At just after 2:00 last night...

Someone knocked on our door. Very unusual, since we live in kind of a rural area on a dead-end gravel road. DH and I are both sick (Yes, it's come back. But this time I have Thera-flu so I won't be drinking any more vanilla extract.) DH was awake and miserable in the master bedroom; I was half-asleep and miserable in the guest room. We both heard it...three precise raps on the door. (Though I thought it sounded as if someone could have been knocking on a window.) DH looked out and there wasn't a soul in sight. The oddest thing, none of the neighborhood dogs barked. I don't know what to make of it, but it sure gave me the creeps. I'll never be able to get to sleep, not with DH's coughing, my sore throat, and worrying about things that go bump in the night.

Freaky!!

I wonder what it was? It would definitely be a good argument for adding some motion sensor lights.
It's weird how sometimes dogs won't respond to things you think would set them off. My neighbors have a four shelties that stay outside during the day - this morning a big boxer mix (or maybe it was a really overweight boxer - she ran) wandered into my yard and I had to go shoo her out. The neighbors dogs never barked at the other dog. Usually dogs set them off.

And just to weird you out.. at my dad's house when DH and I was dating years ago he would drop me off in the evening. Some evenings something would knock on the car windows, even on the passenger window right beside me. Nothing (at least living) was there.

I hope the two of you get to feeling better soon. It might sound strange, but if the two of you were just recently sick you may want to make sure there's no carbon monoxide in the home.. it can make people sick in odd ways. Plus, it never hurts to be sure.

My mother's family is Italian, very superstitious. 1 superstition is never open the door if there are knocks after midnight, because it's death. I'm not trying to freak you out, I'm just telling you a belief my mother's family has. I'm sure that belief comes from the idea that anyone knocking that late is a family member about to tell you about another relative that has died. That's how we know when someone in the family dies, a relative shows up at 3am.

We did have something weird like that happen once in the middle of a huge blizzard. We heard knocking, pounding on the screen door in the kitchen. We looked out couldn't see anyone. No car. My father opened the door, turned on the light. Not even footprints in the snow. Plus it was so icy anyone standing there wouldn't have had a chance to knock before they slipped, fell and broke something. That still freaks me out.

Another freaky 1. We didn't get a/c in the house until 2006 when the house got fixed over. We had old windows that didn't open. My bedroom window opened, the bathroom window opened. That was it. The only way to get air in the house in the Summers was to keep my window, the bathroom window, and the 2 doors open. It always bothered us because my father would forget he left the doors open and go to sleep! Anyway 1 night our doors were closed so it must have been coming towards the end of summer. We had our light on outside. We had sensor lights as well. My father was sitting up. It was in the early a.m. hours. My father said he heard light tapping on the door, someone gently knocking. Not enough to wake us if we were sleeping. My father said he looked out the peephole saw a man standing there. The man then left, never knocking harder. He got into his truck and drove away. My father said he saw the truck go by 3 more times. He said it looked like some kind of delivery truck. We never saw the truck or guy again. But we also no matter how hot the Summers were never left the doors open again unless we were up. That still bothers me. Maybe the guy was lost? yeah right maybe back in the 70's. But everyone has a cell phone. Plus if he was lost why knock so gently that no one would hear unless they were up? He didn't seem to care that the sensor lights were blaring all over him, giving a clear view of him.

Now we have camera's all around the house, so all we have to do is look on our monitor to see who or what is on the property. Which is really interesting I get to see all kinds of different animals, we know what sets off our sensor lights. And most importantly it keeps the trash that live across the street diagonally from us off our property Camera systems, best invetion ever

Oh my that is very creepy, I wonder if it could be someone testing if you was home. We used to get phone calls like that and dad swears that when someone calls and hangs up its someone upto no good and they are checking if anyone is home. Back then we didn't worry as much because our dogs would bite an intruder, my old dog I have now couldn't if she wanted to as she doesn't have any teeth anymore, and so dad said if something happens to her he wants another guard dog cause he doesn't like for me to be in here alone when he is gone without a dog ouside to watch over me. I would be very careful till you knew for sure what it was.

