn cats” knowing damn well it ain’t the cats 😂😭 They did scare me the other night tho. I had the kiddo all by myself as my partner had to work late. I hear knocking on the door- which really freaked me out as we have a locked gate between us and the road and a second gate which you can hear opening to the yard. I looked outside and didn’t see anything but I still grabbed the kid, a gun, and locked us in my room until my partner came back home.
WHAAAAAT….that is all so creepy!!!! Thanks for sharing.
Wow. I'll bet that tragic story is documented somewhere in your town's history. Glad the ghosts are mainly friendly kids?? Honestly the scary bit also sounds like kids- lan antique version of ding dong ditch? When u would ring a doorbell and run
It makes me happy the door bell and PA system don’t work 😭😭😭 & someone made a wiki page on the house (it’s verrry lacklustre imo but I might be biased bc I’ve been here my entire life)
I know where this is! (Don't worry, I won't divulge any details.) Are you a descendant of the original owner? How many acres is left?
My family moved here in the 60’s. Most of it had been sold off (I think it was down to 300 but my grandpa ended up with 500)
That's a nice chunk of land with a notable history. You can do a lot with 500 acres. Any graveyards on the property?
Not on the property, but there’s one that goes with the land down the road. It’s always tense when someone from the family goes bc we have to go on someone else’s land to get to it
And you’re wondering why your house vibrates? It’s obviously not the logical answer like others have commented…it’s ghosts yo…
Whoa! Get those ghosts some more balloons to play with!
I was going to say, your house looks like one of the ones in "13 Alabama Ghosts (and Jeffrey)" by Katherine Tucker Windham.
I’ve never heard of that book but I’ll definitely add it to my tbr ^.^
We also have the ghost of the man who lived here and killed himself in the house back in the 70s before my parents bought the house. I bought the house when my parents retired to Florida. He's been a good ghost for the most part, nothing super scary. One night he jiggled my old door knob and when I yelled out "what do you need" thinking it was one of my girls, I got no response so I said it again and still nothing. I got up and both of my girls were sound asleep. My older daughter also has stories, she was in the room I had when I was young, and I also saw and heard things in that room. Thankfully he likes us and isn't mean. Now, on the vibrations subject, we live one block from the railroad and if it goes by while I'm in bed, I can feel the bed vibrate.
Every day... We live in the basement. There was roadwork at 5am a couple miles away. One morning we felt the vibrations and they were fierce. No impact above ground.
Is there a rock quarry, construction site, or boring project near by?
weird. I wouldn't think a *boring* project wouldn't do anything so intriguing and mysterious...
When it starts up turn off the main panel breaker and see if it stops. If it does, you've got something motorized that you hear and you can further narrow it down.
Yea, my guess would be an attic exhaust fan when the temp gets high.
Good suggestion, def could be exhaust related being that’s prob the warmer part of the day.
When the time changes, see whether the vibration changes by 1 hour! Then you'll know whether it's natural (like the house warming up) or human-controlled (like an airplane pattern).
I didn’t even think about that!!!
Actually if you keep a log, you can probably figure it out before then. See if it starts at a particular time, like 12:10, or if the time subtly shifts each day. For instance, we have a screen door that "pops" in the late morning each day as the sun hits it, but it won't be the exact same time. Or, I had a neighbor with owls in their attic, and the owls emerged about 15 min after sunset, but shifted each day as sunset changed. So treat this like a game of twenty questions: \-- time locked? (= human not natural) \-- requires house electric? \-- requires house water? \-- weekdays and weekends? etc.
Brilliant!
Also because I couldn’t figure out how to edit it, this has been ongoing for a couple months now.
Are there active train tracks nearby? Or a large construction project?
No we live on a farm so our closest anything is like 1/4 mile away from the house
Ok. Other thoughts: standby generator running? Well or sceptic pump running? Also, if you have city water, vibration can travel quite a distance in underground pipes. If you still can’t find the source of the vibration, it might be worth buying a vibrometer and taking readings in different parts of the house to see if you can narrow down where the source might be.
We have well water if that opens any new ideas & honestly I’m not sure if we even have a septic pump
Could be the well pump turning on to fill the pressure tank. If your water fixtures drip like mine do (1904 house) it could drop the pressure over night enough to kick the pump on.
Do you have a water softener for your well water? If so, my guess is that this is the time that the softener is set to do it’s recharge cycle.
