"I Heard Someone Coughing Inside My Bedroom Wall. Then They Answered Me." | ClancyPasta PRESENTS

[00:00:00] ClancyPasta Presents, I Heard Someone Coughing Inside My Bedroom Wall. Then They Answered Me. By Wistow. And You're Listening to ClancyPasta.

[00:00:28] The First Time I Heard Somebody Coughing Inside My Bedroom Wall, I Assumed It Was My Neighbor. I Live In A Terraced House, So Hearing People Through The Walls Isn't Particularly Unusual. I've Heard Arguments, Televisions, A Dog That Barks Whenever Its Owners Go Out. Once, I Could Hear Somebody Practicing The Trumpet For Nearly An Entire Sunday Afternoon. But This Cough Sounded Close.

[00:00:58] It Was A Horrible, Flummy Cough, Followed By The Sound Of Somebody Trying To Clear Their Throat. I Actually Said, You Alright Mate? And Laughed To Myself Afterwards. A Few Seconds Later, Somebody Said, Yeah.

[00:01:21] I Sat Up In Bed. The Voice Hadn't Come From Next Door. It Sounded As Though Somebody Had Spoken From Inside My Wardrobe, Which Stood Against The Adjoining Wall. I Got Out Of Bed And Checked It. There Was Nothing Inside Except My Clothes And A Suitcase. I Even Moved The Suitcase Because I Was Beginning To Feel Ridiculous.

[00:01:49] I Stood There Listening For A While, Then Went Back To Bed. That Was About Six Weeks Ago. I'M Writing This From My Sister's House. I Haven't Slept In My Own Place Since Wednesday. And I Don'T Intend To Go Back.

[00:02:10] I Bought The House Three Years Ago. It'S An Ordinary Two-Bedroom Terrace. Probably Built Around The 1920s In A Fairly Unremarkable Residential Street. The Previous Owner Hadn't Been Been There For Decorating. The Previous Owner Had Been Been There For Decorating Himself. He'd Done A Lot Of The Decorating Himself, Including Some Fairly Questionable Alterations To The Upstairs Rooms.

[00:02:37] My Bedroom Had Built-In Wardrobes Along One Wall When I Moved In. They Were Hideous Things, With Sliding Mirrored Doors That Kept Jumping Off Their Tracks. I Ripped Them Out During The First Month And Replaced Them With A Freestanding Wardrobe. Behind The Old Wardrobes Was A Plain Plaster Board Wall. I Painted It, Moved My Furniture In And Never Gave It Another Thought.

[00:03:07] At Least, Not Until The Coughing Started. Over The Following Week, I Heard Somebody On Three Separate Occasions. It Wasn'T Always Coughing. Sometimes It Sounded Like Somebody Shifting Their Weight In A Chair Or Scuffing Their Shoe Against The Floor. Once, At About Eleven In The Evening, I Heard A Very Distinct Sigh.

[00:03:35] I Went Next Door The Following Morning. My Neighbor Is A Woman Called Denise Who Lives Alone And Has Been There Much Longer Than Me. I Asked Her Whether She'd Recently Moved Her Bedroom Around. No. Why? I Explained That I Could Hear Somebody Through The Wall.

[00:04:03] Well, It's Not Me, She Said. My Bedroom's At The Back. This Confused Me Because My Bedroom Was At The Front. I Asked What Room Was On The Other Side Of My Wall. The Landing, I Suppose. Do You Have A Wardrobe Against It Or Something? She Frowned.

[00:04:33] No, Love. It's Just The Stairs. That Made Me Feel Better Initially. If Her Staircase Ran Along The Wall, Then I Was Probably Hearing Her Moving About. Old Houses Carried Noise In Strange Ways. I Mentioned The Coughing. Wouldn't Have Been Me, She Said. That I've Been Staying At My Daughter's This Week.

[00:05:06] She'd Been Away Since The Previous Friday. I Didn't Tell Her About The Voice. I Started Recording The Noises On My Phone. Not Because I Thought The House Was Haunted. I Wanted Something I Could Play To A Builder Or Possibly The Council If There Was A Problem With The Adjoining Property. I Got Almost Nothing For The First Few Nights.

[00:05:34] The Recordings Were Mostly Traffic, The Radiator Clicking As It Cooled, And Me Occasionally Turning Over In Bed. Then, Last Monday, Something Happened That Made Me Stop Sleeping In The Bedroom. It Was Around Half Past One.

[00:05:59] I'd Been Reading On My Phone And Was Just About To Turn The Light Off When I Heard A Scraping Sound. I Hold My Phone Against The Wall And Started Recording. The Scraping Continued For Maybe 15 Seconds. Then Came A Small Knock. I Knocked Back. There Was A Pause. Something Knocked Twice.

