When something goes bump in the night?

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Isaac-1

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What do you do when something goes, bump, crash, boom. etc during the night? The other night I had a can of sweet peas explode in the pantry (shares wall with my bedroom), sounded like a fire cracker going off in a can. This started me thinking again about what is the best course of action when you hear something, not so much for the grab the gun reaction, but the 1, 5, 10 minutes later. So what do you do when you hear a substantial noise in your house (think shelf collapsing and glass breaking, or something odd like I had the other night, not just a little thump?


Ike

p.s. I did report the can to the store it came from, store branded can
 
We have a whole lot of threads here in the S,T,&T sub forum which have discussed this exact question.

Here's probably the most recent one: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=7770914. Another: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=529243 ... there are lots, all with about the same answers.

Arm yourself, secure your loved ones, position yourself at your defensive position (strong point, safety perimeter, choke point...wherever you can defend yourself and your loved ones with the least movement and exposure.)

Then use your eyes and ears to do a little long-range reconnaissance.

What do you hear? What can you tell about what is going on? Is the noise continuing? Was it a one-time thing like a book falling off a shelf or something persistent and surreptitious? Is it an animal raiding your trash? Is it inside the house? Outside?

A dog is a GREAT thing to have in these situations. They will let you know a lot more about what's going on than you can tell on your own. And, as heart-rending as it may be, they will go find an intruder and give you a clear warning risking themselves so you don't have to.

With some patience, you should have the ability to determine if you can sound the "all clear." You may decide to shout a warning and challenge -- "I am armed and the police are on their way!" or words to that effect. Have your spouse ready to call 911, and DO SO if you can't convince yourself 100% that you and your family is safe.

What you want to avoid it wandering around in your home trying to find trouble. A great deal of time and effort has gone into proving that there is no such thing as a "home field advantage" when it comes to home defense. Whoever goes hunting dies. Don't stumble into their ambush, make them come to you.

Don't be lured out to your death by the idea that you must defend your TV or toaster. That's what insurance is for.
 
A dog is a GREAT thing to have in these situations. They will let you know a lot more about what's going on than you can tell on your own.
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Well, the right dog would. My two basset hounds would just sleep right through an entire gang having a dance party in my living room :D
 
"Call 911 and hold up" is a common mantra but one that i don't see as realistic for many. First off, I have dogs and won't risk them being shot by the responding officers. Also, my dogs will identify and draw the attention of any home invader as they chew on his flesh without revealing my position. Even if you don't have dogs you will eventually have to leave your bedroom to either let them in or have them bust down the door unless there is an actual invader who left a way for them to enter.

Sam1911, what if you don't have dogs and hear a single noise but no follow up by 15 minutes later. Do you sweep house, go back to bed or call police?
 
Sam1911, what if you don't have dogs and hear a single noise but no follow up by 15 minutes later. Do you sweep house, go back to bed or call police?
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Personally speaking, and knowing my house well, if I hold my defensive position for 15 minutes and hear no further evidense of someone gaining entry or moving around inside/outisde/downstairs, then I will have done what I consider to be due dilligence in ensuring that I'm not facing a criminal breaking in. At that point, I'd probably move to investigate if there's some house issue I need to deal with.

That's not without risks, but it seems to me to be the best possible balance. Around here, calling the police to clear the house would give me another good 20-30 minutes to wait and do my auditory reconnaissance while I wait for them to get here! :)
 
I think it very much depends on the type of crash boom or bang.

For instance, if you can hear a little thump in the next room, once, then nothing for ten minutes ... that doesn't mean anything. It could be a good burglar who accidentally bumped into a book while carrying out your TV. It could be a gangbanger squad in flak vests, freshly discharged from the Marines, high on PCP and meth combined who bumped into a book while installing a claymore in front of your bedroom door, or it really could just be a book falling off the shelf.

And I would feel very idiotic if it really was a book falling off the shelf that causes me to lose three hours of sleep in a night, has three cop cars parked in front of my apartment complex, has me holed up in the bedroom and gets both my dogs shot by officers, who will probably charge me money for doing so, as they clear my apartment for me ... and point out that one of my books fell off the shelf

So, I think it very much depends on the kind of disturbance, where you live and how grounded in the reality of these things you are.
 
