June 4, 2025 • 26 mins
Was it a ghost knocking on the walls in their bedroom? Join Madame Strangeways for another true scary story and stick around for some strange folklore and morse code lore.
Thank you to Alarming-Badger-8316 on reddit for giving me permission to read their true strange story of the unexplained. You can feel afraid and not be in danger.
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Produced by: Madame Strangeways
♫ Theme Music by: Marina Ryan at marinamakes.co
Cover artwork by: Andrea Giselle Roldán at @cultofteddy
Every true strange story narrated in this podcast was read with permission from the original author.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Do you have a true strange storyof the unexplained?
Submit it now on madamstrangeways.com or e-mail
madamstrangewaysgmail.com. I can't wait to read it.
Welcome strangers, strangelings,and strange cetera to Madam
(00:24):
Strange Ways, where I, Madam Strange Ways, narrate your true
strange stories of the unexplained.
And as always, solicited or not,usually not, I share my strange
thoughts and even stranger observations and drag you down a
slew of strange rabbit holes, kicking and screaming if needs
(00:46):
must. Today I've got one new, true,
strange story for you. But first, as always, a strange
shout out to my Patreon patrons TJ Hotter, G Man Music, Ted,
Keith and Tori. Thank you so much to my Feral,
Fiendish, and occasionally possibly Freaky 5 for supporting
(01:10):
the show. Do you want to hear your name at
the beginning of every episode? Or how about an exclusive
sticker or access to Madam Strange Notes, AKA voice notes
of whatever strange stuff pops into my strange brain?
See, I did it that time. Join the Patreon today at
madamstrangeways.com and while you're there, grab yourself some
(01:32):
strange merch like AT Shirt or amug that may or may not be
cursed. There's only one way to find
out. And now on to our true strange
story here on Madam Strangeways.Morse code tapping in the closet
(02:13):
by alarming Badger 8316 Hey everyone, this is something
that's been racking mine and my husband's brains for months.
He's a skeptic, I'm a believer. We live in an old mining town.
I've told my husband just because our house isn't old
(02:33):
doesn't mean that the land we live on isn't.
And weird things have happened in our house.
I've heard my husband come home from work when he hasn't.
Things have been moved. For example, he and I ripped the
living room apart looking for the baby monitor and TV remote,
(02:53):
which were nowhere to be found. Next morning they were both
sitting perfectly side by side on the couch.
Our laundry dryer door opened and slammed shut on its own.
Like I said, my husband is somewhat a skeptic but this one
(03:18):
got him. A couple months ago we were
laying in bed and heard tapping on the inside of our closet
door. I mean full on tapping.
It was 4 taps, then a pause and then two more.
We both looked at each other, eyes wide the whole time and he
(03:40):
mouthed what the fuck was that? We stayed up watching happy
movies trying to forget it. Next morning we were playing
with our boys and he finally admitted, OK, I can't explain
that, what was that? And I was like, I don't know,
(04:02):
I've never heard that. Then it clicked.
I come from a strong military background on my dad's side.
So I said what would that be in Morse code?
Grabbed my phone and looked it up and said four dots is H and
two is I. Then my face dropped, eyes like
(04:27):
saucers and I looked at my husband and said, Oh my God,
that spells hi. Hi you guys.
I mean, holy smokes. I don't feel threatened, I don't
feel scared, but it's definitelya little bit eerie.
(04:48):
What do you think? Yeah, yeah.
Alarming Badger. I think that it was definitely a
little bit eerie. Maybe a lot a bit eerie, let's
(05:10):
say, Let's say a lot. Very, very eerie.
I I love, I love how why do we do this?
Why do humans do this? Something scares us in our own
bedroom and our reaction is to stay there in the room in which
there might be danger and watch happy movies and just kind of La
(05:33):
La la head in the sand. Let's not think about it.
I love picturing y'all like withevery light on in the bedroom,
huddled together in the very middle of the bed watching.
OK, now you said happy movies. I was asking myself, I wonder
what happy movie they were watching.
How do we define happy movie? So I'm wondering is it, you
(05:57):
know, like is it just a HallmarkChannel movie or is it like
sister Act or like Mamma Mia? Is it one of those?
If you're wondering, my favoritemovie, which is my happy movie
is the Silence of the Lambs. But it's not a happy movie.
(06:18):
It's not one I would recommend watching after you hear knocking
in your bedroom. So all the other classical
paranormal events happening aside, OK, not even talking
about, not listen, not even talking about the Nordic flavor
of doppelganger, which is known as the Vadoga, which is what you
(06:41):
experienced hearing Alarming Badger, which is what you
experienced hearing your partnercome home, but he hadn't
actually come home. That's one of the many different
types of doppelgangers which I've talked about in previous
episodes. Aside from that, aside from the
remote and the baby monitor justappearing neatly side by side on
(07:03):
the couch as if by an unseen hand.
