I could hear someone trying to open my door!

[Horsesense]

I originally posted this on a lesser board, so I thought it would be interesting to bring it over to this one.
What do you guys think of the lay on the floor thing? It was total darkness, on the floor, and from that vantagepoint I would have the BG silhouetted against the sky ,at the time it felt right.

This happened years ago. We had just gotten married and were in the process of moving into our new house. We had a couch, bed, new TV&VCR and a few incidentals. We decided that we would stay the first night in our new home and finish moving everything else the next day.

We had rented a movie and when it went off, I turned off the TV and we went to bed. After about ten minuets, I heard it! Someone was trying to open the storm door! I had sold most all my guns for the down payment on the house and the only gun I had with me was a Mark 2 Ruger .22….why hadn't I sold it and kept my .357? I felt so stupid knowing that I had a perfectly good 12ga at my parent's house….and now when I really needed some firepower all I had was this dinky .22! No phone and it would take the Law half an hour to get hear anyway.

A sense of steely determination overcame me. This is my home and my wife, and NOBODY was going to do this to me!… if 10 shots to the chest will not stop this guy, I'll beat the dude over the head with my Ruger.

It was like everything was in slow motion…my senses were keen. I moved across the empty house like a cat stalking a mouse. I was operating on instinct..this was survival of the fittest and this intruder was about to be removed from the gene pool, with malice!

My eyes were adjusted to the dark and the light from the VCR was all I needed to see everything in the room clearly. Just then I heard the noise again.. he was still at the door…I took cover flat on the floor and partly concealed by a corner. OK.. think… do you really want to kill someone? No… I can see pretty good, if there is anything even remotely resembling a weapon … I will kill…if not, I'm going to yell FREEZE and hope he runs away.

Theirs the noise again, it sounds like he got the door open! This is it…just then…the tape popped out of the VCR! I had been hearing the VCR automatically rewinding!

I thought it would be fun to start a thread of false alarms. I learned a lot about tactics from this experience and figured that maybe some of you all could comment on lessons you have learned in false alarms.

#1 lesson, security is the first order of business.
I should have changed the locks
I should have had a light and a big gun
I should have already had the shoot or not shoot thing worked out before something happened.

 

[P95Carry]

No time for a long reply but ..... I do consider ''noise analysis'' a worthwhile skill to develop.

By that i mean .... all the usual sounds of every day living need registered ... so as to better identify them when things are (should be) quiet. Know the sounds of a VCR ... the sounds the dog or cat makes.. etc ..... it is then a lot easier when in bed and maybe middle of night ... to come up with a rational explanation for sounds.

Only time I got close to freakin out a bit ..... and preparing for taking ''measures'' was when a screen door was not fully latched .... and the wind was from an unusual direction ..... made it creak. Listening for a while tho made it clear that the repetition of the sound pattern was not hostile!! Even so ... I ''tooled up'' and went to check, carefully!

 

[TarpleyG]

I just love it when my ever-paranoid wife elbows me in the middle of the night and whispers "I just heard a noise."
I ask, "what did it sound like?"
Reply: "Just a noise."

GRRRRRRR!!!

GT

 

[TallPine]

In this case, I think a half dozen shots COM of 22 LR would have been enough to stop the VCR.

Now a microwave, that might require a 357 ...

( it must have been a scary movie )

 

[COHIBA]

last time my boxer bitch was in heat a dog was hitting my back door at 0300 in the morning. i rolled out of bed grabbed my pistol and duck walked under the window to the far side of the living room w/ the sights on the back door.
thats when i heard the dog outside whine. i felt so stupid.
"what a maroon"!

 

[Horsesense]

“In this case, I think a half dozen shots COM of 22 LR would have been enough to stop the VCR.â€


I agree BUT, what if it had been a gang of VCR’s! 10rds against half a dozen Sanyo’s fresh from Wal-Mart! I don’t even want to think what could have happened. Thankfully this happened back in the day when VCR’s were expensive and you didn’t see a lot of them on the streets.

In this day of mass produced, cheep VCR’s (many of them foreign gangs) I need a proven “one shot stopperâ€. Do you go with a HP and hope to short out the whole unit or use ball ammo and try for penetrating all the way to the power supply (a risky venture considering that the power supply is located in different places, depending on manufacture AND model)?

 

[bogie]

I remember an incident from a while back... It was after midnight, and I was rather "involved" with the current girlfriend. I heard a crash from the other room. According to her I set a record in leaping out of action, to the closet, locking and loading an AR, and then low-crawling (sort of...) into the other room, where I found that a poorly placed rubbermaid container had slipped to the floor.

 

[hso]

I've had 2 false alarms that were unanticipated family/friends who, unknowingly, had loaded weapons pointed at them until they were positively identified. One was at a former residence and the other at our current home.

We're fortunate in that we live in a semirural area and the night noises are very predictable. I've waited while I analyze some sound and have never heard anything in the house I didn't recognize within a few moments. Sounds outside have gotten a window check and only on the one previously mentioned instance requried me to go downstairs.

