The Washing Machine

By SBMatt
(1 stories) (0 posts) (the author is a senior adult)
Date: 2009-10-21
Country: United States
State: Indiana
Paranormal Category: Haunted Places

Just a short story here and it is true. I'm not a believer in ghosts and not an easy guy to scare but this did the trick. I'll tell you in advance that I don't have an answer to what happened but would like to hear your thoughts. It's all true and a major puzzle to me.

Our top loading washing machine is in the basement, it's a nice basement not a dark, spooky place. The room has bright lights and because it's in the basement there is no way to enter this room from outside the house. Okay, here we go At least a half dozen times in the past year I've gone done to put the wash into the dryer after the washing time should have long elapsed. Imagine my surprise to find the wash not finished and the top cover/lid of the washing machine up. The fact that the lid is up means that the washing cycle has not been completed. Each time I just scratched my head and wondered how this could happen.

Just the other day it happened again. This time as I went back into the wash room I switched on the light and looked to see the top up once again. But this time I heard something move in the room. It was the sound like a dog would make if you woke him from sleeping and he bounced up, we don't have any pets. The hair on my arms went straight up as I looked around the room but I never found anything.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, SBMatt, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Teejay79 (2 posts)

10 years ago (2015-01-21)

Hey out of curiosity for those that this has happened to - what is your model of washer? I just ran across a person on FixYa that had the exact same thing happen to her and she and I have the same exact model: Whirlpool Ultimate Care II.

Could very well be a design flaw...

Teejay79 (2 posts)

10 years ago (2015-01-21)

Okay, so I've had this happen twice to me - both times mid-cycle and the lid is up by itself. Based on reading this same thing happening to several people I've come up with 2 theories:

1) Clothes get unbalanced and vibrations and shaking vibrates it open. Although rare, apparently this can happen in the right conditions.

2) There is a ghost who specializes in screwing with top loading washing machines.

I'm going to go more with physics being responsible but will place something heavy on the lid. If THAT is removed - well yeah, I think that would make a believer out of me.

Anybody else see any results from their video or have any other suggestions?

KitteeChaos (1 stories) (3 posts)

10 years ago (2014-11-18)

Oh my gosh! I found this story because the same thing happened to me twice in the past couple of weeks! My washing machine is not even a year old but this just started happening, after I moved into a different townhouse. What's funny is that when my washing machine is going, the lid actually locks, so it isn't possible for it to open by itself because it is unbalanced or anything. The washer won't unlock until the cycle is over, yet both times I found the lid up the clothes were not done washing, and I have to re-wash them. This just happened to me 10 minutes ago, and I put the clothes to wash again, made doubly sure I shut the lid before I left the basement. If the lid is up again when I go down there I'll sh*t...lol

Boomyster (2 posts)

12 years ago (2013-04-18)

Oh, and I would like to add, my washing machine is warped, so it is stuck closed. Takes a lot of effort to open it, so I feel the "putting something heavy on it" needs not be applied. It was open, all the way, leaning against the back of my machine. I was sitting in the room next to it. If something caused it to fly open so violently, I'm sure I'd hear it, right?

Boomyster (2 posts)

12 years ago (2013-04-18)

I have been in my new house for three days, and I just had this happen to me, twice in a row. My washing machine opened before the draining cycle. I thought maybe I forgot to close the lid the first time, but the second time, I made sure to close it, yet the lid was open at the same point during the cycle. I don't often believe ghost stories, but I tried researching the problem and this was the only article I found that described what happened. Of course, as I would myself, everyone thinks I'm being stupid.

moravian (1 stories) (171 posts)

14 years ago (2010-11-23)

I like the idea with putting a video camera down there and something heavy on the lid. If you get something post it. After you move out

littlerayray77 (1 posts)

15 years ago (2009-11-15)

Holy cow... This is exactly what's been happening to us! We have our washing machine and drying in the hallway in our 2 bedroom apartment and the lid is always open full of water when we check to see if the load is done. Its a heavy lid on top of the washing machine and it opens quietly. We are pretty close to washing machine no matter what room we're in so really it just adds on to the mystery. I've also had the computer speakers blast conan o brien making jokes and the crowd applauding one night with no internet browsers open. I'm just trying to find a logical reason for stupid things happening in our apartment but I fail to coming up with some that make sense.

ZiShu (281 posts)

15 years ago (2009-10-28)

As everyone said, I would try putting something heavy to keep the lid from lifting up.
I would put video cameras just to make sure.
I assume that your washer just moves in strange ways due to some screws lose or something messed up. Then it may cause the top to flip often. My washer use to go berserk like it was possessed, but only does so because something was loose. A few tweaking can fix it. It may also make strange noises.
However if you insist, anything that make dog like creepy noises, are demons.
If you ever have the feeling of dread and being watched, it is a demon.
If you see shadows move around, especially around the corner of your eye, with all the above happening, it is a demon.
They are also known to sabotage appliances and electronics.
I would of thought it was a pranking wicked human spirit, but the creature noises threw me off.
I'll check back more if there are updates, God Bless.

jazzeyjay (3 stories) (215 posts)

15 years ago (2009-10-27)

I agree with whitebuffalo, why not try installing a video camera down there and position it in a way that you can see the stairs and no that no one is going down there and also see the washing machine and see what's lifting that lid up. Placing something on the lid sounds like a very good idea too, then whatever is lifting the lid will have to lift whatever it is you put on the lid first. Since you have heard noises down there, I would even try snapping some photos when I am down there and the hair starts to stand up on your arms again.

I wish you well and God be with you.

Thegrinch17 (guest)

15 years ago (2009-10-25)

I can think of no explanation for these incidents & it's creepy! Next time you do a load of clothes, try to hide out of sight for a bit to see if the lid goes up.

atyus (3 posts)

15 years ago (2009-10-24)

I think you may a a prankser ghost means no harm a agree set up a video cam everytime you do your laundry I don't think you should be scarced. Just to reassure you your not losing your mind a cam recorder would be the answer.

vulcan10 (5 stories) (332 posts)

15 years ago (2009-10-24)

set up a video recorder and record everytime you do laundry until you catch what ever the culprit is or find out the reason.

whitebuffalo (guest)

15 years ago (2009-10-24)

Hmmm. Interesting, SBMatt.
I am assuming by the "...we don't have any pets" that you are not living there alone.
Not trying to make light of the situation at all, just asking, is there any chance that someone there would have lifted the lid?
With that question out of the way...
Have you tried placing something on top of the washer that is just heavy enough to "hold it down"?
I am NOT trying to say that there is something inside the washer that is able to push the top up (meaning shoes, a shirt etc), just sharing what I, personally, would try if this was happening in my house. I would also try to stand somewhere while the machine was running to "peek" at the machine to "see" if I could "catch" it opening by itself.
Thank you.

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