When a stranger's at your door late at night

[fatass666]

Only time there has ever been strangers at my door at night... They've been trying to steal cigarettes from me... And alcohol

Did you give it to them?

[Barnacle Battlefront]

I don't smoke, so I didn't ahve any... And nobody touches my alcohol

[PuraVida]

Yeah, that has happened a lot because I live out of the city in an area where stupid high schoolers are outside at night in the summer. Usually, in the U.S. if someone trespasses on your property, you can just shoot and kill them without risking prosecution. I should just do that and I would expect there won't be hooligans out anymore.

[Veritas81]

For me, three things happened once:

1) One time someone knocked at my door around 10pm. When I opened the door, there was an older man in swimming trunks standing there. He looked disheveled and asked me to help him because "he couldn't remember who he was." ...

2) Another time...around 11pm there was a knock at the door... They said they were Jehovah's Witnesses who wanted to talk with me, could I open the front door. ...through the windows I could see them walking around the house and looking through windows...

3) Another time ...I was awoken for several nights by a guy who would scream and yell...

Sounds like some shady a** neighborhoods you lived in and three instances where you needed to call the po-po immediately!

[shaunalynn]

oh man, I had an incident in december that scared the crap out of me.

I live in an apartment that's on the second floor, the only way to get into it is through the front door. It's not easily scalable and it'd take a lot to get into it.

Katie: Roommate whose room incident took place

Cheryl: Other roommate

Happened about 2:30 am.

This is taken from an email I sent my mom after it happened:

"SO I just got home about 40 mins ago (some friends and i went to a party... it was lame but i looked good haha) and I was at my comp and I heard something LOUD just SHATTER.

I seriously thought someone was breaking in. I sat for a moment thinking maybe I heard something that wasn't there (totally sober though so I kicked that idea out) and went to investigate all the while my heart pounding out of my chest.

I checked the kitchen, nothing. Front door, locked. Looked out keyhole, nothing (we had a wreath on our door, maybe it fell.... I was looking for any possibly explanation). Patio, (the winds been bad maybe something fell over) nothing. Living room, nothing. Cheryl's room, nothing. Katie's room, nothing. I even shouted out "Hello? anyone here?" Not that a robber would probably respond but still. Katie and Cheryl's bathroom, nothing. Looked in Katie's room again and turned on the light and lo and behold the source of the noise. Those big glass bulbs we have over the lightbulb on the ceiling fan? I guess she replaced the lightbulb and didn't screw the glass bulb in right.... so it fell to the ground and shattered very loud.

I cleaned it up and vacuumed and the shattered pieces are waiting for her on the kitchen counter in a publix bag.

Needless to say, while it scared the living daylights out of me I'm glad it was the bulb and not a person breaking in.

I also texted Katie to let her know it happened and that she may wanna get a new glass bulb soon.

She feels awful.... moreso because I'm here alone.

So I'm going to try to sleep shortly and hope my heart's calmed down a bit!"

I found out from her later on that she'd replaced her bulb and screwed the glass orb thing back on. It was crooked so she unscrewed it and put it back on. Then tugged on it to make sure it was tightly in there, which is what caused it to loosen and just so happen to fall when I was home alone. NOT fun.

[UltraThunderMan]

When I was younger, I woke up and heard someone knocking on the door really loud. I got up to see who it was and looked out the window on the door. There wasn't anyone there. I decided to look out the window and as I pulled open the curtain by the door just a crack I got the scare of my life when I saw this old guy with really wrinkled up skin looking right at me in front of the window. He was like peering in. I never forgot that because of how he looked, it was strange.

