I'm terrified!

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Please help me calm down. Earlier this evening (about 8:30 or so) my phone rang and it went to the answering machine before I could get to it. Whoever it was let the answering machine pick up and run for a second but did not talk. It was weird, very few people have my land line and those who do know that it's not my preferred method of contact. I figured it might be a wrong number.

At 9:00 somebody knocked on my door- or at least it sounded like they did! I quickly called 911. The problem is the calibration on my cell phone is off so I had to get my landline to do it. I am getting a new cell phone tomorrow. The police came and they didn't see anything. I'm not entirely sure I heard a knock because the dogs didn't bark, but it sure sounded like one.

I will be definitely making some improvements. I have motion lights on my garage, but I'm thinking I need to add some to my stoop. I also need to get a peep hole I can see out of (I'm way too short to see out of my current one.) I'm calling the alarm company tomorrow to get it turned back on and have them tweak it so the dogs won't set off my motion detector. I'm also going to get an automatic garage door opener. That was my biggest issue: I couldn't make a quick escape if I wanted to. It also makes me nervous to come home late and have to get out of my car to get into my house.

I really don't live in a high crime area at all. I can drive by at like 10 o'clock at night and people are still out walking. But I will nto be sleeping easily tonight.

 

[paintnolish]

It's probably nothing. I get a little freaked out when dh is gone over night. If your dogs are anything like mine, they would have been barking if it had been a real knock on the door. Try to get some rest.

 

[Linzybrooke]

I would imagine that one of two things happened with the phone.
One, it was a telemarketer (we get calls as late as 9:30 sometimes), where the system dials several numbers at one time and the agent picks up the first one to answer, if they think it is an answer machine they just disconnect. This happens to us a lot, and I know its a telemarketer because I check the caller ID and just ignore it. Then the same thing happens, it goes to the answering machine and about 5 seconds later disconnects.
Second, someone thought they called the right number, realized it was wrong and just hung up after the processed who the machine said it was.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm leaning toward possibly the second, particularly because my machine has uses the manufacturer's generic greeting in a generic voice. I get calls from an insurance company obviously looking for whomever had the number before me. They'll leave messages about adding coverage to a plan, but I know for a fact my insurance does not have this number.

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Sometimes I am talking to someone else or doing something else while dialing a number and don't listen when the machine picks up so it takes me a few seconds to hang up.

But I know how you feel. My parents were gone a few weeks ago and I stayed with my dog. He was sitting there staring out the window growing and it freaked me out! We have an alarm and everything but I still got the spooks and couldn't sleep.

The only thing that worked for me is to watch TV until I fell asleep. Good luck!

 

[Nagle]

At 9:00 somebody knocked on my door- or at least it sounded like they did! I quickly called 911.

You called 911 because you thought you heard a knock at your door?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm sorry. It's dark out, there was a suspicious phone call, and I am a single woman who lives alone. There is no reason a person should be knocking on my door at 9:00pm. I told them exactly what happened (weird phone call, then not long after somebody is at my door.) The police told me I did the right thing.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I'm sorry. It's dark out, there was a suspicious phone call, and I am a single woman who lives alone. There is no reason a person should be knocking on my door at 9:00pm. I told them exactly what happened (weird phone call, then not long after somebody is at my door.) The police told me I did the right thing.

You absolutely did the right thing. Better safe than sorry!

 

[HeatherH]

I'm sorry you were terrified, but I'm really mystified why those two things scared you and caused you to call 911?

People call and hang up on machines all the time. People knock at doors, even at 9:00 at night. It wasn't like someone was trying to intrude.

Honestly, I think you HUGELY overreacted, especially by calling 911...that is for emergencies, and this isn't one.

This is not meant in attacking way at all, I know that to you it seems terrifying. But these things happen all the time to other people, and it would never make me even consider calling 911. Or even being scared in the least.

I'm glad you are getting extra security devices and improvements to help you feel safer. I hope that after those are installed you will feel more comfortable should some slightly out of the ordinary things happen to you in the future.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Seriously, the police had no problems and told me I did the right thing, so why does it matter to you? 911 told me I did the right thing, so why does it matter to you?

