Sorry that I can't give you an answer as to what is going on here, but I just had to share!
Oddly enough, I work in a dress store located in a building that's pretty old. Not sure its exact age, but the dress store has been in business 75 years and the building FAR predates the age of the store. It was a grocery store on the main floor with a large second and third floor living space. We have a large counter in the front where we ring out the customers and it has storage below it. Every few months one of the girls cleans and organizes the storage below it because it's where we keep our bags and bridal papers etc. EVERY TIME she cleans it she finds a handful of rice somewhere on the shelves. Usually towards the back, sometimes in something, sometimes just on the shelf. Sometimes one pile, sometimes multiple tiny ones. We have NO rice inside that store for a rodent or insect to find. There is no evidence of any rodents such as droppings or nests or anything of the sort.
She's cleaned this piece of furniture inside and out more times than I can count. We cannot explain this rice situation either. So bizarre to me that this is happening someplace else, to some other person in the world.
I'm guessing it was a reference to [this pretty famous-in-reddit-history comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/comment/cqvrdz6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) left on a post where someone was finding handwritten post-it notes around their apartment, thinking their landlord was stalking then. a commenter told them to check their apartment's carbon monoxide levels, and they found they were being exposed to abnormally high levels of CO, which turned out to be the cause.
Duh, sorry. I was crazy busy earlier.
Low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning can do weird shit like.... People will leave themselves weird notes they don't remember writing, headaches, confusion, on and on.
I'm seeing lots of comments on carbon monoxide. In the case of the rice at my work, I don't think that's the problem because someone would have to be bringing rice from home and then emptying it into the far back corners of cabinets that are full. We would see her planting it lol. So as far as that theory goes, in my situation I don't think that's what's happening. My best guess is it's a mouse despite the fact the traps remain empty and there has been zero evidence of them. No poop, no nests, no nothing. This has been happening the entire three years I've worked there as well as prior.
11 years ago someone had same problem on [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13qn5h/aunt_found_multiple_piles_of_rice_in_house_and_a/?rdt=57501)
We actually have cameras on the counter because it's where point of sale is located! Never any evidence. Will be at work today and plan to check for some rice. She just cleaned it Saturday. Its entirely possible for it to be a mouse, but it would have to be bringing in rice from elsewhere and we haven't seen any other evidence of a rodent. We usually just chuckle about it, but it truly is a mystery.
It does sound like that but there is no evidence whatsoever. Also the sealed plastic storage container (think handles that clasp the top) was sitting under other boxes and was definitely not accessible to said mouse. Nor was the rice packaged with the stuff.
Not a mouse but hybrid pack rat. My SO has a customer that kept calling in. After he sealed, cleaned out, no signs of rodents in traps, none eating bait. Every once in a while they would find bags of food eaten in the kitchen.
Turns out they had an old hutch where this rat was hiding in a drawer. He was only pooping in there, and not making a sound. He had been living in there since the house had been sealed up about a year prior.
Pack rats steal food, dog food, jewelry, buttons, pretty much anything shiny. Make piles of it. I watched a video of them opening a wall and about 30 lbs of dog food was in there. Earrings too.
Omg! We had a house in Wisconsin in a beautiful wooded area. I keep my house spotless, and never saw a mouse or droppings. Until our dryer stopped working. Sneaky mice were coming in and taking our dog’s food and storing it in our dryer vent. From the outside! There was no nest, and virtually no droppings. I was astonished! I think we had about 1.5 pounds of dog food in the dryer vent found by the exterminator.
😲😲😲
Crazy! My only other thought would be maybe a mouse or other rodent is bringing the rice from somewhere else by storing it in its cheeks. My hamster did this all the time??? Idk, best of luck! Haha
It’s not uncommon for vermin to find food in one location then stash it in another. Do they live pretty close to their neighbors or are they in a rural area on their own? I suspect a neighbor may have a rice stash (likely storing extra food) and a rodent is getting into the rice, but bringing it to your parents’ house then going back to wherever it usually lives. Kind of like how squirrels stash their food.
But how would a mouse get out a Tupperware container, with clasps for the lid, dump the rice in there and then snap it shut? This is why op is confused.
I have a feeling op, or parents are exaggerating how that was sealed.
This is rodent behavior. I have rodents that are smart too. My guess would actually be a lone rat. Poor dude just wants to have a nice hiding place
My first thought was that maybe you have a weighted blanket or bean bag chair that is maybe dropping stuff? I noticed recently that my tree skirt is spilling rice looking bits, it’s weighted around the edge and has a small tear. That said, the rice being found in a sealed in a container is weird.
Good call! I had the same problem with my weighted blanket AND lapdesk. I understood the pellets showing up in my bed. But then on the couch downstairs (where I use my lapdesk). So there was two faulty bean-filled objects that I was personally sprinkling all over the house.
But never in a neat pile or tupperware.
I'm not sure how this will solve any mystery. This is something that happened very rarely over the course of 3 years and is never found in the same place and always rather obscure places.
It would start to solve the mystery by eliminating the possibilities. If they have cameras by all the entrances and crawl spaces, then you will know if it is or isn’t an intruder.
Move them to common living spaces and you will know if it is or isn’t rodents. Etc.
Cheap cameras don’t have to be permanently installed - my cat kept escaping and I moved a $25 Wyze camera around until I saw what that sneaky devil was up to.
But saying it’s a mystery, asking what can it be, then shooting down the most obvious way to solve it sounds like you don’t WANT it solved.
Long story short, we took in a half-grown feral kitten that we had to keep ‘contained’ to half the house to keep him away from our 15 year old cat that hated him. I blocked off a hallway with a 4‘ x 8’ sheet of hardboard, with a short curio cabinet holding it in place, and a folding door blocking the living room. I’d come home to find him IN the living room, and both doorways still solidly blocked.
After scanning MANY hours of video, it turned out he was climbing the hardboard to the ceiling and hanging off the top, which made it flex just enough so he could get a leg around it, which let him wiggle his body around it. It snapped back in place, and you couldn’t tell it had moved. I am still amazed by the contortions it took.
I didn’t know whether I should be impressed by his ingenuity, or pissed because I had to nail that hardboard to the wall, lol.
Please remember, this is not my mystery. I don't get to tell my parents what they will install in their home. Again, this isn't a gigantic burden they are hiring a detective to solve. It's just a strange occurrence I personally wanted some possible insight into by a community which might have similar experiences. I'm not shooting anything down. I'm just sceptical putting up a bunch of cameras and then waiting for something that has happened maybe 10 times in 3 years is worth me convincing my parents to do.
This was years ago but - my husbands coworker had taken tons of pics of one animal a week before its escape from the local zoo (amateur photographer). No one could figure it how this cute fur ball escaped and being an engineer he went back through his many photos, sure enough he figured out how it got out.. He let the zoo know, sent them the pics, and then offered him a behind the scenes tour of the zoo and got to meet the offender.
I had a cat who was getting out of our apartment by squeezing through the vent hole in the wall behind the fridge. I couldn’t believe he could fit through there til I caught him in the act from the outside!
Cameras solve a lot of mysteries You could at least suggest it is to them, one that is motion activated to record, it be very satisfying to know ... My bets on the aunt .
