Took the paneling down.

I've been hearing that noise more often. Creaking wasn't quite the right word for it. It's closer to the sound a heavy piece of furniture makes when you push it across a bare floor. A short scrape, then it stops. Sometimes there's another one a few seconds later.

I heard it yesterday afternoon while I was putting wood on the fire. Went straight down to the basement, and again it was quiet. I stayed there for a while. There isn't much left that could move around, and I'd already checked the shelves and the stairs.

I decided to have a look behind the gray paneling at the far end. I'd meant to take it off weeks ago because of the draft underneath. There's obviously an opening behind it, and I thought something loose in there might account for the sound.

Getting it off took most of the afternoon. I'd expected the first piece to come away fairly easily, especially with the bottom edge going soft. Instead, it split wherever I got the pry bar under it. There were nails all along the edges, some buried under the paint. I kept having to stop and dig around for the heads.

When I finally got a piece off, there was more wood behind it. Thicker boards, fitted across the opening and nailed into a frame. I went upstairs for the hammer and a different bar. By then I'd made enough of a mess that I wanted to know what I was opening.

It turned out to be a small recess in the stone wall. An alcove, I suppose. Shallow enough that I could reach the back without stepping into it. There was nothing inside. I ran the flashlight around the edges and along the floor, thinking there might be an old pipe or a blocked window, but I couldn't see either.

What surprised me was how clean it was. No cobwebs in the corners. No dust that I could see, apart from the bits I'd just dropped into it. The rest of the basement was filthy when I started clearing it. Even the backs of the shelves had thick webs between them and the wall.

I don't understand why anyone went to that much trouble to close off an empty recess. It might have held shelves at some point, but I couldn't find any brackets or marks where they'd been.

I took the rest of the wood down before stopping. It's all stacked beside the stairs now, with the nails pulled or hammered flat. I'll have another look at the stonework tomorrow. My hands were getting sore, and I'd spent far longer on it than I'd intended.