Last night I a noise woke me which I had heard a year ago, and only once. I awoke to hear a sound like footsteps in crunchy snow rapidly growing fainter, as if something had been near my house and ran away. I wonder if it could be the sound of the sea ice fracturing and splitting, loud enough to be transmitted through the air, or vibrations through the icy ground. The effect it produced on me was that there was a presence, or an awareness, that had fled as I awoke. I spent a few moments feeling curious about it, and decided to check for tracks in the snow- as I had done the year before. During my lunch break I walked around my house, and didn't see any footprints. The mystery of the sound shall remain shrouded, until another occurence.