[00:06:30] I Knocked Twice. I Knocked Back. This Time There Was No Reply. Instead, I Heard The Unmistakable Noise Of Somebody Dragging Something Heavy Across A Wooden Floor. I Shouted Through The Wall For Whoever It Was To Stop. The Dragging Ceased. Immediately. I Waited. Holding My Phone Against The Plaster.

[00:07:01] Then Somebody Spoke. Do It Again. I Actually Felt My Stomach Tighten. Not Because Of What Was Said But Because Of How Clearly I Heard It. There Was No Muffling Whatsoever. I Could Hear The Man's Saliva Moving In His Mouth. Who'S There? I Shouted. I Waited For An Answer. Sir?

[00:07:31] But None Came. I Slept Downstairs With The Television On. The Following Morning I Listened To The Recording. You Could Hear The Scraping In Both Sets Of Knocks. You Could Also Hear My Voice Shouting. But The Recording Didn't Pick Up The Man Speaking. I Listened To It With Headphones Then Through My Laptop Speakers.

[00:08:02] There Was A Faint Rustling Noise At The Point Where He Had Said Something But Nothing Resembling Words. That Afternoon I Contacted A Local Builder Named Graham. He'd Done Some Work For Me Previously And I Trusted Him Not To Invent An Expensive Problem.

[00:08:25] I Explained That I Thought There Might Be A Gap Between My Wall And The Adjoining Property, Possibly Left Over From Some Old Alterations. Graham Came Over On Tuesday Evening. He Tapped Along The Bedroom Wall With His Knuckles. Most Of It Sounded Solid But A Section Behind My Wardrobe Was Noticeably Hollow.

[00:08:53] Probably Dot And Dab, He Said. I Asked What That Meant. Blaster Boards Stuck Onto The Brick Work, That's All. Won't Necessarily Mean There's Anything Wrong. He Moved The Wardrobe Away From The Wall And Took Some Measurements. Then He Asked Whether I'd Have The Room Altered. I Told Him I Hadn't.

[00:09:20] He Measured Again, This Time Checking From The Bedroom Door To The Far Wall. Funny, He Said. What Is? He Asked Whether He Could Look Downstairs. We Went To The Living Room Where He Measured Across The Front Of The House. Then We Went Back Upstairs And He Repeated The Measurement. Your Bedroom's Narrower Than Your Living Room.

[00:09:50] How Much? About 28 Inches. He Said Some Difference Was Normal Given The Construction But Not That Much. There Could Be A Boxed In Service Space Or Possibly A Section Of An Old Chimney Breast Behind The Plaster Board. I Mentioned The Previous Owner's Wardrobes.

[00:10:18] Could Be Something They Covered Up, He Said. He Offered To Cut A Small Inspection Hole. I Agreed. Graham Went Out To His Van And Returned With A Drill, A Small Torch, And One Of Those Inspection Cameras Plumbers Use. He Drilled A Hole A Few Inches Above The Skirting Board.

[00:10:44] A Little Cloud Of Plaster Dust Fell Onto My Carpet. Then He Fed The Camera Through. I Watched The Screen Over His Shoulder. There Was Brick Work On One Side And The Back Of The Plaster Board On The Other. The Space Between Them Seemed Much Larger Than I'd Expected. He Moved The Camera Around.

[00:11:12] Well, There's Your Gap. How Big? Looks About Two Foot? Maybe More. He Moved The Camera Further In. Something Pale Flashed Across The Screen. He Stopped. What Was That? I Asked. Don't Know.

[00:11:39] He Pulled The Camera Back Slightly And Turned It Towards The Floor. There Was Carpet Inside The Gap. It Was An Old Brown Patterned Carpet. Flattened And Dirty But Unmistakably Carpet. Graham Stared At The Screen. That's Bloody Strange.

[00:12:04] He Adjusted The Camera And Moved It Along The Floor. A Few Inches Beyond The Carpet Was Something That Looked Like A Shoe. He Pulled The Camera Out. I Asked Why He'd Stopped. Think Somebody's Been In There. What Do You Mean?

[00:12:32] There's Stuff On The Floor. Might Have Been An Old Cupboard. Something Like That. He Didn't Sound Convinced. I Asked Him To Put The Camera Back In. But He Suggested Making A Larger Opening The Following Morning. He Wanted To Check How The Wall Had Been Constructed Before Removing Anything. As He Packed Away His Tools. He Asked Me Something.