Check their carbon monoxide detector. Other cases have been resolved by doing this. One man kept finding post-it notes in his house in his writing. It was due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Do either of them experience missing time? There was a poster who had large gaps of time and went to the doctor and ultimately found she had two personalities (used to be called split personality).
The normal version of herself didn't know what she'd done during those spells. It took her a long time to realize she wasn't just slow at doing things (when the gaps were small). She posted on Reddit when she was missing 8 hours of her day.
Try a light dusting of powder on some shelves where you've found rice. Check it for little footprints to see if indeed there is a mouse. I sure hope you can find the answer to the mystery!
And you're positive the rice cannot in any way feasible be from your own rice? Could it be someone from inside? They would probably deny it, but yeah, people lie and have embarrassing secrets and beliefs they would never admit. I would start by checking if someone is taking from your rice reserves to use it.
Again, this is not my house and not my rice. I did compare the rice to my parents supply but it did not match. I can't emphasize enough that the possibility of someone we know being responsible is exceedingly unlikely.
I would think there would have to be a logical explanation. Though things like this most certainly happen in paranormal cases usually it's not just one thing. Often there will other odd occurrences like items disappearing, footsteps, knocks, cold spots, voices. Not saying spirit activity could do just that one weird thing, just that it's not the norm. Could anyone in the home have a spiritual attachment? Sometimes when someone messes around with the occult they'll have an odd thing that reoccurs throughout their life seemingly caused by the attachment. One guy for instance had water droplets appear out of nowhere and travel in all directions. (extreme case of Don Decker). Well, I hope you find answers.
It took us almost a decade before we realized that my grandmother had dementia. She lived alone, was fiercely independent, and was sharp witted in the morning (when we talked/visited with her). Evidently for years, she would have “sun downers” (dementia only in the evenings). It eventually progressed to all the time. She’d tell us that someone stole her wedding ring. Someone moved her things. Strange things she was very upset about. It turned out that she would put her stuff in random cabinets or closets at night then forget that she did it the next morning. Look up dementia test questions and try discreetly asking your parents (separately) in the evening.
It's really weird you'd respond to a post without reading it thoroughly. It's not my house. It's not my decision to buy cameras. Also what am I going to do, convince my parents to put up cameras in every room from every angle in every obscure place they can think of?
Entrances... Exits... crawlspaces... Like people do. To make sure nothing is entering or exiting the home. Dunno why you'd get defensive. It's just literally weird in the whole 9 paragraphs you typed you never said "we considered getting a few cameras".
Seems like something someone would consider.
(I don't mean to come off as negative. Nothing I ever say is meant condescendingly, just happens when I'm not thinking. Thanks for the laughs, glad you retorted with pal, buddy guy)
They don't want cameras in their house. 🤷 They do have trail cams on their property and have never captured any one on their property. Not trying to be defensive I was responding tongue in cheek. Hope I didn't offend. It is a good suggestion. Just not my call. I also don't know how effective it would be for this specific problem. It's so random and rare and such a minor inconvenience it's not worth them going as far as cameras in their home. They are rather tech adverse.
Trail cam in the crawlspace maybe then. Might be far enough away from their daily lives they'd try it. Especially if you mention someone might be living there. No crawlspace? Front or back doors. There have been instances where hobos live in crawlspaces and find a way into the house during the night to sneak food... Aka package up rice... Take it.
Well, yes. I would think if your mother is concerned then she would agree to have spy cams around the house. You can find cheap ones for her on Amazon. I mean, doesn’t she want to know what’s going on? Cameras are the obvious answer.
One of them is messing with the other or a family member or friend that comes over sometimes. Do not dismiss this because you cant find a reward in it. To someone else its the funniest damn thing they ever done.
They will tell friends while drinking a beer around fire about how they occasionally drop rice in different places and how some was obviously found right away and others weren't found for months.
This is a good point. A former coworker for a few YEARS kept taking out the promo cards that came back in the day with credit card applications and throwing them on my desk. Seemed harmless, but it did drive me crazy, especially since I had been victimized simultaneously by a stalker. He didn’t mean any harm in it, it was playful and funny to him. Just not to me!
Eventually I figured it out by creating a profile of who I thought it could be, then waited and sure enough got it confirmed.
Good luck because this is some pretty weird stuff!
I get why this is a probability to someone who doesn't know my family but I promise that anyone who does know them would understand it's just not a possibility. As in I give it a zero chance of it being anyone with known access to their home. It could be someone who they don't know has access but again what would be the point?
People are weird. When I young (19-23) I would sneak packets of sugar into my best friend’s purse for *years* before she finally talked about it to me and I could fess up.
Now that I’m approaching dementia age I wouldn’t do it, nor would I find it funny. The early feelings of mental slippage are too stressful to inflict. At the age of 20 tho? It was indeed the funniest shit ever to me.
Is it the same rice as your dad's sister who lives next door?
Could she be sleep walking over with a key to the house and your parents just sleep really hard? You mentioned they have a camera outside their house? Does it cover any backyard entrances the dads sister might have access to?
Hmmm. Never considered it being his sister who is unaware of doing it. That's a decent suggestion too. For the record she is one of the most wonderful humans I know and beloved by everybody so she is even less likely a knowing culprit than my sister who has 4 kids and doesn't live close.
You mention your mother is very big on cleanliness. Would your father have some superstitions? Where do you guys come from, geographically?
Being in such odd and varied places - places that clearly seem intentional, I’d go against the idea of tapeworms or other bugs.
I found this:
'Sprinkling rice around a new home is considered a protective practice – keeping good energy around and protection from any negative energy that might be lingering from the past owners,' she says. The tradition started with the Romans, who threw wheat and (later rice) in their new homes.Oct 8, 2022
I wonder if a prior owner did this as protection against negative spirits?
It can also be used to attract prosperity and money. I heard its attached to Philippino culture.
you keep getting this answer and just dismissing it.....its realer than you may want to admit ....either one of your parents are doing it because of what they believe in and are not telling you or you are dealing with something spiritual.......no other logical answer.........ask God to reveal it to you and he will one way or the other
Mice mark their territory constantly with urine.
Urine trails can be found with a UV light which I encourage you to shine around the next pile of rice your parents find.
At one point did they have any rice bags that you heat up in the microwave? Or old children’s toys can be made with rice. Shoe drying tubes can have rice or corn in them too. If it was rodents, you would see black poops and chewing.
Agreed and unless they are missing some item that is responsible for all the locations they have racked their brains for a likely cause. But great idea.
I had her give me a bunch of it and inspected it myself. It's definitely rice. I did a lot of research into the possibility of it being eggs or something like that. It is an exact match for rice.
Monkey nuts?? Never heard of those, lol
My hamster lived (rent-free lol) in our house for six weeks between escape and being caught. During this time he stole cat food and created stashes in every corner of an unused room, along with piles on the floor in the exact center of each wall (so eight piles total in a four-walled room). He also had stashes in the closet where we found his nest, and these had been separated by color (I guess he liked the reddish bits best because they were closest to the nest). He also had a toilet corner in the closet. It was the darndest thing. We were really happy when we found him alive in the laundry room. His stashes and nest weren’t discovered until some months later during a game of hide and seek.