Although, as I've mentioned before, when items move around,
my first instinct is like someone is living in the house,
someone is living in your walls,they are in your attic,
etcetera. They're there.
Call 911. Especially hearing a knocking
(07:27):
no, like ghosts are really scary, but the more immediate
danger of an unknown person living in your home.
Otherwise known as frogging, spelled PHROG.
If you want to stay up all nightnot watching a happy but well,
OK. If you want to stay up all night
and then need to watch a happy movie in order to forget what
(07:50):
you read, go go Google frogging incidents.
Very, very, very scary. Not unexplained, but very scary.
However, aside from all of the other classical paranormal
activity, I am focused on the Morse code because Jesus Christ
at no, absolutely not hearing a a Morse code message knocked on
(08:14):
your bedroom wall from inside the closet door, I believe.
I don't like it. I don't like it, you know, yet
like I said, it could be a Frogger.
It could have actually been a human being who knows?
Morse code messing with you, I guess, and also messing you with
with you with the items maybe. But we're going to just assume
(08:36):
it's unexplained because that's less scary sometimes.
Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's more scary, OK,
But you know me, I like to find comfort in these scary stories.
So to me personally, it being anactual human doing these things
is way scarier. So we're going to go for the
(08:57):
paranormal angle. So you might think if you've
listened to previous episodes, you might expect me to go on
about Morse code for a really long time and give you a Morse
primer and Morse history and go down a bunch of Morse rabbit
holes. Well, no, we are not going to do
that. But if you want to hear, if you
(09:19):
want to hear more information about Morse code, send me an
e-mail madamstrangeways@gmail.com.
I would be happy to give the people what they want.
But what I think the people wantright now is to talk about this
story and the Morse code. That is so smart of you alarming
Badger to have even thought of that especially.
(09:41):
I mean, I'm sure you could. I'm sure you'll never forget the
sound of those knocks. Let me tell you, the only Morse
code that I know is SOS, which Iguess is probably more Morse
code than a lot of people now. But let me tell you, the only
reason that I know it is becauseit was on an old commercial when
I was a kid. They're like, the dishwasher was
(10:01):
full of dirty dishes and The Dirty dishes were like, oh,
we're we need help because we'reso dirty.
We're so dirty. We need help.
We need to be cleaned. And so the dishwasher, the
dishes in the dishwasher were like banging.
They were like sentient and theywere like banging a Morse code
SOS. So they were banging bang, bang,
(10:24):
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And then there was like a song that was played along with the
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And I don't know at what point Ilearned that that meant SOS, but
I think it was not at the time Ididn't realize.
Anyway, now that you've gone down that little rabbit hole,
see, we're not going down 0 rabbit holes.
(10:47):
We're just going down fewer, fewer.
That's how I know any Morse. So I certainly would not have
immediately thought of hi. I just wouldn't have even
occurred to me because I don't Idon't know all those letters.
So first of all, you thinking toeven check Morse code and that
what does that mean? Very scary.
(11:08):
Hi, But hold on, because then I was like, OK, well, like when
you're knocking, how do you likedifferentiate the the the dits
and the dos? I've never heard it said out
loud. I could have done that before
this, but I didn't. You know why?
Because I got excited and I wanted to record this.
So dah is what it's like dits DIT&DAH.
(11:31):
Those are the, the little, the dots or the little dashes, which
I think is also what you can call them, maybe we'll say dots
and dashes. So the little dots it's like
short. So like an SOSS is the the the
dots. And then the O is 3 dashes.
So do do do and then the S again.
(11:55):
So high is just all dots. So it's but then how like when
you're knocking, how do you differentiate?
I mean, I guess, I guess the sentient dishes did figure that
just sounds like now that I'm talking about, I've never, but
I've never thought about like, Oh yeah, this actually kind of
(12:17):
sounds like like a 2009 like creepypasta, you know, like, I
don't know, it just sounds is ithave you, is there is there a
creepypasta that exists about dirty dishes trying to
communicate with the outside world, praying for praying to be
(12:41):
cleansed. Let me know
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. So when you're knocking, though,
how do you, I guess it's just you would just go like knock,
knock, knock and then OK, hold on.
I'm going to let me see if you can hear it.
So maybe if I did like for hi. Well, no, I'll do SOS so that
you'll understand. Listen, the reason I'm saying
this, this is the reason why I'msaying this is that there are
(13:03):
dots and there's dashes. So like, how do we know that the
knocking was just four dots and it wasn't, you know, dashes.
