Monday Morning: 03:29 AM

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Sean Cloherty

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Monday morning I was awakened by 10 rapid fire rings on the doorbell. Sh*t! 3:29 AM !!?!?!

Vaulting out of bed, I grab a large Maglite, G30, and hit the front door before the last gong of the doorbell has stopped reverberating.

I hit the outside lights, and peer out through the front door peephole.

Nothing.

I kill the lights and then sit next to a window away from the door to see if anyone makes a move once the lights are out.

Nothing.

Tired and a little bit adrenelized I hit the sack and toss and turn for an hour before I can sleep.

Next day my wife posits that it was not the pranksters I assumed, but rather thugs casing the neighborhood - looking for people away on vacation. The more I think about it, the more I agree. If they are old enough to be out at 3:29 AM, they probably wouldn't be that interested in such a juvenile prank.

I called to Police around noon. No real interest unles it was in progress. Nobody else reporting similar incidents. (This is the third time in about 20 months. Friends two houses down have suffered at least one similar incidence on the same night.)

Since I respect the opinions and experience of THR and former TFLers I thought I would solicit some input.

1. Do you think it was a prank or a potenitial criminal?

2. Based on your response to #1, what are my next steps?
 
Could be either, really. I'd suggest a motion sensitive camera to find out who's behind it. I'd also suggest installing some very brights lights set to shine in the face of anyone ringing the bell with the switch in your bedroom. If this happens again you might be able to id them as they try to run while blinded, and you'd also have tape of them to take to the po-po.
 
1. Do you think it was a prank or a potenitial criminal?
2. Based on your response to #1, what are my next steps?
Click to expand...
1. Unimportant, because:
2. Get a motion-sensor camera and mount it so that it will activate whenever someone approaches your door. There is widgetry out there that will cause your VCR to begin recording in the event that the motion detector wakes up.[0]

If it happens again, you'll have a visual record of it. Depending on what you see in the video, you can determine whether it's pranksters or thugs. If it's the former, it's up to you to determine the level of "Those-Dang-Kids" crotchetiness and cane-brandishing you use.

If it's thugs, then make a copy of the tape and give it to the police.

-BP

[0] Much as I hate their annoying popups, x10.com has some nifty stuff along these lines.
 
X-10 or similar motion-activated cameras.

Mine are set up to activate a "door-bell" type chime in the Master Bed Room, and roll the VCR in record mode.

The X10.com site is annoying with all the pop-ups, but you can find what you need. Also visit

www.Smarthome.com

www.X10pro.com

X10Pro.com is more for the industrial/commercial apps, but they have good stuff, too.
 
the first thing i would do is install some sort of lighting.you can get those switches that install in the light outlet that are button activated or activated by a remote(garage door opener)you can turn on/off the inside/outside lights that are wired via the remote as you drive up or when youre home.check sears,radio shack ect.ive experienced similiar things before we got our german shephard(lol also a good salesman deterrant).something just wakes you up from a dead sleep or you have an errie feeling that someones hanging around a window.motion activated/infrared sensative lights placed high,out of reach(so the bulbs cant be unscrewed) work good.aim the floods at the door or sidewalk.lights and noise are the last things a thug or burglary suspect wants to face other than a gun or a dog.
 
In 1996, a few hours after my mother's death, I spent the night at my parent's house. I fell asleep on the sofa right next to the front door. At oh-dark-thirty the doorbell rang, and I stood up and answered it, half-scared half-angry. There was no one there. I sat back down. A few minutes later it rang again. Same thing -- no one. So I waited behind the curtain on the window behind the sofa (which provided full view of the fully-lighted stoop). The instant -- the instant -- the bell rang, I looked. No one.

My logical side keeps insisting that it must have been an electrical fault or perhaps one of those huge moths (it was summer) that always fluttered around the front porch .
 
Moths, eh?

Well given that it would take someone a bit longer to get to cover from my front door than it would for me to get from my bed to the front door, the possibilities of electrical disturbances did cross my mind.

Then again so did the idea of poltergeists. I haven't dismissed either, but they are not on the top of the list either. ;)
 
Lighting Is Fine,

but most of the time it won't deter a very
determined thug! :uhoh: And, in most instances
the police are too far away for a 911 dial-up; or
don't really give a damn, cuz they are hanging out
at the local STOP and ROB! :D

So, my suggestion is two fold. First. stoke your
favorite 12 gague HD shotgun with at least #4
buckshot, and load up your favorite sidearm
with something other than "target loads". ;)

Then calmly sit-and wait, for in the after hours
these thugs most likely will return. It might
not be tonight, or even the next; but they have
made a detailed record of the street name or
number, your address, type of dwelling, security
measure's they encountered, etc. Now, they
are preparing a return trip; you just got to guess
when?

Nothing beat's a land-shark! ;) a good example
is a ????zu (spell check off). They are keen, alert,
and will notify its master once potential
trouble steps foot on your property.;)

Another good thought, use the wifey as a back-up.
Train her to assist, with cell phone in hand and
brain in gear! :uhoh: :D

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
You may want to check the doorbell wiring for an intermittant short. Sometimes it's easier just to pull a new wire, than inspect every inch of the existing one, but, it wouldn't take much of a fray, or scuffed wire to cause the bell to ring like you described. When working in my attic, once, I discovered that if I stepped on the doorbell wire, I could cause the bell to ring. As an electronics technician, I have found some strange causes for intermittant problems; they can be very hard to track down. Sometimes, you have to figure out, what else was happening at the times when this occured, whether it seems related or not (it could be).
As an example, once I brought my pickup truck in to the repair shop I used, because of an intermittant "check engine" light coming on in the dash display. A check of the owners manual said to get the vehicle serviced if this light comes on. Later that day, the mechanic called me and told me there's no way that particular light ever came on, because on my model truck, there isn't even a bulb behind that spot of the display. I was embarrased, but I knew what I had seen. It took a few more days of "seeing the light", which wasn't there, before I figured out what was happening. It seems the light always came on when I was on my way to work in the morning, and on the same stretch of road, at the same time, in the same place, etc. I finally figured out that it was the sun, hitting my windshield in the right spot, at the right angle, to reflect down into the crack between the windshield and dash, and be able to reflect up into the certain dash "light", BECAUSE there was not a bulb in that spot on my model truck!
A motion sensor activated (PIR-passive infra-red) light outside the door would also let you know if someone was ringing the bell, or if you need to look elsewhere for the problem. If the light isn't on, chances are no one was at the door.
 
Once had the Mudroom Door alarm go off at about 3 am. I went downstairs to see why. Nothing detected and thought maybe the wind moved the door enough to activate the alarm. I had a previous problem with is door before.

Next day, I told my neighbor. He said that his dog was barking at something through his deck door at about the same time.

I think now that it was bad guys checking for unlocked doors, going house to house.
 
Drill a small hole in the wall right above the doorbell.
Mount a speargun with a barbed tip and a hundred yards of stout fishing line.

Use the door bell circut to actuate the speargun. Tie the other end of the line around your waist when you go to bed.

If your goal is to find out who or what is ringing your door bell, this trouble shooting step ( pun intended) is a shot in the dark( pun intended).:D
 
Thumbtack:

That was my first conclusion at 3:35 AM. However, later Monday morning my wife's reasoning seemed a lot more probable.

If you draw a Venn diagram of:

a. Kids who would get off at doing ring and run pranks


&

b. Kids who would be out at 3:30 AM on a Monday morning

I would bet that the area of overlap of the two is quite small indeed.
 
Do your doorbell wires run through the attic?

Might want to check them for chew marks...

Squirrels, rats and mice can be hard on wiring.
 
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