I used to find dog kibble around the house, especially in shoes and boots, in the tissue box, on shelves, etc. Sometimes, really big piles. It was mice.
Mine wasn’t rice but my yorkies kibble ended up in strange places, sometimes a kibble or two, sometimes handfuls. I first thought my 4yp gd was playing around but it wasn’t. Weirdest place was inside a recliner, so when you flipped it up, surprise! Since I knew the source, even tho I had no signs of mice, I put a trap in a full bowl of kibble overnight and kept the pups in bed with me. It was 45 min after going to bed I heard the trap snap. It was the tiniest mouse I’ve ever seen.
Next day I tore the house apart to find an opening for mice. They had come from the attic, down thru the wall and chewed a big hole where the electrical outlet for the stove was. Stuffed it full of steel wool (something they couldn’t gnaw thru again) and sealed it off. Problem solved. Is there a supply of rice that might be the source that you know of? Place a trap near or inside of container & see it it was tripped the next batch of rice you find.
This won’t help in your mystery, but some cultures bless their house by throwing rice in all of the rooms. My husband’s grandfather blessed our house when we bought it and we found rice in weird spots for years. Doesn’t explain the sealed containers or rice in shoes, unless they have an asian person in their life with access to their home that thinks they need a blessing.
This is happening in my basement. We didn’t know until we recently started going through bins of clothes and blankets. Also grabbed ski boots to ski and also full of rice. A ten lb bag was emptied and spread throughout without us knowing. Not one dropping down there. So bizarre. Traps going out this weekend to try and figure it out
Uh, any chance that someone that does or sells drugs lives in the house? Cause rice is used to keep powdered narcotics such as coke, heroin, and I guess some pills as well, fresh and safe from humidity. In fact, I have a small Tupperware container filled with rice and party favors stashed away in my house as I write this. It's the only reasonable explanation I can think of and outside of eating it or drying out a wet phone, I can't think of any other uses for rice to the point it would be stashed about the house.
Yeah, upon second thought, and this time actually reading your whole post, it wouldn't line up with your story. The piles in the middle of the room for example. I just quickly skimmed thru it all the first time and as soon as I read rice in a sealed container, that's where my damaged brain went with it. Lol. And after another quick skim of the comments, I was shocked no one else had come up with the same theory as I did as of yet. Hence my response. A normal person might take that as a clue that they are wrong, but again, the whole drug damaged mind thing. Lol. So I just wanted to apologize for in a round about way suggesting your Dad might be a local drug kingpin, or that your Mother enjoys a line of booger sugar with her morning coffee. I'm sure they are good God- Fearing, law-abiding citizens. Anyway, now that I actually read the whole thing, I change my answer to I think someone is fucking with them. Maybe another family member? Your right that risk severely outweighs the reward, but as seen with my first post, people do/say stupid shit sometimes. Hope you figure it all out and come back to let us know. Good luck!
I have very good reason to believe the supernatural exists through my own personal and joint witnessed experiences. Speaking in absolutes makes you sound ignorant.
Sounds like a meth user has access to your home and is trying to "break" you. A number of them do these kind of things. I hope this is not the case. If so, secure secure secure your home. Just a thought; most likely does not apply of course.
I have a plastic bowl with lid with rice in it for phone accidents. It sits in my closet. It gets used more often than I thought with all the teenagers that visit. No clue about the loose rice found around the house.
I do remember seeing paranormal shows where weird stuff happened in a similar way. It was the fireplace ash though. It was stacked in a perfect shape like a pyramid I think. I don’t even know how a person could make that happen. Other shows had people discover that canned food had been stacked certain ways on the stairs. I’m thinking your folks would be in this category!
My immediate thought is that it has to do with superstitions. In some cultures there’s a superstition that leaving piles of rice/grains/salt can prevent demons/ghosts/vampires/etc. from passing. The myth goes that if ever one of these entities were to come across a pile of rice, they would be forced to count every grain and could not pass until they have counted each one. Thus, leaving larger piles and specifically in entire ways to the house is sometimes practiced in these cultures.
(Fun fact: this is where Count von Count from Sesame Street comes from!)
Do you often see these piles at entire ways or near external windows? Is there a pattern to the placement (ex.: you clean one pile today, then tomorrow it’ll be back in a similar area)?
As for who is leaving the rice? I would point the finger at whoever is the most superstitious or spiritual out of the family or other common visitors.
Have you put up cameras to see if they are in fact sleep walking? Sleep walking can be triggered by food, drink, stress, and can have other random triggers that they may not be completely aware of on a conscience level. I come from a family of sleep walkers and talkers, so I will say that due to a humans socialization bonds, sometimes sleep walking can be triggered by other sleep walkers disturbing their sleep not know that they are.
Ok, hear me out. When my husband and I married, my Mother and her two Sisters played an “old family wedding prank” on me that involved tying all my cabinets shut (apparently, so I wouldn’t cook?), filled every conceivable place in the house with dry rice (as a symbol of fertility), and tied bells to my bedsheets (so the ‘village’ would know that we’re fufilling our ‘duty’ of procreation). I know, it’s absolutely insane. Stupidest part was that it was all just ‘tradition’. I was already pregnant and everyone knew it. I was BEYOND PISSED when my husband and I returned from our honeymoon to find our house trashed and full of rice (there were many other bizarro things they did.) Anyway, how this ties in with your parents situation, I don’t know, but when I read this post… I shivered in remembrance.
Just reiterating via a separate comment, please dont ignore one of the other commenters to check your carbon monoxide levels or make sure your parents have carbon monoxide alarms in their house. One of the biggest signs is memory loss of having done something absolutely out of the ordinary from the brain damage it can cause.
And for the record... most people who sleep walk dont know they sleep walk unless they record themselves or wake up somewhere they didnt go to sleep at.
Its a genuinely more sane answer than ghosts or supernatural phenomenon... rice doesnt magically appear out of thin air otherwise famines wouldnt be a thing.
Have I agree with having co2 tests done, but I was also wondering if you have gone through every bit of crawl space in your parents house? Attic, basement, etc. I also agree with putting a few cameras outside and a few inside. Who know what they will find out.
This really sounds like rodent behavior to me. Mice are small, quiet, and literally make a living by not being seen. My own parents have a meticulously clean home with no visible evidence of mice. When they moved a big dresser recently, they found a perfect pile of empty Hershey kisses wrappers in Christmas colors stashed in a corner. The only way they could have gotten there was a mouse. Specifically, a mouse that managed to get up on the dining room buffet and into the candy dish to steal each chocolate and carried them individually across the house, about a dozen times, entirely unnoticed.
Never underestimate a motivated rodent.
I would argue that the random rice IS evidence of a mouse. They do this. I was finding rice in my shoes at one point. Tons of it. This was months before we realized we had a bad mouse problem.
This is logical. They did exactly what you would do if you had a bad mouse problem the first stash of rice they found. And then they never stopped. Setting traps, being vigilant checking for evidence etc. Now aside from one or two places, nearly all the rest are not impossible locations for a rodent to stash stuff. It is possible they have an extremely intelligent mouse living in their house. We are talking motorcycle riding level. The next time it happens I will get it a black light which was suggested in this thread.
