I just joined this forum and did a search on this topic, but couldn't find anything.

When I was a kid, probably around 12 yrs. old I lived in a suburb outside of Boston called Wellesley. One day around the month of October, I had collected a bunch of acorns and put them in a brown paper bag (grocery bag). My friends and I would use acorns as "ammo" in our sling-shots. They would still sting if you got hit, but wouldn't do any serious damage. Anyways, I brought the bag inside and put it in my closet.

Later that night, before going to bed, I checked the inside of the bag and to my horror a bunch of maggot-sized white worms had "hatched" from the acorns and were swarming inside the bag and some had even chewed their way through the paper and were crawling across the carpet in the closet. I guess the heat inside the house had caused these worms to hatch. I sort of freaked out, but was able to bring the bag outside and throw the acorns away. However, I still had the problem of the worms that had "escaped" and were crawling around the closet. I figured I would deal with it in the morning.

In those days, my older brother and I shared a room, he slept on the top bunk and I slept on the bottom. Needless to say, I was having a hard time falling asleep thinking about all those worms crawling around a few feet from where I was sleeping. While I'm lying there, all of a sudden I HEAR THIS HIGH-PITCHED LAUGHING SOUND coming from the closet. It sounded like a witch's cackle. I know I didn't imagine it, because it was loud enough to wake my brother up. We never spoke about it, I think we were both too freaked out.

The next day I told my mom about the worm problem in my closet and we spent about a half-can of Raid killing the worms and cleaning them out.

Anyways, 20 years later, I'm still wondering what made that high-pitched laughing sound in my closet.

Maybe someone here can enlighten me.

Thanks.

Sorry, but thinking about worms laughing was just funny.
And the way you described the laugh, it reminded me of my boss.

I would have set my room on fire.

Maybe they found something really funny inside your closet. (sorry, couldn't resist. )

Thank you for the laughing worms story. I have an explanation, I don't know what it's called, but my dad who is a medical doctor once had a name for it. It is a phenomeneon when your mind fills in what you expect to hear. What I mean is, it definately was a "laughter" in the closet or where it was, but it could have been some clothes falling or a shelf falling making some sound that could be mistaken for laughter. This can happen vary easily. I have three examples:

1. My father who had been working in the US (We are from Sweden) for some months, went back and went out walking and heard some youngsters he said speaking Amariican English. Odd, he thought so he went closer and then he heard that it was in fact Swedish. He then went away again since he now was convinced it was Swedish, then he "heard" them speaking English again when he was futher away. So he had to go back and forth many times.

2. While in the USA on vacation as a kid I watched cartoons. We did not have that many cartoons here at the time so I almost kept the TV on day and night when we were at the hotel room and got used to the "sound". Back home, the first night I heard some American cartoons, although the TV was off and I was not in the US. Still I clearly heard those "Shaggy and Scooby" -like voices coming from the living room. I heard someone was walking out there as well so I yelled "What is that?" I heard my grandmother yell back "I am having a conversation here with you granddad, would you mind?". What had happened was that I heard my grannny talking and took it for cartoons. It was very convincing.

3. When I worked at a drugstore there was an alcholic and drug addict living above us. Sometimes he came home drunk or "high" in a cab and needed help to get into his apartment so we needed to help him, he couldn't take one step without falling. Sometimes he just came into the store beiing annoying, scaring customers, when he had taken a new drug. His lungs were not in the best condfition so he spoke in sort of funny voice. One day he came in quite sober, but just talking to himself. My boss was there piling some stuff at the back. I saw who it was who was, but my boss who couldn't see him just went "What is is that sound, what is that sound?" I didn't answer him, I wanted to know how long it toiok before he found out. But he didn't. Hew went back into the store and found the abuser still talking to himself, and then he found out "Oh, it's him." The thing is, to him it was a strange sound.

So my guess is both of you you heard something that you took for laughter. Perhaps you both had been watching some comedy show on TV the night before and some laughter "sound clip" was still in your mind in some way. And the worm problem could have added some tension.

But see, the confusing thing is: It was two of them, plus the brother had not been awake and didn't know about the worms.

But I do think it was some kind of natural happening. Furniture makes popping noises at night, so why can't closets laugh? Lol

I doubt they were worms, probably larvae instead. Lots of insects lay eggs inside acorns which hatch later on.


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Lots of larvae are able to make a screeching sound by rubbing their hind legs against their abdomens, I suppose that could sound like laughing if there were lots of them doing it at the same time?

Maybe Peter Griffin was hiding in your closet, that would explain the laughing.

Exactly, my brother heard it too, so I know it wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

I personally think it was a leprechaun.

*cackles*

. ...I love your name, avatar, and siggy.

This makes the most sense to me.


What does a leprechaun have to do with worms?

Yes! This is exactly what they were, larvae. A few weeks after the incident, I found a couple dead brown beetles in the closet, so I assumed the larvae turned into these beetles.

I've heard of beetles making sounds by rubbing their legs, but I didn't think larvae had legs to rub???

Maybe they rub their rear-ends on their abdomens?

I agree!

Intersting.

Perhaps your brother, in the upper bunk, was playing a prank on you. He feigned sleep to make it more believable.

Larvae in the acorns, eh?
How many did you eat from the sack before you put it in the closet? <evil grin>