Mom Films Herself Sleeping And Is Stunned Once She Watches The Footage

"Parenting doesn’t end when the sun goes down," admitted Melanie Darnell, a social media influencer and mom of three. This is particularly true when it comes to the sleepless nights that so many new mothers experience. But for Melanie, 10 months of exhaustion led her to conduct an experiment to determine exactly why she was unable to get the sleep she so desperately needed. Filming herself at night, it wasn't long before Melanie discovered the startling reason behind her sleepless nights.

Melanie's story

Based in Los Angeles, Melanie Darnell, otherwise known as "Fitmomma," is the mother of three children. In addition to being a dedicated caregiver, Melanie is also a blogger who enjoys providing her fellow moms with vegan nutrition and home workout tips. Soon enough, however, Melanie would also become the provider of a jaw-dropping revelation.

Turning difficulty into inspiration

Following the birth of her third child, Melanie could not believe how every morning she would wake up more tired than the night before. "I literally got no sleep last night," she would say to her husband. But what Melanie didn't realize was that she wasn't alone.

The problem is bigger than you'd think

In a survey conducted by Owlet Baby Care, nearly half of the parents that responded admitted to getting just three hours of sleep or less. Even more alarming was the discovery that only 5 percent of parents reported getting 8 hours of sleep per night.

Disastrous consequences

While many people get less than the standard eight hours per night, sleeping for less than three hours like many new parents can be dangerous. The Owlet survey also revealed that 30 percent of new parents have fallen asleep at work, 21 percent have fallen asleep in parked cars, and another 11 percent have dozed off in the shower.

Root of the problem

While babies need regular attention, surely they shouldn't be taking up all of their mother's time? Well, many moms disagree. "He only sleeps if he’s being held," one mother confessed, meaning she had to stay awake the entire time her baby slept. Unsurprisingly, she was not the only one to have experienced this.

Taking action

But after endless sleepless nights, Melanie decided it was time to determine the true source of her problem. As she explained in one of her blog posts, she was not alone in her struggle to find a balance between getting enough rest and tending to her children's needs.

Getting to work

With over 87,000 followers on Instagram, Melanie knew that understanding and addressing her problem would not only benefit herself but also her followers, many of whom are also moms. The time had come to conduct what she called a "self-experiment."

The proof is in the pudding

Because her complaints about getting no sleep were somewhat arbitrary, Melanie decided to gather some proof in order to verify her claim. Just before bedtime, she taped a NEST cam above her bed so that she could observe exactly what would transpire that night. Even Melanie couldn't have predicted what came next.

Evening commences

At 10 PM on the night of the filming, Melanie crawled into bed after putting her children to sleep. Tightly wound from yet another challenging day of parenting, Melanie was in desperate need of some rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, tossing and turning would be the least of her problems that night.

Trouble starts brewing

After just a few minutes, Melanie had already jumped out of bed. The overexerted mom returned at 11:20 PM, only when she did, she had a companion. Her 10-month-old baby was with her, unable to fall asleep without mom's comforting presence. While her baby was able to get some shut-eye, Melanie would soon learn that her fix was only temporary.

Situation escalates

As soon as Melanie had finally found a comfortable sleeping position, her baby was awake once again. Then, at 1:00 AM, Melanie's 2-year-old daughter joined them in bed, unable to sleep due to an irritating ear infection. By this point, it was clear a good night's sleep would elude Melanie once again — still, the night was far from over.

Melanie's non-stop job

In the early hours of the morning, Melanie placed her two-year-old back in her own bed. Finally, Melanie was able to grab a few hours of sleep, though it wasn't long before her baby, who was still sharing her bed, woke her up, deciding at 6:20 AM that it was time to start the day. After reviewing the footage, Melanie had a clear explanation for her sleep deprivation.

No outside forces ... for her

Ultimately, no, there weren't any outside forces keeping Melanie up at night, just the pressures of parenting. But it was worth checking the camera footage to be safe, particularly in light of young mom Heather Brough's own disturbing experience recording herself and her child sleeping.

Very different results

While it took a simple video for Melanie to debunk her sleep troubles, new mother Heather Brough had a starkly different experience playing back her video footage. After discovering a series of mysterious scratches on her baby's face, Heather decided to place a camera in the child's bedroom — and captured a terrifying sight that made her fear for her family's life.

A peaceful life

This turn of events came like a bolt from the blue. At the time, Heather lived with her fiance, Joshua, and the young couple was thriving in their quiet hometown of Highland, Michigan. And, as a new mom, Heather was focused full-time on her one-year-old daughter, Lily. That's why the sudden appearance of the scratches was so upsetting.