 

[Penforhire]

I also had two false alarms in the middle of the night (unexpected visitors who we gave keys to). I know the most sensible thing is to stay in the bedroom, weapon(s) in hand, and dial 911. I find myself unable to do so. I am possessed by a need to yell out, say I'm armed, and clear the house (while my better half dials 911). You sure do get wired at times like that and it takes hours to calm down.

Oh, and I sleep naked, not that you really wanted to hear that, and when I roll off the bed, Colt 1911 in hand, I hestitate for just a moment at the closet, thinking I should put on a robe but not wanted the physical distraction of putting it on. So in the end I creep through the house naked, gun & flashlight in hand.

Weird, eh?

 

[geekWithA.45]

Twas on the couch, I was,

All snuggled with my sweetie, watching a DVD and then

BAM! The front door slams open!

According to geeketteWithA9mm, (thats Mrs. geekWithA.45 to you!) I apparently levitated straight upwards, drew my .45, and landed behind the couch, with the muzzle trained on the door.

It was the wind.

Her thoughts? "Wow! I've never seen him move that fast. Uh, where's my 9?"

 

[CatsDieNow]

False alarms

I was home alone one weekend and around midnight I hear someone banging around in the living room...then they start to repeatedly call my name. Since I was not particularly interested in guns at the time, I grabbed one of my swords I won in a fencing tournament in one hand and the cordless phone in the other and went to investigate.

I flip on the light to find my roommate's CAT.

I found out later that cats are known for their wide vocal repertoire. I wasn't very fond of that cat to begin with. Had to pick a screenname the next day and have been using it ever since. It's never taken for some reason.

 

[mini14jac]

Me and the wife woke up one night to the sound of glass breaking.
I think I had a Browning HiPower at the time.
I go creeping through the house, gun at low ready, my heart hammering in my ears.
Look around the living room, then proceed to the basement and garage.
(This is where it's going to hit the fan, I'm thinking.)

After a search, I couldn't find anything.
Then I recalled that my son had some old Coke bottles on his headboard.
I cracked the door to his room, and sure enough, he had swung his arm over his head and knocked some bottles down.
We had heard glass "clinking", not breaking.

I guess we should have dialed 911, but since we had kids in the house, I wanted to check things out first.

 

[Delmar]

I once laid my pager on the top of the plastic alarm clock-it was set of vibrate, and when it went off, it sounded like someone trying to rip the screen out of the window........

 

[TonyB]

It was 2am,I got up to pee and heard our kitchen door shut.I grab my s/w mod 38 bodyguard and put an extra speenloader in my tee shirt pocket and go down stairs to have a looksee.Nobody around the kitchen.So I head down the hall and hear somthing in the computer room......using the door jam as cover I peek around and see my daughter at the computer!I hide the gun behind my back and go"what the heck are you doing up?"She says the cat woke her up,so she let it out (the kitchen door) and then went online.That was the day our "no computer after midnight rule".
Things I've changed sence then.Flash light and 9mm w/ 15 round mag.

 

[Celtech]

False alarm? How about no alarm. I dont think I have ever been woken up in the middle of the night..save my cats knocking a 2 day old half filled coke can on my head at 0400...But in all seriousness..it really kinda scares me. I feel too "comfortable" in my bed to hear anything like that. I dont sleep well as it is so those rare nights when I do get a good nights sleep....The circus might as well march right through my room...cause anything less goes unnoticed. I am getting married soon and moving out..so I hope that will all change.

 

[SquirrelNuts]

My only false alarm with a firearm was with my father. He has lived in this house since 1976, yet he has never had a key. He either relies on someone being home, or he breaks into the house.

One evening I was sleeping. He had come home without keys, and I lock every door behind me. He had tried the garage door, the back door, and then came to the front door. He BANGS loudly on doors. It sounds like he is trying to break the door down when he knocks. I jumped up and grabbed the Mossberg 500. I waited around the hall corner from the front door until I heard him call. That was my only false alarm. I have gone to the door at odd hours with Mr. Mossberg, but it was just friends.

-SquirrelNuts

 

[aquapong]

There has only been one time that I cleared my apartment "for real." I don't know why I woke up, all I know is that I heard something, and I was in between condition orange and red. I rolled out of bed, had my Glock in my hand and my glasses on, and was kneeling behind the bed with pistol pointed at the door before I even was completely awake. My fiance woke up and I scared the crap out of her. I walked to the door and cleared the apt. Normally I feel kind of silly looking around with a gun in hand. This was the only time I didn't.

It turned out to be nothing, but I never did figure out what woke me up.