Hope you both feel better soon! Weird, especially since the dogs didn't bark. Could it have been a squirrel or other animal? One time I was visiting my parents, and there was a late-night knocker, and only one of the dogs barked, and not "seriously". It was a skunk!

Thank you for the well wishes and suggestions. We may have to look into some motion sensor lights. I think I've figured out why the noise sounding like someone was tapping on a window. Our windows have screens; however, we have storm doors. I bet they were knocking on one of those. The next morning, we got a hang-up call and DH thought it was someone trying to find out if we were home. It turned out to be a friend calling with sad and shocking news, that a mutual friend's wife died. It's been a bad couple of days, but DH and I are starting to feel a little better. If he can just stop coughing.

You need to be careful! Motion sensor lights are a great idea. And a peephole in your front door, if you don't already have one.

Many years ago, I had been working second shift. DH and DS were at the races and they wouldn't get home until the following night, so I was alone. I got home from work around 11:15 or so and was lying on the couch watching tv. Hydrox, The Old Coot, was lying on my chest and he was half-asleep. Suddenly, he awakened and became very alert.

Somebody knocked on the front door. Hydrox immediately started growling. Hydrox was a cat, but he could out-growl any dog around when he needed to. He jumped to the back of the couch and stared down the steps to the door and his hackles were even rising.

Whoever it was opened the storm door and....as I was starting down the steps to the door....turned the front knob of the door. That was it. I stopped dead, then backed up the steps. I went back to the bedroom and got the gun (yes, we have a gun and yes, I know how to use it I have to, and yes, I would have no qualms about it whatsoever).

When I came back out to the living room with the gun, Hydrox was in the kitchen, staring out the sliding glass door at the deck. I turned the back light on, but didn't see a soul. But if Hydrox was there, somebody had been out back.

I never heard a vehicle drive up the driveway....I never heard a car going past on the road. Nothing. Just that knock on the door. And the fact that Hydrox was very upset meant that somebody was up to no good....and whoever it was, Hydrox did not know the person. To this day, we have no idea who it was. But it scared the crap out of me.

We have motion sensor lights at the dark end of the house. You just never know.

Winchester thinks like I do.



Anyone knocks on my door when I am not expecting a visitor, the first thing I do is reach for a gun (yes, I have various guns). It doesn't have to be at 2:00 am either.

I've opened the door to find my wife's brother there or a delivery guy with a wrong address or something & I've always been armed. I've read waaaaay too many home invasion stories to be caught unarmed. But then again, I'm normally armed so................

Originally Posted by nurseangel

Thank you for the well wishes and suggestions. We may have to look into some motion sensor lights. I think I've figured out why the noise sounding like someone was tapping on a window. Our windows have screens; however, we have storm doors. I bet they were knocking on one of those. The next morning, we got a hang-up call and DH thought it was someone trying to find out if we were home. It turned out to be a friend calling with sad and shocking news, that a mutual friend's wife died. It's been a bad couple of days, but DH and I are starting to feel a little better. If he can just stop coughing.

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told you about the belief that it's someone trying to tell you someone else died.

Originally Posted by Winchester

You need to be careful! Motion sensor lights are a great idea. And a peephole in your front door, if you don't already have one.

Many years ago, I had been working second shift. DH and DS were at the races and they wouldn't get home until the following night, so I was alone. I got home from work around 11:15 or so and was lying on the couch watching tv. Hydrox, The Old Coot, was lying on my chest and he was half-asleep. Suddenly, he awakened and became very alert.

Somebody knocked on the front door. Hydrox immediately started growling. Hydrox was a cat, but he could out-growl any dog around when he needed to. He jumped to the back of the couch and stared down the steps to the door and his hackles were even rising.

