A very strange coincidence

[KarenB]

One night this past summer, around the 1-3am hours, our doorbell rang. It wasn't the typical "ding dong" but it was as if someone was repeatedly pushing the button. DH and I jumped out of bed to find nothing. We have 2 college age sons that were home safe and sound. They were up, heard it, checked around the house for us, then went back to what they were doing. About an hour or so later, it happened again. We all jumped up, looked out the windows, saw nothing. It was a full moon, so it was very bright out. There were no cars on the road, no burning bag of poop on the porch, nothing.....

We kind of just assumed it was a friend of DSs' that was maybe out at a party and thought it would be funny. We knew of one kid that was out at the time and had a few drinks. He is a bit of a prankster and we thought it may have been him.

Well, last night , DH and I went out with some friends and for some reason, DH was telling the summer doorbell story. We come home, watch the news, fall asleep. About 1:30am.........

Yeah, you guessed it...the doorbell was ringing. DH and I jump out of bed, search the house, look out the window.....nothing!!! DSs are both at college and they didn't mention people being home this weekend.

Any practical ideas of what is going on? We checked to see if the doorbell button could have gotten stuck but it looked okay. Plus, if it did get stuck, what pushed it in the first place? Also, if it were kids being mischievous, I would think they would have done something to the stack of pumpkins I have right by the door.

The strangest thing was that we were just talking about the summer incident a few hours before it happened again last night. Maybe it is a ghost....

Karen

 

[Nancy]

maybe a short in wire?

 

[KarenB]

I was wondering that too. Maybe even a mouse, but I haven't heard and pitter patter of paws in the middle of the night. It was just so strange that is hadn't happened since the one time in the summer until we talked about it last night.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Could one of your sons be playing a trick on you and just being a really good actor?

 

[Tikitoi]

Well whatever it is, it sound very nerve racking at least that's how it would be for me. Sort of reminds me of someone knocking on my door and I sent DD to get it, because she was expecting her dad, but I still told her to look out. Glad I did because it was 3 guys. By the time I get to the door to see what they wanted they were running away. This was daylight and DD said none of them looked familiar. But anyway, good luck, OP.

 

[KarenB]

Liberty Belle-I wouldn't put that past them (and their friends) at times! We all have a good sense of humor and I am sure I have played a trick on them in the past and they could have gotten me back by doing the doorbell thing. There is only a tiny problem ......they are both away at college with no car. It is a very small town so if they did come home without telling us (which I really don't think they would do) word would get back.

Karen

 

[KarenB]

Well whatever it is, it sound very nerve racking at least that's how it would be for me. Sort of reminds me of someone knocking on my door and I sent DD to get it, because she was expecting her dad, but I still told her to look out. Glad I did because it was 3 guys. By the time I get to the door to see what they wanted they were running away. This was daylight and DD said none of them looked familiar. But anyway, good luck, OP.

Yeah, it is kind of bugging me. We are in a very small town with lots of unlocked doors. I seem to be double checking them today to be sure they are locked while DH is at work.

 

[ConcKahuna]

That or you're haunted!

 

[pittypat]

A mouse or squirrel in your attic chewing on wires?

 

[vanillamickey]

How old is your house? That brings up 2 options: faulty wiring, or a ghost.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Something similar was happening to us about 6 months after we bought our home. There was this phantom "dialing" coming from the intercom system. It was an old fashioned dialing sound, 10 digits, and it would do it at the exact same time 3 times a day. We had the intercom folks come out and it was the DirecTv calling out on our phone line that was doing it. Somehow the intercom was picking up the dialing So yes, other fixtures in the house can interfere with other electrical gadgets....

edited to add: AND worst of all, when our neighbors hit their garage door opener, the lights in our spare bedroom turn on! All of the lights are the push button type, don't know if that's why?? Bizarre!!!

 

[TTFN]

When I was a kid we had a cat who learned to ring the doorbell. The front of the house was brick on the lower half with siding above. There was a sort of ledge around the top course of the bricks, which was just below the door bell. The cat would rub on the bell and be rewarded with being let into the house. Maybe you have a similar type house and a lonely neighborhood cat!

 

[Pin Wizard]

There was a teen who was shot and died apparently in 2003 in Boca Raton, FL doing something similar. Seems a search won't bring up the newpaper article, but it all seems to be in the first post here. Very sad. What the heck is a sophomore doing out at that hour.

http://www.goldtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23250

 

[KarenB]

There was a teen who was shot and died apparently in 2003 in Boca Raton, FL doing something similar. Seems a search won't bring up the newpaper article, but it all seems to be in the first post here. Very sad. What the heck is a sophomore doing out at that hour.

http://www.goldtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23250

Yeah, I can see how this would really scare someone. Luckily DH was here with me. We looked out every window to see if we could see someone with no luck. There is only one place that a person could "wait it out" if someone was doing this.

The strangest thing was that DH and I hadn't talked about the time it happened in the summer until last night.....then it happened again.

 

[KarenB]

When I was a kid we had a cat who learned to ring the doorbell. The front of the house was brick on the lower half with siding above. There was a sort of ledge around the top course of the bricks, which was just below the door bell. The cat would rub on the bell and be rewarded with being let into the house. Maybe you have a similar type house and a lonely neighborhood cat!

You know, after racking our brains about what is causing this, I did foolishly think about a cat jumping up. I think it would be impossible.

 

[mmexpress]

Is it a wireless doorbell?
We had one of those and went through the same thing, we finally got rid if it.

 

[Abbie]

Hmmm....what about the friends you told??

If you're not seeing anything, I'm going with the crowd thinking it's a wire issue or something. Just curious, any electrical storm activity going on at the time? We once had an electronic ringing toy, it was actually a Looney Tunes doorbell that one of the kids had on their bedroom door. LONG after it stopped working, it was under my DD's bed and during a storm one night it all of a sudden started playing. It happened more than once too and totally freaked us out. We couldn't GET it to work when we pressed it, but for some strange reason it would start playing at odd times. Finally exorcised our house of it by trashing it!

 

[Metsfan520]

I would say you dreamed it, but it's happening to both of you! I have very vivid dreams, so I frequently wake up thinking I heard my dad call out my name, or someone knocking on the door, only to discover that I was dreaming. But it's happened to both of you, so it's not that.

I'll go with mostly everyone else, and say it's the wiring.

 

[N&B'smom]

My parents just had a similar problem and it turned out that there was a leak somewhere in the house and wherever it was, it was causing problems with the doorbell wiring.

Shelby

 

[ameraumi]

Is it a wireless doorbell?
We had one of those and went through the same thing, we finally got rid if it.

I was thinking the same thing!