There is no reason for a stranger to be knocking on my door this late at night. None. I repeat, the police told me that I absolutely did the right thing in calling them. They felt it was serious enough to send not one but two cars to my house and thoroughly checked out my property to make sure that nobody was there. They also said they would make it a point to patrol tonight. I did not pretend there was more going on than there was. I simply gave them the facts and they felt it was a valid use of the system.

I will say it again: I am a single woman in a new area. Excuse me if I am a little cautious when people come onto my property after dark.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I'm sorry you were terrified, but I'm really mystified why those two things scared you and caused you to call 911?

People call and hang up on machines all the time. People knock at doors, even at 9:00 at night. It wasn't like someone was trying to intrude.

Honestly, I think you HUGELY overreacted, especially by calling 911...that is for emergencies, and this isn't one.

This is not meant in attacking way at all, I know that to you it seems terrifying. But these things happen all the time to other people, and it would never make me even consider calling 911. Or even being scared in the least.

I'm glad you are getting extra security devices and improvements to help you feel safer. I hope that after those are installed you will feel more comfortable should some slightly out of the ordinary things happen to you in the future.

I agree. Sorry you were scared though.

My husband works nights so every other weekend I am home alone. One night recently I came home late and went straight down stairs to my bedroom. When I started to go up the stairs I realized it was completely dark up there. Now I ALWAYS leave the kitchen light on when I know it is going to be dark when I return (my husband was out of town for the weekend so he had not been home that day at all). I got really freaked out thinking someone was in my house, I watch a lot of horror movies I started to get his gun to go check around upstairs when I realized that my cat, Little, was out and about and happy. If there had been a stranger in my house, that cat would have been hiding.

 

[BuffettFan]

I'm sorry you were terrified, but I'm really mystified why those two things scared you and caused you to call 911?

People call and hang up on machines all the time. People knock at doors, even at 9:00 at night. It wasn't like someone was trying to intrude.

Honestly, I think you HUGELY overreacted, especially by calling 911...that is for emergencies, and this isn't one.

This is not meant in attacking way at all, I know that to you it seems terrifying. But these things happen all the time to other people, and it would never make me even consider calling 911. Or even being scared in the least.

I'm glad you are getting extra security devices and improvements to help you feel safer. I hope that after those are installed you will feel more comfortable should some slightly out of the ordinary things happen to you in the future.

ITA.

I was kinda scratching my head at the original post too....
Someone hung up on your machine, and you might have heard a knock....
Make yourself a nice cup of herbal tea, and find some old sitcoms on TV, I dont think you really have anything to be worried about tonight!

 

[Stevania]

I'm sorry you were terrified, but I'm really mystified why those two things scared you and caused you to call 911?

People call and hang up on machines all the time. People knock at doors, even at 9:00 at night. It wasn't like someone was trying to intrude.

Honestly, I think you HUGELY overreacted, especially by calling 911...that is for emergencies, and this isn't one.

This is not meant in attacking way at all, I know that to you it seems terrifying. But these things happen all the time to other people, and it would never make me even consider calling 911. Or even being scared in the least.

I'm glad you are getting extra security devices and improvements to help you feel safer. I hope that after those are installed you will feel more comfortable should some slightly out of the ordinary things happen to you in the future.

Yeah, that.

 

[alizesmom]

You were right to call 911, they responded and were able to verify your safety. Too many people wait too long to call for fear of seeming foolish. I understand you shouldn't call for nonessentials but there is that gray area where you don't know.

 

[mrsbert]

Please help me calm down. Earlier this evening (about 8:30 or so) my phone rang and it went to the answering machine before I could get to it. Whoever it was let the answering machine pick up and run for a second but did not talk. It was weird, very few people have my land line and those who do know that it's not my preferred method of contact. I figured it might be a wrong number.

At 9:00 somebody knocked on my door- or at least it sounded like they did! I quickly called 911. The problem is the calibration on my cell phone is off so I had to get my landline to do it. I am getting a new cell phone tomorrow. The police came and they didn't see anything. I'm not entirely sure I heard a knock because the dogs didn't bark, but it sure sounded like one.