So this is this is where I'm getting at.
So if it's, if it's high, OK, soit's four dots and then two
dots. That would be so scary.
I just scared myself hearing that knock, like imagining it in
(13:25):
the middle of the night. It's so scary, but if you're
doing SOSI would I think guess this is how I would do it, which
a reminder SOS is 3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots right.
So that would that I would pee my pants pants would be peed.
(13:47):
If I heard that in my bedroom. I don't think I could stay in my
bedroom. Even if I was watching sister
act. I don't think I could do it.
I am also assuming that because alarming Badger because you have
that military background that you would be able to
differentiate between the dots and the dashes.
So I feel like, OK, especially because there are no letters
(14:08):
that have 4 dashes. The most is 3.
I tried to here's here's what I was trying to do.
You know, like maybe if you can't tell the difference
between the dots and the dashes,like are there any combinations
of letters that it could have been?
And here's some examples. It could have been, it could
have been J&L, it could have been JL.
(14:30):
That doesn't really mean anything.
LJ Live Journal. That's what it might have been
trying to communicate. Live Journal.
It could have also been P&Q because those both have 4
symbols. Basically, the letters have
between one symbol and four symbols.
(14:53):
So P&Q both have 4 symbols. Maybe it could have been that
PQ, the messages like mind your PS and QS.
Just a reminder, maybe it could also have been ZZ.
I could have been telling you have a good night, good night.
(15:14):
Why is that the sleeping? Why do we why is it ZZZZZ?
You mean that you're sleeping ZZZZ bees.
Why is that? I'm curious, buzz.
All right, so it's probably not ZZ.
It's probably not LJ. It's probably not PQ.
It is probably HI, all right, but I had to check.
(15:38):
I had to check, you know, me, I got to do a check.
So it's probably high. And I thought that's the end of
it. But then me being me, I saw in
the Wikipedia article that I wasreading about Morse code.
I saw that it said that there were even some punctuation or
something, Marks and Morse. And I was like, well, I want to
(16:01):
know what's the punctuation? I want to know.
Tell me more. Completely unrelated to the
episode. Now I'm just invested, so I
Click to read what I guess what are called pro signs.
And then that leads me down a little Morse rabbit hole, which
I did go down, but I'm not dragging you all down except
these tiny little baby ones. So I found this list of like
(16:26):
shorthand basically. So there's like there's like
excellent, which is like FBI. Don't know why.
I don't know. I can't explain any of these.
Some of them you can kind of figure out.
Some of them. I'm like, great question.
Good afternoon. Or go ahead.
GA OK, so it's like early Internet lingo, you know, like I
(16:47):
guess lol. But there were weird ones in the
early Internet that just didn't stick around and for good
reason. Or goodbye.
GB. GB Good evening, GE These are
all making sense. Good night, GN.
OK GM Good morning. Hey, we still use that.
Then there's also stuff like forlike errors or like negative,
(17:09):
which is just in this sort of stuff.
We're like old boy. I don't know what that means,
but OB not to be confused with the doctor.
Old chap, old man. Why do we need all these?
I have questions. I'm going to have to go down
this rabbit hole on my own to find out because it's not
spooky. Oh, here's 10.
(17:31):
Here's 1 loving kisses 88 I don't know why it's 88.
I want to know why but I'm not going to look because I'm trying
to talk about a scary story and not so think romantic like 88.
There's also what is this? I have no more to send which is
(17:52):
30. You can just send 30.
OK? They could just say love and
kisses. I mean, isn't that the same
thing? I have no more to say.
You're basically saying the samething.
Just just say 88 to everyone instead.
I like it. All right.
So as you can see, there's all these different kinds of, you
(18:14):
know, shorthand abbreviations, if you will.
Now, I did not. I did not think I was going to
find this when I was looking at this again, I thought this was
just for fun. This was just for me at this
point. This wasn't even for you, but
strangers, strangelings, strangecetera.
(18:38):
Strange. Selenius, I present to you
another potential meaning for the message that came through
that night in Alarming Badger's bedroom.
Now we have H, and we have I. Right now, we think that spells
high. Sure.
(19:00):
Yeah, you would. You would think that.
Except apparently, apparently Morse code abbreviation says
that hi, HI is laughter in Morsecode instead of hi.
(19:21):
It's actually he as in he, he, he, he.
So really, whatever knocked wasn't saying hi.
It was laughing, which is way scarier.
Is that not so much scarier thatit's laughing?
(19:44):
I mean, maybe. I don't know.
What were they alarming? Badger?
What were you watching? Were you watching something
funny? Like were you watching stand up?
Were you watching, I don't know,Fleabag, Very funny.
