Someone under the Floorboards—A.T. Bennett

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of The Little House on the Prairie series, once wrote — “Home is the nicest word there is.”

And it’s a helluva sentiment, isn’t it? For many, it’s true. The moment they step into their home, there is a small sense of relief so palpable it’s like a warm hug. The scent of space, the familiar clutter, the hum of hungry pets or welcoming loved ones. I get it too. Close the front door, and it’s like you shut out a deluge of freezing rain. You are in your safe space.

Safe.

That word is often used to describe home. Of course, believing that locking your door instantly protects you from harm is one of life’s ultimate illusions. (If it weren’t, writers of mystery would have very dull books indeed.) One of our jobs as scene crafters is to circumvent the notion that sanctuaries are impregnable. It’s what makes for a good page turner. Usually this problem takes the form of “how did the bad guy break in”…. But what if he didn’t?

What if he had been there all along? Watching you.

Secretly living, eating, and sleeping where you live, for weeks…. months…

Believe it or not, this happens! There’s even a term for this absolutely terrifying activity—“phrogging”. At their most basic, phroggers settle into a residence, in those hidden spaces between walls, attics, or crawl spaces. Why? Any number of reasons—including homelessness or infatuation—or they do so simply for the heck of it. They wait patiently, they observe routines. When the homeowner is out of the house, or is fast asleep, they move about. Freely eating the food in the fridge, tampering with medications, or stealing possessions in order to set up their own Home Sweet Home.

This pastime goes way beyond simple burglary, or squatting. This is a violation, one that can quickly escalate into violence. Take it as a backdrop and you have a psychologically intense thriller, horror, or mystery. Let me give you a couple of real-life examples:

In 1986, a young Massachusetts teen named Tina Bowen, and her nine-year-old sister Karen, were grieving the loss of their mother because of cancer. Tina had the added problem of avoiding the advances of this weird guy she knew from school. Daniel had been obsessively calling the house and, despite agreeing to go out with him, she’d found his greasy appearance off-putting. When he started asking increasing probing questions about her mother she decided she’d finally had enough, and ended cutting the date short.

Daniel LaPlante did not take that well.

Over the course of a few weeks, he broke into her home, hiding in a space no wider than six inches to spy on her and her family. He even carved out tiny peepholes through in which to better see and hear! As Tina and Karen’s grief became more pronounced, he banged on the walls and pretended to be the ghost of their dead mother. Hungry, he raided the pantry. Whenever he was bored, he moved objects. Their father, who wasn’t a witness to this “paranormal” activity, thought the girls were making up stories. Emblazoned Daniel got bolder, scrawling “I’m in your room” and “Marry me” on the walls in ketchup and mayo.

Daniel finally messed up when he forgot to flush the toilet whilst the family was out shopping. Frank, the father, found the intruder hiding in a closet… with a hatchet. Cornered, Daniel held the family hostage. Thinking quickly, he locked them all in a bedroom and then disappeared back into the walls before the police came. It ended up taking detectives two days to root him out.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of this nightmare. Daniel’s mother posted bail, leaving him free to kill a neighbouring mother and her two children.

Of course, my dear reader, you may have clocked the date on the above event and thought to yourself, “That was literally decades ago, you silly blogger! With today’s security systems, you couldn’t possibly get away with that kind of horrific behaviour.” And I would laugh, scoff even, because au contraire!

In 2022, authorities found a family of seven (two adults and five children) secretly living in the Children's Museum of Northwest Nevada. The father, Wilbert Calhoun, was the museum’s janitor and his wife was actually the manger—so they knew exactly where to lie low and did so for months. Staff and patrons hadn't detected a whiff of them; then their two-year-old wandered into the street outside. Now, you may think this isn’t necessarily that bad, at least compared to the Daniel LaPlante case. And I'd agree with you.... besides the small detail that Wilbert had hidden an AK-47, three handguns, a short-barrel rifle, a pistol, a suppressor, ammunition, knives, and a taser on the premises.

Yup. That kinda went from romantic (come on, who doesn’t want to live in a museum?) to dark real fast.

There is a lot a writer can play with by introducing “phrogging” into their plots. What if the villain sets up home inside a detective’s house? On the flip side—what would happen if an urban phrogger saw a murder committed through a crack in the wall?

I invite you to play around with the concept… though I strong discourage anyone from personally “researching” this strange activity on any unsuspecting friends/family.

Keep it out of the floorboards, good people.