Spinoff-Someone rings the doorbell at 1 a.m. WWYD?

[happygirl]

Yes, I would. As I said in another post. I would be more afraid they would think no one was home

 

[violetrose]

One time when I was junior in college and sharing an apartment not far from campus someone knocked on our door in the middle of the night. Back then I would sleep so heavily sometimes I would actually sleep walk. Well unfortunately this was one of those nights. I opened the door, saw some crazy looking person standing on the other end of the door. My roommate was just waking up at this time and sceamed "shut the door!" and at that point I woke up. It all happened in a split second but fortunately long enough for me to slam the door in this guy's face and put the chain on the door. My roommate called the police. We found out a few days later that the apartment below us was drug dealers and the guy had the wrong door. I would have never guessed it as the guy and his wife looked normal. The guy who knocked on our door sure did not.

My roommate and I are still good friends and whenever we see each other which is infrequently since we live in different states, we bring that up. We laugh about it now but at the time it wasn't funny at all! Needless to say as soon as our lease was up we found a new apartment. We were so oblivious to all the coming and goings downstairs, we thought the couple just had a lot of friends.

 

[Keli]

If home alone I'd check to see if I knew them without revealing myself. If a friend/family I'd open the door, if a stranger then I'm not acting like I'm home.
If dh's home then it's his baby, he can make all those decisions but I'm holding a phone in my hand to call for help if we don't know the person and dh opens the door.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

We live in a big city and our doorbell rang after way after midnight one evening. We peeked out and saw a man, lady and a baby in a carrier. My dh opened the door (I had the phone in my hand). They were from a another city and a taxi driver had dropped them off on the wrong street. The didn't speak a lot of english which added to the difficulty. We brought them in our little porch since it was winter and cold out. We could tell that they were scared. Once we finally figured out that they should be two streets over, my dh got dressed to take them to their friends house. As he was walking them there, they found their friend who was out looking for them as they had called him from the bus station and he couldn't figure out why they weren't at his house yet. He was standing on the corner of his street worried. It all worked out. I am so glad that we answered the door. The baby was only about 3 months old. I really felt bad for them.

However, you just never know....

 

[LongLiveDisney]

Great stories everyone.

I just remembered that something like this happened to my mom years ago. My dad was on a business trip so it was just my mom, younger sister and I. We lived on a pretty busy street and you would hear cars all night.

In the middle of the night, we hear this BANGING on the door. Nope, not ringing the bell, but banging. It woke us all up and so my mom grabs the phone and peeks out the door (made primarily of glass). She sees this HUGE guy with long hair in a ponytail with little John Lennon glasses, and she asks him what he wants. He says he needs a jack for his car that broke down. There wasn't a car in sight.

Mom said she didn't have one and he leaves. A few minutes later there's cops on our street. Apparently, he went to all the neighbors' houses asking for a jack and they got suspicious and called the police. They arrested him.

That scared me as a kid!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

This happened to us last year. Our doorbell was being rung incessantly at 2 am. We couldn't see who it was from the window. I called 911 while DH got dressed.

Turns out it was the police already. They were investigating a domestic disturbance and saw that the suspect had hit our mailbox as he was flying around the corner. The officer didnt want us to wake up and see the mailbox lying there in the morning.

Umm, couldn't he have left a note rather than scaring us to death at 2am?

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

We had our door bell ring at 11pm once and did not answer. Through peeping out the dark windows, we decided it was someone who got the wrong house because there was suddenly someone in the neighbor's driveway.

Another time, I was sleeping on the downstairs couch after knee surgery and would keep a lamp on all night so I didn't trip on the way to the bathroom. Around 4am the bell rang, the door handle kind of jiggled and there was a loud bang. I sleep with earplugs so for it to wake me up it was really loud. I thought someone had broken in for sure and just froze. Called the cops who sent a patrol around the neighborhood and they discovered overturned trash cans and such so a bunch of punk kids. I figure they saw the light on and thought someone was up and wanted to mess with them by pretending to break in and kick the door.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I did open the door once at around 2:30 am. It was a really sexy fireman....



...who was checking on a report of a fire two apartments over from us. It was a small fire and he was just checking for smoke since we a shared a common vent.

Oh come on, tell us the rest of the story! I'll start it for you:

Dear Penthouse, the following seems unbelievable, but I swear every word of it is true.................

 

[Buckalew11]

I don't have a doorbell.

If someone were knocking on my door at 1 a.m. and DH was not home, I would not answer the door. I'd probably go try to see who it was and I'd have a gun in one hand and my cell phone and car keys in the other. If I needed to, I set my car alarm off with my key fob.

 

[Disney Doll]

I'd look out the window and see who it was and go from there.
If it was someone I knew I'd open the door...obviously if they are knocking at 1AM, there's a problem.

If it's someone I didn't know I'd yell out the window as to what they wanted. I'd probably also be dialing the police at the same time, just in case. If they were stuck or broken down, I oculd then tell them that help was on the way and I am sure they would understand why I was hesitant to open the door.