Thanks, these are the sort of answers that I am looking for, so many of these message threads are about the first reaction, take a defensive postion and wait, however the waiting has to end at some point. Over the years I have had a number of loud noises in my house during the night, ranging from the exploding peas the other night to a set of shelves in a closet collapsing even once at around midnight about 10 years ago 2 cars hit each other at the nearby intersection (about 50-75 feet from my front door) so hard that it shook my bed and I thought someone had ran into the house. I do have a large dog (Mastiff), but he is just now getting to the age where he is protective of the house and does not just run up to everyone wanting to be petted, although just the sight of a 120 pound dog (he is the runt of his litter, his mother weighs 156 and father weighs 185) running toward them would probably be enough to make most intruders make a sound.

Ike

ps I guess part of my concern over the bump then no other sounds has to do with something that happened to a cousin of mine many years ago, he was a young police officer, clearing an apartment after a break in was reported, the intruder was hiding in a closet and shot him when he opened the closet door (thankfully he was wearing a bullet proof vest, and the gun was a small caliber so no real injury).
 
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you will eventually have to leave your bedroom to either let them in or have them bust down the door
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Not if you have a spare house key attached to a glow-stick as part of your bedroom ready-kit. :cool:

I'm not sure what I would do, but I would trust my gut. If the initial sound spooked me, sure, I'd call 911 and do the whole invader drill. If I'm wrong, well, it was good practice. (My dog is secured at night; I want her bark, but I'll supply whatever bite is needed.)

If I listen for a while, and hear nothing (no bark, growl, whispering, etc.) then after accounting for everyone's whereabouts, I'll investigate, armed. Slowly.

Bottom line: if I'm worried, unable to get back to sleep, then well, I've got to do something. Done it a couple of times so far. Sometimes, things just fall over.
 
Not if you have a spare house key attached to a glow-stick as part of your bedroom ready-kit.
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Since my dogs provide a much better degree of protection being able to roam the home i'd never invite LE in until they are secured but i'll say that is clever.
 
Since my dogs provide a much better degree of protection being able to roam the home i'd never invite LE in until they are secured but i'll say that is clever.
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And that's a really sound strategy, I think. Two reasonably territorial dogs are not going to give you mixed signals about a stranger lurking in your house. You will know instantly that he's there, and almost undoubtedly, exactly where he is. So you have plenty of information about how to take the next step.

The awful opposite is that we often hear two things which aren't so well founded:

1) I'm pretty sure it was nothing, so I got up, grabbed my xyz and went to make sure. The only good end of that is the dumb luck that you were right and that it actually was nothing. Any ending in which you discover that it was something bad leaves you hugely vulnerable. Since unless it is "nothing" you're worse off going to find it than staying put, you might as well go ahead and assume it surely must be "nothing" and roll over and go back to sleep.

2) I'm not letting some crapflastic doodlehumper steal my STUFF I worked so hard for. A man's got to stand up for himself and defend the castle! You'd think a moment's reflection would cause the speaker to realize how silly the idea of dying for a toaster or Vita-Master really is.
 
1) I'm pretty sure it was nothing, so I got up, grabbed my xyz and went to make sure. The only good end of that is the dumb luck that you were right and that it actually was nothing. Any ending in which you discover that it was something bad leaves you hugely vulnerable. Since unless it is "nothing" you're worse off going to find it than staying put, you might as well go ahead and assume it surely must be "nothing" and roll over and go back to sleep.
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If i didn't have dogs and i wasn't sure it was nothing i think i'd much rather take the risk of investigating with the knowledge i know my home and have a fair chance of surprising him before he surprises me. I say that because if he enters when i'm sleeping the only possible outcome is he surprises me.
 
