I could hear someone trying to open my door!

[oneshooter]

Had a knock on the door one evening about 9pm. Went to the door with Mr SIG with me. looked through the peep in the door and it was blocked. After telling my Loving Wife to pick up and stand ready,her prefered is a 30carb.w/Win JHP,I slipped out the back and went around the house. Found one of my sons friends with his thumb on the peep. Got behind him and jacked the slide on the SIG. He froze and IDed himself. Needles to say we had a short,but to the point, conversation on what is "funny"and what will get you injured. This was after he borrowed the 'room'.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[griz]

The wind blew the side door open once while I was asleep, probably because I didn't fully close it. Woke-armed-checked. The storm door blew open once with a freak strong gust. It sounded like somebody tearing the door off the hinges and indeed broke the spring loaded closer. I was in the next room, and my heart rate was elevated quite a bit.

Now that I have cats, I don't even get out of bed if it sounds like them bumping something over. One of the little darlings jumped off a wardrobe once onto the bed, about a four foot fall, and landed square on my foot. I'm still not sure which one of us was more surprized, but I know she traveled farther.

 

[reagansquad]

One night I was just about to fall asleep when I heard the distinct sound of the front door being kicked open. I lept out of bed, grabbed my 870, and headed to meet the door-kicker in the livingroom. I checked for someone in the kitchen via reflection and then gently sliced the pie from the hall to the livingroom. THere he WAS!!!


My dog.

You see, my girlfriend and I were about to move in together at a new place, but the lease on her old place had run out early, so all of her stuff was piled to the ceiling. The dog had knocked one of the boxes off the pile.


...Another time the dogs heard someone rattling the door nob (probably a drunk), but I guess that's not really a false alarm.

 

[coylh]

Wow. Why is it everyone's initial reaction upon hearing a frightening noise to GO TOWARDS it???

Everyone knows that a gun kept in the home is 40 times more likely to be used on your cat than an intruder.

 

[NavajoNPaleFace]

Some years back my wife and I lived out in the boonies (we still do...but a different 'boonies').

One quiet full moonlit night my dog alerted and I instinctively opened my eyes and turned on 'listener mode'. I could hear noises of foot steps outside the slightly opened window above my head.

Once I react my dog usually lays low and leaves the rest up to me...which she did that night.

Suddenly I saw a shadow slowly move across the far bedroom wall. I quietly woke the wife and softly told her to gently roll off of her side of the bed to the floor and to stay there. She did.

I continued to watch the shadow move and heard more footsteps outside the window. The dog was now begining to make me nervous since she began to lowly whine with some growl mixed in.

I rolled over to retrieve the handgun off of the night stand.

Even though I KNOW the gun is hot I still ask myself if there is one in the chamber? Is the safety off? Yes, to both, I assure myself.

Now I wait. Will the trespasser become an intruder at anytime? I don't know. I don't want that to happen. But, I'm ready if it should.

Thankful of the amount of light a full moon puts off I still watch the shadow slowly move along the bedroom wall. But, I have to wonder what the trespasser is doing outside. The vehicles, garage, etc. are on the other side of the house.

After what seemed like minutes (but seconds in reality) my dog went to full alert and was up on all fours and barking now. I look at the wall and it's obvious the trespasser has stopped and is right outside the window....right above my head and the bed's headboard.

I decided to react....right or wrong....I told myself it was our home and our property and I'm going to put the fear of Jehovah in any trespasser disrespecting me, my family or property. I suddenly went to my knees, brought the gun up and spun around on the mattress to face the situation and to be ready if force is suddenly needed.

I was now looking face to face......eyes to eyes....with a horse.

 

[Zach S]

I think the house I previously lived in was haunted. I know it wasnt just me, because my uncle would often hear what sounded like footsteps when I did. Maybe it was becasue the house was old and had it creaks and moans, or maybe we were both crazy at the time. One neight I hear footsteps in this room, so i sneak in to check it out. Nothing. So I see if everyone is in bed. they are. I chalk it up to mind games and sit back down at the PC. Then I hear them, again. I go check it out. Nothing again. Then I hear them over there. Nothing again. Then hear them somewhere else. Check it out, nothing. Then I hear the front door open, so I take a few quick steps, slid into the hallway and drew a bead on my drunk uncle (he's only a year and a half older than I).
"Hey Zach, the ghost is messing with you again isnt it?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."

Then he closed the door and fell face-first onto the couch. Being the good nephew and freind, I took the bag out of the trash can (which was a 5 gallon bucket with a small bag in it) and sat down beside him.

Never heard footsteps after that. Evidently we regained our sanity, or the ghost just had a sense of humor and didnt want anyone to get hurt.

I'm pretty good about telling the difference in "safe" sounds and threatening ones now. I still wake up momentarily when one of my siblings get home from school, but fall right back to sleep. I hear the doorknob to my bedroom, a thud, glass breaking, a dog or cat growling (well, the cat wakes me up if he's close, take for example, right under my bedroom window growling at the dog), ect, I'm up and wide awake in no time wondering *** is going on.

Wow. Its 13:30. I have to wake up in about 7 hours to get to work...

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

Oh about 25 years ago my brother asked me to watch his apartment as they were having home invasion robberies in the complex as he was going to be out of town .
About 11 on a friday night there was a knock at the door and I asked who it was and they just said we need you to open the door and would not tell me who they were and then threatened me is I did not open it they would break it down.
I kept my calm all threw it and was telling them to grow some balls and open the door or shut up and move on. after calling them yellow and cowards for not doing what they said they were going to do they left. Maybe me being so wanting them to come in by busting the door open made them decide to move on. Cops got there to late as usual as I did not call them untill after they left.
Thats the only one with someone trying to get in the house, have nabbed two breaking into my cars on different occassions but thats different. Did have one wierd one as about 10 years ago I went to my fathers mobile home in a retirement park and since I had a key and he was not home I let my self in and after a hour of waiting I left to go back to work and just left a note. I was not even back to work yet when he called me on my cell phone and told me there had been a break in. I went back to the house and it was tore up and it was hard for me tobelieve they had ransacked the home in the 25 minutes I was gone and the time my father got home.
I never went in the bed rooms while I was there but always wondered if they were in the house while I was in the house. My 9mm I always wore made me wonder what would of happened as I was relaxed and if they were already in the house could I of even gotten it out in time?

 

[griz]

Wow. Why is it everyone's initial reaction upon hearing a frightening noise to GO TOWARDS it???

I think that's a good question. For me it comes down to the fact that almost all of the time it will be something that is not worth calling 911 about. Wind, dogs, cats, animals outside, and other wierdness all happen and usually are handleable by the homeowner. If I heard breaking in noises, and then heard unexplainable noises, I would call 911. My response after that would depend on the nature of the threat. I guess waiting like that could result in me shooting before I called 911 in some situations, then again I have two hands to operate the gun while I wait. To each his own.

 

[griz]

Cops got there to late as usual as I did not call them untill after they left.

Now in that situation I would have for sure called them as soon as somebody said they will break the door down. Hard for them to get there on tiime if you don't call until it's over.

 

[itgoesboom]

Wow. Why is it everyone's initial reaction upon hearing a frightening noise to GO TOWARDS it???

I know I have done this a few times, and each time it was because I felt that through speed I could obtain the element of suprise.

Usually though, I hang back and wait.

As for false alarms, I have had more than a few.

When my wife and I got married, I found out that she would wake up, believing she saw/heard something. She can't sleep next to a window, or she will wake up after "seeing" someone looking in through the window. Even when the blinds were closed, she would still see things. We finally figured it out after she swore she saw a spider that was about 1foot in diameter crawling on our bed late at night.

Goes without saying, that on multiple occasions when she would wake up screaming at the top of her lungs, I would wake up, and have the pistol and flashlight in hand even before I could conciously think about it.

Oddly enough there was one night, where she had a "false alarm", and I went out and searched the apartment (all 500 sq ft), found nothing went to bed. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a noise, grabbed the pistol, ran out to the living area, just intime to hear someone jump off our porch, and start running away.

I have had a few other false alarms, including the "killer towel rack", which is probably the funniest.

Before I tell this story, please remember, I was just a stupid kid when this happened. I was still a teenager at the time.

I lived with my father and his GF at a nice 3 story house in SoCal, and one night, my father wakes me up at 3am "GET THE SHOTGUN, THERES SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE". I told him that the shotgun was locked up, and the keys were in my car outside. So he told me to get one of the other guns and help him clear the house.

So I ended up helping him clear that house, our only weapons were a flimsy flashlight and a SMLE Enfield. A no1 mkIII*, and no ammo I might add.

So we check out the house, nobody in it. And I decide maybe I should have the keys to my shotgun in the house, so I go out to my car, slipping and falling on my butt in the mud (BTW, I was only in boxers at this point), and finally getting the keys.

We go back inside, my father and his GF go to bed, I change, and start loading some shells into the shotgun, just in case. Just as I get it put under the bed, one of cars' alarm starts going off out front.

I grab the shotgun, and start down the stairs, and my father and his GF are on the way too. We get down the stairs, open the front door, and nobody is out there. Just then it dawns on us that none of our cars have alarms on them, and that I must have pressed the panic button on the key pad that was in my pocket. :banghead:

From that day on, my father has taken to calling me Elmer Fudd.

I.G.B.

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

I did not call them untill I felt I could of stopped my concentration on what was happening at the time. I really did not think they would but I was on edge you would say and if they wanted the magazine of 20 rounds out of my ar180 all they had to do was come in. I think they wanted to get folks to open the doors and I guess some folks just do that from what I heard.
I waited to call the police one time also untill I had the guy under the cover of my 45 auto. My silent alarm was going off late on a rainy sunday night many years ago that I had installed on my car. I went out and around the house and he was still layed across the seat removing the stereo . had him crawl out and lay under the car and toss his wallet to me before I called the police. He did run when they showed up and no I did not shoot him in the back either. They found his car a few blocks away and arrested him later that night as it seemed with a car with his name on the registration and a back seat full of stereo's and me with his wallet and id and me picking him out of a photo lineup was enough. I have called a few times in my life as something was happening.

 

[Horsesense]

Wow. Why is it everyone's initial reaction upon hearing a frightening noise to GO TOWARDS it???

I can't speak for everyone but I suppose it has something to do with perceiving that ones loved ones are in danger.

If you think a high as a kite crack head would be heard to take down, just imagine what it would take to stop a determined father who has resolved to destroy the person who is posing a threat to his wife and children.

 

[coylh]

I can't speak for everyone but I suppose it has something to do with perceiving that ones loved ones are in danger.

Which is why it's especially important not to increase the danger to our loved ones by charging around the house looking for something to shoot. Look at how many times in this thread alone someone ended up targeting his cat/dog/horse/aunt/etc. Here's the Safe And Lazy Bump In The Dark Drill or SALBITDD for short. This works best for the solo sleeper, or a couple who occupy one room.

1. Hear something odd.
2. Reach over to pistol safe and open, while still under the covers.
3. Listen. Do this for 10 minutes, or until you hear something which causes you to dial 911. If it was just the cat, no big deal, and you're still warm and cozy. Close pistol safe.
4. However, if in the unlikely event that intruders have breached your castle, that's ok, the safe room door will keep them busy while you grab your firearm and prepare to repel boarders with loud threatening language, followed by gunfire in needed.

 

[Kamicosmos]

I almost started a thread like this!

I lived in a bad neighborhood a couple years ago. The kind where the ice cream man was gunned down in front of kids over a bad drug deal.
I was renting a small house, and this place must have been a good 'party place' before I moved in, because it was not unusual to have groups of people banging on the door and hollering at very late hours.

One night around 2 am, I hear the screen door bang open. My 4 month old puppy started howling and barking. I grab my Beretta and Big 3 Cell MagLite and practically sprint down the hall to take cover behind the TV. Mag light illuminating the door, Beretta's sights leveled on the door knob. Screen door bangs again! I damn near blasted a round through the door! After what felt like a long time, I didn't hear any more noise. The light was getting really heavy, I was shivering in my underwear, and the dog was trying to sniff the gun. I finally get up and check the windows to find no one at the door. Check the door, and the wind had just been blowing the screen door around! Yeah, I was a bit embarrased, and so was the puppy!

-----
You might ask Black Snowman to tell of the time when we were room-mates. He came home a night early from a business trip around 3 am. As he was coming in the door, I greet him with the infamous 'Ker-Chunk' of my 12 gauge pump! Then, I sleepily respond "Oh, it's just you." He said something like "Good to know you're protecting the house and cats."

 

[Zach S]

About 11 on a friday night there was a knock at the door and I asked who it was and they just said we need you to open the door and would not tell me who they were and then threatened me is I did not open it they would break it down.

LOL. While reading this a scenereo popped into my head.

"OPEN THE DOOR OR WE'LL BREAK IT DOWN!"
[ker-chunk!]
"I wouldn't suggest that"
"Good Bye! Sorry to bother you!!!"

Which is why it's especially important not to increase the danger to our loved ones by charging around the house looking for something to shoot. Look at how many times in this thread alone someone ended up targeting his cat/dog/horse/aunt/etc. Here's the Safe And Lazy Bump In The Dark Drill or SALBITDD for short. This works best for the solo sleeper, or a couple who occupy one room.

1. Hear something odd.
2. Reach over to pistol safe and open, while still under the covers.
3. Listen. Do this for 10 minutes, or until you hear something which causes you to dial 911. If it was just the cat, no big deal, and you're still warm and cozy. Close pistol safe.
4. However, if in the unlikely event that intruders have breached your castle, that's ok, the safe room door will keep them busy while you grab your firearm and prepare to repel boarders with loud threatening language, followed by gunfire in needed.

I can remember a time when I heard a strange noise and listened for another. When I heard another strange noise that caught my attention, in the time it took me to get out of bed and run down the stairs to see what was wrong, Mom had been beaten pretty badly. No guns in the house, her ex was about 280lbs, and I was eight or nine years old. Our neighbor was a cop of some sort (a US marshall I think), and per his instructions, I started to throw something through his bedroom window, no need, he was running out of the door about the time I picked something up. Norman got away that night.

That's why I dont sit, listen, and wait.

 

[Horsesense]

I think we all agree that the best place to engage an intruder is as he comes threw a doorway. Whether it be the bedroom door or the back door would be dictated by each unique situation.

Another factor to consider is if you live in a remote area and cant count on LEO to show up while you are hold up in a safe room.

I understand what you are saying and agree that it is the best for your situation but “desperate situations call for desperate measuresâ€, someone gaining aces to my home would up the anti for me and necessitate an aggressive response, seeing as how we are basically on our own.

The whole point of this thread is that a false alarm can show the flaws (OMG! someone just kicked in my door and I hear footsteps coming to my bedroom… where are my shotgun shells?…doohh! my shotgun is in the other room! ) in our plans, or lack of plans, and your point should be taken seriously by all those who are in your situation, while others may need to look at something else.

 

[Red_SC]

Two incidents come to mind. When I was in high school, my younger brother was really bad about sleepwalking and doing crazy things while he was asleep. One night I was sound asleep when he grabbed my foot. I don't know what he thought he was doing, but I instantly punched as hard as I could. I opened my eyes as I started the swing, and recognized him about mid-swing. I managed to pull it just in time- he almost got decked that night!

Second time was about 2 weeks ago. Around 5:15 AM my doorbell rang. We live far from our family and friends, so I know it wasn't anybody I knew. The first thing that went through my head was that my 1911 is being serviced by Springfield, and my Ruger .45 was being loaned to a friend to take his concealed carry class. I reached for my .38 snubby, but wasn't thrilled about it, when I remembered that I still had my brother's 1911, which I had borrowed for a defensive handgun class I'd taken 2 days earlier. It was also loaded, and near the bed. I looked through the glass on the door and then opened it with the gun held behind my right leg. After the guy pointed to the neighbor's shop, which was on fire, and asked me to call the fire department, I relaxed, and he caught a glimpse of the gun. He may have scared me, but I bet I scared him more!

 

[Flyboy]

In the middle of a meeting of one of the school clubs I'm in, there was a knock at the door. I asked who it was, and he said "FedEx." I have a look at my watch; FedEx does not deliver at 2000 (winter, so it's dark). I pick up my sidearm (at the time, a Colt Combat Commander) and have a look through the peepholes (yes, two). Both are covered. No way out save for that door, so I opted to be dumb: I blocked the door with my foot, moved the gun to low-ready, and cracked it for a look (yes, dumb, I know). Turned out to be another club member, who hadn't given notice he was coming. I lowered my gun and let him in. He came in, noticed the pistol, and his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. We had a brief "chat" about the wisdom of showing up A) uninvited B) after dark C) on false pretense D) and covering the peephole. He got the message; he hasn't been back since.

 

[Zundfolge]

Sounds like you have a good excuse to upgrade to DVD now

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

I once told one of my friends that he was welcome to come over and stay the night, so he wouldn't have to drive an hour in bad weather to get back to Lenoir. Then, forgetting that he is meeting me at the house, I get tied up for a little while fixing a weapon or something silly, and don't get home for another hour and a half (IIRC).

As it turned out, my friend had arrrived at my house an hour and a half before me, and, not seeing my car had assumed nobody was home. So he walked up the steps, jiggled the handle to see if the door was unlocked (but never knocked) peered though a couple of windows, and then went and sat in his car waiting for me while my girlfriend was inside terrified, with no way to call for help.

When I finally came home, I found her curled up on the sofa, in tears, with the Ruger loaded, and the hammer cocked. Apparently she cocked the pistol only when she thought she was really going to have to shoot someone. She was afraid to decock it so she just kept it pointing into the sofa. After I stopped feeling like an ass, and relieved she didn't shoot our friend, I was proud of her. She did not act in a helpless manner, and she didn't panic and try to shoot anyone.

 

[GigaBuist]

Pre-firearms ownership.

Asleep one night in my bed I hear my apartment door open. I'm awake, wondering *** this is. Yes, somebody is inside. I'm paralyzed for a second or two. I hear them go upstairs, and I grab a random blunt object in my hand. Better than nothing, I figure. All lights are off, and I begin creeping upstairs thanking my lucky stars that this person decided to venture to the 2nd floor and not my bedroom. My mind is reeling, wondering *** I'm doing to do with whoever this is.

About then I realized I had a roomate, and he had just gotten home from a week long business trip. I could tell by his breathing in the next room over that it was him. Double checked with a name call and went back to bed.

Scared the crap out of me.

 

[aroshi]

First, Atc1man, sorry to hear about the dog. I've lost 2 in the last 2 years. They were brother and sister and had them since they were pups. It hurts. I'm sorry.

Now, I have three good ones, and one simple lame one. The lame one first.

1 - Living at college, one of my roomies didn't close the door tight after he left, came home to find the door ajar and my other roomie and I got to clear the place. Nothing missing, nothing exciting, thankfully.

2 - Living near / after college, I no longer had a girlfriend who detested firearms, and having had more training, returned home to find the door ajar, again. This time alone, and no cars nearby signalling that my roommate was home either. I cleared the house, top floor, then the downstairs. Then heard a banging sound upstairs. Had I missed something? Yes, and no. Our red-breasted friend (A cardinal) was banging himself on the windows in the front of the house trying to attack his reflection.

3 - Living in this same place (a $400k+ house), I was squatting with a roommate, and we occasionally had the house shown. I was in my bedroom downstairs and heard a voice and some footsteps. Needless to say, I had to check it out. I got to the bottom of the open stairwell and saw some not very well dressed people walking around and figured it was a showing, but decided I'd keep my Sig229 behind my back just in case, since something didn't feel right.

I was coming up the steps and noticed these people looking around and moving funny, so I addressed them clearly from about 10 feet away since they hadn't seen me coming. The woman (dressed like what I would picture a southwestern "Madame") turned and started in with the "Oh, we're just looking at the house" line as the man (dressed in light gray sweats) with her proceeded towards the door. Gun still out of view, I noticed a third person was at the door but out of my view. This was most likely the one watching for cars in the long driveway. She actually said to me that the real estate agent told her "go by the house and check it out to see if you want me to setup and appointment for you to look at it." The house was off the road, down a private drive, not in view of the road at all, nor any other houses.

Not liking them in the house at all, and wanting to make sure there was nobody else around that I hadn't seen yet, I continued moving so that she would be forced toward and out the door. They then quickly moved to the white mini-van they had parked at the corner of the house (out of view from the front door, but not from the dining room windows) and sped off. I spotted the license plate right away and noticed that it had the little green rental stickers on the tires, and was on the phone with the cops as I cleared the house and checked all of the locks (some of which were now not locked). The owners and the real estate agent all got calls that day. As did my roommate. We also made sure to check all the door locks whenever we came home. As far as I know, nothing ever came of that incident, legally.

4 - Before college, not long after having my CCW, but long before any of my friends knew about it I was at my parents' place during the summer before going back to college. I had 7 friends over, including me it was 4 guys and 4 girls. We're sitting downstairs listening to music and doing inane chatting and such, like young men and women do. My parents are out of town for the weekend and took my little brother. They left the morning of, so there's no chance they returned so soon.

My family has a piano heirloom that has been passed down for quite some time through our family. It has been moved 3 times (from one house to another) and has never been tuned to my knowledge. My girlfriend that day had decided to open it to play it, it was oddly in tune (at least to my untrained, very untrained ears). That being said...

Now we're all downstairs in the den and the piano is upstairs in the living room. All of a sudden, we can hear piano music (and non of our music at that time would have ANY piano music in it). The girls look around and see that everyone is present and just start screaming, the guys look around and then at me for some sort of answer. My eyes go wide and I shrug. Three of us grab baseball bats and slowly creep up the stairs, turning on the lights as we go, we clear the house and check all the windows and doors. Clear, completely.

To this day, still, no explanation. The only thing I can offer some of you is that the household where the piano entered our family has been gone for several decades and my father has all of that on record. What is odd is that when we went to the grave-site there was a tombstone for which he did not recognize the name. This 'Mary' would have been a young woman and in the burial plot, placed as she would have been my grandfather's great aunt, I believe. When we returned from that day's cemetary hunt, my older sister immediately told my grandfather that his Aunt Mary had called for him (noone else in our family is named Mary) and that she'd be calling back soon. Was it her piano?

 

[EvilOmega]

Glad I'm not the only one.
Around here you don't call the cops unless there IS a problem, not there might be, not a real man anyway.

One time I was house sitting for my uncle. Farm house outside of a town to small to have police, maybe a sheriff on speeding detail. It's one or two in the morning, and I’m getting ready to go to bed. I'm watching the news when I start to notice the dogs are making more noise than normal, and then I notice the chickens are making noise. So I get my Winchester 67 and go to look as there are occasional coon problems. As I look out the back door I see a light on in the chicken coop. As I slowly approach the coop I remember that I trued the light on by accident earlier, and that was causing the hubbub with the chickens and dogs.

Second time I was at home and hade come off a 4-mid. shift at work. Watching TV, relaxed when I hear a grinding noise from the back porch, like a dremal kinda. So I go to my room, grab the win 67 (only gun I had at both times ) and approach the back window, and see one of those #*&@!%$ automatic litter boxes, whirling away. :banghead: New purchase no one told me about.

 

[FilJos]

This is an interesting thread. I was at work tonight and was threatened by an inmate that he was going to have his homies on the outside kill one of my family members. I've had inmates threaten me before, but this time was different.

I loaded the 870 tonight and it's going to be leaning back in the corner for a while now.

The Glock 30 and surefire light are, as always, located in the drawer next to my bed.

Damn, this sucks.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Back this spring, my unit was stationed in a sizeable camp in Iraq. My section was living in an abandoned Iraqi Army barracks that we'd refurbished and generally spruced up to be pretty comfy. Picture one very long whitewashed room with sandbagged windows down one side, and about two dozen cots lined up and down it.

The base had recently had some pretty bad scares IRT infiltration, etc. So, the buddy of mine who slept nearest to the only door was a bit nervous that he would be the primary candidate for any unpleasantries. He made sure to sleep with his M9 holstered next to his pillow, in condition one.

One night, he is awakened by a heavy weight on top of him, feels hands fumbling all over him. He starts to holler at the top of his lungs, grabbing the pistol and pulling the holster flap catch. As he's drawing, he hears the fumbler exclaim "Whoa dude! Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" Turns out that a coworker was trying to crawl into bed late, and hadn't seen that we'd shifted all the cots down a couple meters to make room for a new guy that afternoon. The fumbler crept into the dark to follow his customary path to his rack and tripped into the newly-placed rack of the sleeper. So, no harm/no foul, but a definite puckering moment for both parties involved.