Were you watching Arrested Development perhaps?
Or was it an evil sort of laugh?Was it like, is that the kind of
(20:09):
laugh it was, or was it more like he, he, he, you know, we
may never know. We may never know.
Also, it does sound like that it's not ever happened again.
It sounds like this was a one time occurrence.
An alarming badger. For your sanity sake, I hope
that it stays that way. I hope it never happens again.
(20:31):
But also, selfishly, if it does happen again, I want to know.
Let me know so I can talk about it on the show and tell everyone
what the new message is. I just imagine.
Imagine being able to communicate beyond the veil with
Morse code and what you choose to say is the shorthand for
(20:53):
Telegraph laughter. I mean, honestly, it just sounds
like it's trolling you. You know, hiding your stuff and
then putting it back out in plain sight and then slamming
the washer door, the clothes washer, the dryer, something
like that. Appliance doors, as if it pays
rent, which is rude. OK.
(21:15):
You know, like, you know how I like to do.
I like to do some naturalistic explanations.
Of course we can hit on, you know, pipes in the wall, sure,
but it's not a common sound thatthey hear and they haven't heard
it since. So probably not a pipe.
But what I will say is apparently, apparently rats.
(21:35):
I don't know about mice, but rats apparently can make really
loud thumping noises in the wall, like with their little rat
feet. No hate to people that love
rats. I just a rat that's in my house,
that's not supposed to be in my house is not my friend.
Anyone that's in my house that'snot supposed to be is not my
friend, period. So rats with their little rat
(21:57):
feet can make really loud, like surprisingly loud knocking
noises on the wall, like when they're turning around or
they're trying to let clear space.
Also, squirrels can also do the same because everybody loves
squirrels. They think they're so cute.
Well, they're also rodents, you know, just a reminder.
They also carry fleas that have the plague, like the plague that
(22:18):
plague. Yep, they sure do.
So when they're in the walls, they can also do that.
OK, you'll note that I did not. I did not put the plague on the
rats, but I put it on the squirrels.
Yeah, there's a reason for that,and that's because I may not be
a fan of rats. But I will say in their defense
that I did read an article that said that rats actually were not
(22:42):
the reason that the Black Death spread as quickly as it did,
because it couldn't have moved that quickly if it was just the
rats and the fleas on the rats. If apparently humans are the
reason. So infected humans infected
other humans, what is it like, hurt people, hurt people
infected humans infect humans. That's basically what happened
(23:03):
with the Black Plague. So, you know, fleas were the
problem, but rats, they didn't. They were not.
Even though they were vilified, they were not the main reason
why the plague moved so quickly.However, even though rats are
rodents, I do also have a vendetta against squirrels.
(23:23):
So that's why I put it on squirrels to say that they carry
fleas with the Black Plague. There, there's a rabbit hole for
you, or a squirrel hole for you.There you go.
You're welcome. And the reason that I keep
saying that, and I'm trying so hard to keep myself on task is
that I will never, ever, ever finish my deep dive episode on
the Enfield Poltergeist if I keep doing these really long
(23:47):
episodes, even though I have a lot of fun doing them.
So I'm trying to rein it in. All right, so Speaking of
reining it in, so let's talk about again, these are the
things that it could have been. It could have been pipes in the
walls. Unlikely though, since it hasn't
happened that often. Could have been rats in the
walls or squirrels in the walls,regardless of whether or not
they carry the plague on them. Could have been a person.
(24:09):
I don't love it. I hate it.
So I don't want that to be happyto be to.
I don't want that to be the case.
I don't know what I want to be the case, honestly.
IA rat and then the rat left a rat came in knocked the exact
amount of knocks to say hi or hehe he he in Morse and then left
(24:32):
OK, that's what I want. That's what I hope happened and
I also hope for the sake of alarming Badger that this never
happens again and that actually no paranormal activity happens
again. Or as I always like to say,
unless y'all are into that. If that's what you're into, then
you're you're knock yourself out.
And then I hope you do have other paranormal happenings.
(24:56):
But if you do have more paranormal activity or if anyone
listening ever experiences some paranormal activity, feel free
to share it with me. Send it to me at
madamstrangeways@gmail.com or you can visit me at
madamstrangeways.com. Thank you for joining me for
(25:25):
more true strange stories of theunexplained.
Remember that you can feel afraid and not be in danger.
You're safe here with me, probably.
Please follow the podcast, leavea rating on Spotify or Apple, or
tell your friends and foes aboutthe show.
(25:46):
It would mean the world to me. The underworld, obviously.
I mean, come on. Madam Strange Ways is produced
and narrated by me. Madam Strange Ways theme music
is by marina.ryan@marinamakes.co.