 

[Ivanimal]

Late one summer night when I lived near San Francisco Airport I heard a person trying to get into the house, I mention the airport because if I could sleep through 747's taking off the sound of a door opening should not have awoken me. I had my 357 Magnum pointed right at my mother in laws head when I realized who it was. Since it was dark she never saw the gun and to this day I never told her how close she came. We have a new rule that she will always call beforew coming over no matter what time it is. Her flight got cancelled and she decided our couch was better than a hotel. I am relieved to know how cool my head was in this situation, unlike many I love my mother in law and wish to keep her around for a long, long time.

 

[H Romberg]

I almost killed my cat once. He's a 25 lb Maine Coon, and the suspended ceiling let go right over little old sleeping me. He came through the accoustic tile, and landed on my stomach. Brings new meaning to the term "Cat-apault"

 

[Horsesense]

BTT

a resent post got me to thinking and i looked this one up

 

[Greg L]

I just love it when my ever-paranoid wife elbows me in the middle of the night and whispers "I just heard a noise."
I ask, "what did it sound like?"
Reply: "Just a noise."

You forgot the second part of the reply: "Just a noise.....zzzzzz"
Because of course now that the adrenaline dump has hit me & I am wide awake it is perfectly fine for her to go back to sleep :banghead: .

That said, I have cleared the house before a few times gun in hand either with or without robe depending on how urgent I thought it was. Usually if the fuzzy alarm system is still snoring on the floor the alert level goes down a couple of degrees.

 

[sm]

I have a weird metabolism.
Something that occurs is I am difficult to anesthesize for surgery, and I wake up real soon in recovery.

Twice I have been wheeled into Recovery and I have awakened and scared the crap out of the Recovery Nurse. First time I sensed someone grabbing my arm ( to check pt ID) and I reacted, second time the nurse was adjusting the pillows under my knees, and I reacted. They tell floor nurses ,because the floor nurses knock real loud, call my name, approach slowly.

Funniest : I was dating my second wife. Her Kid had gone to bed and we were watching a rented movie. I had been up for around 36 hrs and though tired, I was fighting sleep. That Heightened tired alertness dealie.

For some reason the dog liked to get into the bathtub in the hall bath and sleep, I didn't know that. It was cooler in the tub so I was told later.

I went to tinkle, I didn't turn on the light because she had a nightlight on . Upon closing the door- I startled the dog, he startled me, and I ended up waking up the kid. Kid runs out and he sees I have taken out the shower curtain which is now down and around the dog who thinks I want to play. His Mom is laughing so hard she wets herself and the kid does not know what to think. He is giving us looks like we are nuts.

I guess you had to be there, but yeah I bought a new shower curtain.

 

[Ryder]

Congratulations on the success of your thread

I heard what I thought was my front door being kicked in once. Posted about it here. The thread was locked as being off topic.

 

[BillBlank]

No firearms, but funny.....

Last year myself and the better half stayed in Edinburgh. Whilst we were there we had a day off and went to see the haunted vaults under the city. She had something breath in her ear and got a little freaked. Undettered by this she decides we're doing the "city of the dead" tour that ends up in the Greyfriars cemetery. Stomping grounds of one of the worlds most studied paranormal effects, Mackenzies poltergeist.
All is going well and we are enjoying an amusing narrative of edinburghs more grisly past. The finale of the tour is in Greyfriars cemetry, specifically the mausoleum that is reputed to be the centre of the poltergeist activity. It's very dark and about the size of a large garden shed with one small door. They squeezed thirty of us in there and started the spiel about how the poltergeist attacks people, you know the usual "let's scare the tourists bit". In the middle of this the missus jumps into the air whilst screaming and does a creditable impression of one of your NFL linebackers to get out of that place. We had our backs to the rear wall and she swears that something YANKED her hair from behind. I can't swear to this but I'm pretty sure I saw her head snap backwards so, despite my sceptisism regarding the paranormal I accepted that she had reason to be scared and comforted her then took her back to the apartment we'd rented for dinner and more cuddles. What we're meant to do right?

Time rolls on till two in the morning, I sleep like a log but madam was only dozing due to her nervousness. For some reason I leap out of bed screaming

"What the (insert usual word here) was that?".

She screams too and asks repeatedly whats happening. After a few seconds I apparently shrugged, said "nothing dear" and got back into bed, sound asleep and not responding to questions with anything other than snores and farts.

She did not go back to sleep for some reason and I, having no recollection of the nights events, spent the next day wondering why the usual terms of endearment from my better half had changed to something rather more anglo saxon in origin.

Bill

 

[JamisJockey]

I have a dog (had two until last week), and a cat. I know about false alarms. Usually the cat knocks something on the floor, the older dog goes after the cat barking, and I end up in my undies armed checking the locks. She also barks at cats in the backyard, which usually draws an armed response....

Good friend of mine in the Marines lived offbase with his SO. One night he hears glass breaking. Gun in hand, headed to the front door, hears glass underfoot right before he feels the searing pain of stepping on broken glass......one of thier pictures had fallen off the wall....

I always try to count to ten and listen for additional noises before heading into the dark house. Give the eyes a second to adjust, and the brain a second to clear out the cobwebs.