midnight knockers

[Deleted]

I live alone out in the country in a very rural area. There was someone knocking on my door at 2:30 AM. I did not answer. I stayed in bed until I could hear them drive off. (I am armed and was listening for any signs of attempted entry.)

What would you have done?

[swamp]

Let the dog out

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2021 14:15:26 GMT -5 swamp said:

Let the dog out

Good idea. Unfortunately, I don't have a dog. In fact, if my dog was still alive, I would not have been able to pretend no one was home.

I am afraid it was someone leaving a bar and thinking I needed company. Eek.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 9, 2021 14:19:44 GMT -5 @beckaroo said:

Oct 9, 2021 14:15:26 GMT -5 swamp said:

Let the dog out

Good idea. Unfortunately, I don't have a dog. In fact, if my dog was still alive, I would not have been able to pretend no one was home.

I am afraid it was someone leaving a bar and thinking I needed company. Eek.

Many years ago, after work on a Friday, we co-workers went out for drinks. It was late and one co-worker was too drunk to drive so I drove him home. Having never been to his residence before I told him to point out his home once we were on his street.

Co-worker pointed to his house and he exited my vehicle. He walked to the back door to enter. All of a sudden he walked back to my vehicle and said "wrong house". His home was a couple more houses up the street.

[Deleted]

I live alone, no dog. Definitely nothing although if I thought of it I might check out the view on my Ring app.

And then I'd have a hard time getting back to sleep.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I lived alone for over 30 years and have had people knock on my door at odd hours of the night/morning.  I never, ever answered.  I didn't answer if I was not expecting anyone either and it was middle of the day.

[busymom]

I was raised a city girl.  I'd call 911.  As others have stated, never, EVER answer the door.  

[happyhoix]

Hmm. Used to be, people might be lost and need directions, but who doesn’t have a cell phone these days. His car didn’t break down, since he drove there and drove away. 

WHen we first moved here, someone came to the house looking for the previous occupants, unaware that they had moved. - but not at 2:30 in the morning.

Other than the cops or a family member coming to give you some bad news - I can’t think of any reason someone would come there at 2:30 AM. 

Weird. 

[empress of self-improvement]

I must be the only one with a dirty mind because a completely different type of midnight "knockers" went through my head. 😳

[giramomma]

Oct 9, 2021 16:55:13 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

I must be the only one with a dirty mind because a completely different type of midnight "knockers" went through my head. 😳

Nope. I was there too. 

[Works4me]

Me three!

[minnesotapaintlady]

Around here if it happens its usually an accident. I had someone hit a deer and roll their car at about 2am in front of my house. The car actually was in my front lawn and the squealing tires woke me up before the knock at the door. My aunt lives at a t intersection just down the road from me and at least once a year someone plows through the guardrail there in the middle of the night.

[Artemis Windsong]

My mind was naughty, also.

You did the right thing. Don't answer the door.

And do not check if your water turns on in the middle of the day or night. Call the police. A criminal in our town would turn on the outside water to see if anyone was home. No one checked, they'd break in.

[tractor]

The only late night knocking were had at our door was the police, but it was obvious who it was, they had their lights going, scared the crap out of me. They told me that someone had called 911 from my house, I was sure it didn't happen, so they just left.

I would have stayed in bed too.

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2021 14:12:31 GMT -5 @beckaroo said:

I live alone out in the country in a very rural area. There was someone knocking on my door at 2:30 AM. I did not answer. I stayed in bed until I could hear them drive off. (I am armed and was listening for any signs of attempted entry.)

What would you have done?

I would’ve been peeping out of windows, but I would not have answered the door. 

Several years ago, a relative living in another state and I talked on the phone one night and both went to bed after. She woke up because somebody was knocking on her door in the middle of the night. When she went to look, she could see a man on her front porch.

Long story short, he had cut her phone lines and shut her utilities off. 

The police suggested that maybe he had been watching her and was after her, not anything she owned. She was a single, attractive woman, living alone with not even a dog. She was also just a regular person, nothing of a lot of value in her house. Very scary, what happened that night.

I don’t even answer my door in the daytime if I’m not expecting someone, especially if I don’t know the person. If I know them, I MIGHT answer, it depends.

[mollyanna58]

Many years ago, pre-cell phones, someone knocked on my door in the middle of the night.  I did go to check it out, accompanied by my large dog.  My front door has a lot of glass, and I could see a young woman there. I talked to her through the door, and she asked me to call the police because something had happened to her at a house across the street.  I called the police, and then I let her in to wait for them.  She was crying, and petting my dog.  The police arrived, and she left with them. 