A horrifying sight

Their life was about to become much less quiet, too. It all started when Heather went to greet her daughter after one of her naps. When the 25-year-old mom took her baby downstairs, she noticed a trio of nasty "purple scratches" on Lily's face. Where had they come from?

Something was off

Try as she might, Heather couldn't think of where Lily could have gotten the scratches overnight. She began to get upset, hopelessly repeating "what happened to you" to her baby girl. But the sight of her daughter was disturbing for another reason. You see, Heather had been feeling uncomfortable in the family home for quite a while now.

Eerie noises

Because Heather had previously heard the sounds of footsteps or creaking doors in the house. "If I'm in the shower, I hear someone running up and down the steps," she later told The Scottish Sun. "I woke up to get ready for work one morning, and it felt like someone was choking me." But this latest development was something new – and even more terrifying.

A hopeful solution

Still, Heather felt silly for worrying so much – especially because she had family close by. So she decided to forget about the scratches and chalked them up to Lily scratching herself in her sleep. The next night, then, Heather trimmed the baby's nails before putting her to bed. Case closed... right?

An angry voice

Well, no. The unsettling noises persisted throughout that evening. In fact, they seemed to escalate. Heather later swore that she heard the voice of an angry male in her home, too. The guttural grunt apparently came from the baby's room – and shocked the worried mother into action.

Enough was enough

And when Heather went to check on her baby, she found... more scratches! Things were clearly getting out of control. Heather didn't want to take any more chances with her daughter's safety. Now fully freaked out, she took matters into her own hands.

Finding the truth

In Lily's room, Heather and her fiance installed a top-of-the-line baby monitor equipped with night vision technology. They hoped this would confirm nothing strange was going on in their daughter's room. But, in reality, the footage would be less than comforting.

Replaying the footage

The next morning, Heather observed the scratches on Lily's little face and immediately checked the footage to see what she caught on tape. She watched the video, and her blood turned ice cold. It was far worse than anything they could have expected.

A disturbing discovery

In the camera footage, the shadowy figure of a man seemingly entered Lily's room. Blurry and almost transparent looking, the figure appeared to hang over the baby's crib. Most chilling of all, Lily apparently reacted to the shadow with a wide look of fear in her eyes.

Questioning everything

Heather later said she didn't want to be “that insane person who thinks they’re seeing ghosts." Still, she couldn't shake the image from her mind. She shared the video with her fiance, and he was equally disturbed. "It was chilling. It was literally a chill down your spine," he said.

Seeking help

That's why Heather and Joshua called their local police precinct – at the risk of having people question their sanity. They were desperate for answers. And while they didn't get the response they were hoping for, they did get a curious referral.

Paranormal experts

The police actually suggested that the couple contact the Scientific Paranormal Investigations of Michigan. And it wasn't long before Mike Priest – the co-owner of the paranormal investigation firm – was at their front door. Nothing could have prepared them for what he was about to uncover, though.

Shocking evidence

The team investigated the home of Heather and Joshua for paranormal activity. They said they recorded voices and picked up on a possible spirit... and not a welcoming one. This understandably left the couple feeling even more uneasy. Then they got some startling info from Joshua's mother.

A dark past

Joshua's mother, Kris, had a disturbing insight into what could be haunting the family. “I was told when we bought the houses 11 years ago that the lady who owned the property died in the main house," she explained. Could this be the cause of all the trouble?

Tragedy in the house

The older lady apparently died after falling down the stairs and breaking her hips. But that's not all. The guesthouse had seemingly been built for the old lady's brother. This gentleman reportedly struggled with mental illness and schizophrenia during his lifetime. And, according to Kris, he also met a tragic end in their home.

Haunting truth

“The gentleman that lived here, originally jumped out this window, which is one story down,” Kris explained to WXYZ-TV Detroit News. And after hearing about these horrific events, Heather and Joshua began to embrace the possibility that their home could be haunted.

Skeptic intervene

But not everybody believes this version of the story. When the couple started an internet fundraiser asking for money to allow them to move house, the critics began weighing in on the alleged haunting in Highland. And Kenny Biddle, writer for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, didn't buy the tale at all.

Ghost or hoax?

“There’s something... I noticed right away. The ghost was casting a shadow – two, actually. This tells me the figure is a solid, physical object able to reflect light," Biddle said. So Biddle believes the images caught on camera were just Heather or Joshua being blurred out purposefully.

Still a mystery

Of course, there is no way to confirm whether the guesthouse that the family lives in is haunted or not. But, either way, it seems that there is definitely something off about the family home. And the curious case of this Michigan family was given more attention than it once would have been, given that it came after the chilling video evidence one Pennsylvania family recorded inside their home.

