Once the sun sets and people wind down for the night, a new set of nocturnal activities takes place.

Under the cover of darkness, wildlife often starts going about its business unseen by humans. Some of those critters can cause quite a ruckus, and people aren't comfortable with bumping into them after dark.

On the other hand, we generally are fascinated by the activities of these seldom-seen neighbors and the unusual circumstances that acquaint us with them.

My wife and I were on a weekend visit to some family members and found ourselves staying in a quaint town. We had chosen a historic hotel for our resting place and it had quite a history.

After dinner, we started up a conversation with a local who asked about our destination and stay in the town.

When I mentioned the hotel, she chuckled and warned us of the spirit at the hotel that was waiting for her bridegroom during the Civil War, but he never returned.

The story goes that she still waits for him and woe to anyone who disturbs their wedding suite. You guessed it — we were placed on the same floor next to that room!

I joked about the story and the ominous warning until retiring for the night. I was sleeping soundly until a loud thump awoke me and a chilling growl made me sit straight up in bed.

All I heard then was a rushing, tumbling noise from the ceiling and it had us both wide awake.

Yes, we heard it and the story came alive. I was ready to pack up and move on until I heard the chatter of a couple of raccoons that obviously had made the attic some sort of den or resting place.

When I checked out in the morning, the front desk attendant, with a wry smile, asked me if I slept well.

I replied that the raccoons weren't the quiet neighbors that you'd like to have at an old inn.

The night story continues with a camping story at a cabin in Cook's Forest years ago.

We had taken some youngsters to the popular area for a weeklong outdoors experience. Around the campfire, a lot of scary stories were told and I was in rare form as I told vintage tales to the group of 11 year olds.

One story was about a metal hook tapping on the kitchen window and someone checking it out from the camp. We finally grew sleepy and called it a night.

With huge hemlocks towering over you, there is no darkness like the darkness in an ancient forest. I was sleeping soundly when I heard whispers from the boys.

I then heard the other sound a soft tapping on metal. I thought of my own story and couldn't think of any plausible answer for the noise.

I took a small flashlight and tried to locate the source of the sound. I found myself face to face with a killer — deer mouse, that is.

He had chewed a tiny hole in a bag of popcorn and one kernel at a time bounced off the shelf onto a pan.

No more of those stories before bedtime!

The final tale happened one evening just after dark as we were watching television.

As I watched the Discovery Channel, I heard a loud plopping sound, then a series of thumps that sounded like running across the roof of the house.

It was an unusual pattern, so I cautiously began to investigate. A local guy had told me earlier in the week that he had seen a mountain lion near West Sunbury.

Even though I was skeptical, I decided that there was no reason to be foolish. As I peered up at the edge of the roof, I was greeted by about a dozen turkeys that had decided to use my roof as a roost for the night.

As each one landed with a thud, it gave the impression of something running across the rooftop. When I went into the house I declared to everyone, "It's nothing to worry about it's just something going bump in the night!"

Jay E. Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.