[00:13:04] How Long Have You Been Hearing These Noises? A Couple Of Weeks. Maybe Longer. He Looked Towards The Wardrobe. Does It Sound Like They're Moving About? Sometimes. Sometimes. He Nodded. Then Told Me To Keep The Bedroom Door Shut Until He Came Back.

[00:13:30] I Asked Whether He Thought Somebody Was Living Inside The Wall. Wouldn't Have Thought So. He Said. But He Looked At The Hole Again Before Leaving. That Night I Stayed Downstairs. I Put A Piece Of Masking Tape Over The Inspection Hole Before Moving The Wardrobe Back.

[00:13:59] Although I Couldn't Really Say Why. I Suppose I Didn't Like The Idea Of Something Being Able To Look Into My Room. At Around Midnight, I Heard Footsteps Overhead. They Were Slow, Irregular Footsteps. At First, I Thought Somebody Was Walking Along Denise's Landing, But...

[00:14:27] Then I Remembered What Graham Had Found. I Muted The Television. The Footsteps Continued. There Was A Creek. Then Another. Followed By A Short, Scraping Sound. I Stood At The Bottom Of The Stairs. The Noise Stopped. I Called Out. Hello?

[00:14:58] There Was No Answer. I Went Upstairs Keeping The Landing Light On. My Bedroom Door. My Bedroom Door Was Closed. I Opened It And Reached For The Switch. Nothing Appeared Out Of Place. Then I Noticed The Wardrobe. I Had Pushed It Right Against The Wall Earlier. I Remember Because One Of It's Legs Had Caught On The Carpet And I Had Had To Lift It Slightly.

[00:15:28] Now? It Stood Several Inches Away From The Skirting Board. I Looked At The Gap Behind It. The Masking Tape Was Gone. Not Peeled Away And Left Hanging. Gone Completely. There Was Something Dark Around The Inspection Hole. I Went Closer.

[00:15:56] The Plaster Board Was Wet. A Little Patch Of Moisture Had Spread Around The Hole, Maybe The Size Of A Fifty Pence Piece. I Leaned Forward To Look At It. Somebody Breathed Out On The Other Side. Warm Air Touched My Face. I Fell Backwards Against The Bed.

[00:16:23] For A Second I Couldn't Get My Feet Underneath Me. I Scrambled Across The Mattress, Knocking My Bedside Lamp Onto The Floor. As I Reached The Door, A Voice Spoke From Behind The Wardrobe. Sorry. It Was Quiet. Almost Polite. Then Came The Cough.

[00:16:52] I Got Out Of The House Without My Shoes. I Sat In My Car For About Ten Minutes Before I Was Calm Enough To Drive. Eventually I Went To My Sister's Where I Told Her Somebody Had Been Getting Into My House. She Wanted Me To Call The Police. I Did.

[00:17:20] Two Officers Came To The Property The Following Morning. Graham Arrived Shortly Afterwards. The Officers Searched Both Floors In The Loft. They Found Nothing. Williams On The Loft. Graham Was Reluctant To Remove The Wall With The Police Standing There.

[00:17:46] He Explained That He Needed To Locate The Fixings And Make Sure There Were No Electrical Cables Running Behind It. One of the officers asked whether there was any other access. Possibly through next door, Graham said. I went to get Denise. She let us examine her landing and understairs cupboard. There was no door or obvious opening in the adjoining wall.

[00:18:17] Graham measured the space from her side. He stood on the landing with his tape measure extended, then asked to come back into my house. We returned to the bedroom. After measuring again, he looked at the officer. There's something I don't understand. What? This gap doesn't belong to either house.

[00:18:50] He explained that there appeared to be a narrow passage running between the two properties, separate from both internal walls. The officer asked whether somebody could get inside. Well, somebody put the carpet down. Eventually, they agreed to let Graham open the plasterboard while the officers remained downstairs.

[00:19:20] I stayed with him. He cut a rectangular section from the wall, roughly two feet wide and four feet high. He worked carefully, avoiding the electrical socket nearby. When he pulled the plasterboard away, we both saw it. There was a narrow passage behind the wall. The brown carpet ran along the floor.

[00:19:47] It was filthy and worn almost smooth down the middle. The space extended in both directions, disappearing beyond the reach of Graham's torch. It was just wide enough for somebody to walk sideways. And somebody had been using it. There were marks on the brickwork at shoulder height, as though clothing had rubbed repeatedly against the walls.

[00:20:15] Near our feet lay a crushed plastic water bottle and an empty crisp packet. Further along the passage was a small folding chair facing my bedroom wall. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Graham crouched beside the opening and shone his torch towards the chair.