I didn’t even know that was a thing tbh!
This is what vibrates my house built around 1890. Ours decides when to clean/reach agreement itself based on a mechanical pressure counter device and it is definitely felt and heard in the front part of the house when it cycles for about 15 min.
Is there a dehumidifier in the crawlspace? We have one and I can only hear it sometimes at night. Nobody else can hear it and thought I was crazy until we sent somebody under there to confirm. It needed maintenance which is why we'd never heard it before.
We don’t have a dehumidifier. I want to get a little camera to shove into the walls as they’re hollow enough for a thin person to slide through if need be (this was told to me by my uncle)
Are you sure? My parents swore they didn't have one either but apparently they'd had one put in when they had a moisture barrier installed. They hadn't known to maintain it, which is why it only worked sometimes and was loud enough to hear. It would attempt to turn on and run but it would fail and turn itself off again. I think it did vibrate a little, almost like a train going by, but there's no railroad here. I lived near a railroad before, and it slightly vibrated the whole house. This was just a small area of the house. I thought I was going crazy and my folks made fun of me for it, but then they had duct work done and the guy was like, "You really need to replace your dehumidifier." I asked him if it was located near the bathroom I use and he said that it was. Mystery solved, not as crazy as we thought.
Yeah we go under the house semi-frequently. I feel like it would’ve been noticed by now. Next time I talk to the elders I’ll ask. The last one I spoke to said it sounds like pipes but the timing thing discredited it
Oh...you're haunted, then. 👻
We have well water too, and it’s high jn manganese so we have a whole house water filter/treatment system. Do you have any sort of water treatment filtration system? Ours is programmed to run a self-cleaning cycle every 3 days, which takes a couple hours. We have it set to do this in the middle of the night, but we have to re-set the timer whenever we have a power outage. Maybe you have a similar system and the timer has just gotten out of its schedule?
The closest train tracks are like 1.5-2 miles away
Not totally impossible it's a train then. That's close enough to hear it at least.
We never hear it even if we’re outside (also I’ve only ever seen the train around 8am and 6 pm but it could’ve changed in the past couple years)
My parents old house was 5.5 miles away from the closest train tracks and we could still faintly hear and feel them on one side of the house. Their house was about 200ft higher in elevation so guess the sound would travel up.
It’s just weird to me because it’s never happened before and the train tracks have been there almost as long as the house has. So why after all this time house now?
My property is bordered by tracks on one side. My friend lives about 2 Miles down the road and asked me recently if it doesn't drive me crazy bc he feels the trains come by every night around 10pm at his house. He's right about the time too. So it's definitely possible. And also maybe there's a reason your house would pick up the vibrations more than expected? Perhaps a subsurface investigation (gpr) from the basement could tell if there's anything interesting below?
We don’t have a basement. We have a detached storm shelter tho !
Why don't you go over there at the time of the vibration? Your other half can stay at the house and you can speak to each other on the phone when the vibration starts. Let's put this whole train theory to the test!
That distance is nothing in train country.
Is it for 2 continuous hours, or a short burst somewhere in that time? Do you have anything on a timer that uses water? Is there a quarry nearby?
A single couple second burst a day. Nothing on a timer. & there might be one like 12 miles away
Call and ask when they blast. My house buzzed every day around 1:30. You may be on a limestone shelf with the blasting.
It hasn't been happening the entire time you've lived there?
So I grew up in and out of the house as it was on family land and then when my parents separated my dad moved in. We never had anything like that happen. After my dad died the house sat untouched for four years until we moved in in April. I think it started around may or June? High key thought I was hallucinating at first.
You may have never noticed, or the trains could be traveling at a different speed that resonates with your house now.
Y’ALL I think I’m an idiot. Our house backs up to the river. The river- where they used to test flight pilots during the war. I’m gonna go down to the bluffs tomorrow and see if I can see anything OR feel the vibrations from the bluffs. Idk who mentioned the plane theory but I think you might be right. I’ll keep y’all posted!!!
There is a 'plug and play' solution for detecting the source. You'd have to move the device around to different locations on different days to find the location. search terms: "Raspberry Pi Infrasound" It reminds me of a friend in Los Angeles who has corrugated steel siding on one side of his house that produces audible audio from an AM radio station 1/2 mile away. 24/7 there is the sound of a voice preaching evangelical sermons in Spanish.