Cover art is by Andrea Chiselle,rolled on at Cult of Teddy on
(26:07):
Instagram. You can submit your own true
strange story at madamstrangeways.com or send in
your thoughts or theories on stories on the show to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. See you soon, she said
ominously.
Do you have a true strange storyof the unexplained?
Submit it now on madamstrangeways.com or e-mail
madamstrangewaysgmail.com. I can't wait to read it.
Welcome strangers, strangelings,and strange cetera to Madam
(00:24):
Strange Ways, where I, Madam Strange Ways, narrate your true
strange stories of the unexplained.
And as always, solicited or not,usually not, I share my strange
thoughts and even stranger observations and drag you down a
slew of strange rabbit holes, kicking and screaming if needs
(00:46):
must. Today I've got one new, true,
strange story for you. But first, as always, a strange
shout out to my Patreon patrons TJ Hotter, G Man Music, Ted,
Keith and Tori. Thank you so much to my Feral,
Fiendish, and occasionally possibly Freaky 5 for supporting
(01:10):
the show. Do you want to hear your name at
the beginning of every episode? Or how about an exclusive
sticker or access to Madam Strange Notes, AKA voice notes
of whatever strange stuff pops into my strange brain?
See, I did it that time. Join the Patreon today at
madamstrangeways.com and while you're there, grab yourself some
(01:32):
strange merch like AT Shirt or amug that may or may not be
cursed. There's only one way to find
out. And now on to our true strange
story here on Madam Strangeways.Morse code tapping in the closet
(02:13):
by alarming Badger 8316 Hey everyone, this is something
that's been racking mine and my husband's brains for months.
He's a skeptic, I'm a believer. We live in an old mining town.
I've told my husband just because our house isn't old
(02:33):
doesn't mean that the land we live on isn't.
And weird things have happened in our house.
I've heard my husband come home from work when he hasn't.
Things have been moved. For example, he and I ripped the
living room apart looking for the baby monitor and TV remote,
(02:53):
which were nowhere to be found. Next morning they were both
sitting perfectly side by side on the couch.
Our laundry dryer door opened and slammed shut on its own.
Like I said, my husband is somewhat a skeptic but this one
(03:18):
got him. A couple months ago we were
laying in bed and heard tapping on the inside of our closet
door. I mean full on tapping.
It was 4 taps, then a pause and then two more.
We both looked at each other, eyes wide the whole time and he
(03:40):
mouthed what the fuck was that? We stayed up watching happy
movies trying to forget it. Next morning we were playing
with our boys and he finally admitted, OK, I can't explain
that, what was that? And I was like, I don't know,
(04:02):
I've never heard that. Then it clicked.
I come from a strong military background on my dad's side.
So I said what would that be in Morse code?
Grabbed my phone and looked it up and said four dots is H and
two is I. Then my face dropped, eyes like
(04:27):
saucers and I looked at my husband and said, Oh my God,
that spells hi. Hi you guys.
I mean, holy smokes. I don't feel threatened, I don't
feel scared, but it's definitelya little bit eerie.
(04:48):
What do you think? Yeah, yeah.
Alarming Badger. I think that it was definitely a
little bit eerie. Maybe a lot a bit eerie, let's
(05:10):
say, Let's say a lot. Very, very eerie.
I I love, I love how why do we do this?
Why do humans do this? Something scares us in our own
bedroom and our reaction is to stay there in the room in which
there might be danger and watch happy movies and just kind of La
(05:33):
La la head in the sand. Let's not think about it.
I love picturing y'all like withevery light on in the bedroom,
huddled together in the very middle of the bed watching.
OK, now you said happy movies. I was asking myself, I wonder
what happy movie they were watching.
How do we define happy movie? So I'm wondering is it, you
(05:57):
know, like is it just a HallmarkChannel movie or is it like
sister Act or like Mamma Mia? Is it one of those?
If you're wondering, my favoritemovie, which is my happy movie
is the Silence of the Lambs. But it's not a happy movie.
(06:18):
It's not one I would recommend watching after you hear knocking
in your bedroom. So all the other classical
paranormal events happening aside, OK, not even talking
about, not listen, not even talking about the Nordic flavor
of doppelganger, which is known as the Vadoga, which is what you
(06:41):
experienced hearing Alarming Badger, which is what you
experienced hearing your partnercome home, but he hadn't
actually come home. That's one of the many different
types of doppelgangers which I've talked about in previous
episodes. Aside from that, aside from the
remote and the baby monitor justappearing neatly side by side on
(07:03):
the couch as if by an unseen hand.