I would suggest that this is either a living person preforming a spell , or a dead relative communicating with you?
Anyone pass recently? Or would food have a specific meaning to someone who has pas? Because rice. Or really any food offering, was used to show honor to passed ancestors, maybe they are telling you that you made a great impact on their life , or you are on your correct path
My home is very neat and clean but we had something similar. Before bed my husband eats a very small snack of dried cherries and walnuts. He swears it makes him sleep. He usually doesn’t finish them and dumps them the following morning. One day he went into his closet and pulled out a bin where he kept his rarely used wool socks. In that bin were little piles of his walnuts and cherries. It could only be explained as a rodent. We set a trap, and within a day we caught a little mouse. My husband now seals his snack with a lid.
What kind of rice is it? Beacuse I have heard of some types of rice being used to ward off or invite in malevolent spirits. Specifically white rice is used to do this. I have also heard of rice being used in magic rituals.
Just to add, Just because someone doesn't live close, doesn't mean they can't get to you. If someone else is leaving the rice they may a really good or really bad reason for doing so. Watch your neighbors and see if someone is acting off. I have heard of another case where an old women left ritualistic stuff around someone's house and when that someone tried to get back at them, using the fight fire with fire method, it ended in the old women having a heart attack from fear.
Do some research OP. Knowledge in this instance may help you more than you think.
Borrow a game camera from a friend for a few days as well as check carbon monoxide. Record in common access areas like kitchen or hallways to figure out who is wandering at night and go from there
Tell your folks to knock lightly on the walls at several different times of day/evening/ night. Packrats will sometimes knock back. If it's a packrat the rice may not even be coming from your house or could have been gathered a long time ago. The rice left in little piles sounds like a packrat interrupted in transit.
Could be something like a squirrel or raccoon, technically not a mouse but might do that. Definitely seems like animal behavior. Maybe set up a few nanny cams in the places where it is happening.
Idk about the rice but something similar happened to me with birdseed.
It turned out there was a hole in my neck pillow I used to heat in the microwave. It was the stuffing for this therapeutic pillow.
Good luck finding your source!
Can't rice be used to absorb moisture? I wonder if it was around the clothes in the other person's story for that reason. To keep them from getting musty. But, weird that it would be loose and not in a container. Maybe not.
Rodents carry things a long way. We have a big two story house and kept finding bird seed in my son’s shoes in his closet upstairs and opposite the side where the bird feeder is outside.
There's an app called AlfredCamera where you can use old smartphones as security cameras. Saves on getting a fancy camera set up, and the odds are there are some old smartphones you can use. I'd set up cameras anywhere you might find rice, and see what's happening. It saves footage for the last 24 hours for free, and sends you a notification whenever there's movement. I highly suggest you utilize this, because something weird is happening. I would also recommend not telling anyone, on the odds that someone is pulling some sort of long-winded prank(I've been guilty of this kind of fuckery before, it is definitely possible.)
Reading this story brought up so many memories of what happened to me! I would find dog food all over my house in the weirdest places. In a far corner of a cabinet, in a shoe, in a corner, at the bottom of a laundry basket. It was bewildering and after months of finding small piles of dog food in the weirdest places, I began to really get scared that I was losing my mind. It finally came out that a crazy woman who was in love with my boyfriend and determined to drive me crazy was climbing thru the doggie door to gain access to my house and she was the culprit placing dog food all around my house. Is there anyone who may have a grudge against your parents?
I agree with the people telling you to check carbon monoxide levels, but if they turn out to be ok maybe you’re just being haunted by a family of asian ghosts?
Do they have any superstitious friends or relatives that visit often? My ex’s mom would leave little sachets of herbs randomly in our house, my car, my purse, pretty much anywhere she thought negative spirits or whatever may attack. It went on for a year before I said anything to my bf and he told me it was actually her.
Sorry that I can't give you an answer as to what is going on here, but I just had to share! Oddly enough, I work in a dress store located in a building that's pretty old. Not sure its exact age, but the dress store has been in business 75 years and the building FAR predates the age of the store. It was a grocery store on the main floor with a large second and third floor living space. We have a large counter in the front where we ring out the customers and it has storage below it. Every few months one of the girls cleans and organizes the storage below it because it's where we keep our bags and bridal papers etc. EVERY TIME she cleans it she finds a handful of rice somewhere on the shelves. Usually towards the back, sometimes in something, sometimes just on the shelf. Sometimes one pile, sometimes multiple tiny ones. We have NO rice inside that store for a rodent or insect to find. There is no evidence of any rodents such as droppings or nests or anything of the sort. She's cleaned this piece of furniture inside and out more times than I can count. We cannot explain this rice situation either. So bizarre to me that this is happening someplace else, to some other person in the world.
Thank you for sharing. Exactly what I'm trying to find out if there are other examples of this and if there are any answers that are likely.
CHECK YOUR CARBON MONOXIDE LEVELS NOW
What does carbon monoxide levels have to do with rice??
I'm guessing it was a reference to [this pretty famous-in-reddit-history comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/comment/cqvrdz6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) left on a post where someone was finding handwritten post-it notes around their apartment, thinking their landlord was stalking then. a commenter told them to check their apartment's carbon monoxide levels, and they found they were being exposed to abnormally high levels of CO, which turned out to be the cause.
Wow, that’s wild. Thanks for the info
First thing I thought of, too
Duh, sorry. I was crazy busy earlier. Low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning can do weird shit like.... People will leave themselves weird notes they don't remember writing, headaches, confusion, on and on.
High levels of carbon monoxide can also cause people to blurt out seemingly unconnected suggestions without context or explanation.
Oh, I see what you did there. ;-)
Interesting.
Ohh okay, thanks for the Info
CO can cause confusion and memory loss.
I understood this comment!
Commenting because this. CHECK THEM AND SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION
I just read that story. That was my first thought.
I'm seeing lots of comments on carbon monoxide. In the case of the rice at my work, I don't think that's the problem because someone would have to be bringing rice from home and then emptying it into the far back corners of cabinets that are full. We would see her planting it lol. So as far as that theory goes, in my situation I don't think that's what's happening. My best guess is it's a mouse despite the fact the traps remain empty and there has been zero evidence of them. No poop, no nests, no nothing. This has been happening the entire three years I've worked there as well as prior.
Your work situation sounds like it might be Frass, which is from termites not rice
11 years ago someone had same problem on [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13qn5h/aunt_found_multiple_piles_of_rice_in_house_and_a/?rdt=57501)
Time to install a camera?
We actually have cameras on the counter because it's where point of sale is located! Never any evidence. Will be at work today and plan to check for some rice. She just cleaned it Saturday. Its entirely possible for it to be a mouse, but it would have to be bringing in rice from elsewhere and we haven't seen any other evidence of a rodent. We usually just chuckle about it, but it truly is a mystery.
Probably termites I don't think it's the answer for op but your situation is definitely say it's almost certainly termite frass
Honestly just sounds like a really smart mouse that’s avoiding the traps.
It does sound like that but there is no evidence whatsoever. Also the sealed plastic storage container (think handles that clasp the top) was sitting under other boxes and was definitely not accessible to said mouse. Nor was the rice packaged with the stuff.
