[172/365] plumborcist

I laughed so much when an internet friend complained about obnoxious neighbors and then said they were gonna shout at the ghost in their toilet to go and haunt the neighbors instead.

Apparently the toilet woke them up at 6:30 one morning recently, with no one near it. You might say that's just bad plumbing but another friend commiserated with their own story: "When I was going for a wee, the bathroom lock that was unlocked, went and locked itself on its own. I'm glad I was already on the toilet cos I'd have pissed myself."

So I told them about the shower ghost at work, which is the name we've had for a long time to describe the unpredictability of the water temperature and the recent trend of things hurling themselves off bathroom hooks or shelves when no one is near them.

Again, bad plumbing or just apartment-building living meaning the availability and pressure of water in the pipes is going to fluctuate, and people who are blind or dyspraxic can have effects on small objects around them that are only a surprise to them. Still, I have increasing sympathy for animist beliefs developing among groups of humans who don't know the complex interactions among elements of their complex environments, or maybe these days do understand but just find a narrative more satisfying.

One of the people witnessing this conversation said it sounds like there's money in a dual plumber/exorcist role, and now I'd love to read about what that job is like.

In the meantime, have you got ghosts like this in your house?