[minuteman]

Yeah, that has happened a lot because I live out of the city in an area where stupid high schoolers are outside at night in the summer. Usually, in the U.S. if someone trespasses on your property, you can just shoot and kill them without risking prosecution. I should just do that and I would expect there won't be hooligans out anymore.

actually that's not true. you can't shoot to kill on your property. in fact, you technically can't shoot to kill inside your home unless they are trying to due you harm. of course, whos to say you dont shoot someone in your home, then drop a knife next to them...

but in any case, if it's just a trespasser on your property, by law you are not allowed to shoot to kill, unless you wish to be slapped with an arrest and a murder 2 conviction (at least). my law class just covered this about 2 weeks ago, and my professor is a judge, so i'm going to take her word on that...

now back on topic:

i live in a small college town with my gf in a 2nd story apartment on main street. across the street is a very popular college bar, but oddly enough, we have yet to have a drunk college kid come upstairs to our place and try to get in. buuuuut there was this that happened a couple weeks ago:

i was coming home from my law class (last class of the day) and walked into my apartment to my dog and girlfriend freaking out. apparently not long before i got home, an older man (40's) just walked right into our apartment while she was sitting in our living room on the couch, she didn't hear the door open, but heard it close, which freaked her out. she got up and opened the front door (for some reason, without the pistol i keep in the house lol) and the guy was standing in front of our door on the landing. he apparently was looking for the local United Way office (which was what our apartment used to be YEARS ago, and has since moved into the building behind ours), she pointed him in the right direction and he apologized (he walked in, realized that he was in someone's apartment and walked right back out lol)and left. nothing very scary, but it freaked her out nonetheless.

[UltraThunderMan]

This thread reminds me of something my grandma told me a long time ago. We were both awake at almost midnight and she was about to go to sleep. Before she did she goes: If someone comes to the door knocking at night, don't stand in front of it and look out the window because someone did that last week and they got shot through the door. Then she went and laid down. They live out in the country like in that movie The Strangers and that freaked me out because that could happen and there was no one around them. Their home was surrounded by woods and that was one of the last times I stayed the night there.

[kiddglock]

Unless your law professor was speaking in terms of Pennsylvania law exclusively, she is wrong. I would assume she wasn't, since you're using the conversation as proof that it is illegal to kill somebody outside, in another state. In most states, it is considered a justifiable homicide if the person is threatening you or someone under your protection with grave injury or worse. The threat has to be imminent and reasonable. It doesn't matter where you are at, in your home or otherwise except that it is easier to prove you were threatened if somebody is in your home unwanted. Some states require you to retreat if possible. On the other side, some states don't require retreat, commonly termed "stand your ground" states. Other states allow you to defend your property with deadly force. This is now generally called "castle law". Basically the states vary widely in how much latitude you have in killing another person...legally.

I think in most states, your girlfriend could've legally killed the man if she had feared for her life. He was uninivited, standing in her house. Not that she should have killed him but it sounds like she was truly afraid. Whether she was fearful for her life, only she knows. Glad to hear it turned out okay.

[kiddglock]

This thread reminds me of something my grandma told me a long time ago. We were both awake at almost midnight and she was about to go to sleep. Before she did she goes: If someone comes to the door knocking at night, don't stand in front of it and look out the window because someone did that last week and they got shot through the door. Then she went and laid down. They live out in the country like in that movie The Strangers and that freaked me out because that could happen and there was no one around them. Their home was surrounded by woods and that was one of the last times I stayed the night there.

I watched that movie awhile back. It was indeed frightening, but also very unrealistic. The guy in it was such a metrosexual that he had access to a shotgun and couldn't successfully defend himself and his fiancee against a weirdo and two chicks. Instead, he shoots his best friend. Sadly, given the state of the US today, maybe it was indeed, realistic.

[Queen in the North]

I watched that movie awhile back. It was indeed frightening, but also very unrealistic. The guy in it was such a metrosexual that he had access to a shotgun and couldn't successfully defend himself and his fiancee against a weirdo and two chicks. Instead, he shoots his best friend. Sadly, given the state of the US today, maybe it was indeed, realistic.

Umm... please explain to me the link between metrosexuality and being unable to operate a shotgun?