[00:20:46] That's when I saw the holes. There were several drilled through the plasterboard, all at different heights. From the other side, they would have been almost invisible. Tiny, dark marks on the painted wall. One lined up with my bed. Another looked directly towards the bedroom door. Another looked at the floor.

[00:21:14] The third was at the height of somebody sitting on the folding chair. I realized where it pointed. My pillow. I went downstairs and told the police. One officer immediately came up and looked through the opening. His colleague went outside to check the neighboring gardens.

[00:21:40] They asked whether anything had been stolen or whether I'd seen anyone entering the property. I told them about the voice. The officer looked uncomfortable. Could be somebody's been staying in there. He said. We'll need to establish how they're getting access. I asked whether he was going inside.

[00:22:09] He said they weren't going to send anybody crawling into an unknown confined space without knowing where it led. He contacted someone on his radio. And Graham was instructed not to disturb anything else. We waited downstairs while the officers made arrangements for a more thorough search. I remember feeling relieved. Somebody was actually taking it seriously.

[00:22:40] There was an explanation for the noises. Even if it was a frightening one. A person had somehow found a way into the space between the houses. It had been secretly watching me. Me. I was already thinking about changing the locks and getting the whole wall rebuilt. Then Graham came downstairs.

[00:23:10] Can I show you something? He took me into the hallway, away from the officers. He had a photograph on his phone. It showed the folding chair and the carpet running along the passage. Look behind the chair, he said. I enlarged the picture. At first, I couldn't work out what he meant.

[00:23:39] There was a dark patch of brickwork near the floor. Beside it was a line of pale marks. I turned the phone sideways. They were fingernail scratches. Hundreds of them. They ran along the bottom of the wall in two parallel lines.

[00:24:02] But the chair's facing the wrong way, Graham said. I looked at him. What? Whoever's been sitting there wouldn't have been looking through the holes. I studied the photograph again. He was right.

[00:24:28] The folding chair faced away from my bedroom wall. Towards the brick separating the passage from Denise's house. I asked him what that meant. He shook his head. I don't know. But look at the carpet. There was a long, worn strip through the center of it. I'd assumed it was where somebody had been walking.

[00:25:00] Graham pointed to the marks on either side. There's nothing to suggest anybody's been walking down there. Then what's worn the carpet? He didn't answer. Instead, he went back upstairs. I followed him. He shone his torch through the opening again.

[00:25:28] I could see the chair, the brickwork, and the narrow passage stretching into darkness. Graham held the torch steady. Look at the scratches. They were close to the floor. Not where somebody's hands would naturally rest if they were sitting in the chair. They were at the same height as the carpet. I crouched and leaned towards the opening.

[00:25:59] That's when I heard it. A cough. It came from somewhere deep inside the passage. Graham recoiled so quickly, he knocked his shoulder against the wardrobe. Did you hear that? I asked. He nodded. We both stood very still. Another cough came from the darkness.

[00:26:27] Then something began moving towards us. I can't describe the sound properly. It was a heavy, dragging noise, with an intermittent scrape against the bricks. Graham backed towards the bedroom door. I stayed beside the opening, staring into the passage.

[00:26:55] The beam of my torch picked out a movement at the far end. Something pale was pressed against the wall. At first I thought it was an arm. Then it moved, and I saw a hand. A human hand, resting flat against the brickwork with its fingers pointing towards the ceiling. Another hand appeared beside it.

[00:27:24] They moved alternately, gripping the uneven mortar. Something was pulling itself along. It came closer. I could see a head pressed sideways against the bricks. The face was turned towards the wall, so I could only make out an ear and part of a jaw. Its body was squeezed into the narrow space.

[00:27:53] The shoulders looked completely wrong. One was higher than the other, pressed almost against the back of its head. Its legs trailed behind it. The soles of its shoes scraped against the carpet. I backed away. The thing stopped. For a moment, it remained absolutely motionless.

[00:28:22] Then, its head turned. I heard a horrible series of small clicking sounds as its face rotated towards the opening. It was a man's face, or something close enough to one. His cheek was flattened against the brickwork.

[00:28:49] One eye was almost closed, while the other protruded beneath an eyebrow, rubbed raw. He looked at me and smiled. Do it again, he said. I ran. Graham was already on the landing, shouting for the police.

[00:29:14] I followed him, but before I reached the stairs, I heard plasterboard snapping behind me. Something struck the bedroom floor. Then, there was a rapid scraping noise. The officer who'd been standing downstairs came up towards us. Graham shouted that somebody was inside the wall.