Although, as I've mentioned before, when items move around,
my first instinct is like someone is living in the house,
someone is living in your walls,they are in your attic,
etcetera. They're there.
Call 911. Especially hearing a knocking
(07:27):
no, like ghosts are really scary, but the more immediate
danger of an unknown person living in your home.
Otherwise known as frogging, spelled PHROG.
If you want to stay up all nightnot watching a happy but well,
OK. If you want to stay up all night
and then need to watch a happy movie in order to forget what
(07:50):
you read, go go Google frogging incidents.
Very, very, very scary. Not unexplained, but very scary.
However, aside from all of the other classical paranormal
activity, I am focused on the Morse code because Jesus Christ
at no, absolutely not hearing a a Morse code message knocked on
(08:14):
your bedroom wall from inside the closet door, I believe.
I don't like it. I don't like it, you know, yet
like I said, it could be a Frogger.
It could have actually been a human being who knows?
Morse code messing with you, I guess, and also messing you with
with you with the items maybe. But we're going to just assume
(08:36):
it's unexplained because that's less scary sometimes.
Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's more scary, OK,
But you know me, I like to find comfort in these scary stories.
So to me personally, it being anactual human doing these things
is way scarier. So we're going to go for the
(08:57):
paranormal angle. So you might think if you've
listened to previous episodes, you might expect me to go on
about Morse code for a really long time and give you a Morse
primer and Morse history and go down a bunch of Morse rabbit
holes. Well, no, we are not going to do
that. But if you want to hear, if you
(09:19):
want to hear more information about Morse code, send me an
e-mail madamstrangeways@gmail.com.
I would be happy to give the people what they want.
But what I think the people wantright now is to talk about this
story and the Morse code. That is so smart of you alarming
Badger to have even thought of that especially.
(09:41):
I mean, I'm sure you could. I'm sure you'll never forget the
sound of those knocks. Let me tell you, the only Morse
code that I know is SOS, which Iguess is probably more Morse
code than a lot of people now. But let me tell you, the only
reason that I know it is becauseit was on an old commercial when
I was a kid. They're like, the dishwasher was
(10:01):
full of dirty dishes and The Dirty dishes were like, oh,
we're we need help because we'reso dirty.
We're so dirty. We need help.
We need to be cleaned. And so the dishwasher, the
dishes in the dishwasher were like banging.
They were like sentient and theywere like banging a Morse code
SOS. So they were banging bang, bang,
(10:24):
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And then there was like a song that was played along with the
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And I don't know at what point Ilearned that that meant SOS, but
I think it was not at the time Ididn't realize.
Anyway, now that you've gone down that little rabbit hole,
see, we're not going down 0 rabbit holes.
(10:47):
We're just going down fewer, fewer.
That's how I know any Morse. So I certainly would not have
immediately thought of hi. I just wouldn't have even
occurred to me because I don't Idon't know all those letters.
So first of all, you thinking toeven check Morse code and that
what does that mean? Very scary.
(11:08):
Hi, But hold on, because then I was like, OK, well, like when
you're knocking, how do you likedifferentiate the the the dits
and the dos? I've never heard it said out
loud. I could have done that before
this, but I didn't. You know why?
Because I got excited and I wanted to record this.
So dah is what it's like dits DIT&DAH.
(11:31):
Those are the, the little, the dots or the little dashes, which
I think is also what you can call them, maybe we'll say dots
and dashes. So the little dots it's like
short. So like an SOSS is the the the
dots. And then the O is 3 dashes.
So do do do and then the S again.
(11:55):
So high is just all dots. So it's but then how like when
you're knocking, how do you differentiate?
I mean, I guess, I guess the sentient dishes did figure that
just sounds like now that I'm talking about, I've never, but
I've never thought about like, Oh yeah, this actually kind of
(12:17):
sounds like like a 2009 like creepypasta, you know, like, I
don't know, it just sounds is ithave you, is there is there a
creepypasta that exists about dirty dishes trying to
communicate with the outside world, praying for praying to be
(12:41):
cleansed. Let me know
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. So when you're knocking, though,
how do you, I guess it's just you would just go like knock,
knock, knock and then OK, hold on.
I'm going to let me see if you can hear it.
So maybe if I did like for hi. Well, no, I'll do SOS so that
you'll understand. Listen, the reason I'm saying
this, this is the reason why I'msaying this is that there are
(13:03):
dots and there's dashes. So like, how do we know that the
knocking was just four dots and it wasn't, you know, dashes.
So this is this is where I'm getting at.
So if it's, if it's high, OK, soit's four dots and then two
dots. That would be so scary.
I just scared myself hearing that knock, like imagining it in
(13:25):
the middle of the night. It's so scary, but if you're
doing SOSI would I think guess this is how I would do it, which
a reminder SOS is 3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots right.