[minuteman]

Unless your law professor was speaking in terms of Pennsylvania law exclusively, she is wrong. I would assume she wasn't, since you're using the conversation as proof that it is illegal to kill somebody outside, in another state. In most states, it is considered a justifiable homicide if the person is threatening you or someone under your protection with grave injury or worse. The threat has to be imminent and reasonable. It doesn't matter where you are at, in your home or otherwise except that it is easier to prove you were threatened if somebody is in your home unwanted. Some states require you to retreat if possible. On the other side, some states don't require retreat, commonly termed "stand your ground" states. Other states allow you to defend your property with deadly force. This is now generally called "castle law". Basically the states vary widely in how much latitude you have in killing another person...legally.

this is true, but i was refering to what the poster said about being able to shoot a trespassers on his property and not being held accountable for it, which is untrue. there must be a thread of death before you can legally fire on a person with the intent on killing them. he made it sound as if a person what running around looking in your windows, then you are legally able to shoot and kill the person, which is false. in fact, even if the trespasser is there to kick your ass, you still may not shoot to kill, as a fight is not considered a deadly threat. a weapon and the threat of death to you or someone in your care is what allows you to shoot to kill legally.

[xYlvax]

I knock on people's doors and windows, they don't knock on mine

[UltraThunderMan]

I watched that movie awhile back. It was indeed frightening, but also very unrealistic. The guy in it was such a metrosexual that he had access to a shotgun and couldn't successfully defend himself and his fiancee against a weirdo and two chicks. Instead, he shoots his best friend. Sadly, given the state of the US today, maybe it was indeed, realistic.

I liked it because it was something different. Nowadays it seems like everythings just some Jason ripoff going around knifing folks. That's boring. The Strangers attempted to do something against the norm. I wanted to throw the remote at the screen when I saw the shotgun mishap. He deserved some killing after that.

[SCARLET1]

So I've got a few stories for this thread... Sorry if it's long...

1. We used to live at my in-laws for a few months, in a very small town. They had 7 girls, and most of them would sleep in the living room, because the light from the TV was kinda their nite-light. My hubby and I and our infant daughter slept in the room right off the living room, and my hubby's 4 brothers slept in the two upstairs bedrooms. My in-laws had their bedroom, which was separated from our room by another tiny bedroom they used for their baby girl.

Anyway...one night, everyone has pretty much gone to bed except for the boys upstairs (playing video games), and us (talking quietly). As I was about to say something, a HUGE bright light shines right into the window to the left of the bed, right into my eyes. It kinda weirded me out, because it was so big -- it reminded me of a helicopter's spotlight -- and I asked Matt if he saw it. He said yeah, and sat up to look outside. Nothing else happened - no kids messing with flashlights or anything, no noise at all - so he laid back down.

Not five seconds later, there was a loud knocking on the same window. I'm like, WTF?, and just then, every window in the house starts getting banged on. I'm terrified out of my wits, and only want to cuddle next to my hubby until it stops, but he gets up and starts for the boys' rooms, telling me to stay where I was. Well, FORGET that! I get up, creep past the window without looking (it's covered by a pull-down shade), and rush into the living room, to calm the girls...only they're all sound asleep! And this was no tapping or anything - whoever is out there is pretty much BANGING on every window! The family dog, a HUGE German Shepherd, was hiding under the parents' bed, whining. The boys all come running downstairs carrying bats, hockey sticks, they even go for the guns on the living room wall...and are about to go outside, when it suddenly stops. We checked the property around the house, but there was no one there. No footprints, either, and it was a muddy point in Spring, and the house is surrounded by flower beds on 3 sides.

Now, I know what you're thinking...kids messing with us, right? Well, there's one problem with this...the one boys room on the 2nd floor has a window right in front of the house...but there is absolutely NO where to stand and knock on it. Someone would have to get a ladder to reach it. Meaning, we would've seen them either way.