 

[StephMK]

This happened twice years ago when we lived in our townhouse. It was a good neighborhood w/really great neighbors. ItThe first time, we ignored it because it was around 11:45 on a Sunday night. They kept banging and it turned out to be the next door neighbor.

Her dryer caught on fire and we share a wall. We went to our friends down the row until the firemen put it out. Luckily, other than a very mild smoke smell, we had no damage or lasting effects. The neighbor lost a lot of storage items in her basement.

The next time, I was home w/the kids when DH was at work and again, it was late. It was some young teen kid. I waited until he was by the sidewalk then opened the door w/a phone in my hand & big dog next to me. He had been out with friends and got lost. There was a long path through the woods behind our street so I think he came up from there. I offered the phone but he just wanted directions back to the main road. I told him and he was on his way.

 

[HelenePA]

My brother showed up at my door last weekend at 4am... yes I opened it.

 

[disney1990]

I can see them without them seeing me, so I would check first. Someone I didn't know, yeah no way (especially if DH wasn't home)

This is what I would do. I would hate to not answer the door and have it be a neighbor that had a problem. Not all of my neighbors have our telephone number. It wasn't 4:00 am, but one night, our neighbor's son was locked out of the house, without his cellphone and his Mom wasn't home. So glad we were able to help out.

 

[cybrkitn]

But not at 1 am. It was about 2 weeks ago during DS10's school vacation. During school vacation we let DH stay up no later than 11 pm. Well, he was downstairs watching one of the kid's stations (Disney XD or Nickelodeon) at around 11 pm. I had already gone to bed about 2 hours prior, while DH was next to me watching TV. Next thing I know he jumps out of bed, waking me up, puts on a pair of jogging pants and rushes downstairs. I put on my robe and go downstairs to find out what was going on. As I'm coming down, there are 2 men at the foot of the stairs that I don't know. They rang the door bell and DS went and opened it and let them in ! DUH!!! We have told him several times not to open the door to anyone other than family and to get us instead. This was the first time we have ever had someone at the door this late and the first time where DS went and opened the door. I was ready to ring his neck for pulling that stunt!

Anyway, DH starts talking to them to find out they are detectives (yes, they showed ID) and investigating an accident where a pedestrian was hit. The pedestrian had no ID on him, just his cell phone. The last number the person had called turned out to be my FIL's cell phone, which is under our cell phone plan. The next day, we find out that the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the hospital and was someone FIL knew.

In this case it was law enforcement. Thank God it wasn't anyone else! Who knows what could have happened.

 

[Callie]

I wouldn't open it if I didn't know who it was! I would also grab a knife before hand....

Awhile ago, my neighbor(well my moms) was home alone, since her kids were at their dads. It was the middle of the night, and someone started slamming on her door. Next thing you know, he is trying to break in, and screaming all sorts of craziness! He had the wrong house, and was attempting to break into his ex wifes. He started throwing things into the windows. The cops were coming, but it was close! He kept saying how he was going to kill her. They ended up bringing the helicopter because he tried running. Just to think it could have been our house.

 

[beaucoup]

Wasn't there just a story in the news not to long ago about someone dying because they ran to neighbor's house and they wouldn't open the door? Can't remember. Was it during Hurricane Sandy?

Maybe I'm mixing up stories.

 

[sweetdana]

Do you open the door or not? I admit, I would be way too scared to. I would probably just grab the phone and hide or maybe peek out. My door is made of glass mostly though so that's why I would be hesitant to pass by. Maybe I'm just irrational.

What would you do?

Happened to me. My sister did it about 3 am had been to a bar drunk, and my home was closer than hers. She slept over then I gave her the 3 rd degree for driving at all. As she was right to go a shorter distance she couldn't walk. She should have cabbed it.

 

[Bluestars]

I don't open the door for people I don't know. My husband will do it though.

Sometimes our doorbell would ring around 11:30 at night, but when we would get to the door nobody would be there. We purchased a camera that is set off by motion and will record. Now if somebody comes to the door, I just look at the monitor. We can also rewind the monitor to see if anything set off the camera earlier in the day.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Oh come on, tell us the rest of the story! I'll start it for you:

Dear Penthouse, the following seems unbelievable, but I swear every word of it is true.................

Weeellllll, he was THAT cute and sexy, come to think of it.

 

[Coonhound]

I would never answer the door not knowing who it was. If its family, friends, neighbors i trust then yes id open the door. If it was a stranger, no way, unless they looked in distress in which case I'd call the police and tell the person hang tight the police are on their way. I'd have protection on me though just in case.
That's what i WOULD do, but...that being said I did have someone ring our bell at 3 am, and I let him in without question.
It was a 13yo from several streets away. I did not know him but had seen him before outside, but didn't know him or the parents either- but he was at our door barefoot on a cold night and crying. I didn't think I was in any danger.
Apparently without knowing any real details there was some sort of abuse going on, he finally had had enough and ran out of the house, ran for a few streets and then didn't know what to do so just rang the doorbell of the house he had stopped in front of. (We just kept him warm and called the police and then they took it from there.)
After that I thought people should definitely be careful but don't discount the idea of someone truly being in need. Rely on your judgement but have protection in case it's needed.