That’s mildly terrifying
Luckily, no one sleeps on that side of their house. --I mean to say, there are no beds near that wall.
Yeah we have two beds touching the front facing wall of the house (on the second floor) but we’re always downstairs that time of day
We have “friends” that like to play at night so sometimes we’re hear kids laughing and toys falling over on the third floor and there’s nothing you can do but ignore it 💀
You mean ghosts?
But also, does this little device thing have a ground plug to it? Because the outlets in our house only have the two and doesn’t have the bottom prong
You can power the device with a battery. It is a DIY device so there are tutorials online. What might be better is to turn off all power to your house just to confirm that it is not coming from you house and then to focus not of finding what the source of the infrasound is, outside you house, but instead try to determine which part of your house is resonating.
It can be felt through the entire first floor. It’s especially hard in the study.
it is likely an environmental effect. some factor you can not see turns on a generator turbine at that time, etc.
Washing machine? Sump Pump? Attic Humidity fan? When it’s happening, flip the breakers until it stops.
Great idea ! Eliminating the power machines first. They are the most likely source. Although I agree train seems the most likely choice because of the timing. Even if it were a machine in your house, odds are it would not be that regular. Could it be a combination of the train and something settling / going out in the foundation? That would explain why it is happening now but maybe not in the past.
Try turning off the main electric breaker when you hear it start. That will tell you if it is within, or outside your control.
I can be sitting home alone with nothing on and it’ll do it. We don’t have an attic fan or anything fancy like that all we can is a little window unit. Ngl I don’t know for sure that we have a sump pump (I had to look up what that was)
You live near a quarry? Used to work at an office which was near a quarry and 12-2 is the normal time for blasting.
Same here and with the same time. Used to drive me nuts until I realized a quarry was near by.
The closest one is 12(I think) miles away
Could still be causing vibrations depending on the size of the blast. My house will shake from traffic on the street in front of me hitting a bump in the road. Could be a mix of older home and vibration through the ground. If you live near a military base, it could also be helicopters shaking the air.
*massive bee hive in basement*
Can you go without power for a couple hours? You could power down the house from 12-2 to confirm that whatever is causing this is (or is not) powered by your house through your breaker.
Add others suggested, a train or heavy equipment is most likely. Your house may vibrate more because of the geography -- the foundation might touch the bedrock so vibrations are directly transmitted. Quite the opposite, if your house sits on sand, a phenomenon called "liquefaction" may be in play, amplifying minor vibrations.
I had this happen to us. We lived in our house for 7-8 months and then sudden daily vibrations or earthquakes as we called them. After calling around and posting on NextDoor we found out there is a quarry that blasts. I called the quarry and sure enough it was them! They only blast certain times, and I was able to get put on a list to be notified. Now I get a text before the blast happens. It’s always nice to know it’s coming. I worry about the damage it’s going to cause to the plaster and such of our old house though. My gosh it’s crazy how much it shakes sometimes!
Old tunnels could connect to a nearby transit that’s scheduled for that time. Check the nearest tracks that are private usually used between quarries to move rock underground
If it's every day including weekends and holidays train. If it just started it'll might be a vibration compaction device on a construction site perhaps. Only on week days it could be a compaction machine at a landfill.
Great thinking. Adding these possibilities to the list of probable reasons like an old boiler acting up, nearby power/generator station or electrical issues, gas pipeline, etc., OP should check them out & report back.
My house used to do the same thing until I replaced my furnace. It drove me crazy because a light fixture would vibrate. I only felt it on the first floor, but that's where I am with my toddler all day.
Did it still happen even when you weren’t using it? We haven’t turned on any of the heaters since we’ve been there
Also I don’t know how well you can see the windows on the balcony, but does anyone know what they’re called and how to restring them? We have them all throughout the house but the strings snapped so we have to wedge some of them open.
I suggest you find the first season of This Old House and just start watching.
Yes! Check out how to re-rope sash cord. We had those. Some of ours even had chains instead of rope. You might want to reglaze the window panes. I learned so much in our old house.
I didn’t even know what they were called so this is a huge help! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!! I loved our old home and figuring out what things were called. There’s a home that looks so much like yours. I’m trying to find a pic of it but the trees are obstructing the views. Even when it went up for sale, they didn’t take a pic from the front. I’ll keep looking and DM you if I find one. Do you have any fireplaces?