I never knew what happened next.  A police officer I knew asked me some time later if I ever had trouble with the people in that house; apparently they were well known to the police. 

[Tiny]

I'm a City Girl - I would have called our "it's important but not an emergency" number for the police. (we've got an info line, 911, and the it's important but no one is dying or being murdered #). The police usually show up with in minutes - they just do so with lights rolling and sirens blaring (cause no one's dying or being murdered) (also it's just police that come out - an ambulance doesn't follow them like when 911 is called...) 

If I lived someplace where my neighbors were far away - I would probably have my drive way and house light up like Times Square once you got off the road and up my drive. I'd also probably have a camera or two.

I don't think the camera provides any sort of security - but atleast I could maybe see that who ever was knocking was not someone I knew. That way I wouldn't be "oh, maybe that is X and they lost/broke/no charge on their phone so they can't text/call me...)

(my facebook feed is sometimes filled with people's camera footage of shadowing figures doing things - like stealing stuff or dumping stuff. You can't really ID the figure in the video. I guess if you "know" the person in the video you can tell who they are (from the way they move or stand.)

[kadee79]

We had this happen once before cell phones.  It was a young kid & he had broken down about 3/4 mi. from our house and walked back to it.  If he'd walked the other direction he would have come to a house in about 2 blocks distance...but he didn't know that.  I let him use the phone to call for help.  His girl was still in the car.  Oh, and I answered the door with a gun in my hand....we were rural too.  

Back when I was a widow, I had some guy come knocking on my door in the middle of the night.  I told him to leave or I would shoot him with my .357 thru the front door.  He couldn't get out of there fast enough.   And I lived on a very un-traveled road as there were only 3 houses on that road before it hit the river.  Neither of those other houses could have heard me if I'd screamed.

[andi9899]

I have 3 big dogs. People don't just knock on my door. Anyone that knows me texts me when they get to my house so I can hold back the beasts. I have a screened in porch. If a random person knocked on my door I likely wouldn't hear them anyway since my bedroom is on the 2nd floor. If I did I'd take at least one of the twins with me out on the porch if I went out at all. There are also cameras all over so anything that happened would be caught on camera.

[thyme4change]

Oct 9, 2021 15:48:35 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Oct 9, 2021 14:19:44 GMT -5 @beckaroo said:

Good idea. Unfortunately, I don't have a dog. In fact, if my dog was still alive, I would not have been able to pretend no one was home.

I am afraid it was someone leaving a bar and thinking I needed company. Eek.

Many years ago, after work on a Friday, we co-workers went out for drinks. It was late and one co-worker was too drunk to drive so I drove him home. Having never been to his residence before I told him to point out his home once we were on his street.

Co-worker pointed to his house and he exited my vehicle. He walked to the back door to enter. All of a sudden he walked back to my vehicle and said "wrong house". His home was a couple more houses up the street.

Yikes!. Was it one of those developments from the 90's where every house looks the same?

A friend that lives a couple streets away from us accidentally drank way too much and staggered home. He had trouble finding his house and we all have unique houses.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 9, 2021 20:54:05 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Oct 9, 2021 15:48:35 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Many years ago, after work on a Friday, we co-workers went out for drinks. It was late and one co-worker was too drunk to drive so I drove him home. Having never been to his residence before I told him to point out his home once we were on his street.

Co-worker pointed to his house and he exited my vehicle. He walked to the back door to enter. All of a sudden he walked back to my vehicle and said "wrong house". His home was a couple more houses up the street.

Yikes!. Was it one of those developments from the 90's where every house looks the same?

A friend that lives a couple streets away from us accidentally drank way too much and staggered home. He had trouble finding his house and we all have unique houses.

They were probably similar in design and size. Modest middle class homes of the seventies. Can't say the paint jobs on the houses were the same or otherwise as it was about 12:30 or so in the a.m.

We laughed come Monday morning.

[CCL]

Oct 9, 2021 15:49:30 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

I live alone, no dog. Definitely nothing although if I thought of it I might check out the view on my Ring app.

And then I'd have a hard time getting back to sleep.

That might be even scarier if you see what they look like.

[CCL]

Oct 9, 2021 18:38:31 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Oct 9, 2021 14:12:31 GMT -5 @beckaroo said:

I live alone out in the country in a very rural area. There was someone knocking on my door at 2:30 AM. I did not answer. I stayed in bed until I could hear them drive off. (I am armed and was listening for any signs of attempted entry.)

What would you have done?

I would’ve been peeping out of windows, but I would not have answered the door. 

Several years ago, a relative living in another state and I talked on the phone one night and both went to bed after. She woke up because somebody was knocking on her door in the middle of the night. When she went to look, she could see a man on her front porch.

