The woman heard a bump in the night in her loft.

A woman was horrified to find one of her ex-boyfriends living in her attic – 12 years after she had split up with the criminal. She made the discovery after hearing a noise coming from the loft.

The woman, named only as Tracy by WCNC in the US, said she felt “something just ain’t right”. Fearing “there was some poltergeist stuff going on”, she had family investigate the early morning noise.

But she was far more horrified by what they actually found. It wasn’t a ghoul, it was her ex-partner who had spent two weeks living in her attic after being released from prison.

The Mirror reports that Tracy heard a thump above her head in the property in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 2012.

She also spotted nails falling from the ceiling of the bedroom.

Tracy’s adult sons and her nephew went to investigate and found her criminal ex hiding in the loft.

The discovery was even more bizarre as the pair had broken up 12 years prior, WCNC reported.

Tracy had been in contact with the former partner while he was in prison.

They exchanged letters, in which he claimed to have changed, but she’d never considered getting back together.

She believed he had returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, after his most-recent arrest.

Speaking about when her relatives went into the attic, Tracy said: “They found a man.

“He had packed all the old coats and jackets into the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit.

When he was rumbled, the ex-boyfriend ran out of the house before police arrived.

He had been using large cups to relieve himself, with several of them discovered filled with faeces and urine, Local 8 reports.

He had also rigged the ceiling vents so he was able to look down on his ex from the attic.

Tracy was “flabbergasted” when she discovered he’d been looking down at her.

Local 8 reported that the only way the attic could be accessed is through a door inside the home.

It’s in the hallway that connected her kids’ bedrooms.