Haunted Faucet??
I don’t have much to add but I now have a new favorite MOL thread.
You hear this broadcast specifically when the water is running?
Can you recognize what is being broadcast? Is it a local radio station? Usually it has to be a very strong signal very close by to be picked up like that.
I have a work colleague who lived in Alaska in his younger days. His home was to the rear of a powerful antenna that was transmitting Voice of America to the Soviet Union across the Bering Sea. Given the position of his home and the power of the transmitter he actually had radio broadcasts coming out of various metal objects in his home including the plumbing. But this transmitter was huge.
Joan, do you still have the old antennas up on the roof? Sometimes they’re grounded into the iron stack pipe. Could be the AM oldies station you’re picking up
mrincredible said:
I don’t have much to add but I now have a new favorite MOL thread.
You hear this broadcast specifically when the water is running?
Can you recognize what is being broadcast? Is it a local radio station? Usually it has to be a very strong signal very close by to be picked up like that.
I have a work colleague who lived in Alaska in his younger days. His home was to the rear of a powerful antenna that was transmitting Voice of America to the Soviet Union across the Bering Sea. Given the position of his home and the power of the transmitter he actually had radio broadcasts coming out of various metal objects in his home including the plumbing. But this transmitter was huge.
At a time when the broadcast is coming through the faucet, I only hear the broadcast when the water is running. When I turn off the taps, the sound stops. When I turn it on again the sound resumes. Between the distortion from the running water and my own declining hearing, I can't make out which station the water faucet is broadcasting but it sounds like the news or a talk show. Definitely speaking rather than music. To confuse matters further, this broadcasting does not come through the taps all of the time the water is running. I have never heard it when the water is off.
Are there transmitters strong enough for the plumbing to pick up such a signal in Maplecrest? Does anyone else reading this thread have a similar experience?
Jaytee said:
Joan, do you still have the old antennas up on the roof? Sometimes they’re grounded into the iron stack pipe. Could be the AM oldies station you’re picking up
The antenna on the roof was removed several years ago when the chimney was lined and a new chimney cap was installed so I doubt that would be the cause now though it could have been earlier. Do chimney liners ever act as antennae?
joan_crystal said:
The antenna on the roof was removed several years ago when the chimney was lined and a new chimney cap was installed so I doubt that would be the cause now though it could have been earlier. Do chimney liners ever act as antennae?
chimney liners are aluminum. Remember the joke about the tin foil hat?
Jaytee said:
chimney liners are aluminum. Remember the joke about the tin foil hat?
So the chimney liner should block radio waves not transmit them???
Dave: Do extraterrestrials transmit in English?
Of course. Haven't you seen E.T. the movie?
One answer I found on Reddit:
Metals can absorb radio signals (for the most part). If the signal is strong enough (like AM stations) it can be strong enough to make the metal oscillate. It oscillates in time with the signal and vibrates the air which makes noise.
Do you have an intercom that might be grounded to the pipes? Or someone near you who started using a police scanner radio?
We had our 1960's intercom removed recently. It would transmit static and people speaking whenever police cars drove by.
And the pipe may be oscillating more with water running through it, but that's just a guess.
sprout said:
Do you have an intercom that might be grounded to the pipes? Or someone near you who started using a police scanner radio?
We had our 1960's intercom removed recently. It would transmit static and people speaking whenever police cars drove by.
No intercom. I don’t know about the police scanner radio. It is possible that my next door neighbor has one and uses it periodically.
dave said:
And the pipe may be oscillating more with water running through it, but that's just a guess.
This is what I suspected previously. Question would then be the source of the sound being transmitted. AM radio was my first guess for what I am hearing.
Maybe your neighbor is listening to 770 AM radio…
Do you know if the old antenna cable is still laying in the attic? Some people don’t bother removing the cable.
Jaytee said:
Maybe your neighbor is listening to 770 AM radio…
Do you know if the old antenna cable is still laying in the attic? Some people don’t bother removing the cable.
I have no idea. I didn't know there was such a thing and wouldn't recognize what it was if I saw it. I know that the antenna was removed when the chimney was lined and immediately picked up by WM since bulk pick up coincided with the chimney work.
joan_crystal said:
I have no idea. I didn't know there was such a thing and wouldn't recognize what it was if I saw it. I know that the antenna was removed when the chimney was lined and immediately picked up by WM since bulk pick up coincided with the chimney work.
it would look like this. If it’s exposed up in the attic it can still capture radio frequencies. If it’s in the wall it may be touching the wire that goes to your bathroom light or exhaust fan.
do you ever hear it with the lights off in the bathroom?