If i didn't have dogs and i wasn't sure it was nothing i think i'd much rather take the risk of investigating with the knowledge i know my home and have a fair chance of surprising him before he surprises me. I say that because if he enters when i'm sleeping the only possible outcome is he surprises me.
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Ok, I admit that was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. But lots of very well-trained folks have run tests to see if they could go "burgular hunting" in a structure, counting on having the home-court advantage. What happens, over and over, to the very best in the business, is that they catch bullets as they move through the structure.

As strange as it sounds, the "I'll surprise him, he won't catch me" theory just doesn't work. The home-court hunter time and time and time again walks right into ambushes, gets blindsided, and ends up painted with Simunitions rounds.

Movement is the killer. To oversimplify, someone's getting ambushed. Either you or him. Sit still and it's him. Go looking and it's you.
 
Ok, I admit that was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. But lots of very well-trained folks have run tests to see if they could go "burgular hunting" in a structure, counting on having the home-court advantage. What happens, over and over, to the very best in the business, is that they catch bullets as they move through the structure.

As strange as it sounds, the "I'll surprise him, he won't catch me" theory just doesn't work. The home-court hunter time and time and time again walks right into ambushes, gets blindsided, and ends up painted with Simunitions rounds.
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If one is unsure if the sound was real or imaginary and "roll over and go back to bed" is wrong answer, investigate is wrong answer then call the cops is about all that remains. 3 am police lights at your house is a great way to become talked about in the neighborhood.

Seriously though i don't accept the premise that one is doomed to death if they investigate. In fact countless incidents of just the opposite can be found here: http://www.nraila.org/armedcitizen/
 
I think the issue with the discussion at this point is that a lot of people are talking right now, about different scenarios.

It is probably true that in an indoor fight movement is a killer, when one assumes equal preparedness to engaging in a firefight. The problem with this is that while the person ransacking your house right now may or may not be wanting a firefight. they could very well hear some rustling coming from the bedroom (assuming of course you don't have a tactical bed that doesn't rustle when things on it move) and the criminal may or may not even have a gun.
Remember, not every home intruder is the proverbial gangbanger high on meth discharged from the marines. To phrase it in a military fashion ... the objective is not killing the homeowner at all times with every intruder. The objective could be a TV. As as much as for instance I am not willing to die for a TV, neither is the robber.
Two factors are going into this "instant firefight" mentality:
the assumption that all criminals are always violent, and more importantly, the assumption that all criminals are desperate enough to die for their objective.

It is arguably unwise to go looking for a criminal intent on murder, specifically. But it is equally unwise (or rather impractical) to assume every disturbance in the house is a criminal intent on murder, specifically.

Does that make sense?
 
First thing I do is look at my cats. If they show an interest, I go check it out, pistol in hand. If they don't give a mind, I don't worry about it....chris3
 
I did have a bump in the night about a week and a half ago at a motel room (sounded like someone trying to open door with key or pick the lock - turned out to be the wind outside toss the "Do Not Distrub" sign around. I basically did what Sam1911 discussed in his first reply. Wife and I had discussions the next day and we didn't feel we needed to make any changes to our genral plans that we have established and review on a regular ongoing basis.
 
I don't hear nearly as well as I used to and my dog crossed the great divide this last summer but he didn't hear worth a dam the last 3 or 4 years. My kids are all grown and live away so whomever would be in my house unknown to me is probably an intruder, I have pretty good doors and locks but to much glass so I can speculate that an entry would have to involve glass breaking or a fair amount of smashing. The variables are so great just for me in this home I couldn't begin to suppose what somebody in their own home or apartment should do.
I have formed some contingency plans, some direct action some lay in wait, for me it depends from where I hear the commotion.
If ever I build another house the floor plan and size will reflect a much more defensible design.
 
If one is unsure if the sound was real or imaginary and "roll over and go back to bed" is wrong answer, investigate is wrong answer then call the cops is about all that remains. 3 am police lights at your house is a great way to become talked about in the neighborhood.
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Not so. We've already discussed the hole-up-and-observe strategy. You don't have to immediately head out to investigate. You also don't have to immediately call the police. Take advantage of a little strategy, and educate yourself about what's really going on before you react directly to it in any way that exposes to to further danger.

So the flip side of this is if your a home invader, break in with stealth, find a hiding place then break a vase, jar, etc and wait?
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:scrutiny: You know what, if the home invader is looking to simply KILL you, they probably can. There is some strategy that would successfully defeat any of our great plans, if someone wanted to kill us badly enough. Fortunately very few of us have such enemies in our lives.

But if someone set up to do what you described, there are an awful lot of guys who post on gun forums who, if they did what they always claim they'll do, would run downstairs with their favorite shootin' iron and catch a bullet behind the ear.
 
It is arguably unwise to go looking for a criminal intent on murder, specifically. But it is equally unwise (or rather impractical) to assume every disturbance in the house is a criminal intent on murder, specifically.

Does that make sense?
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No. And here's why: It is not likely to be TRUE that every criminal who breaks into your home would kill you if they're given the chance and/or are put in a position where doing so would further their ends. But it is WISE to act as though that's the case.

Act as though every criminal will run when they hear you rustlin' and you'll be very disappointed when one doesn't.

Preparing for the best possible scenario is exactly backwards. No critical event -- be it piloting a plane, driving a car, fighting a war, or self-defense in your home -- will go well if you set out into it prepared for the best possible situation. You train, prepare, and anticipate the WORST and everything that goes well is a happy surprise.

It goes right back to the fallacy I discussed earlier, that if one is willing to go into harm's way to investigate they must have already decided there was no danger present -- because to do otherwise is suicidal. If you DO know there's someone present in your home, going down to confront them because you're pretty sure that some, and maybe even most, home intruders won't really hurt you is perfectly fine ... so long as your assumption is right. If the odds run against you, your head's in a noose you tied yourself.

As Lee Lapin so often says, the odds don't really matter. It's the stakes that really matter.
 
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So, let's say that the book fell off the shelf and made a thump.

Preparing for the worst would be to observe. We do this and nothing further happens. Again, assuming the worst ... clearly someone has barricaded themselves outside and is awaiting for me to investigate.
So what do I do? I practically *have to* call the cops at three AM in an apartment complex, throw my key out the window attached to a glowstick, after confirming that this is indeed the cops.
They come in, clear my house for me and well ... end of story. With any luck they might even not fine me.
Well, what happens next time the uh ... beans explode in the cupboard is the same thing.
And then three months after, the light flickers funny.
And two weeks later, well, one of my videos fall from the shelf.

The point is that at a certain point the *reality* of things is that you can't possibly maintain an assumption of the worst without very real implications to your legal status as well as ultimately how the cops will respond when you do need it.
I know in an ideal situation we should respond to the worst possible scenario, because anything else would be complacent, but reality intrudes into this ideal. After a while the cops will start fining you for calling them every time something went bump in your living room.
 
if one is willing to go into harm's way to investigate they must have already decided there was no danger present -- because to do otherwise is suicidal
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If they were absolutely sure there was no danger, they would just roll over and go back to sleep. And I've done that.

If they were pretty darn sure there was no danger, but won't be able to go to sleep until they check, then they will investigate: by listening at first, then (after knowing where everyone who's supposed to be there is), by a cautious armed look-see. And I've done that.

Typically the "search" begins at the points of entry, so it does not necessarily end at the closet door with the thief inside: you see a broken door, or wet boot prints, you're done and gone upstairs.

And then of course, if they are not at all sure there's no danger, it's the full 911 hole-up drill. BTW: a good alarm system and a dog go a long way to keeping you in either absolutely or pretty darn sure mode.

Of course, pretty soon everyone will have little inexpensive FLIR security cameras everywhere in the home, and all this will be moot. But I don't live in that house yet.
 
I don't think I'd respond to just a noise or I guess I should say my response would be Reach for the wife in bed, she's there the noise wasn't her. Look at the dogs, if they aren't freaking out things are probably OK. Next, I listen for the dog that sleeps by the back door.

My point is that it would have to be more than just the one thing before I was ready to assume there was some intruder in my house.
 
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