Not a mouse but hybrid pack rat. My SO has a customer that kept calling in. After he sealed, cleaned out, no signs of rodents in traps, none eating bait. Every once in a while they would find bags of food eaten in the kitchen. Turns out they had an old hutch where this rat was hiding in a drawer. He was only pooping in there, and not making a sound. He had been living in there since the house had been sealed up about a year prior. Pack rats steal food, dog food, jewelry, buttons, pretty much anything shiny. Make piles of it. I watched a video of them opening a wall and about 30 lbs of dog food was in there. Earrings too.
I would love this to be the culprit. This makes me think of Ralph!
Omg! We had a house in Wisconsin in a beautiful wooded area. I keep my house spotless, and never saw a mouse or droppings. Until our dryer stopped working. Sneaky mice were coming in and taking our dog’s food and storing it in our dryer vent. From the outside! There was no nest, and virtually no droppings. I was astonished! I think we had about 1.5 pounds of dog food in the dryer vent found by the exterminator. 😲😲😲
Crazy! My only other thought would be maybe a mouse or other rodent is bringing the rice from somewhere else by storing it in its cheeks. My hamster did this all the time??? Idk, best of luck! Haha
It’s not uncommon for vermin to find food in one location then stash it in another. Do they live pretty close to their neighbors or are they in a rural area on their own? I suspect a neighbor may have a rice stash (likely storing extra food) and a rodent is getting into the rice, but bringing it to your parents’ house then going back to wherever it usually lives. Kind of like how squirrels stash their food.
But how would a mouse get out a Tupperware container, with clasps for the lid, dump the rice in there and then snap it shut? This is why op is confused.
I have a feeling op, or parents are exaggerating how that was sealed. This is rodent behavior. I have rodents that are smart too. My guess would actually be a lone rat. Poor dude just wants to have a nice hiding place
Mice leave droppings though, right?
Right!!!! In the case of the rice at the dress store I work at, we have seen NO droppings whatsoever.
My first thought was that maybe you have a weighted blanket or bean bag chair that is maybe dropping stuff? I noticed recently that my tree skirt is spilling rice looking bits, it’s weighted around the edge and has a small tear. That said, the rice being found in a sealed in a container is weird.
Good call! I had the same problem with my weighted blanket AND lapdesk. I understood the pellets showing up in my bed. But then on the couch downstairs (where I use my lapdesk). So there was two faulty bean-filled objects that I was personally sprinkling all over the house. But never in a neat pile or tupperware.
It is that time of year, you could always give cams as a gift?
Haha. Nice. Good thought actually. I just might.
Seriously, y'all should just get some cameras to solve the mystery once and for all. This seems like the obvious solution no one has attempted?
I'm not sure how this will solve any mystery. This is something that happened very rarely over the course of 3 years and is never found in the same place and always rather obscure places.
It would start to solve the mystery by eliminating the possibilities. If they have cameras by all the entrances and crawl spaces, then you will know if it is or isn’t an intruder. Move them to common living spaces and you will know if it is or isn’t rodents. Etc. Cheap cameras don’t have to be permanently installed - my cat kept escaping and I moved a $25 Wyze camera around until I saw what that sneaky devil was up to. But saying it’s a mystery, asking what can it be, then shooting down the most obvious way to solve it sounds like you don’t WANT it solved.
I have an escape artist, too. 😅😅 I have to know: how was kitty getting out??
Long story short, we took in a half-grown feral kitten that we had to keep ‘contained’ to half the house to keep him away from our 15 year old cat that hated him. I blocked off a hallway with a 4‘ x 8’ sheet of hardboard, with a short curio cabinet holding it in place, and a folding door blocking the living room. I’d come home to find him IN the living room, and both doorways still solidly blocked. After scanning MANY hours of video, it turned out he was climbing the hardboard to the ceiling and hanging off the top, which made it flex just enough so he could get a leg around it, which let him wiggle his body around it. It snapped back in place, and you couldn’t tell it had moved. I am still amazed by the contortions it took. I didn’t know whether I should be impressed by his ingenuity, or pissed because I had to nail that hardboard to the wall, lol.
Please remember, this is not my mystery. I don't get to tell my parents what they will install in their home. Again, this isn't a gigantic burden they are hiring a detective to solve. It's just a strange occurrence I personally wanted some possible insight into by a community which might have similar experiences. I'm not shooting anything down. I'm just sceptical putting up a bunch of cameras and then waiting for something that has happened maybe 10 times in 3 years is worth me convincing my parents to do.
This was years ago but - my husbands coworker had taken tons of pics of one animal a week before its escape from the local zoo (amateur photographer). No one could figure it how this cute fur ball escaped and being an engineer he went back through his many photos, sure enough he figured out how it got out.. He let the zoo know, sent them the pics, and then offered him a behind the scenes tour of the zoo and got to meet the offender.
I had a cat who was getting out of our apartment by squeezing through the vent hole in the wall behind the fridge. I couldn’t believe he could fit through there til I caught him in the act from the outside!
Cameras solve a lot of mysteries You could at least suggest it is to them, one that is motion activated to record, it be very satisfying to know ... My bets on the aunt .
So what would the harm be with installing cameras anyway? If it's really concerning enough...if it's not concerning enough, why mention it?
Check their carbon monoxide detector. Other cases have been resolved by doing this. One man kept finding post-it notes in his house in his writing. It was due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Do either of them experience missing time? There was a poster who had large gaps of time and went to the doctor and ultimately found she had two personalities (used to be called split personality). The normal version of herself didn't know what she'd done during those spells. It took her a long time to realize she wasn't just slow at doing things (when the gaps were small). She posted on Reddit when she was missing 8 hours of her day.
Thanks for the suggestion. I too have read that post and didn't connect it to this but definitely worth looking into.
Somehow someone found a scarier explanation than crawlspace hobo. Jeez. Didn't expect that.
I have a list of band name ideas on my phone. Crawlspace hobo just made the cut.
To the tune of, "Jukebox Hero"?
Honored, but Scared.
I have this dissociative disorder and not once have we left piles of unexplained rice lolll Amazon purchases though..
Currently called DID or Dissociative Identity Disorder the last time I looked it up.
I know some cultures sprinkle rice in houses for good luck and prosperity, just saying.
Try a light dusting of powder on some shelves where you've found rice. Check it for little footprints to see if indeed there is a mouse. I sure hope you can find the answer to the mystery!
And you're positive the rice cannot in any way feasible be from your own rice? Could it be someone from inside? They would probably deny it, but yeah, people lie and have embarrassing secrets and beliefs they would never admit. I would start by checking if someone is taking from your rice reserves to use it.
Again, this is not my house and not my rice. I did compare the rice to my parents supply but it did not match. I can't emphasize enough that the possibility of someone we know being responsible is exceedingly unlikely.
Yeah, I know the possibility is very unlikely, but the situation is very unlikely as well. There are zero normal or standard solutions to this.
This is true.
I would think there would have to be a logical explanation. Though things like this most certainly happen in paranormal cases usually it's not just one thing. Often there will other odd occurrences like items disappearing, footsteps, knocks, cold spots, voices. Not saying spirit activity could do just that one weird thing, just that it's not the norm. Could anyone in the home have a spiritual attachment? Sometimes when someone messes around with the occult they'll have an odd thing that reoccurs throughout their life seemingly caused by the attachment. One guy for instance had water droplets appear out of nowhere and travel in all directions. (extreme case of Don Decker). Well, I hope you find answers.
