My Adopted Daughter Started Speaking a Language I Never Taught Her — What She Said Made Me Call the Police

Five years ago, I buried my best friend and adopted her baby girl, Lily. We were happy—until three nights ago, when she started speaking in a language she’d never learned in her sleep.

At exactly 2:00 a.m., I used a translation app.

Icelandic detected.

The words made my blood run cold:

“My mom is alive. Go up to the attic. She’s there.”

Lily’s mother, Elena, had died years ago. But that night, flashlight in hand, I climbed into the attic anyway.

There, in the corner, was a woman—thin, terrified, and living among food wrappers and blankets from our home.

I called the police.

She’d been homeless and had approached Lily days earlier while she was playing outside. Lily had told her something we didn’t realize she knew—that she was adopted.

We’d had that conversation in private. Or so we thought.

The woman convinced Lily she could help her talk to her real mother—teaching her Icelandic phrases and telling her Elena’s spirit was in the attic. To make it work, Lily had to let her inside.

So she did.

The woman had been living above us for a week.

Now she’s gone, and our house is secure.

But the real danger wasn’t in the attic.

It was a child who felt too alone to ask us the truth.