I came back from my retreat last night pretty tired, Christian is still at his conference for the next few days. When I got back, I noticed a loud buzzing and grinding noise in the empty house that would occasionally vary in pitch and loudness. It is coming from this object:

I did try fixing it by hitting it repeatedly with a stick, that did make it get quiet temporarily and the buzzing changed pitch. I took its cover off and looked inside, there was nothing in there that I recognized, except that it appears to be wired directly into the wall, and there are electrical shock warnings printed in the inside.

My theory is that it might be the doorbell, since the doorbell has mysteriously stopped working. But, I have no idea why it is making so much noise. Is it about to blow up? Should I be worried? I didn’t think it was a big deal, except that it is outside our bedroom door, and being alone in the house all night I kept waking up whenever the sound changed, and being scared.
You know, the kind of illogical fear you have when a sudden noise in an empty house wakes you up. So I had a kind of fitful, nervous sleep last night.

My plan is to continue smacking it with various objects to change the tone and pitch of the noise until Christian comes home.