The Fireplace Crinkler

For a few days now I've been hearing this 'crinkle' noise coming from across the living room. I only noticed it when I was sitting at the computer and all was quiet.

The other day I asked Hannah if she heard the noise also - she did. Jacob happened to be in the room also and he insisted it was coming from the basket of pine cones on the hearth. I decide to investigate. I sit on the hearth and put my ear up to the grate on the fireplace opening. I say, "Yep, it's in the fireplace. I think there is something in the chimney."

As I'm sitting with my back to the fireplace Hannah comes and sits on the hearth also. She sits sideways, looking at me. We hear the 'crinkle' noise, Hannah's eyes go toward the fireplace and get really big. She jumps up and screams, at the top of her lungs, and then runs to her room. With my back to the fireplace I can't see what she saw so I instinctively scream also, jump up and run to my room. Meanwhile, Jacob, who was on his way to a friend's house, runs out the front door. (He didn't come back for a few hours, so I guess he wasn't too worried about the girls in the house with the Mystery Fireplace Crinkler.)

I'm in my room, laughing hysterically....I hear Hannah laughing in her room. I open the door slowly, looking out into the living room....thinking I'm going to find something hairy. Nope, nothing. I ask Hannah what she saw and she says, "Nothing, I just heard the noise."

I call Michael at work and tell him that something is in the fireplace. He'll check it when he gets home, which won't be until 10pm. Urg....I still hear the Crinkler....basically, it crinkles all day and I convince myself that there is a bird outside on top of the chimney.

Michael comes home and I immediately have him figure out what the noise is. He looks in the fireplace and sees nothing. I tell him that there is definitely something in the chimney then. He says the only thing he can do is open the flue and whatever is in there will come "flying" out. Jacob gets the flashlight while Michael decides he is going to open the flue. I'm thinking that this probably is not a great idea, since Hannah and I are sitting on the couch, which is a few feet away. He does it anyway....he turns the handle and runs to the other side of the room. Hannah and I scream.....and then decide we didn't see anything fall down.

Michael goes to the fireplace and closes the flue and shines the flashlight to the corners of the fireplace. "I found it," he says, "It's just a beetle, well, it's a big beetle."

All that for a beetle? Actually, it was very funny...making me wish that somehow it had been caught on video. Alas, this mystery is solved. On to the next.