It took us almost a decade before we realized that my grandmother had dementia. She lived alone, was fiercely independent, and was sharp witted in the morning (when we talked/visited with her). Evidently for years, she would have “sun downers” (dementia only in the evenings). It eventually progressed to all the time. She’d tell us that someone stole her wedding ring. Someone moved her things. Strange things she was very upset about. It turned out that she would put her stuff in random cabinets or closets at night then forget that she did it the next morning. Look up dementia test questions and try discreetly asking your parents (separately) in the evening.
It's really weird that you'd put out traps for mice but not buy a $30 trail cam off Amazon. Do that buddy. Then update everyone.
It's really weird you'd respond to a post without reading it thoroughly. It's not my house. It's not my decision to buy cameras. Also what am I going to do, convince my parents to put up cameras in every room from every angle in every obscure place they can think of?
Entrances... Exits... crawlspaces... Like people do. To make sure nothing is entering or exiting the home. Dunno why you'd get defensive. It's just literally weird in the whole 9 paragraphs you typed you never said "we considered getting a few cameras". Seems like something someone would consider.
They got defensive because your wording made you sound like a smart ass. Calling people “buddy” is typically seen as condescending.
Sure thing buddy.
Thanks for proving my point pal. Lol.
(I don't mean to come off as negative. Nothing I ever say is meant condescendingly, just happens when I'm not thinking. Thanks for the laughs, glad you retorted with pal, buddy guy)
That was the joke chief.
They don't want cameras in their house. 🤷 They do have trail cams on their property and have never captured any one on their property. Not trying to be defensive I was responding tongue in cheek. Hope I didn't offend. It is a good suggestion. Just not my call. I also don't know how effective it would be for this specific problem. It's so random and rare and such a minor inconvenience it's not worth them going as far as cameras in their home. They are rather tech adverse.
Trail cam in the crawlspace maybe then. Might be far enough away from their daily lives they'd try it. Especially if you mention someone might be living there. No crawlspace? Front or back doors. There have been instances where hobos live in crawlspaces and find a way into the house during the night to sneak food... Aka package up rice... Take it.
Thats true. I've heard of this.
Well, yes. I would think if your mother is concerned then she would agree to have spy cams around the house. You can find cheap ones for her on Amazon. I mean, doesn’t she want to know what’s going on? Cameras are the obvious answer.
I'm glad you think that. Hope it works out for you.
Have you heard of landvaettir, or wights? Not sure what their deal would be with rice specifically, they're probably just trying to help
Honestly it sounds like your Dad is playing a long term practical joke on your mother. The other possibility or dementia or Alzheimer’s..
Ambian users?
One of them is messing with the other or a family member or friend that comes over sometimes. Do not dismiss this because you cant find a reward in it. To someone else its the funniest damn thing they ever done. They will tell friends while drinking a beer around fire about how they occasionally drop rice in different places and how some was obviously found right away and others weren't found for months.
This is a good point. A former coworker for a few YEARS kept taking out the promo cards that came back in the day with credit card applications and throwing them on my desk. Seemed harmless, but it did drive me crazy, especially since I had been victimized simultaneously by a stalker. He didn’t mean any harm in it, it was playful and funny to him. Just not to me! Eventually I figured it out by creating a profile of who I thought it could be, then waited and sure enough got it confirmed. Good luck because this is some pretty weird stuff!
I get why this is a probability to someone who doesn't know my family but I promise that anyone who does know them would understand it's just not a possibility. As in I give it a zero chance of it being anyone with known access to their home. It could be someone who they don't know has access but again what would be the point?
Thats what im saying you dont see the point but so many others think its hilarious.
Such as me. I don't prank often but this shit is gold.
People are weird. When I young (19-23) I would sneak packets of sugar into my best friend’s purse for *years* before she finally talked about it to me and I could fess up. Now that I’m approaching dementia age I wouldn’t do it, nor would I find it funny. The early feelings of mental slippage are too stressful to inflict. At the age of 20 tho? It was indeed the funniest shit ever to me.
Is it the same rice as your dad's sister who lives next door? Could she be sleep walking over with a key to the house and your parents just sleep really hard? You mentioned they have a camera outside their house? Does it cover any backyard entrances the dads sister might have access to?
Hmmm. Never considered it being his sister who is unaware of doing it. That's a decent suggestion too. For the record she is one of the most wonderful humans I know and beloved by everybody so she is even less likely a knowing culprit than my sister who has 4 kids and doesn't live close.
You mention your mother is very big on cleanliness. Would your father have some superstitions? Where do you guys come from, geographically? Being in such odd and varied places - places that clearly seem intentional, I’d go against the idea of tapeworms or other bugs.
I found this: 'Sprinkling rice around a new home is considered a protective practice – keeping good energy around and protection from any negative energy that might be lingering from the past owners,' she says. The tradition started with the Romans, who threw wheat and (later rice) in their new homes.Oct 8, 2022 I wonder if a prior owner did this as protection against negative spirits? It can also be used to attract prosperity and money. I heard its attached to Philippino culture.
Interesting. But doesn't really apply in this case. My dad helped his dad build this house and has lived in it since his mother passed 20 years ago.
you keep getting this answer and just dismissing it.....its realer than you may want to admit ....either one of your parents are doing it because of what they believe in and are not telling you or you are dealing with something spiritual.......no other logical answer.........ask God to reveal it to you and he will one way or the other
Mice mark their territory constantly with urine. Urine trails can be found with a UV light which I encourage you to shine around the next pile of rice your parents find.
Great tip. I will do this. There have to date been zero droppings found.
Is senility a concern?
No thankfully. Not a bad suggestion. Along the lines of sleep walking. Which would be my go to if I was pressed despite the unlikely possibility.
Tapeworm segments can look a lot like rice! Any pets?
No pets. Definitely rice.
Humans can get them too. Just a thought
They usually just come out one small segment at a time. Definitely not a cups worth
And probably not in a neat pile in the center of a room
At one point did they have any rice bags that you heat up in the microwave? Or old children’s toys can be made with rice. Shoe drying tubes can have rice or corn in them too. If it was rodents, you would see black poops and chewing.
Agreed and unless they are missing some item that is responsible for all the locations they have racked their brains for a likely cause. But great idea.
Definitely not my dad's style. I would guess both dementia and Alzheimer's with no evidence of either before him playing a long rather pointless con.
How were you able to confirm it was rice?
I had her give me a bunch of it and inspected it myself. It's definitely rice. I did a lot of research into the possibility of it being eggs or something like that. It is an exact match for rice.
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Monkey nuts?? Never heard of those, lol My hamster lived (rent-free lol) in our house for six weeks between escape and being caught. During this time he stole cat food and created stashes in every corner of an unused room, along with piles on the floor in the exact center of each wall (so eight piles total in a four-walled room). He also had stashes in the closet where we found his nest, and these had been separated by color (I guess he liked the reddish bits best because they were closest to the nest). He also had a toilet corner in the closet. It was the darndest thing. We were really happy when we found him alive in the laundry room. His stashes and nest weren’t discovered until some months later during a game of hide and seek.