So that would that I would pee my pants pants would be peed.
(13:47):
If I heard that in my bedroom. I don't think I could stay in my
bedroom. Even if I was watching sister
act. I don't think I could do it.
I am also assuming that because alarming Badger because you have
that military background that you would be able to
differentiate between the dots and the dashes.
So I feel like, OK, especially because there are no letters
(14:08):
that have 4 dashes. The most is 3.
I tried to here's here's what I was trying to do.
You know, like maybe if you can't tell the difference
between the dots and the dashes,like are there any combinations
of letters that it could have been?
And here's some examples. It could have been, it could
have been J&L, it could have been JL.
(14:30):
That doesn't really mean anything.
LJ Live Journal. That's what it might have been
trying to communicate. Live Journal.
It could have also been P&Q because those both have 4
symbols. Basically, the letters have
between one symbol and four symbols.
(14:53):
So P&Q both have 4 symbols. Maybe it could have been that
PQ, the messages like mind your PS and QS.
Just a reminder, maybe it could also have been ZZ.
I could have been telling you have a good night, good night.
(15:14):
Why is that the sleeping? Why do we why is it ZZZZZ?
You mean that you're sleeping ZZZZ bees.
Why is that? I'm curious, buzz.
All right, so it's probably not ZZ.
It's probably not LJ. It's probably not PQ.
It is probably HI, all right, but I had to check.
(15:38):
I had to check, you know, me, I got to do a check.
So it's probably high. And I thought that's the end of
it. But then me being me, I saw in
the Wikipedia article that I wasreading about Morse code.
I saw that it said that there were even some punctuation or
something, Marks and Morse. And I was like, well, I want to
(16:01):
know what's the punctuation? I want to know.
Tell me more. Completely unrelated to the
episode. Now I'm just invested, so I
Click to read what I guess what are called pro signs.
And then that leads me down a little Morse rabbit hole, which
I did go down, but I'm not dragging you all down except
these tiny little baby ones. So I found this list of like
(16:26):
shorthand basically. So there's like there's like
excellent, which is like FBI. Don't know why.
I don't know. I can't explain any of these.
Some of them you can kind of figure out.
Some of them. I'm like, great question.
Good afternoon. Or go ahead.
GA OK, so it's like early Internet lingo, you know, like I
(16:47):
guess lol. But there were weird ones in the
early Internet that just didn't stick around and for good
reason. Or goodbye.
GB. GB Good evening, GE These are
all making sense. Good night, GN.
OK GM Good morning. Hey, we still use that.
Then there's also stuff like forlike errors or like negative,
(17:09):
which is just in this sort of stuff.
We're like old boy. I don't know what that means,
but OB not to be confused with the doctor.
Old chap, old man. Why do we need all these?
I have questions. I'm going to have to go down
this rabbit hole on my own to find out because it's not
spooky. Oh, here's 10.
(17:31):
Here's 1 loving kisses 88 I don't know why it's 88.
I want to know why but I'm not going to look because I'm trying
to talk about a scary story and not so think romantic like 88.
There's also what is this? I have no more to send which is
(17:52):
30. You can just send 30.
OK? They could just say love and
kisses. I mean, isn't that the same
thing? I have no more to say.
You're basically saying the samething.
Just just say 88 to everyone instead.
I like it. All right.
So as you can see, there's all these different kinds of, you
(18:14):
know, shorthand abbreviations, if you will.
Now, I did not. I did not think I was going to
find this when I was looking at this again, I thought this was
just for fun. This was just for me at this
point. This wasn't even for you, but
strangers, strangelings, strangecetera.
(18:38):
Strange. Selenius, I present to you
another potential meaning for the message that came through
that night in Alarming Badger's bedroom.
Now we have H, and we have I. Right now, we think that spells
high. Sure.
(19:00):
Yeah, you would. You would think that.
Except apparently, apparently Morse code abbreviation says
that hi, HI is laughter in Morsecode instead of hi.
(19:21):
It's actually he as in he, he, he, he.
So really, whatever knocked wasn't saying hi.
It was laughing, which is way scarier.
Is that not so much scarier thatit's laughing?
(19:44):
I mean, maybe. I don't know.
What were they alarming? Badger?
What were you watching? Were you watching something
funny? Like were you watching stand up?
Were you watching, I don't know,Fleabag, Very funny.
Were you watching Arrested Development perhaps?
Or was it an evil sort of laugh?Was it like, is that the kind of
(20:09):
laugh it was, or was it more like he, he, he, you know, we
may never know. We may never know.
Also, it does sound like that it's not ever happened again.