Jaytee said:
it would look like this. If it’s exposed up in the attic it can still capture radio frequencies. If it’s in the wall it may be touching the wire that goes to your bathroom light or exhaust fan.
do you ever hear it with the lights off in the bathroom?
No. I do not keep the lights off when I am in the bathroom.
joan_crystal said:
No. I do not keep the lights off when I am in the bathroom.
that’s why I asked, because the light fixture is transmitting the AM signal when it is on.
Your pipes are not haunted….
Jaytee said:
that’s why I asked, because the light fixture is transmitting the AM signal when it is on.
Your pipes are not haunted….
I’m not convinced.
I am not convinced either. My fluorescent light fixture is a constant. It is on whether or not the water faucet is on. However, on days when a phantom broadcast can be heard in the bathroom, it is only heard when the water faucet is on. As a test I have turned the water faucet off and the broadcast ends immediately. Turning the faucet back on causes the broadcast to resume. Whatever it is, message from the beyond or the plumbing acting as a transmitter of sound waives, it is definitely coming from the faucet.
I have been known to hear a Sousa march coming from a window air conditioner so that would be a possible explanation were the broadcasts not so intermittent. A seven year interval between two incidents when the conditions seemed identical in between makes me wonder if this were the case.
joan_crystal said:
I am not convinced either. My fluorescent light fixture is a constant. It is on whether or not the water faucet is on. However, on days when a phantom broadcast can be heard in the bathroom, it is only heard when the water faucet is on. As a test I have turned the water faucet off and the broadcast ends immediately. Turning the faucet back on causes the broadcast to resume. Whatever it is, message from the beyond or the plumbing acting as a transmitter of sound waives, it is definitely coming from the faucet.
water conducts electricity. It ends up going down the main stack anyway, Dave explained it… but you are convinced it’s haunted…There was another lady who heard music from her furnace when it was running during the winter months…she thought it was her husband because he used to spend a lot of time down in the utility room in the basement…
I’m convinced it’s not haunted… sprinkles of holy water might make it louder
Jaytee said:
water conducts electricity. It ends up going down the main stack anyway, Dave explained it… but you are convinced it’s haunted…There was another lady who heard music from her furnace when it was running during the winter months…she thought it was her husband because he used to spend a lot of time down in the utility room in the basement…
I’m convinced it’s not haunted… sprinkles of holy water might make it louder
So you are writing that it is the combination of electric light plus the water streaming from the faucet that is transmitting the sound I am hearing. That is possible. Turning off the light if/when the broadcast effect occurs again might test that theory.
Can it be recorded, or do you just hear it yourself? Mental health jokes aside, there might be other details someone else could pick up on. You could play the recordings for neighbors you think might be the signal source. See if they recognize it. You could also see if the faucet is putting out sound that matches some radio station’s current broadcast.
Lots experiments we could do. This would be fun.
Jaytee said:
Maybe your neighbor is listening to 770 AM radio…
Do you know if the old antenna cable is still laying in the attic? Some people don’t bother removing the cable.
I think it would be a higher frequency. Something in foreign language (Spanish or Chinese) or one of the Christian stations in the 1400+ bandwidth.
Joan, you were always one of the most down to earth rational persons that I knew. Now you got me wondering and we are seeing another side of you.
dave said:
I think it would be a higher frequency. Something in foreign language (Spanish or Chinese) or one of the Christian stations in the 1400+ bandwidth.
Broadcast is definitely in English.
RobertRoe said:
Joan, you were always one of the most down to earth rational persons that I knew. Now you got me wondering and we are seeing another side of you.
If I were irrational, I would be posting for a recommendation for a plumber who specializes in water faucet exorcism rather than seeking a scientific explanation. What really got to me is that hearing the broadcast after seven plus years of faucet silence coincided with what would have been our 50th wedding anniversary and I have not heard the broadcast since. There is a part of me that believes not everything has a logical explanation.
Years ago, when my husband was still alive, I would frequently hear a radio program when the water was running in the bathtub. I assumed that the sound was coming from his playing the radio in the kitchen. The kitchen is directly below the bathroom and shares the same pipes, so this conclusion seemed reasonable. After he died, the sound stopped, which supported my assumption.
Advance 7 years and I have heard the radio broadcast twice in the past few weeks. I know it is not coming from the kitchen or any other source in the house. Either, this is evidence of a visitation from beyond or the water pipes are acting as an antenna picking up sounds from a this-world source outside the house. Any suggestions as how/why this is happening now?