Very weird.

Yes, very odd.

I know about rabbit rabbit, but what is pele?

A bolus of high pressure natural gas that made its way through both your fire set up and shower steam? Is the shower steam electric on demand, or gas burning?

Lindsey, I went to Hawaii back in the 80s and took a small lava rock off the big island...not in the National Park though. Lore has it that that angers the goddess Pele, the goddess of fire, who resides in Kilauea. As soon as I got home, a string of health events hit my family and in-laws, one after another including broken bones, illnesses and surgeries. I didn't want to return the rock as many others have done, so instead I give her a nod each month by saying "Pele Pele Rabbit Rabbit". And this month, for the first time in years, I forgot to say "Pele Pele Rabbit Rabbit" and I've had all sorts of odd things and near misses.

Matthias-lang, we have liquid propane, not natural gas. The steam shower is electric and it is off. But the unit is also in the same closet where an LPG-fired instant hot water heater resides. But any nexus between the two would seem impossible. Especially since the controls on the steam shower are electric and seem to be in good working order. It has no connection to the gas lines at all.

And here's another weird event:

This a.m. the weather guy said from 6am to 6:06 the ISS would be visible crossing the sky, so I bundled up and went out on the deck and saw it. It was awesome.

I turned back toward the house and saw rectangles of light on the patio, shining out the windows from inside. Being dopey headed after only a few hours of sleep last night, I thought, oh, DH got up and is in the bathroom. But when I went in the house, he was still in bed and said he hadn't gotten up. Then it dawned on me that I can't see the bathroom lights from the deck as they face west, not south. So I went back outside and no lights. Then I thought, could it have been a passing car? But I heard no car and car lights move whereas these were stationary and they don't create specific rectangles of light. Then I thought, well sometimes I see the light from the kitchen window casting down on the patio, but the shade on the kitchen window is drawn so it can't cast light on the patio at all, and it's in the wrong location...the lights seemed to have come from my craft room...where there was and has been no one...

But that room's closet is where my steam shower unit is...

Haunted.

It's the booger man.

Energy doesn't die....that's what I believe. These incidents seem harmless. Interesting, but harmless. Would a few dogs...6 or so....give you comfort?

My cats seem to be fine....and pets seem to have a 6th sense about some things, so I'm not uncomfortable...except when I think I'm going crazy and seeing things!

Update on the weirdness. DH wanted me to run the steam unit in the shower...he went downstairs and it's leaking like mad. So mad dash to clean everything off the floor, turn off the valve, get buckets under the leaks, unplug the unit. We took the covers off and it looks like the box that contains the steam generating parts is kind of blown out and misshapen. He's thinking that was the problem, not the gas fireplace. And he thinks it's been leaking for awhile...the water getting soaked up into the insulation around the unit. So we'll need to follow up on this mess. I really have to question its usefulness considering we've only used it a few times in the last 12 years!

So now I'm thinking that the light I saw this a.m. from my craft room may have been our house spirit telling me to go take a look as we have a real problem going on! My poor guardian angel has been working overtime this month for sure!!

Interesting. I was thinking about this this morning and was thinking that your steam unit might have a pressure vessel. (Not sure because I've never seen such a device.) Pressure vessels can become corroded and leak. Or they can become corroded and suddenly blow, releasing a lot of pressure, or rocketing the vessel through the building in which it is contained. Very dangerous.

Yeah, I think I'd send Pele back her rock.

If you have a basement or attached garage, you can have unsettling noises. These noises will be a singular bang and then won't happen again for several months. Its usually a new crack in the concrete floor, footing, or concrete block wall. These cracks are caused by uneven settling of the building. I had a new house built in 1976 and for the next 10 years, I had a few "bangs". Afterward, I could find a new crack or an extension of an older one.

My house is now 46 years old and it had been over 10 years without change, and then last month, I heard another mysterious "bang". I found a new long crack in the garage floor. apparently, one corner of the garage has settled.

Ah, yes. Pele is the goddess of volcanoes, fire, and lightning. Anyone who removes from Hawaii anything that is native to Hawaii (e.g., volcanic rock, sand) will suffer her wrath. I knew about her (we used to go to Hawaii every six months and considered moving there), but I've never heard that if you utter "Pele, Pele" after taking something from the Islands that you'll be protected. If I were you, I'd send the rock back to Hawaii, addressed simply to Pele. The Hawaiian Post Office will know what to do with it.

