I don’t even know why I’m writing this, because if I read something like this from someone else, I probably wouldn’t believe it. But it happened to me, and since then, I haven’t been able to come up with any normal explanation.
I live in a small town in the Czech Republic. I work remotely, so I often stay up late. About six months ago, my schedule got a bit strange—I’d go to bed around 2 or 3 a.m., sometimes even later.
It started with something small. At the beginning of winter, I began waking up almost every night at around the same time—3:17 a.m. Not 3:15, not 3:20—almost always 3:17, or very close to it. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Just coincidence.
But then it kept happening. Every single night. No matter how tired I was, no matter when I went to bed, I’d still wake up at exactly that time. And the strangest part was how I woke up—it was sudden, like something had woken me. Not from a sound, not from a nightmare—I’d just open my eyes, instantly.
After about a week, I started noticing something else. Every time I woke up, I had this feeling that I wasn’t alone in the room. It’s hard to describe—I didn’t see anything, but there was a very clear sense of presence. Like someone was nearby, just out of sight.
I told myself it was just that half-asleep state. But then one night changed everything.
I woke up, as usual, at 3:17. I was lying there, staring at the ceiling. The room was dark, just a faint glow from outside. And then I heard it… a soft knocking sound. Like someone tapping on the wall. Once. Then a pause. Then again.
I froze. I do have neighbors, but that wall faces outside. There’s nothing there but the street.
I sat up and listened. Silence. I almost convinced myself I imagined it—then I heard it again. This time closer. Not the wall, but like it was coming from the wardrobe. Tap… tap.
I turned on the light. The sound stopped immediately.
I got up, checked everything—wardrobe, door, window. Nothing. I went back to bed, turned off the light. About five minutes later, the knocking came back. But now it sounded like it was coming from different places. Still quiet, but very clear.
I turned the light on again—silence.
This went on for about half an hour. Every time I turned the light off, the tapping would start again. Like something was checking whether I could see it.
I didn’t sleep that night.
The next day I tried to rationalize it—pipes, maybe, or something in the walls. But then it got worse.
A couple of days later, I woke up at 3:17 again, already expecting the knocking. But instead, I heard something else—a very faint sound, like whispering. Not words, just a soft, constant murmur.
I lay still and listened. The sound was to my right, near the armchair. I turned my head—and it stopped instantly.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and pointed it there. And this is where I’m not sure what I saw.
There was something on the chair… something dark. Not exactly a full figure, more like a dense shadow—but it didn’t look like a normal shadow. It had some kind of shape, but I couldn’t quite focus on it.
I blinked—and it was gone.
After that, I couldn’t just explain it away anymore. I started leaving the light on at night. And I noticed something: as long as there was light in the room, nothing happened. No sounds, no presence.
But the moment it got dark—it all came back.
The strangest thing happened about a month later. I decided to test whether the time mattered. One night, I didn’t go to sleep at all—I worked straight through.
And at exactly 3:17, while I was sitting at my computer, my monitor… flickered off for a split second. Just a black screen, like the power cut out.
And in that exact moment, I felt it again—that presence.
The monitor turned back on, everything looked normal. But there was a folder open that I hadn’t opened. And inside it—a file named “3_17”.
I know for a fact I didn’t create it.
I opened it. It was an empty text file. No words, no symbols. Just blank.
After that, I moved to a friend’s place for a few weeks. Nothing happened there. Nothing at all.
But when I came back home—on the very first night, I woke up again at 3:17.
I’m planning to move out. Because I don’t know what this is. And honestly, I’m not sure I even want to know.