2. This one isn't so much my experience, as it is my brother's...One night he was sleeping at our apartment, in the same town as my previous story. He woke up to a strange noise, and as a reflex looked out our front window, which was right next to the door. He could see a shadow standing there, appearing to look in at him. Well, being a "tough" guy, he just went into the kitchen, got himself a drink of water, and laid back down on the couch. Whoever was there had gone, by then. LOL

3. Nothing happened this time, but the THOUGHT of something happening is what scared the daylights out of me...Again, same apartment. We were coming home from a diner one night when we came to a police barricade. They stopped our car and shone their flashlights into the backseat, telling us that a prisoner had escaped, and to be very careful as he was armed. We went home to our apt. and went to sleep. My hubby worked cleaning department stores back then, and had to leave at 3:30 a.m., which meant I was alone from then until about 8 or 9 a.m., with our daughter (who was still a baby). We lived in the last apt. in the group, backed up to woods and a small stream. The prison was only about 3/4 of a mile away. After Matt left for work, I brought our daughter into our room, barricaded the door with my heavy wood dresser, and watched TV with both his shotgun (it wasn't loaded, but I could've done that pretty quickly) and the phone nearby. Like I said, nothing happened, but the idea of some prisoner busting into my house scared the crap out of me. LOL

Those are the only ones I can think of right now...

PS. They DID catch up with the prisoner...though there are doubts as to how and where he was caught. The "official" story is that he never left the jail...he was hiding out in the attic of one of the buildings. But a teacher who has worked with my MIL for years told her that she called the cops when she saw him sneaking around one of her neighbor's houses. So...a mystery as to who's lying there.

Edit to add: I also forgot to mention, the "Window-Tappers", as we've come to call them, have returned at least twice since we moved out. Each time, there is banging on every window, but each time, there's no one there, and no sign of anyone being there. And, the youngest of the girls sleep right through everything.

Edited December 7, 2009 by SCARLET1

[Wookietim]

3) Another time when I lived alone in a small town, in a older house that had been converted into small appartments that was next to a park, I was awoken for several nights by a guy who would scream and yell. The screaming would go on for at least 20 minutes, sometimes stuff about hating a certain person, sometimes unintelligable yelling. I don't think this guy was in my yard, but he was still pretty close. This went on for about two weeks. I always kept my windows locked after that, and it was lucky my lease was up and I moved out soon after that.

Not wanting you to release info you feel uncomfortable about or anything, but where were you living at the time?

I ask because I had the same thing happen to me where I lived once...

[SRCivic98]

I had a friend of mine come knocking on the door one night because she needed a place to crash for the night because her parents was arguing and she was afraid for her life. she had a few bumps and bruises and I told her she could have my room for the night while I slept on the couch. the next day I went to her place and introduced my self "politely" of course. Then told them that the next time I wouldn't be nice enough to let the law take care of it and that I would settle the situation my own way. ever since then her home life has improved and she lives with her grandmother now.

[archangel_josh]

There are lots of urban legends where there are creepy happenings at someone's house late at night. Has anyone ever had someone/something weird come to your door or ring you late at night or peer through your windows that really freaked you out?

For me, three things happened once:

1) One time someone knocked at my door around 10pm. When I opened the door, there was an older man in swimming trunks standing there. He looked disheveled and asked me to help him because "he couldn't remember who he was." It kind of freaked me out so I told him he could ask next door for help (my neighbours were a couple a guys), or he could go down the road to the police station for help. A few days later I saw a missing poster at the local supermarket for a guy who had alzheimer's and the picture looked like the guy who had knocked on my door. I felt really bad for not helping him out more, but I was a female living alone at the time and couldn't afford to risk asking a strange man inside. Still, I wish I had helped him.

2) Another time I was living with my parents in a two story house. I was alone that night and around 11pm there was a knock at the door. Since it was so late, I went out onto the upstairs balcony that over looked the front door to see if it was someone I knew. It was two strange teenage males. I asked what they wanted. They said they were Jehovah's Witnesses who wanted to talk with me, could I open the front door. I thought Jehovah's Witnesses at 11pm, WTF?, so I said no thanks and went inside. But they didn't go away. Through the windows I could see them walking around the house and looking through windows. Creepy. Luckily my parents came home about 10 minutes later and the two guys took off. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if my parents hadn't come home.

