Someone with the Reddit username Distinct-Sir-69 shared their strange experience online after their wife noticed a weird and unsettling symbol on their bedroom wall.
Now, while most people might panic, start packing, or even contact a ghost expert, this Redditor took a more grounded route. They turned to Reddit to see what the internet sleuths could figure out.
The user shared a photo of the eerie symbol, which looked like a backwards letter C that seemed to be drawn in blood.
They added more context to the story, noting that the strange mark wasn’t there the night before. Their house, built way back in 1885, has its fair share of issues, which made them question what could’ve caused it.
“The house is very old (built in 1885) and we’ve had plumbing, electrical, structural and insect problems so we do not count anything out.” they added, keeping an open mind and resisting the urge to jump to paranormal conclusions too quickly.
“We do not have attic access unless I make one. I’d love to hear logical, earth-based theories before I throw this into a paranormal sub, as my first guess was a poltergeist named Carrie.”
According to several commenters, what looked like a sinister symbol was actually left behind by a ladybug’s pheromones.
“Honestly it looks like ladybug pheromones.” someone suggested in the comments.
“They releasee these pheromones in that exact color to find a mate. Same thing happened to us except we saw the lady beetle release it.”
As more people chimed in with similar theories, one person asked if the house happened to be yellow. Apparently, ladybugs are especially attracted to that color.
But here’s the thing—pheromone trails aren’t usually something people can see with the naked eye. These chemical signals are mostly used to attract other bugs and are often picked up through smell rather than sight.
The original poster marked the mystery as solved, but admitted that thinking about a bug watching them sleep felt somehow creepier than the idea of a ghost named Carrie.
“My best educated guess is stink bug poo.” one person guessed.
“How it got into that shape however, I have no idea. At first I thought moth (they leave weird drippy stuff when they come out of their chrysalis and their poo can look similar to stink bugs, but I’ve never seen moth poo drip, and i don’t see a chrysalis lol) but I think stink bug is more likely.”
“I think we’ve got enough to label this as solved! For the most part.” they wrote. “Some sort of bug is watching me sleep. Slightly more unsettling than ghosts, but I’ll take it.”