Worst nightmare

The Pittsburgh couple assumed they were hearing some sort of house-related din while they slept – at least, at first. But as the noise continued, they realized that it was something far more sinister — and they had to act. So they installed a camera, and when they played the footage back, they couldn’t believe the terrifying image of their neighbor secretly spying on them.

The recluse

Before their frightening revelation, Jerome and Ashley Kennedy were just like any other couple in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They lived with their ten-month-old daughter, Regan, in an historic home in the city. Meanwhile, 69-year-old Robert Havrilla lived in the house next door; in a 2017 interview with Inside Edition, the mom and dad would describe him as “very reclusive.”

Noises from the ceiling

But although, as the Kennedys also revealed, their neighbor often “kept to himself,” the family would become very familiar with him in time – and in one of the worst ways imaginable. It all started in July 2017, when Jerome heard noises coming from the bedroom ceiling.

A light in the dark

Then, things got even stranger: Jerome spotted a light coming through a pipe in the bedroom. “I saw the light right through there,” he told the Inside Edition camera crew as he pointed out the spot. He added that the light appeared to be “searching for a place to look through.”

He wanted to protect his family

Making matters worse, Jerome shared the bedroom not only with his wife, but also with their daughter – who slept in a crib nearby. So, as he continued to see and hear strange things, the man of the house decided to take matters into his own hands and set up the camera.

He had a hunch

Even without video footage, though, Jerome was sure of what was going on. “I knew someone was up there,” he said. As for their reason for being there, he told CBS Pittsburgh in 2017, “The only thing I can assume is he’s watching my baby, my wife or myself.”

Confirmed the awful truth

Then, just one day after Jerome had installed the camera, footage confirmed what the dad already knew to be true: someone seemed to be watching them, snooping on his young family. And the person allegedly doing the peeping was the Kennedys’ neighbor, Robert Havrilla.

The trespasser went to elaborate lengths

Even creepier were the lengths that Havrilla seemed to go to in order to see the family’s day-to-day actions. “He’s removed all the insulation from my ceiling above the bedroom,” Jerome told CBS Pittsburgh. “And that gives him direct access where he could manipulate and get his way into the vents.”

A creepy renovation

Furthermore, Havrilla’s movement from his home into the Kennedys’ was made easier by another renovation he’d made. According to Inside Edition, the neighbor had created a removable wall between the adjoining properties; potentially, this could help him to enter the Kennedys’ attic without any difficulty.

He recorded them

And in the footage captured on Jerome’s camera, Havrilla had already made his entry – presumably through the wall he opened. He carried with him a drill and a light. The latter object was likely unsurprising to Jerome, since he had previously seen a glow coming from his attic.

30 minutes of evidence

Next, Havrilla examined an area near a vent that hung just over Regan’s crib and her parents’ bed. He spent about 30 minutes simply gazing at the scene below before retreating to the property he owned next door.

Drilled holes

But even though he had possible proof in hand, Jerome’s investigation into his neighbor didn’t end there. And, as it happens, the father also found holes drilled into a common wall between his house and Havrilla’s. Jerome plugged each one with tissue paper, however, to keep the view hidden from prying eyes.

Arrest

Upon finding these holes – and, of course, capturing the footage – the Kennedys called the authorities. Then, on July 17, 2017, Havrilla was arrested; he was subsequently charged with stalking and trespassing. But that wasn’t nearly the end of the family’s ordeal.

He claimed it wasn't malicious

Less than a month after Havrilla’s arrest, he appeared in court with his lawyer Anthony Jackson. There, the legal professional spoke for his client, telling CBS Pittsburgh, “I think it will come out soon that [Havrilla] did not have a malicious intent at all.”

The lawyer explained

Jackson added, “I think it was an innocent situation that is getting drug out a little further than it should, but that will come out soon.” Unsurprisingly, though, the Kennedys do not see Havrilla’s actions in that light at all.

Feeling unsafe

And Jerome’s wife Ashley fought back tears as she described to Inside Edition what it felt like to see her neighbor invading her privacy. “We have no idea what has been going on inside our own home,” she said.

A violation

What’s more, her husband seemed to be similarly upset about the situation. “It’s very disheartening to feel violated in this way that somebody can come in and disrupt the sanctity of my home,” he told CBS Pittsburgh. “It’s indescribable,” he added.

The family's attorney speaks

Even the family’s attorney, Jack Goodrich, couldn’t believe Havrilla’s audacity. “It’s scary to think somebody can be that intrusive in somebody’s home. In my humble opinion, he was waiting for the creep show,” he told Inside Edition.

Hoping for better days

Now, however, the Kennedys just need to wait for justice to take its course. Perhaps few could blame them for hoping that their neighbor is punished, though, as at least then they might feel safe sleeping in their own home once again.