Whoever it was opened the storm door and....as I was starting down the steps to the door....turned the front knob of the door. That was it. I stopped dead, then backed up the steps. I went back to the bedroom and got the gun (yes, we have a gun and yes, I know how to use it I have to, and yes, I would have no qualms about it whatsoever).

When I came back out to the living room with the gun, Hydrox was in the kitchen, staring out the sliding glass door at the deck. I turned the back light on, but didn't see a soul. But if Hydrox was there, somebody had been out back.

I never heard a vehicle drive up the driveway....I never heard a car going past on the road. Nothing. Just that knock on the door. And the fact that Hydrox was very upset meant that somebody was up to no good....and whoever it was, Hydrox did not know the person. To this day, we have no idea who it was. But it scared the crap out of me.

We have motion sensor lights at the dark end of the house. You just never know.

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Maybe the person didn't have a car, they walked up and that's why you didn't see or hear a car?

Originally Posted by snp81

Winchester thinks like I do.



Anyone knocks on my door when I am not expecting a visitor, the first thing I do is reach for a gun (yes, I have various guns). It doesn't have to be at 2:00 am either.

I've opened the door to find my wife's brother there or a delivery guy with a wrong address or something & I've always been armed. I've read waaaaay too many home invasion stories to be caught unarmed. But then again, I'm normally armed so................

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Why open the door in the first place? I never open the door, if it's someone I know, then it's someone I should be expecting. Everyone knows to call first.

That would have been freaky! We've had some strange knocking noises the past few nights - but as they're underneath the RV, I'm pretty sure they're cats, skunks or raccoons.

Originally Posted by LDG

That would have been freaky!

We've had some strange knocking noises the past few nights - but as they're underneath the RV, I'm pretty sure they're cats, skunks or raccoons.

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If their cats, than you'll have more to add to your cat family

Originally Posted by Winchester

(yes, we have a gun and yes, I know how to use it I have to, and yes, I would have no qualms about it whatsoever).

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Originally Posted by snp81

Winchester thinks like I do.

Anyone knocks on my door when I am not expecting a visitor, the first thing I do is reach for a gun (yes, I have various guns). It doesn't have to be at 2:00 am either.

I've opened the door to find my wife's brother there or a delivery guy with a wrong address or something & I've always been armed. I've read waaaaay too many home invasion stories to be caught unarmed. But then again, I'm normally armed so................

Click to expand...

When we move out to the country, one of the first things my husband is going to do is get guns so we can protect ourselves. He is going to teach me how to use it so that I can protect myself should the need arise. Right now, we have a baseball bat right next to DH's side of the bed.

Unless I know that someone is coming over, if I'm alone I don't even go to the door if someone knocks on it or rings the bell. If it is the postal service they can leave a note in the mailbox or try again, but that is unusual b/c we don't order things online and no one ever sends us anything. Otherwise they get ignored. I certainly wouldn't open the door if someone was turning the knob. THAT would freak me out, and I agree, I would get a gun.

Ack! Hope it was just animals making noise somehow, that's totally freaky.

When I lived with my parents in NC, it wasn't long after we had moved in and I was chatting with a friend on the phone around 2am downstairs in my room (they had 2nd living quarters in their house, and I made the old computer room my bedroom, the rest of the bedrooms were upstairs). I heard something rattling the knob and glass on the back door in the laundry room, diagonally across from my bedroom. I froze, locked my bedroom door, and put the computer chair under the knob. I refused to leave the room. I knew my dad had a gun upstairs if anyone got in, but I certainly was too scared to even risk being in sight of someone to run up there at 2am - whether or not they'd see me. The next morning, my mom told me that she saw a flash light go by the bedroom window around that time, and heard someone trying to open the sliding door from the deck. She always puts dowels in the door track on sliding doors, that's what kept it closed. We had an alarm system installed a couple days later.