[00:29:40] The officer ordered us downstairs while he called for his colleague. I tried to explain what I'd seen. I remember shouting that it was coming out of the bedroom. Then, my bedroom door moved. It had been left half-opened. Something pushed it from the other side. The door swung shut.

[00:30:05] The officer drew his baton. Police! Come out of the room! There was no reply. Then, somebody coughed. The officer approached the door. He pushed it open. The bedroom was empty.

[00:30:33] The plasterboard opening had been ripped wider. Broken pieces lay across the carpet. Graham's torch was still shining into the passage. And the folding chair was gone. The police searched for hours. They brought additional officers and eventually arranged for someone to inspect the adjoining spaces.

[00:31:02] They found that the passage extended along most of the party wall, but it wasn't continuous. Sections had been blocked off by old brickwork and timber supports. They also discovered a concealed opening beneath the floorboards in my loft. According to the police, someone could conceivably have entered the passage from the roof space and moved around without being seen.

[00:31:31] They didn't find anyone. The chair was never recovered. Neither was the water bottle or the crisp packet. I was told that somebody had probably been squatting in the house and had escaped when the officers arrived. I asked how the person could have got away without anybody seeing them.

[00:32:01] They said they couldn't rule out another access point. I asked whether they'd found the fingernail marks. One officer told me the bricks had been damaged, but there was no way of establishing how. I didn't argue. I just wanted to leave.

[00:32:29] My sister drove me back that afternoon to collect some clothes. Graham met us there because he'd promised to board up the opening before we left. He looked exhausted. I asked whether he'd told the police what he'd seen. Yes? What did they say? Didn't really say anything.

[00:33:00] He helped me carry my things downstairs. Before leaving, I went into the bedroom one final time. The wall was covered with a temporary sheet of plywood, screwed into the timber behind it. There were little piles of plaster dust along the skirting board. My bed had been pushed away from the wall.

[00:33:27] I collected my phone charger from behind the bedside table. That's when I noticed something on the carpet. A fingernail. It was long and yellowish with a little dark dirt caught beneath the tip. I stared at it for a few seconds. Then I noticed another beneath the bed.

[00:33:56] I didn't touch either of them. I went downstairs and asked Graham to come back up. He looked at the nails, without speaking. Did you see his hands? I asked. He nodded. What did they look like? He swallowed. Didn't see them properly.

[00:34:28] I told him they were long. The fingers had looked thin and strangely jointed. And the nails had been scraped almost down to the skin. Graham stared at the plywood covering the opening. Then he said something I haven't been able to stop thinking about. I don't think it was watching you.

[00:34:59] I asked what he meant. He pointed towards the bed. If somebody's been sitting in that chair facing the other wall, and those holes are behind the chair, then they weren't watching you while they were sitting there. He paused. They were listening.

[00:35:26] They were listening.

[00:35:56] I believed in myself before this happened. There is one more thing, though. Last night, my sister was getting ready for bed when she asked me to help move a chest of drawers in her spare room. She wanted to put a lamp beside the bed I'd been using. We pulled the drawers away from the wall.

[00:36:23] There was some loose wallpaper behind them, and I noticed a small round hole in the plaster. It was probably left by an old fixing. I wouldn't have paid it any attention a few weeks ago. My sister went downstairs to get an extension lead. I crouched beside the hole and looked through it.

[00:36:51] I couldn't see anything except darkness. Then, somebody on the other side of the wall cleared their throat. I stood up and backed away. There was a cough. A familiar, horrible cough. I went straight downstairs and told my sister we needed to leave. She thought I was joking at first.

[00:37:19] Then she saw my face. We got into her car and drove to a hotel. She's asleep in the other bed now. I've been sitting up all night trying to work out what to do. About an hour ago, I heard her cough in her sleep. It was an ordinary little cough.

[00:37:49] She turned onto her side and settled down again. Then, a few seconds later, somebody coughed from inside the wall behind her bed. It was an exact imitation. Then, I heard the sound of a folding chair being opened.

[00:38:27] Thank you so much for listening to tonight's episode of Clancy Pasta. I really hope you enjoyed. If you would like to listen to these episodes ad-free, while also at the convenience of your favorite podcasting app, you can go over to patreon.com slash clancypasta, and every supporter, two dollars and up, gets access to all the new Clancy Pasta episodes completely ad-free, and again, you can even listen to it via your favorite podcasting app like Spotify

[00:38:56] or whatever else. Okay, seriously, thank you all so much for listening. I really appreciate you and for stopping by and for giving this story a listen. Let me know what you thought in the comments below, and have a great night, everyone. Cheers. Cheers.