Annie glad you found the source. We had what sounded like glass and metal very LOUD clunk too early this morning. A thorough search found a decorative plate slid off it's edge and cleaned of shelf of some stone birds in my son's old room. Universal laws such as gravity etc. are always the reason.

Lindsey, I never heard that either, but I figured it was a way of appeasing her wrath and it seemed to work...life went back to its normal level of catastrophe. I remember them telling the story of the man who lived on the side of the mountain and every so often he'd throw a bottle of booze into the crater to appease her, and apparently his house was never overrun with lava through all the eruptions. So who knows?

Our house will sometimes give off a hugh bang in the really cold weather. It has an upper level deck that is attached to a skirting and it must be that one thing shrinks and puts pressure on what it is attached to. Lucky the the county inspector made the deck builder also add upright support along the side where it meets the house. Too many decks were falling off of houses.

Hubs and i have had a bout with covid this past week and I have been watching a program on discovery about Strange Evidence.

Most of it is overly sensationalized and hysteric nonsense, but things do happen that seem to defy explanation.

One aspect that I found of particular interest is how different materials will react to different forces.

For example, one thing that was demonstrated was a man sitting at a restaurant with a glass of draft beer when the glass suddenly exploded. It went on to explain how the properties of glass that has been heated in a dishwasher can make it explode. It usually happens when the glass is still warm but the dynamic can remain after the glass has cooled.

Arcy, "Universal laws such as gravity etc. are always the reason."

So surprised this coming from you as that sentiment doesn't leave room for things like virgin births, turning water into wine, or loaves and fishes.

Annie Deighnaugh Why wouldn't that statement leave room for everything you mentioned ?

From thepositivemom.com :

In Job 38:33, in the Bible, we read:
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

The “ordinances of heaven and earth” (as mentioned in Jeremiah 33:25) or what people call “The Laws Of The Universe” or “The Laws of Nature” are imminent, infallible laws that govern our universe, the universe that God created. Every plant, rock, animal, matter, and person is ruled by those laws.

Annie, I’m happy you found the source. It is indeed unnerving to hear ’something’ and not be able to locate the source. Dang water issues can create havoc for sure, so glad you found it before it created more of a problem.

woodrose, not really wanting to get into a theological debate here -- actually it's more one of logic -- but the point of miracles, such as turning water into wine, or making the sun stand still are miraculous *because* they happen outside the "laws that govern the universe". So if one believes these physical laws to be immutable, then there is no room for miracles. If one believes in miracles, then these laws that govern the universe can be altered or suspended. Thomas Jefferson was such a believer in the laws of the universe that he wrote his own version of the bible in which there were no miracles. Since arcy is catholic, and catholics believe in miracles performed by Jesus and God and even the saints, then I was surprised at her statement that universal laws govern everything. Logically it can be one or the other but not both.

Update on the weirdness. We'd turned off the fireplace, the valves and everything until a service person could come. He came this a.m. and found a small leak on the piping in the bottom of the fireplace. I'm thinking the explosion we heard was that the LP gas, which is heavier than air, pooled in the bottom of the unit and finally built up enough to be triggered by the pilot light and went whoosh! So I'm glad he's here and can fix the issue. But then again, he said given the fake embers, they are very light, and had the explosion taken place in the firebox, they would've been scattered and they weren't. Had it taken place under the unit where the leak was...no idea what would've ignited it... there should be some kind of evidence of it, but there's not.

So as best as I can tell, we had 2 independent issues...the steam unit which blew the vent cover across the shower stall, and the fireplace which blew up some leaking gas. There is no known nexus between the 2...and it's all still a mystery as to what exploded. But we're tending to both issues so hopefully no more explosions.

Logically speaking fake light weight embers not being moved equals no explosion and steam vent cover thrown to the other side of the shower and internal parts misshapen and leaks means explosion happened so I am thinking that is your answer. Thankfully not the leaking gas. Why the steam unite took it into it's head to blow is another question. I dont understand how those things work.

Yes, but the sound I heard seemed to come from the library, not the bathroom, and the explosion had a definite whoosh to it like a gas explosion.

And there's no known reason for the steam unit to blow as it wasn't on. Like a pot full of water, it can sit there forever and will never generate steam or pressure to explode without heat. And the unit was off so I don't really understand how it could generate heat.

I really don't know...I could make an argument either way. But whatever it was, I'm glad we found both problems and are addressing them.