I will be definitely making some improvements. I have motion lights on my garage, but I'm thinking I need to add some to my stoop. I also need to get a peep hole I can see out of (I'm way too short to see out of my current one.) I'm calling the alarm company tomorrow to get it turned back on and have them tweak it so the dogs won't set off my motion detector. I'm also going to get an automatic garage door opener. That was my biggest issue: I couldn't make a quick escape if I wanted to. It also makes me nervous to come home late and have to get out of my car to get into my house.

I really don't live in a high crime area at all. I can drive by at like 10 o'clock at night and people are still out walking. But I will nto be sleeping easily tonight.

IMHO... I don't think you overreacted at all. This exact thing was going on in a town next to mine. The burglars were calling numbers and if the homeowners didn't answer the phone, they went to the house and knocked on the door. If no one answered, they broke in and stole as much as they could carry.

The burglars obtained the address and phone numbers online from the white pages.

You obviously got the feeling something wasn't right and acted on it.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

IMHO... I don't think you overreacted at all. This exact thing was going on in a town next to mine. The burglars were calling numbers and if the homeowners didn't answer the phone, they went to the house and knocked on the door. If no one answered, they broke in and stole as much as they could carry.

The burglars obtained the address and phone numbers online from the white pages.

You obviously got the feeling something wasn't right and acted on it.

And this is exactly my fear. I have studied criminal psychology and at one point was pursuing a possible job opportunity with the FBI. We did not do a lot with the pettier stuff but mostly studied spree and serial killers. Many serial killers did not simply force their way into homes. Ted Bundy put on a cast and asked girls to help him before shoving them into his van. Another one, I can't remember the name, simply walked up to houses in which the front door was left open (screen door shut) in the middle of the day.

There have been many cases of burglars and people with less than noble intentions calling or knocking. They may be looking for patterns of when somebody is home, attempting to look around to see what kind of security/valuables you may have, or may be looking to commit the crime then and there.

Was it that? I don't know. But I'm not going to wait and find out. If the police or the 911 dispatcher had told me I was overreacting then I would have just gone with it. But they felt it was serious enough to send two units in a very short amount of time. Again, they told me I did exactly what I should have done in the circumstance. And for the record, I would have been just as freaked out if I hadn't received the possibly unrelated phone call.

The police told me to call if I heard somebody knock again, so they obviously felt it was a serious enough situation to involve their presence.

ETA: I posted this while still in the heat of the moment, trying to calm down and maybe be reassured/hear other stories. Certainly not to be attacked over whether or not I used 911 appropriately, particularly when I was specifically told to call if it happened again. So please, just drop it.

 

[brockash]

It's probably nothing. I get a little freaked out when dh is gone over night. If your dogs are anything like mine, they would have been barking if it had been a real knock on the door. Try to get some rest.

I agree, the dogs wouldv'e barked. About the phone call, honestly it was probably a telemarketer. They'd have your landline number and the not talking isn't that unusual. I used to be a manager at a telemarketing place, and it wasn't uncommon at all for the employees to have a phone call and not talk... they might not have been ready, they might be training, they were probably goofing off, or they may have just been trying to buy time before they had to get their next call. I really wouldn't worry about it.

ETA:

Also, to help with the sleeping; do you have any "Friends" dvd's? I use them all the time when my DH is gone. I'd find some kind of rerun comedy on tv and try to get to sleep while it's on.

 

[2BigKIdz]

Just FYI- It is SOP for police to send 2 units, and their job to reassure you that you did the right thing by calling. You feel better that they were there so in the end that is all that really matters.

 

[FireDancer]

I kind of thought it was a bit of an over reaction too, but to each their own. You did what you felt was right for you.

If anyone wants to knock on my door at 9pm feel free, I probably just started dinner though so make sure it is important.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

She did not ask if anyone thought she overreacted. That was not the point of her post. She simply asked for some help in calming down. I'm sure some comments are not making her feel any better.

OP, I feel for you. When I can't sleep, I put on TVLand. Classic comedy always puts my mind at ease.