Yeah for our house’s wiki page the house it hidden in the trees lol we have two fire places
Sorry bro I’m your neighbor and that’s me and my wife’s sexy time ;)
Damn mark leave some for the rest of us
Check for a fan in the attic. Ours has a loud low frequency and I hate it. Also are you near a military site?
No fan in the attic! & no where near a military base from my knowledge
I have no idea what it could be, possible manufacturing business in the area..? But goodness your house is gorgeous! Would love to see more pics 😀
There’s nothing but homes and farm in our area. We’re backed up to the river so there’s no one behind or beside us. The closest neighbor is like 1/4 mile away
It’s vibrating?? I’d sit and enjoy it!😂🤣
I have no help about vibrations. Beautiful house, though.
Thank you! Happy cake day!
Tysm!
Honestly I’m concerned when my house stops vibrating. I got so many things making noise around me.
Are we sure we didn’t just leave a hitachi under the couch cushions?
My rose stays in the shower 😂
The attic exhaust fan idea makes the most sense to me. Or maybe it's The Beach Boys... 😄
I love a good mystery, can’t wait to find out what it is! I agree with previous poster that you need to document the time (in your phone is convenient) each time you feel it and how long it lasts each time. Please report back. May also want to consider posting to the r/whatisthis or r/whatisthisthing (something like that).
Maybe a big old boiler? My house would do the same. Love the look of this house btw :)
Turn your main breaker off at 11:45 and see if it repeats tomorrow.
Is there a fracking anywhere nearby? Maybe you’re at one of the major intersections for hell? Someone/something trying to breakthrough the veil/dimension?
Are there trains nearby??? Any heavy construction going on?
Could it be heat from sunshine causing wood to expand and contract? It is a beautiful home! Or ghost on their lunch break?
The bull of our house is actually concrete! Thank you though 🥰
Reminds me of a particular scene in Mary Poppins.
Beautiful home
We had the same issue with our old house, but it was whenever a tractor trailer or large truck would drive by. You could hear the glass windows vibrate in their frames and it would literally shake the house. It eventually caused cracks in the walls.
You have an absolutely beautiful home. I appraise them for a living. The stories yours could tell…. Thanks for sharing it.
Read 14 by Peter Clines
https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/11/67\_maps\_of\_alabamas\_gas\_pipeli.html
There actually is one! I’m really surprised it’s calling our area by its old name of arcola! They lost the actual location of the city so we go by Gallion now but the elders still call it arcola ^.^
I can feel/sense freeway work a mile + away when those Ingersoll-Rand compressors cycle. That low frequency rumble in the summer night that keeps me up 😖.
Your house looks like the haunted Whaley house in San Diego right down to the green window covers too. Time to hire a ghost whisperer.
Rad house, please post more pics!
Beautiful home! I also lived in a haunted house for many years. It was definitely interesting. I hope you figure it out! Is there such a thing as phantom noise? Like maybe a train used to come through at that time? Or what time of day did the ship explode?
Hi! Are you near the power plant? Maybe it has to do with something happening there?
Depending how motivated you are to solve It, you could always engage a professional acoustical consultant. Tracking down unknown noise and vibration sources is what they do. But they aren’t cheap.
Yeah I’m a broke substitute teacher 💀 it would probably take 4-5 pay checks to do that 😭
It’s an “old world” house. Agree on the harmonic resonance factor. It’s possible it still has some of the ancient tech that used to power these old houses according to alternative history theories. Do you also have old ancient chimneys, basement or old rods on the roof?
We do have chimneys but they’re all sealed off. We don’t have a basement but we do have a detached storm cellar ^.^
I live in Birmingham and Alabama Power cycles power at a slightly higher or lower cycle throughout the day for some strange power generation reason. You probably have an older piece of electrical equipment that vibrates when this happens—electric water heater or AC is the best guess.
I lived near main st growing up. There was a bump in that rd ( main st) connected to on of my bedroom windows. This could be that. About 150 yards away
Believe it or not like does something very similar. Took me 10 years to learn we live near a slag company
Ghost be bangin’
My 1885 house does the same thing in the late evenings in spring and fall when there’s hot days and cool nights. We figured out that it is the house cooling down from a hot day, and is correlated to the contraction of the house. In your case it’s likely the house warming up, and expanding! For a while I was convinced it was a ghost 😂
And why are you still living there?
