Boredom is something I’ve personally never been good at dealing with. If I am left up to my own devices I frequently find myself getting into trouble, idle hands and what not. This is especially true for vacations in which I would be cooped up with my family at our cabin for at least a week and maybe more.

Also, this would coincide with the first time I had discretionary income and the ability the purchase things without having to go through an intermediary. So, while I was surfing the Internet I found a device that would play spooky noises. It was also incredibly small and easy to hide, and this gave me a great idea.

Fast forward to my summer trip up north. One day, while everyone was outside, I snuck back into the house and into my cousins’ room. There, I unscrewed the grate for the heater and pulled out the noise generator. It had different numbers that corresponded to different sounds, and I chose the children laughing one, as I thought it would provide the most eerie feeling. It had a magnet on it, and I stuck it inside the vent. Once it was sealed back up, it was impossible to tell it was there.

Now, all I had to do was wait.

And wait.

It took longer than I thought, but later that night, we heard screams from my cousins’ room. They came running out convinced that there was someone in their room. My grandparents went up to investigate. Luckily, the noise maker would only go off randomly, and after waiting a while, my grandparents thought they were just pretending.

Then, there were screams in the middle of the night. This time, my grandparents were not as understanding, thinking it was a joke, and told them to go bed.

The next day they largely avoided being in the room.

I also had to try to keep some composure.

The next night it happened again, and they looked scared enough that my grandmother was starting to get worried. They were convinced that they were kids playing on the porch behind their room. We told them there weren’t people around for miles. It was impossible that any little kids could have wandered into the backyard.

This did not ease their worries.

Things changed when the noise maker went off while my grandmother was in the room. The lights were on, and it was a small room, and then kids start laughing. Also, the sent gave the laughing a far more sinister sound than i was expecting.

I was still entertained, but I decided to come clean. I brought a screwdriver and undid the vent. I showed them the noise maker. Everyone was really mad, and I deserved the looks they were giving.

It was at that moment I realized I never put the batteries in.