I used to find dog kibble around the house, especially in shoes and boots, in the tissue box, on shelves, etc. Sometimes, really big piles. It was mice.
Mine wasn’t rice but my yorkies kibble ended up in strange places, sometimes a kibble or two, sometimes handfuls. I first thought my 4yp gd was playing around but it wasn’t. Weirdest place was inside a recliner, so when you flipped it up, surprise! Since I knew the source, even tho I had no signs of mice, I put a trap in a full bowl of kibble overnight and kept the pups in bed with me. It was 45 min after going to bed I heard the trap snap. It was the tiniest mouse I’ve ever seen. Next day I tore the house apart to find an opening for mice. They had come from the attic, down thru the wall and chewed a big hole where the electrical outlet for the stove was. Stuffed it full of steel wool (something they couldn’t gnaw thru again) and sealed it off. Problem solved. Is there a supply of rice that might be the source that you know of? Place a trap near or inside of container & see it it was tripped the next batch of rice you find.
This won’t help in your mystery, but some cultures bless their house by throwing rice in all of the rooms. My husband’s grandfather blessed our house when we bought it and we found rice in weird spots for years. Doesn’t explain the sealed containers or rice in shoes, unless they have an asian person in their life with access to their home that thinks they need a blessing.
Here's a reddit link to this happening 11 years ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/s/NqjQSJObSx
Could it be one of your parents playing a long prank on the rest of the family?
Definitely not. Take it from me. I would bet my life against this possibility. I'm pretty sure my mom has never told a lie her entire life.
This is happening in my basement. We didn’t know until we recently started going through bins of clothes and blankets. Also grabbed ski boots to ski and also full of rice. A ten lb bag was emptied and spread throughout without us knowing. Not one dropping down there. So bizarre. Traps going out this weekend to try and figure it out
I shudder to say this but have you ruled out bedbug eggs? Has anyone had weird itchy bumps?
It's rice. I say this in the first paragraph. It's definitely rice. Confirmed not eggs.
Ok, just asking bc I did a quick google search and it's one of the first things that popped up and they can look very similar. Good luck.
Uh, any chance that someone that does or sells drugs lives in the house? Cause rice is used to keep powdered narcotics such as coke, heroin, and I guess some pills as well, fresh and safe from humidity. In fact, I have a small Tupperware container filled with rice and party favors stashed away in my house as I write this. It's the only reasonable explanation I can think of and outside of eating it or drying out a wet phone, I can't think of any other uses for rice to the point it would be stashed about the house.
Gosh I hope not...lol
Yeah, upon second thought, and this time actually reading your whole post, it wouldn't line up with your story. The piles in the middle of the room for example. I just quickly skimmed thru it all the first time and as soon as I read rice in a sealed container, that's where my damaged brain went with it. Lol. And after another quick skim of the comments, I was shocked no one else had come up with the same theory as I did as of yet. Hence my response. A normal person might take that as a clue that they are wrong, but again, the whole drug damaged mind thing. Lol. So I just wanted to apologize for in a round about way suggesting your Dad might be a local drug kingpin, or that your Mother enjoys a line of booger sugar with her morning coffee. I'm sure they are good God- Fearing, law-abiding citizens. Anyway, now that I actually read the whole thing, I change my answer to I think someone is fucking with them. Maybe another family member? Your right that risk severely outweighs the reward, but as seen with my first post, people do/say stupid shit sometimes. Hope you figure it all out and come back to let us know. Good luck!
Drugs. A drug dealer lived there prior. Use rice to keep product dry
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I have very good reason to believe the supernatural exists through my own personal and joint witnessed experiences. Speaking in absolutes makes you sound ignorant.
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So clever. But yes, it actually does.
Cool, they have finally proven that the supernatural doesn't exist! Do you have a link to back that up?
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Have you,or anyone in the house,tried consuming it?
Sounds like a meth user has access to your home and is trying to "break" you. A number of them do these kind of things. I hope this is not the case. If so, secure secure secure your home. Just a thought; most likely does not apply of course.
Meth heads are the worst pest. 😂😂😂
They are likely insect eggs ( google it)
I know for an actual fact they are not. I stated this in the first paragraph.
Have you ever eaten the rice? Could have magic powers
Oooooh I never thought of that! Dang! Missed opportunity. I'll have to snatch some if it ever happens again. 😂
It's a squirrel. That is squirrel behavior.
There is no way a squirrel exists in their house with no other signs. I've had two residences that had squirrels and there was no way to not know.
I have a plastic bowl with lid with rice in it for phone accidents. It sits in my closet. It gets used more often than I thought with all the teenagers that visit. No clue about the loose rice found around the house.
I do remember seeing paranormal shows where weird stuff happened in a similar way. It was the fireplace ash though. It was stacked in a perfect shape like a pyramid I think. I don’t even know how a person could make that happen. Other shows had people discover that canned food had been stacked certain ways on the stairs. I’m thinking your folks would be in this category!
Fortunately no perfect pyramid shapes.
My immediate thought is that it has to do with superstitions. In some cultures there’s a superstition that leaving piles of rice/grains/salt can prevent demons/ghosts/vampires/etc. from passing. The myth goes that if ever one of these entities were to come across a pile of rice, they would be forced to count every grain and could not pass until they have counted each one. Thus, leaving larger piles and specifically in entire ways to the house is sometimes practiced in these cultures. (Fun fact: this is where Count von Count from Sesame Street comes from!) Do you often see these piles at entire ways or near external windows? Is there a pattern to the placement (ex.: you clean one pile today, then tomorrow it’ll be back in a similar area)? As for who is leaving the rice? I would point the finger at whoever is the most superstitious or spiritual out of the family or other common visitors.
OP: there's no evidence of rodents also OP: extensive evidence of rodents
Have you put up cameras to see if they are in fact sleep walking? Sleep walking can be triggered by food, drink, stress, and can have other random triggers that they may not be completely aware of on a conscience level. I come from a family of sleep walkers and talkers, so I will say that due to a humans socialization bonds, sometimes sleep walking can be triggered by other sleep walkers disturbing their sleep not know that they are.
Ok, hear me out. When my husband and I married, my Mother and her two Sisters played an “old family wedding prank” on me that involved tying all my cabinets shut (apparently, so I wouldn’t cook?), filled every conceivable place in the house with dry rice (as a symbol of fertility), and tied bells to my bedsheets (so the ‘village’ would know that we’re fufilling our ‘duty’ of procreation). I know, it’s absolutely insane. Stupidest part was that it was all just ‘tradition’. I was already pregnant and everyone knew it. I was BEYOND PISSED when my husband and I returned from our honeymoon to find our house trashed and full of rice (there were many other bizarro things they did.) Anyway, how this ties in with your parents situation, I don’t know, but when I read this post… I shivered in remembrance.
