It seems to me that the items this person takes are symbolic of something. If you look at them and attach a meaning, such as the magnifying glass means 'find me' or 'look closer', what does that tell you? What do the other items tell you? You have the tools (i.e screwdriver), the key, to figuring this out? What do they have in common. This person is trying to tell you something through the meaning of objects, not just the object themselves. Only you can put these things together and figure out what the whole means.

Holy cow! That's a thought, isn't it? I never even thought about that before. Wow.

I'm not sure about the screwdrivers – I'm pretty sure he was just messing with my husband because he refused for ages to accept what was going on because he's one of those scientific engineer types. Turns out he was also a big chicken that believed if you don't believe in this stuff it can't be true. Plus the screwdrivers eventually turned up again, so I don't know if they count as "taken". I'll seriously have to think about that, though.

Your theory would certainly go a long way toward explaining why he took the magnifying glass. He was actually here to help me get rid of an irritating spirit, I think. I won't tell you the whole story, but things were pretty active for a few days, then my friend showed up and things really amped up like there was some kind of battle going on. Then everything was just gone and the house was completely peaceful and empty.

Do you think he could have taken the magnifying glass as a way of saying that he's watching me closely and that he can see me from far away? Wow, that's HUGE because I have been driving myself nuts wondering if my friend just happened to show up right then or if it was possible that he actually came up here to help me with my problem. I actually had several discussions on the phone with my mom asking her if she thought it was possible that he somehow knew I needed some help. Maybe taking the magnifying glass was his answer! What a thought!

Or maybe he is telling me to look closer or to find him or to investigate something. The keys could also be a message, I guess. Maybe taking the pictures was a way to say that he sees me and is fond of me? There are so many ways to look at all of these items! I'm drawing a blank on the earrings, though. What could taking one earring mean? That he's alone, without his mate? That he's lonely? That would break my heart! I'd prefer that it meant that he likes pretty sparkly things.

I love this site! I never would have even thought about these items being a message if you hadn't said that. My family just thinks of it as something he does to drive us nuts: I will definitely talk to them about what you suggested. I think we'll all rethink that now.

Thank you! I was looking for some insight and you sure have given me something to think about. After a lifetime of just accepting these things without much thought I have been doing nothing but thinking about the paranormal since he left which is why I put this post up. Maybe I subconsciously got his message to look closer and investigate without even realizing it. Yikes!

I also want to thank you for calling my friend a person. He really is a person to me and to my whole family.

I hope everyone will give me their thoughts about what these items could mean. If two heads are better than one . . .

Okay, this is getting annoying now. I noticed that the electric wine opener wasn't on it's base this morning. I had been all over the house picking up before the cleaning ladies come (God bless Maid Brigade!). While I was picking up I cleaned off the counter on the downstairs bar and there was a wine cork and the other debris that's left when you open a wine bottle. The cutter was there, too. I picked all those things up and the counter was empty. I swear it.

I went downstairs again and as soon as I hit the bottom of the stairs I see the wine opener laying on the counter. Now this thing is big and black, about the size of a big mag flashlight. There is no way that I could have overlooked it. When I told the story to my husband, he told me that that's where he had left it, but I swear that it was not there when I cleaned the counter and then it just reappeared.

My husband thinks I just overlooked it but I'm telling you there is no way that I could have missed it and I certainly would have picked it up with the other stuff if it had been there.

Either I am losing my mind or something is playing with me.

What possible message could a wine opener be? Maybe the spirits needed it – I should check to see if a bottle of wine is missing.

Thats just WRONG!! if your ghost was going to have a party he could have at least invited you.

Amen, sister! It's my wine and my opener, so at least invite me to the party!

In all sincerity, I can see the humorous side of all of this but at the same time it is driving me nuts! Am I crazy or is all of this actually happening?

The funniest part of it all to me is that my husband dismisses the disappearing car keys and the disappearing/reappearing wine opener but he can't explain the vanishing magnifying glass. I don't get that. If you've seen one object disappear, why scoff at the rest? Engineers….

…. I get the whole "try and catch them with a video camera" idea as far as collecting real evidence. But the fact is, you'd have to wire the whole house up since it's not always in the same place. Not to mention, by setting up a video camera, you're assuming they don't know they're being filmed and that you can just catch them willy nilly. This person has proven themselves to be intelligent. I don't know- is your ultimate goal to collect "evidence" or to make it stop? I get that you really want to understand it- and I honestly think that that's all that is needed to be understood- You are being messed with.

I think this guy needs to be told to buzz off. Theft is a crime and you're going to report him to the highest legal authority- the big guy upstairs. And while I, like many, do try to find the humor and be silly, I really do mean it. Heck, it's worth a try, right?

I have no interest whatsoever in capturing evidence because I know he's here, so what's the point? I have no desire to communicate with him either, even if I could. I would help him if he wanted it and if it were in my power, which it is not. He does not seem to want any help from me, though and seems quite content with his lot. He travels at will, so he is not "trapped" in any sense of the word.

If he would just stop messing with me, as you put it so correctly, he and I would get along just fine. But the disappearing stuff is making me insane. I will take your advice and tell him off. I don't care about the magnifying glass, but I want my favorite earrings back!

. . . I gave the 'people' around us a job. I told them that they had to be the finders of lost things. It worked. I found my lost rosary.

That's a great idea! I'm going to do that, too. Now that my friend has proven that he can find things by producing my earrings he can start earning his keep around here.

One reason I don't mind having him around is that I am certain that he keeps watch over the house, especially while I'm sleeping. I have always been completely confident that he would wake me if the house was on fire or if there was an intruder in the house. That peace of mind is worth putting up with a lot of missing objects.

Where did your rosary turn up, by the way?

Well, my magnifying glass just turned up. I found it WAY in the back of a drawer behind some Christmas cards from last year. It's definitely not a place that my husband or I would have put it since neither of us has been in that drawer for a long time, probably since we stuck the Christmas cards there, in fact so my invisible friend has to take the blame for this one. I only found it because I was cleaning out the junk drawers after watching a TV show about hoarders.

I'm glad that it turned up. Now I can get a good look at the pictures that are posted. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I get so much done around the house during the commercial breaks when I'm watching the hoarders shows! I don't ever want to be on their Buried Alive program!!!!

As far as your mischievious, invisible friend is concerned I really want to know HOW they do it!!! Do they actually open the drawer and pick up the magnifying glass and shove it in the back of the drawer and then close the drawer again OR do they somehow magically transport the object? I want to know, I want to know, I want to know (stomps foot and crosses arms)!

Sorry, but I just found this tonight.

How he does these things is a mystery, isn't it? Do the earrings actually move to somewhere else or do they just disappear into thin air?

Since this all happened, I've had another "theft". After my grandmother's funeral, I brought home some of her jewelry, including a ring. I carefully put the ring away until I could take it to be resized. I went to get it a few days later and guess what? Gone. I have searched high and low, but it is just gone. All the other stuff is still there, but the ring I really care about is gone. Sigh.

It does seem that they take what is dear to you or what you have recently touched, doesn't it? Or maybe my grandmother took it. She was awfully fond of that ring. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />