"Attempted burglary" last night - Long story!

[Mil-Spec45]

So here's a little story of what happened to me last night...let me set it up for you:

It was in the dead of night. I heard a noise that woke me up. I groggily wake up, rub my eyes, and feel the other side of my bed to check if my wife is still there...yep she was there sleeping. It took my eyes a little bit to adjust right (I wear glasses), but I can see a shadowy looking figure in the room. I hear a noise again, and it's coming from right in front of me, and I saw the shadowy figure move around a little bit. My heart starts pounding a million beats a second, I start sweating real bad, I can't think straight, and I found myself starting to shake a little. In a split second I grab my gun and light, point the light on the man in my room and pull the slack on the trigger, scream "FREEZE!!!! (waking my wife who starting screaming); millimeters away from popping a round off...

...then I realize. The "shadowy" figure was an old jacket my wife hung up on the dresser in front of the bed when she was going through our winter clothes earlier in the day. The "noise" and "movement" was from one of our cats that was playing tug-of-war with the strings that hang down from the jacket. I felt like a complete idiot, but I cannot describe the relief that I felt at that point. It made me realize that I need better preperation so I'll be better prepared in case next time is the real thing; And that I cannot go to bed with things hanging from my dresser!

The funny thing is, my dad was walking to the bathroom one night (a long time ago) and found a man in his house standing in the hallway. They both stood real still and neither made any sudden movements, and for a few hours my dad stood "petrified", just scared to death. As soon as it started getting lighter outside and he could see, he realized that it was the large human-sized mirror in the hallway. The "burglar" was himself! So I guess it runs in the family. Anything stupid like these stories ever happen to any of you?

 

[jagugator]

The funny thing is, my dad was walking to the bathroom one night (a long time ago) and found a man in his house standing in the hallway. They both stood real still and neither made any sudden movements, and for a few hours my dad stood "petrified", just scared to death. As soon as it started getting lighter outside and he could see, he realized that it was the large human-sized mirror in the hallway. The "burglar" was himself! So I guess it runs in the family. Anything stupid like these stories ever happen to any of you?

I think I might have wet myself laughing so hard. That has got to be the funniest thing I have ever read.

I am glad you didn't shoot your cat or the jacket.

 

[Rmart30]

Well, at least thats all it was ......... In the 60's my father in law worked nights and my mother in law and at the time her only daughter who was about 5 or 6 at the time were left alone at night and slept in the same bed.
My mother in law was woken up one night by the daughter asking who is that man in the room? Mom in law never rolled over and told her there was no one there and to go back to sleep....
Turns out when they got up the next morning the TV and a few other items were gone.
Someone had taken out one of the old style crank out glass door panes and let himself in....... So there actually was someone in the bedroom with them...

I always think about that story when I hear a odd noise in the house at night.

 

[545days]

I have awoke to a mylar balloon setting off the motion detector on my home's alarm system when the AC kicked on at night and blew the balloon across the room. That was scary, because the the alarm horn going off I was not able to hear a darn thing. Twenty felons could have been dancing in my living room waving machetes and I wouldn't have been able to tell...

This happen a couple of years after the burglar I described in the "Burglar at night (very long)" thread. In this instance, my wife an I were in the bedroom of a small single family home with the door shut. We had no kids to rescue, so we let the cops come and clear the house. (At the time, we lived in a very small town, two blocks from the police station, so they arrived really quickly.) Needless to say, I felt like an idiot afterwards.

In the first case (with a real burglar), I could hear and see what was going on. In the second case, I was in a closed room, with the darn horn in the attic deafening me. In my present home I have an alarm panel in the master bedroom, so we can turn off the horn without leaving the room. Of course, now I have kids I would have to go secure, so I probably wouldn't slow down to silence the horn... I'd like to say I have figured out a great way to handle this scenario, but I'd be lying.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

They need to invent some sort of headset that you hook up to a security system so only you and your partner hear the alarm. along with the security company if applicable.

 

[bleachcola]

Constantly wear a headset around the house just in case someone breaks in and you don't want them to know that you have an alarm?

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

I didn't state that clearly, for when you're sleeping. I don't know. I'm tired, lol.