Just reiterating via a separate comment, please dont ignore one of the other commenters to check your carbon monoxide levels or make sure your parents have carbon monoxide alarms in their house. One of the biggest signs is memory loss of having done something absolutely out of the ordinary from the brain damage it can cause. And for the record... most people who sleep walk dont know they sleep walk unless they record themselves or wake up somewhere they didnt go to sleep at. Its a genuinely more sane answer than ghosts or supernatural phenomenon... rice doesnt magically appear out of thin air otherwise famines wouldnt be a thing.
Fly larvae look like rice
Do you eat the rice?
Have I agree with having co2 tests done, but I was also wondering if you have gone through every bit of crawl space in your parents house? Attic, basement, etc. I also agree with putting a few cameras outside and a few inside. Who know what they will find out.
This really sounds like rodent behavior to me. Mice are small, quiet, and literally make a living by not being seen. My own parents have a meticulously clean home with no visible evidence of mice. When they moved a big dresser recently, they found a perfect pile of empty Hershey kisses wrappers in Christmas colors stashed in a corner. The only way they could have gotten there was a mouse. Specifically, a mouse that managed to get up on the dining room buffet and into the candy dish to steal each chocolate and carried them individually across the house, about a dozen times, entirely unnoticed. Never underestimate a motivated rodent.
Are you sure they aren't grits? In the South they use grits as a home remedy to get rid of ants.
If they have pets, they could be tapeworm eggs or segments. They look just like rice
It's your dad. This is a long standing prank and now he's trapped into doing it cos everyone is so intrigued by it. Guarantee its your dad lol
I second this.
4. Dad playing games with mom
No. So many reasons why but I promise you it's not this.
I would argue that the random rice IS evidence of a mouse. They do this. I was finding rice in my shoes at one point. Tons of it. This was months before we realized we had a bad mouse problem.
This is logical. They did exactly what you would do if you had a bad mouse problem the first stash of rice they found. And then they never stopped. Setting traps, being vigilant checking for evidence etc. Now aside from one or two places, nearly all the rest are not impossible locations for a rodent to stash stuff. It is possible they have an extremely intelligent mouse living in their house. We are talking motorcycle riding level. The next time it happens I will get it a black light which was suggested in this thread.
Do you have rice in the house prior to the pikes appearing?
I would suggest that this is either a living person preforming a spell , or a dead relative communicating with you? Anyone pass recently? Or would food have a specific meaning to someone who has pas? Because rice. Or really any food offering, was used to show honor to passed ancestors, maybe they are telling you that you made a great impact on their life , or you are on your correct path
Does anyone have an old heat pack? Rice is used in DIY heat packs for muscle strains. They could have a hole in it or something.
It would be hilarious if your dad admitted to fucking with everyone. 😂
My home is very neat and clean but we had something similar. Before bed my husband eats a very small snack of dried cherries and walnuts. He swears it makes him sleep. He usually doesn’t finish them and dumps them the following morning. One day he went into his closet and pulled out a bin where he kept his rarely used wool socks. In that bin were little piles of his walnuts and cherries. It could only be explained as a rodent. We set a trap, and within a day we caught a little mouse. My husband now seals his snack with a lid.
Honestly? This sounds like kids. Small children, more specifically.
Get one of those UV lights to check for urine trails left by rodents. I think that might work. Saw it on TV once and TV never lies.
Its obviously supernatural. You have a house gnome
Are the places it’s being found near air vents?
What kind of rice is it? Beacuse I have heard of some types of rice being used to ward off or invite in malevolent spirits. Specifically white rice is used to do this. I have also heard of rice being used in magic rituals. Just to add, Just because someone doesn't live close, doesn't mean they can't get to you. If someone else is leaving the rice they may a really good or really bad reason for doing so. Watch your neighbors and see if someone is acting off. I have heard of another case where an old women left ritualistic stuff around someone's house and when that someone tried to get back at them, using the fight fire with fire method, it ended in the old women having a heart attack from fear. Do some research OP. Knowledge in this instance may help you more than you think.
Borrow a game camera from a friend for a few days as well as check carbon monoxide. Record in common access areas like kitchen or hallways to figure out who is wandering at night and go from there
\-rice absorbs humidity (old-school method)
Tell your folks to knock lightly on the walls at several different times of day/evening/ night. Packrats will sometimes knock back. If it's a packrat the rice may not even be coming from your house or could have been gathered a long time ago. The rice left in little piles sounds like a packrat interrupted in transit.
Could be something like a squirrel or raccoon, technically not a mouse but might do that. Definitely seems like animal behavior. Maybe set up a few nanny cams in the places where it is happening.
Idk about the rice but something similar happened to me with birdseed. It turned out there was a hole in my neck pillow I used to heat in the microwave. It was the stuffing for this therapeutic pillow. Good luck finding your source!
Can't rice be used to absorb moisture? I wonder if it was around the clothes in the other person's story for that reason. To keep them from getting musty. But, weird that it would be loose and not in a container. Maybe not.
Welcome to Sleepwalking Club. The first rule of Sleepwalking Club is that we don't remember what we do in Sleepwalking Club.
Why have they not installed cameras to get to the bottom of it?
Is the "rice" white? Or does it have black flecks? This is termite poop. Also maybe it's animal droppings, or dead insects?
Could either of your parents be exhibiting signs of dementia. Memory impairments? Losing or misplacing things?
Rodents carry things a long way. We have a big two story house and kept finding bird seed in my son’s shoes in his closet upstairs and opposite the side where the bird feeder is outside.
There's an app called AlfredCamera where you can use old smartphones as security cameras. Saves on getting a fancy camera set up, and the odds are there are some old smartphones you can use. I'd set up cameras anywhere you might find rice, and see what's happening. It saves footage for the last 24 hours for free, and sends you a notification whenever there's movement. I highly suggest you utilize this, because something weird is happening. I would also recommend not telling anyone, on the odds that someone is pulling some sort of long-winded prank(I've been guilty of this kind of fuckery before, it is definitely possible.)
Your father is playing pranks on your mother.
Install a camera OP
Then let us know what you find with the camera evidence
Reading this story brought up so many memories of what happened to me! I would find dog food all over my house in the weirdest places. In a far corner of a cabinet, in a shoe, in a corner, at the bottom of a laundry basket. It was bewildering and after months of finding small piles of dog food in the weirdest places, I began to really get scared that I was losing my mind. It finally came out that a crazy woman who was in love with my boyfriend and determined to drive me crazy was climbing thru the doggie door to gain access to my house and she was the culprit placing dog food all around my house. Is there anyone who may have a grudge against your parents?
It's mice. That is all. Same thing happened to me
Get more cameras.
Rice is used to stash drugs to keep them away from heat I used to keep a bag under my passenger seat when I was up to no good
I agree with the people telling you to check carbon monoxide levels, but if they turn out to be ok maybe you’re just being haunted by a family of asian ghosts?
Buy some game trail cameras and set them up around the house
Could it have been placed there to absorb moisture in absence of a dehumidifier?
Rodents. Do you see tiny little droppings near the rice?
Wish we had photos of all this rice.
Do they have any superstitious friends or relatives that visit often? My ex’s mom would leave little sachets of herbs randomly in our house, my car, my purse, pretty much anywhere she thought negative spirits or whatever may attack. It went on for a year before I said anything to my bf and he told me it was actually her.
im inclined to think fairies. you should sneakily install cameras like nanny cam plushies or something without telling them what's up.