It sounds like this was a one time occurrence.
An alarming badger. For your sanity sake, I hope
that it stays that way. I hope it never happens again.
(20:31):
But also, selfishly, if it does happen again, I want to know.
Let me know so I can talk about it on the show and tell everyone
what the new message is. I just imagine.
Imagine being able to communicate beyond the veil with
Morse code and what you choose to say is the shorthand for
(20:53):
Telegraph laughter. I mean, honestly, it just sounds
like it's trolling you. You know, hiding your stuff and
then putting it back out in plain sight and then slamming
the washer door, the clothes washer, the dryer, something
like that. Appliance doors, as if it pays
rent, which is rude. OK.
(21:15):
You know, like, you know how I like to do.
I like to do some naturalistic explanations.
Of course we can hit on, you know, pipes in the wall, sure,
but it's not a common sound thatthey hear and they haven't heard
it since. So probably not a pipe.
But what I will say is apparently, apparently rats.
(21:35):
I don't know about mice, but rats apparently can make really
loud thumping noises in the wall, like with their little rat
feet. No hate to people that love
rats. I just a rat that's in my house,
that's not supposed to be in my house is not my friend.
Anyone that's in my house that'snot supposed to be is not my
friend, period. So rats with their little rat
(21:57):
feet can make really loud, like surprisingly loud knocking
noises on the wall, like when they're turning around or
they're trying to let clear space.
Also, squirrels can also do the same because everybody loves
squirrels. They think they're so cute.
Well, they're also rodents, you know, just a reminder.
They also carry fleas that have the plague, like the plague that
(22:18):
plague. Yep, they sure do.
So when they're in the walls, they can also do that.
OK, you'll note that I did not. I did not put the plague on the
rats, but I put it on the squirrels.
Yeah, there's a reason for that,and that's because I may not be
a fan of rats. But I will say in their defense
that I did read an article that said that rats actually were not
(22:42):
the reason that the Black Death spread as quickly as it did,
because it couldn't have moved that quickly if it was just the
rats and the fleas on the rats. If apparently humans are the
reason. So infected humans infected
other humans, what is it like, hurt people, hurt people
infected humans infect humans. That's basically what happened
(23:03):
with the Black Plague. So, you know, fleas were the
problem, but rats, they didn't. They were not.
Even though they were vilified, they were not the main reason
why the plague moved so quickly.However, even though rats are
rodents, I do also have a vendetta against squirrels.
(23:23):
So that's why I put it on squirrels to say that they carry
fleas with the Black Plague. There, there's a rabbit hole for
you, or a squirrel hole for you.There you go.
You're welcome. And the reason that I keep
saying that, and I'm trying so hard to keep myself on task is
that I will never, ever, ever finish my deep dive episode on
the Enfield Poltergeist if I keep doing these really long
(23:47):
episodes, even though I have a lot of fun doing them.
So I'm trying to rein it in. All right, so Speaking of
reining it in, so let's talk about again, these are the
things that it could have been. It could have been pipes in the
walls. Unlikely though, since it hasn't
happened that often. Could have been rats in the
walls or squirrels in the walls,regardless of whether or not
they carry the plague on them. Could have been a person.
(24:09):
I don't love it. I hate it.
So I don't want that to be happyto be to.
I don't want that to be the case.
I don't know what I want to be the case, honestly.
IA rat and then the rat left a rat came in knocked the exact
amount of knocks to say hi or hehe he he in Morse and then left
(24:32):
OK, that's what I want. That's what I hope happened and
I also hope for the sake of alarming Badger that this never
happens again and that actually no paranormal activity happens
again. Or as I always like to say,
unless y'all are into that. If that's what you're into, then
you're you're knock yourself out.
And then I hope you do have other paranormal happenings.
(24:56):
But if you do have more paranormal activity or if anyone
listening ever experiences some paranormal activity, feel free
to share it with me. Send it to me at
madamstrangeways@gmail.com or you can visit me at
madamstrangeways.com. Thank you for joining me for
(25:25):
more true strange stories of theunexplained.
Remember that you can feel afraid and not be in danger.
You're safe here with me, probably.
Please follow the podcast, leavea rating on Spotify or Apple, or
tell your friends and foes aboutthe show.
(25:46):
It would mean the world to me. The underworld, obviously.
I mean, come on. Madam Strange Ways is produced
and narrated by me. Madam Strange Ways theme music
is by marina.ryan@marinamakes.co.
Cover art is by Andrea Chiselle,rolled on at Cult of Teddy on
(26:07):
Instagram. You can submit your own true
strange story at madamstrangeways.com or send in
your thoughts or theories on stories on the show to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. See you soon, she said
ominously.
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