Old houses tend to creak and make all sorts of noises. Most of the time, it's the pipes. Sometimes it's a little critter scurrying across the floor, or a rusty door jamb.
And then, every once in a while, it's your convict ex-boyfriend hiding out in your attic.
As the Charlotte Observer reports, a single mother of five received the unwanted houseguest-related fright of her life when she discovered the 44-year-old man living in the space above her bedroom.
Tracy (who asked reporters not to print her last name) had dated the man 12 years prior, but broke up with him after he robbed a flower shop and went off to jail.
On Saturday night, she told the Observer she began to feel something was out of the ordinary.
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Aside from strange noises, she noticed insulation falling from the ceiling.
Then at 2:30 a.m., the sleepless North Carolina woman witnessed nails popping out from the ceiling and falling to the floor.
"[I thought] there was some poltergeist stuff going on," she said.
After calling her nephew for backup, the pair went to the attic to investigate.
That's where they found her ex-boyfriend sleeping inside a heating unit. He had grabbed a coat and was using it for a blanket.
To make matters even creepier, the man had reportedly discovered a hole in the air vent where he could watch Tracy in her bedroom below.
When he was discovered by the shocked duo, the man simply got up and left the attic without any explanation. He remains at large.
Tracy said between work and her sons' football practice schedule, she's often away from home up to 12 hours a day — plenty of time for a practiced criminal to break in and out of her property.
She said her children are terrified to stay in their rooms and have taken to sleeping in the living room.
Certainly puts the annoyance of rusty plumbing into perspective.
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