When a house becomes the scene of apparent poltergeist activity, there is usually a checklist of possible reasons for the flying crockery, moving furniture and little kids fascinated by static on their television screens.

First, it is wise to check the deeds of the house. Is it built on the scene of a Native American massacre and/or burial ground? No? Then maybe it was used by an insane frontier-era preacher who barricaded his followers into a shack on the very spot and burnt it down to purge them all of demons. Unlikely? In that case, maybe one of the family members is creating malevolent energy through a built-up and suppressed reservoir of anger or hate. Still nothing? Then check the tumble drier.

A woman in the German town of Ludwigshafen in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate recently believed that she had become the victim of a haunting after two weeks of bizarre noises. Presumably ruling out any curses, she eventually steeled herself enough to search her apartment in a bid to end the mystery. What she found was not the spirit of a wronged tribal chief or murdered cult member but a python curled up in her drier.

A difficult flat-mate to remove

Flipping past the Yellow Pages section for exorcists and moving onto the number for the fire department, the woman called out the local crew to deal with the restless reptile. After wrestling unsuccessfully for two hours to extricate the beast, the firemen changed their tactics. Instead of giving up, they wrapped the drier in adhesive tape and took the whole package back to the station.

Now joined by a snake expert from the local police, the fire crew totally dismantled the tumble drier and freed the python unharmed. The drier was then put back together and delivered back to the naturally shocked tenant.

While the poltergeist mystery was solved, questions on how the snake managed to make it to the fourth floor apartment and remain unseen for 14 days remain unanswered.

Spooky, eh?