Mom Hears Voice In Shower Wall, Breaks It Down

New Home

The Grahams were happy in their new home in Tampa, Florida. But they never could have guessed what unpleasant surprise was waiting for them. They had moved into one of the nicest and most quiet parts of the city.

But there were no warning signs as to what was hiding in their bathroom. When they made the discovery, it looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

Making The Change

John and Stephanie couldn’t wait to move into their new home. They had been waiting in anticipation for months. They had been in New York for years now and they were ready for a change of pace. They were tired of the noise and bustle of the city, and they knew there were better placed to raise their children.

They decided that Tampa was the perfect place to raise their little family. They bought themselves a nice home in the city’s best suburbs. But nothing could ever have prepared them for what they would find in their new home.

Perfect Neighborhood

When they first got there, everything seemed perfect. They were sure that they were now living in their dream home. They loved the weather in Tampa, it was so much better than in New York, so was the atmosphere. Their new neighborhood was beautiful and safe, it was the perfect place to raise their two young children.

But a surprise was waiting for them. The real estate agency had left something out about the house.

She Noticed It

One morning, Stephanie was in the middle of her morning routine near the couple’s bathroom. She was brushing her teeth when she noticed something strange. At first, she hadn’t noticed the sound, but now it was all she could hear.

The sound was bouncing off the bathroom walls. She stood completely still, listening carefully as she tried to figure out what the sound was and where it was coming from. But she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

Didn’t Think Much Of It

She tried to shake it off. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. She would hear it every now and again but nobody else seemed to hear it at all.

She brushed it off, but eventually, she noticed that the sound had begun to get intermittently louder and more frequent. It got to the point where she could hear it every time she was in the bathroom. What was making that strange sound?

Impossible To Pinpoint

Usually, determining where a sound is coming from is relatively easy, especially inside of your own home.

Leaking faucets and squeaking pipes are easy to locate, but it was impossible for her to pinpoint where this sound was coming from. It was as if it was coming from the entire bathroom, but she couldn’t see anything inside. As time passed, she began to hear it in other parts of the house too.

It Clicked

But one day, it occurred to Stephanie. It was coming from inside of the walls! She was horrified as she pictures hundreds of rats living inside of their walls.

But that didn’t make any sense at all. How were they getting into the wall? It was a brand new home and as far as she knew, there weren’t any holes for them to get into the walls. Everything was sealed tight. But it only got worse.

Every Nook And Cranny

The humming had gotten so loud. It now seemed to echo all through the bathroom. It was loud and obnoxious. It had gotten impossible to ignore. It filled the entire bathroom.

But Stephanie couldn’t wrap her head around what it could be. She inspected every nook and cranny but she found nothing. She was puzzled and decided to head back to her and John’s bedroom to tell him about it.

Looking For An Explanation

Her husband decided to look into it. When he noticed the sound, he was completely bewildered by it. Just like Stephanie, he also inspected the entire bathroom but he couldn’t find anything.

The sound was definitely there but at first sight, there didn’t seem to be anything in the bathroom that caused the sound. Suddenly, John thought of an explanation.

It Didn’t Make Sense

Perhaps there was a problem with their plumbing system. It seemed like a reasonable explanation. It would explain why they couldn’t find anything in the bathroom.

John called a plumber to look at the pipes. But something else seemed to be wrong. It was a brand new home, it didn’t make sense for the plumbing to be a problem. The Grahams were left with no answers. At least for now.

It Didn’t Go Away

And for the next weeks, they had to live with that noise. It started becoming unbearable. Every time it got louder and louder. What used to be difficult to notice at first became a major annoyance.

Until one day, the Grahams noticed something. Something started happening that would give away what was behind that eerie noise.

Strange Smell

John and Stephanie investigated the kitchen. The noise was louder in here, too – it wasn’t just in the bathroom anymore. Then, Stephanie noticed that the whole room smelled sickeningly sweet and familiar…but she couldn’t quite place the smell.

Something had pooled on the floor in a thick stain against the far wall, and this was where the smell was coming from.

Inspecting The Substance

Stephanie and John inspected the dark puddle on the floor. And then they saw that there was something oozing down the wall in thick dark trails.

It looked like very dark tree sap, but how could that be possible? The entire surface of the wall was slick with it. There was no denying it now. Something was very wrong with their house.

Bees!

Stephanie had been kept up all night by the noise that seemed to grow louder and louder.
She was taking a cool shower when she suddenly saw something. There were bees flying around her! But how did they get in there?

It wasn’t even summer, the door and window were closed, and she had never seen any bees around the house. Soon, she noticed that they were going in and out some tiny holes between the bathroom tiles. That’s when she finally knew what was going on.

What Was Behind The Wall?

So that’s where the overwhelming buzzing noise came from! Apparently, there were bees living behind the shower walls. Maybe there even was a whole hive.

