Unexplained noises heard five years ago; have never been able to forget it
Hi!
I just made this reddit account because I have always wanted to share this story and it has kind of really badly affected me ever since. Im trying to give all of the context because I am really looking for any proposed explanations- please let me know if you have thoughts! One night, I was home with my ex-boyfriend at the time; we were seniors in high school, and my parents were gone for the weekend, so I naturally invited him over. I'm a very anxious person, so I was so so nervous to do this as I am very close with my parents but I think subconsciously I didn't want to be home alone because I've always felt a bit scared while alone so i invited him over. Also, at this time my family had two cats in the house, and for more context the only toys that we have in the house are in our basement which is quite soundproof- you can't hear noise from it in the room that I was in (the living room/TV room). My ex boyfriend and I were just laying on the chaise couch thing watching TV- my house is quite open layout, so the chaise couch faced one doorway into the front room and on the left of the chaise couch is very open to the full kitchen.
So, we were watching TV at a normal-volume level, and then I heard a noise. The best way I can describe it is a mischevious child's laugh, but just a bit deeper than like a young child's tone. I immediately turned to my boyfriend and paused the tv, and asked him if he just "heard that", to which he said yes- he was also visibly scared. We sat there in the silence for a few seconds (not sure how long, this was a while ago), and then not too long after we heard a noise again: clear as day, loud, sounding like it was coming from directly in front of us, a child's laugh- even clearer than the one before because we had paused the tv. My boyfriend and I didn't even exchange words, we both ran into the kitchen and grabbed knives, huddled in the corner of the kitchen, and when I could bring myself to make a noise, I called my parents and broke into hysterics. They called the neighbors who came over and literally searched the whole house because I was so scared, and found nothing. They left, and the rest of the night was normal.
My immediate reaction and everyone else's was that it must have been the cats. I cannot describe to you how un-catlike this noise was, and at that time we had had these cats for nearly 15 years and I had NEVER heard them make a noise even slightly similar to that.
So yea, if anyone has any thoughts please let me know!! I'm staunchly not a believer in supernatural stuff and i don't have any religious affiliation, so having this thing that I have never been able to explain to myself for so long has really affected me negatively.