In Jersey, we'd been robbed while out at my grandma's house one year on my brother's birthday and my dad was out of town racing, stole ~$25k+ in jewelry, plus my mom's coats, so we've always installed alarm systems in houses. The next house we lived in would beep if the alarm was turned off and one of the alarmed doors or windows were opened (the door from the garage, the front door, and my parent's bedroom window since there was a screen house back there you could enter their room from if you used a ladder). I was home from school and heard the beep sound ... but my parents weren't home and my brother was still in an after school program. My dad made me go investigate while I had him on the phone I brought a frying pan with me...much good that would have done Then i stayed at my friend's house until my mom got home. No idea why the beep went off, must have been a glitch or something.

The current house we live in doesn't have an alarm, I'd love to install one, but I also have five guns in the house - a 9mm loaded and ready with hollow points, two tactical shot guns, and two 36" barrel marlin goose guns. My 9mm is in the drawer next to the bed and the shot guns are in the corners next to either side. I have no problems using them, and have investigated noises in the house (non-cat noises) with my 9mm at my side. (One time i came home from work, and heard strange noises on the other side of the house, eek). I've also thought I've heard the sliding door open before, made hubby get up at 4am with his shotgun to investigate He keeps his .40cal at his shop, because he works in a bad area and is there late sometimes.

Anyone knocking at my door after dark would creep me out, and I wouldn't answer it. Anyone coming over late had better call first.

I wonder if it could be someone testing if you was home. We used to get phone calls like that and dad swears that when someone calls and hangs up its someone upto no good and they are checking if anyone is home.

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That happened to us just after our daughter started dating her latest soul-mate. About 10 pm the phone rang, I answered and a guy asked for my DH by name. I handed him the phone--he said 'hello', got a funny look on his face, and handed the phone back to me. I asked him what was going on; he said he guy on the phone said, "oh, wrong number" and hung up. Now, how can it be a wrong number when he speciifically asked for DH by name? Really creeped us both out.

We have motion lights in our back yard and, honestly, it scares me when I look out and see them on in the wee, small hours. I'm sure a cat or a possum has activated them, but then again, you just never know.

Hope you and your hubby are both feeling better soon, and that you have no more late-night visitors.

Oh, dear. I think DH has the flu. He rarely gets sick, but he is feeling so bad. All has been quiet in the night, however. I still think it's weird that the neighbors' dogs didn't bark...my next door neighbors' beagle isn't mean, but he carries on every time we drive up in our own driveway. He thinks we're up to no good.

You guys are scaring me! I'm gonna sleep with all the lights on tonight

You know, we don't live in an area that we'd consider to be high crime or anything like that. We are fairly rural. You don't walk anywhere in our neighborhood; there's no where to walk...no convenience store, no gas station close by. You can walk along the road for exercise, but that's pretty much it. So to have somebody knocking on your door without hearing a vehicle usually means there's something funky going on.

About two weeks ago, right up the road from us, a homeowner's dogs started barking and carrying on. This was only around 10:00 or so, not even that late at night. The man went outside to check on things as his dogs were really starting to get bad. Somebody knifed him in his back. On his own property. The police are still investigating.

That wasn't far from us. We do know people who have cameras set up around the perimeter of their property, just to be on the safe side.

There was a time when we wouldn't think a thing of leaving the house for a few minutes and not locking our doors. Or, if I was home during the day, I'd just keep the door open while I was in the house. Those days are gone. Even if I'm running to the store for milk or something, the house is locked. And nope, I don't open the front door for anybody once it's dark outside. Our house is such that I can see the front stoop from the bay window in the living room or the windows in our bedroom, so I can tell who it is. And DH did put a peephole in the front door, too.

I can tell you that that night I was walking down the steps and saw that door knob move? I was completely freaked out! Thank goodness, the door was locked and deadbolted.

Nurseangel, I'm sorry your DH may have the flu. I hope you're both feeling better soon.