 

[bleachcola]

I guess if you really wanted to sneak up on the guy it would be of use. Tie him down and torture him to find out where his accomplices are.

 

[KC0QGL]

I've heard "The bumb in the night" before. But it was only my pet rats trying to get out of their cages.
One morring I woke up, went down stairs and saw "something" moving around on the floor. It was my wifes rat.

 

[KC0QGL]

I've heard "The bumb in the night" before. But it was only my pet rats trying to get out of their cages.
One morring I woke up, went down stairs and saw "something" moving around on the floor. It was my wifes rat.

 

[jason10mm]

I had a scare one night when I walked through the dark house to the washer in the garage. On my way back to my room, I hear running footsteps across the wood floors in the main hallway. I was stuck in the pitch black den with no weapons in reach! I ducked into the kitchen and hit the lights while grabbing for a knife.

Turns out there was a stray cat loose in the house

I chased it out, then pondered how it got INTO the house in the first place. Got my pistol and cleared the house, discovering that my bottom floor roomate had left his exterior door WIDE OPEN all day.

Had another scare, same house, when I awoke to a huge CRASH in the den. Grabbed my pistol and cracked my bedroom door. My third roommate stumbled out of his room and wandered around, discovering that a piece of the blinds covering our sliding door fell off. I was more than willing to let him recon the situation

Had a motion detector alarm go off in our new house one night. Alas, I was in that stage of sleep where noises merge into dreams and I thought it was my cell phone. I was halfway out of the bed room door before I realized WHICH alarm was going off! Beat feet back to retrieve pistol and cover doorway. Wife got to talk to the alarm company guy while I checked the house. We had several previous motion sensor false alarms (or cat triggered when I forgot to disable the motion sensors at night) so my threat level was not too high but it did keep us awake the rest of the night

 

[Ed4032]

Once I woke up in the night because I had heard something that sounded like a crash. Grabbed my gun and ran toward the door. The door was half closed. I ran square in to the end of the door and was knocked off my feet. It hurt but I raised my arms to deflect the next blow. When it did not come I looked up and saw the door. I had a huge knot on my forehead. There was no one in the house, so I guess that I dreamed the noise. Scared me though.

 

[gumbo]

That stuff always happens to me when I am running a cycle. Tren & test always gives me crazy dreams. I'll wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and pounce on the dresser.

 

[XDKingslayer]

I had one when the shuttle landed once. I didn't "hear" the first bang but it woke me up. I woke up to the dog going absolutely nuts. Then about the time your brain starts working there was another bang that just shook the entire house.

It took a moment to realize what it was.

 

[eric.cartman]

My apartment building got new doors installed in every unit. The new dead bolts are so dang loud... so one night, my wife suddenly wakes up and tells me that someone is in the house!!! Crap!!! In about 0.32 seconds I'm on my feel, Glock 19 in my hand aimed down the hallway leading out of the bedroom. Wife grabbed my Kahr PM9. I stood there for a minute, finger on the trigger, hearing noises from the kitchen waiting for someone to come from around the corner. No one ever did. Turned out neighbour must have opened his door, AND our dishwasher was running and banging on stuff at the same time. That was the ONLY time in my life where I was fully prepared to pull the trigger the second someone walked into our bedroom. A minute later I cleared the house after I realized it was just a harmless bump in the night.

Other time an ironing board which my wife stood against the wall opposite to her side of the bead just decided to fall onto the night stand on her side of bed, knock the lamp off and fall straingt onto my wife. That was actually really scary. I'm awaken in the middle of a night by wife screaming and crap making loud banging noises in my bedroom!!!
Surprisingly I realized VERY quickly what happened. it wasn't a very dark night, and the second I opened my eyes I could see exactly what's going on. Of course I cleared the house, but all was in order.

Ain't adrenaline great ?

 

[moga]

They need to invent some sort of headset that you hook up to a security system so only you and your partner hear the alarm. along with the security company if applicable.

How about hard wiring one of these up to your master panel and attaching it to the bed frame?

http://www.smarthome.com/8249p1.html?src=Froogle

 

[ServiceSoon]

Good story. Just get a dog and be done with it.