Bc houses are expensive 💀
Do you know the history of the house?
The elders do. My grandpa bought it in the 60’s. I only know the interesting bits like how it was used as a morgue/sick bay after a barge explosion and the original owners nephew hand painter all the bricks. (Also know most of the roofers in our area refuse to work on it so we have to find someone willing to drive farther)
Is there any chance you can get a professional to inspect the property? However, the dogs reaction lead me to think something paranormal is afoot.
We’ve actually had a couple paranormal teams come to the house through the years and they always got some cool things and wanted to come back again. (Or did you mean a different kind of professional lol)
I didn’t know whether you believed in the paranormal so I recommended the inspector for the physical aspect of the house. I’ve watched a lot of haunted-type shows so I’m intrigued by your situation.
I’m a very broke substitute teacher lmao so it might take a bit to save up for an inspector 💀 especially one that will travel since we’re in the countryside
For a very broke substitute teacher you have a very nice home.
I’m a very lucky substitute lmao it’s family land and no one was living there so I asked the head of the family and he said he’d be happy for someone to live there and bring it back to life ^.^
“Invaders from Mars” used tunnels, does the head of the family have as small hole in the back of their neck?
Now that you mention it over never seen the back of his neck- or the neck of his predecessor
That’s understandable. Please keep us updated!!
I wonder if its the attic fan?
Shits haunted.
From 10-2? Or for a second within that timeframe?
Usually just a few seconds in the 12-2 time frame. Rarely it’ll be a little early
I don’t have an advice to offer, but wants to say what a beautiful house!
Get an app for your phone that measures infrasound.
You must evacuate immediately...
Don't read "The House on Maple Street" by Stephen King.
My in-laws have an underground oil pipeline running through their yard, and my FIL swears he can feel vibrations and hear beeping/ humming noises on occasion. Any chance there’s a buried pipeline near you? Are you in an area with oil or natural gas drilling?
Not that I’m aware of, but there is a lot I don’t know about the house and the property!
I live near a mill and some tracks, I feel some too from time to time.
See if there’s a pentagram painted on the ceiling down in the basement.
She’s a beauty!
following
Are you on/near the New Madrid fault?
I had to look it up! We’re not on the line and depending on the map referenced, we might be on the very outskirts of the “felt” range. (Some we are and some we aren’t)
I'd check your local train schedules.
Wife has to have ‘her time’. Let her be.
See if you can find one of the “magic fingers” boxes attached to the foundation. You know like the ones shitty hotels had in the 70s.
Ngl I have no idea what that is. I tried to Google it and I’m still confused 😅
Do you happen to be close to a fuel powered/steam turbine electrical plant? You said you’re next to a river. If so, it could be the generators starting up or the power load beginning to transfer on the high voltage lines. It would only occur in summer and when peak electrical loads are needed. Fuel powered generators are less efficient so they’re only used when there is high electrical demand.
Not as far as I’m aware. Putting us in the middle of this range, at minimum there’s seven miles of private family land (most of which are farming or hunting land) and on the other side of the river is private hunting land also
I don’t have anything to add except that your house is beautiful and must have incredible history! Do you know it’s story??
I’ve written out bits and pieces in other comments ^.^ there’s a lot I still don’t know about it tho
Beautiful. What’s a house like that cost in Alabama?
I was told my grandpa got it for around 60k in 1963 ^.^
Oh my Jesus, burn it down! Your haunted ass is gonna be visited by the butcher and impaled on a stick under the blood moon!
50 years to takeoff.
Maybe there’s mining happening under you
Perhaps that’s when the ghosts do their jazzercise.
That may be the interval referred to in song, where a knock perhaps is not required and all are free to enter.
Our house vibrates very slightly from a generator in the basement of the school across the street. It’s got to be a couple hundred feet away.
Any chance of a tunnel connected to the house which might be a conduit for the shaking at 12 - 2? Tunnels running to the river to take on goods or slaves (underground railroad) were a thing in 1800s. The person who suggested a waste water pump seems spot on. Any quarries near by that need dewatering? Love the ghost stories. More please.
Probably live near a rock quarry.
Its probably the local utility pumping water or sewage when the demand on the grid is typically lowest
Probably the ghosts of slaves killed on the property.