Long story short, he had cut her phone lines and shut her utilities off. 

The police suggested that maybe he had been watching her and was after her, not anything she owned. She was a single, attractive woman, living alone with not even a dog. She was also just a regular person, nothing of a lot of value in her house. Very scary, what happened that night.

I don’t even answer my door in the daytime if I’m not expecting someone, especially if I don’t know the person. If I know them, I MIGHT answer, it depends.

That's scary, what happened to your family member. I always think people rely too much on their security systems. All a criminal would have to do is cut the phone and internet lines and the system will be disconnected.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I'd probably push the panic button (house alarm) and then the alarm on the key fob of my car. If the person didn't take off, I'd call 911.
(We have a lot of crime where we live.)

[toomuchreality]

It always scares the bejesus out of me, when I get an unexpected knock on my door. Especially in the middle of the night. It used to happen to me quite often. But I don't answer, or open the door. I have looked out the peep hole, but I can't usually see anything.
Sometimes the I have called the police.
I used to have an old guy that lived in the apt below me, on the 1st floor. He drank and used uber, or Lyft a lot. Since he moved, I rarely have anyone knock at night.

I called the police one evening, to escort me from my garage to my apt, after an unknown homeless man approached me in my garage. He kept saying he was going to be the next Hoover. When I asked him to leave, he only went a few ft away and sat on the grass. I didn't want him to know which apt I lived in. The police arrived quickly and were very polite. They looked to see if he was still around, after they walked me home, but didn't find him.

[Spellbound454]

I never answer the door after dark. Just look out of the window and say.... "can I help you" ... its normally something and nothing.

In the middle of the night I wouldn't be so polite....and the dogs would be kicking off like they were about to kill somebody .

[weltschmerz]

I did answer the door one night after dark. It was two guys...'Madame, we heard you're a nurse. We need help''
One of the guys had been shot and wanted me to dig out the bullet.  Evidently, they couldn't go to th ER, because all gunshot wounds are reported.
I couldn't do as he asked, because the bullet was really close to his femoral artery. Plus, I didn't have any tools or supplies. I told them to try to get some broad spectrum antibiotics if they couldn't go to the ER.
It didn't occur to me to be scared, plus I had my pitbull watching.
They were very polite and respectful.

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2021 23:56:17 GMT -5 CCL said:

Oct 9, 2021 18:38:31 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

I would’ve been peeping out of windows, but I would not have answered the door. 

Several years ago, a relative living in another state and I talked on the phone one night and both went to bed after. She woke up because somebody was knocking on her door in the middle of the night. When she went to look, she could see a man on her front porch.

Long story short, he had cut her phone lines and shut her utilities off. 

The police suggested that maybe he had been watching her and was after her, not anything she owned. She was a single, attractive woman, living alone with not even a dog. She was also just a regular person, nothing of a lot of value in her house. Very scary, what happened that night.

I don’t even answer my door in the daytime if I’m not expecting someone, especially if I don’t know the person. If I know them, I MIGHT answer, it depends.

That's scary, what happened to your family member. I always think people rely too much on their security systems. All a criminal would have to do is cut the phone and internet lines and the system will be disconnected.

Her cell phone had been acting up, so she hadn’t even bothered to bring it in the house that night. When she opened the door to the garage to get it out of the car, the alarm on the house went off (backup battery) but of course the monitoring company did not get notified because that was when they used landline phones and hers was cut.

Fortunately, her cell phone cooperated and she was able to call for help. He was gone by the time the police got there. They were the ones that looked around and told her why she hadn’t been able to use her house phone or turn lights on.

It seemed to me that that was more trouble than the average thief will go to, unless they are after something specific that they know is in that house. When she said the police said he might have been after her, I’d already been thinking it as she was telling me what happened.

I despise thieves, but somebody trying to get to ME, instead of trying to steal from me, is even worse.

[Deleted]

I’ve knocked on a random persons door when the car my grandfather gave me in high school quit on me. That was before cell phones, and I was trying to call my family. A lady answered the door and told me to go knock across the street and see if they would let me use their phone.

They didn’t answer the door.  She was watching and called me back over, and brought her phone out to the porch. While I was waiting for my cousin to come get me, she told me to come inside and offered me a soda. 

It was broad daylight, but even though I was young, I understood her being hesitant to open her door for me.

I left my car and when I went back the next day to try to get it home, it started right up.

[Deleted]

I couldn't think of a way to peep out the window without the person seeing me. It's just the way my ranch home is laid out. They would see my shades moving.

Usually I leave my cell phone in the kitchen. I should start bringing it in the bedroom with me in case that happens again and I need to call.