3) Another time when I lived alone in a small town, in a older house that had been converted into small appartments that was next to a park, I was awoken for several nights by a guy who would scream and yell. The screaming would go on for at least 20 minutes, sometimes stuff about hating a certain person, sometimes unintelligable yelling. I don't think this guy was in my yard, but he was still pretty close. This went on for about two weeks. I always kept my windows locked after that, and it was lucky my lease was up and I moved out soon after that.

What weird expereinces have happened to you guys? Either supernatural or just normal (but weird) people?

Wow - those are amazing stories! What a great read.

Something super crazy happened to me a few years back. I was sitting in the lounge room during the day and you can look out to the suburban street. I was with my girlfriend. Suddenly she noticed a man standing on the other side of the road, standing very still looking our way. Just super creepy. Anyway we continued to watch TV and he just stood there and we shut the curtains because it was creepy. After half an hour I looked out the window to see if he had gone and he was standing right in our front yard just staring at the window! It was the creepiest thing ever.

So I ran out the front and told him to **** off and he just jumped the fence and ran off. Never saw him again. I guess he was just high on meth or mentally ill or something.

-Josh

[Corp]

Maybe he was just interested in the program you were watching

[UltraThunderMan]

Wow - those are amazing stories! What a great read.

Something super crazy happened to me a few years back. I was sitting in the lounge room during the day and you can look out to the suburban street. I was with my girlfriend. Suddenly she noticed a man standing on the other side of the road, standing very still looking our way. Just super creepy. Anyway we continued to watch TV and he just stood there and we shut the curtains because it was creepy. After half an hour I looked out the window to see if he had gone and he was standing right in our front yard just staring at the window! It was the creepiest thing ever.

So I ran out the front and told him to **** off and he just jumped the fence and ran off. Never saw him again. I guess he was just high on meth or mentally ill or something.

-Josh

This is funny. I used to hang out at a friend of mine's house and across the street was another house that looked like a drug house or something. Anyway, any time I would look out his window, this guy we called the crackhead would be looking at us. It was strange.

[cluey]

years ago i was living in a large house with my 2 boys who at the time where 2 and 1.I had a couple next door that had 2 daughters,she was not a very nice woman(i guess it started the day i moved in and thought her youngest daughter was a boy) .Anyway......she was away one weekend end,he was there on his own,i heard a knock at the door about 10.30...he was standing there with only a towel around him .He asked me if there was anything i needed....i was like....no...i'm fine thanks(i guess then i was fairly clueless.....i didn't even see what he was trying to do.....my dad had to point out to me what he really wanted) .....you have to understand this guy had rung my real estate to get my phone number(claiming if his alarm went off he needed to ring me .....and kept asking my mum where i was moving to the day i moved........needless to say.....that was pretty damn creepy to me

Edited December 12, 2009 by cluey

[Queen in the North]

years ago i was living in a large house with my 2 boys who at the time where 2 and 1.I had a couple next door that had 2 daughters,she was not a very nice woman(i guess it started the day i moved in and thought her youngest daughter was a boy) .Anyway......she was away one weekend end,he was there on his own,i heard a knock at the door about 10.30...he was standing there with only a towel around him .He asked me if there was anything i needed....i was like....no...i'm fine thanks(i guess then i was fairly clueless.....i didn't even see what he was trying to do.....my dad had to point out to me what he really wanted) .....you have to understand this guy had rung my real estate to get my phone number(claiming if his alarm went off he needed to ring me .....and kept asking my mum where i was moving to the day i moved........needless to say.....that was pretty damn creepy to me

Aaaargh that's creepy!

[varanus]

Some woman showed up at our house at like 11pm, she kept telling my dad to take the briefcase she was carrying, he just said he couldn't help and said she should go to the police station.

[Black Hound]

I answer the door first, opening it, usually showing my two dogs, no one knows they are attack trained . Right next to the door I keep some type of self defense weapon, I can reach if needed. BTW, the outer glass door is several inches thick. I haven't tested it to see just what type of caliber can penetrate it but it might think someone wishing me harm to think twice. the 2 200 lbs. dogs might be adequate within themselves.

[UltraThunderMan]

Where do you live at Graveyard Hound, the seventh circle of hell?