There must have been so many bees that their honey had started to seep through the molding and cornices in the kitchen – which shared a wall with the bathroom. She felt a sense of calm now that she knew that the sound she had been fixating on had a logical cause.

Taking Action

Immediately, Stephanie called her husband and told him about what she’d seen. They decided to call a local bee removal expert so she could handle the issue.

The bee removal expert arrived in a big white van. And when she finally went to work and found out what was behind the shower walls, they were all blown away.

Thermal Imaging

In order to confirm that there could be bees inside the wall, the bee removal expert scanned it with a thermal imaging camera, which detects heat.

Bees generate heat by vibrating their wings, which keeps their hives at a toasty 35 degrees Celsius. When the thermal image showed a dark red patch deep withiin the shower walls, the Grahams finally had their answer.

Taking Down The Wall

The bee removal expert had to break the shower walls down. Stephanie was aghast when she removed the remaining bricks and revealed the inside wall of the home.

But there was just one problem: they were more than what anyone could expect. There were at least 35,000 bees residing within. They had never seen anything like it.

A 7 Feet Tall Hive!

There was a giant hive hidden behind the Grahams’ shower walls! It was at least 7 feet tall. There were hundreds of thousands of bees, all humming and buzzing within the space in the wall.

The Grahams were shocked when they saw it; but the bee removal expert, named Elisha Bixler, had reasons to be excited about the finding.

She Was Delighted

Elisha Bixler was also the owner of a beekeeping company. And naturally, she was delighted by the discovery. So much that she decided to record it and share it on her TikTok profile.

“Look at all that honey!” Bixler exclaims on the video while poking at the big syrupy structure with her finger, “I’m going to take them home to one of my apiaries.” But things didn’t end there.

They Sealed The House

For a few days, the Grahams’ house was sealed by the firemen; the family just couldn’t live next to a giant and potentially dangerous beehive.

Initially, the plan was for Bixler to remove the giant hive and move it to one of her vehicles. But soon enough, it became evident that this would be impossible. The hive was just too big.

The House Had To Remain Sealed

There was nothing that could be done about the hive at that moment. It couldn’t be placed in Bixler’s property, it couldn’t be removed and the local laws made it illegal to just exterminate the bees.

So there was only one option left: the Grahams’ house remained sealed for the time being, and insurance gave them their money back.

The Hive Is Still There Now

Fortunately, the Grahams were granted a temporary substitute house by the real estate agency. And this one didn’t come with a secret giant beehive hidden between its walls.

But the hive house remained sealed indefinitely; at least, until the local authorities and bee removal experts managed to get coordinated and managed to find a solution for the humongous hive.

Attractive To Bees

The voids inside walls are extremely attractive to honeybees seeking permanent nesting sites. Although the house had been sealed and insulated properly, there was a tiny gap in the caulk and wall on the house’s exterior, around the plumbing.

If you have a bee colony living inside your walls, don’t try to deal with them yourself. When beehives are disturbed, they can be lethal.

Beneficial Insects

Although swarms can be dangerous, honeybees play an extremely important role in the ecosystem.

Because they are effective pollinators of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, they are vital in ensuring that we have food. Without them, growing one-third of all our food wouldn’t be possible. That’s why you shouldn’t exterminate them if you find a beehive.

Becoming Endangered

Sadly, entire colonies of bees have disappearing throughout the world. Their populations are dwindling, but scientists don’t know why.

Billions of bees leave their hives worldwide but never return. This is called “colony collapse disorder,” and it’s so bad in some areas that these regions have lost 90% of their bees. In fact, if this continues, bees are predicted to eventually become extinct.

Dwindling Populations

There are a total of eight bee species that are listed on the endangered species list. Like so many other endangered animals, bee populations are dwindling due to habit loss, invasive species, natural disasters, and the overuse of pesticides.

But there are things everyone can do to help the bees – you can even help out from your own backyard.

Plant Pollinator Gardens

You can help the bees by planting fruits and flowers that bees are attracted to. Find out which bee species live nearby, and find out which plants they collect pollen from. Generally, bees are attracted to blue, white, and purple flowers.

At the same time, avoid using synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizer that might negatively affect the bees.

Don’t Exterminate

When bees move into your home, follow the Graham family’s lead and call a professional bee removal service. Simply spraying pesticides into the hive won’t help you in the long run, either.

If you kill the colony of bees, the remaining honey will drip down into your home. This could end up costing more to repair than removing the bees humanely.

Use Smoke

Using smoke to drive an inconveniently located bee colony away is the most humane DIY option. Honey bees are extremely sensitive to smell – when they smell smoke, they think there is a forest fire threatening their home.

Smoking out a beehive with a smoking piece of cardboard and dead firewood will cause the bee colony to leave and never come back.