# Hell.  Officially scared out of me.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 5, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102 "2013-09-05T18:49:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/41 "2013-09-06T00:21:14Z")

</div>

> [@ducati](#):
>
> I’m home alone. Doors locked, alarm on. Standard day.

Really? Weird.

Glad nobody got shot, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/42 "2013-09-06T00:54:14Z")

</div>

> [@bup](#):
>
> Agreed. [Here’s one post I remembered](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16007227&postcount=46).
> 
> [Here’s a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=698441) where, from ducati’s POV, he doesn’t look for trouble, but somehow it finds him.
> 
> [And one more smooth reaction.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=662452)
> 
> I’m never going to **ducati** ’s house.

I don’t know, he sounded perfectly rational [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15367557#post15367557). :eek:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/43 "2013-09-06T01:24:36Z")

</div>

> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> It sounds to me like you did everything he did, other than he had a button and you had a cell phone.
> 
> And I’ve got to back the OP with this. If I thought my daughter was being abducted by someone, I’d grab a gun too. Note that that was also his last resort, not his first. OP gets a thumbs up from me in this one.

If I’d actually called the police you’d be correct. Since I didn’t, you aren’t.

And I’d never grab a gun because I don’t have one because they aren’t necessary in modern America. Clearly YMMV

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/44 "2013-09-06T01:57:22Z")

</div>

> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> And I’ve got to back the OP with this. If I thought my daughter was being abducted by someone, I’d grab a gun too. Note that that was also his last resort, not his first. OP gets a thumbs up from me in this one.

Have you read any of the linked threads? At some point I realized I was dealing with an unreliable narrator. He lives in a very different world than I do.

If I heard a voice that sounded like my daughter’s on a different floor when I thought the house was empty and my daughter was at school, I would think a tv was on or something.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/45 "2013-09-06T04:31:46Z")

</div>

Please tell me you took it out back and shot the picture frame. It sounds like it had it coming.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/46 "2013-09-06T04:52:28Z")

</div>

I shot a frame (in chinos) just to watch it fry.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/47 "2013-09-06T09:16:35Z")

</div>

> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> If I could actually hear people talking and my daughter calling for help, I wouldn’t assume everything was okay just because the dogs weren’t barking. My thought would be that whoever was in my house must have killed the dogs when they broke in.

Wow…OK.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/48 "2013-09-06T09:27:34Z")

</div>

> [@bup](#):
>
> If I heard a voice that sounded like my daughter’s on a different floor when I thought the house was empty and my daughter was at school, I would think a tv was on or something.

Because your daughter would spontaneously be on TV, using language that sounded like she was pleading with you to stop someone from abducting her?

😕That is more irrational than anything ducati has ever posted.

He heard his own daughters voice, not a random voice.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/49 "2013-09-06T10:39:42Z")

</div>

> [@Fubaya](#):
>
> Please tell me you took it out back and shot the picture frame. It sounds like it had it coming.

It was framed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/50 "2013-09-06T10:46:54Z")

</div>

This is what scares the crap out of me with respect to folks having guns in the house. There was absolutely no danger, nobody hurt, nobody at risk, and the OP is running up his stairs with a gun ready to start shooting.

Reminds me of a time that I stayed over at my bro’s house. I had keys, but due to a miscommunication, he didn’t realize I was crashing there that night. My late arrival without ringing the doorbell freaked him out, and I’m fortunate he wasn’t a gun toting, shoot the shadowy figure in the darkened room type of guy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/51 "2013-09-06T10:49:01Z")

</div>

> [@grude](#):
>
> Because your daughter would spontaneously be on TV, using language that sounded like she was pleading with you to stop someone from abducting her?
> 
> 😕That is more irrational than anything ducati has ever posted.
> 
> He heard his own daughters voice, not a random voice.

Yeah. Her voice while playing at the beach. The guy lives in a scared bubble of paranoia. Of course he is going to make over the top interpretations.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/52 "2013-09-06T12:01:37Z")

</div>

I thought the OP was a cute story about how the sounds coming from the electronic picture frame spooked **ducati**. Can’t we just accept that instead of turning this into a debate about guns?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/53 "2013-09-06T12:44:24Z")

</div>

> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I thought the OP was a cute story about how the sounds coming from the electronic picture frame spooked **ducati**. Can’t we just accept that instead of turning this into a debate about guns?

I think the part where he bursts into a room and is ready to start shooting a talking picture frame ended any chance of that. 🙂

A few months ago it was a rare occasion where I was home alone, and I was blasting music from my wife’s computer through the stereo. I went to bed forgetting to turn the system off. In the middle of the night I’m awaken by a booming voicing shouting AVAST VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED. After I realized robots had not taken over the Earth, I changed the sheets and went back to bed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/54 "2013-09-06T12:54:12Z")

</div>

> [@grude](#):
>
> Because your daughter would spontaneously be on TV, using language that sounded like she was pleading with you to stop someone from abducting her?
> 
> 😕That is more irrational than anything ducati has ever posted.
> 
> He heard his own daughters voice, not a random voice.

No, I guess I skipped a step for you. I would figure I had misinterpreted someone else’s voice for my daughter’s (I was on another floor of the house), or there was a home DVD in the player, or something like that.

It’s weird that the picture frame had the tape of his daughter protesting, then until the police showed up was apparently silent enough that he couldn’t find the source of the sound, then piped right up again for the story punchline.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/55 "2013-09-06T13:31:56Z")

</div>

> [@bup](#):
>
> No, I guess I skipped a step for you. I would figure I had misinterpreted someone else’s voice for my daughter’s (I was on another floor of the house), or there was a home DVD in the player, or something like that.
> 
> It’s weird that the picture frame had the tape of his daughter protesting, then until the police showed up was apparently silent enough that he couldn’t find the source of the sound, then piped right up again for the story punchline.

Eh I think most parents know their kid’s voice, and hearing something like “daddy help don’t let them take me” would cause any parent gun nut or not to respond quickly.

Look I once argued with ducati for saying he wouldn’t leave the house without a gun period, that to me is over the top paranoia. But you hear your kid pleading for help and I give you a pass on being stupid.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/56 "2013-09-06T13:36:41Z")

</div>

> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I thought the OP was a cute story about how the sounds coming from the electronic picture frame spooked **ducati**. Can’t we just accept that instead of turning this into a debate about guns?

Yeah, I thought the story was ‘about’ the humour value of being scared shitless over what turns out to be nothing.

Having it about humour makes for a more fun thread, anyway.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/57 "2013-09-06T13:38:58Z")

</div>

> [@grude](#):
>
> Eh I think most parents know their kid’s voice

True - I have a daughter, and I know her voice, even her laugh, or her cough. But I know enough to mistrust my senses when things don’t add up.

Would you ever go to **ducati** ’s house?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/58 "2013-09-06T13:46:27Z")

</div>

I can certainly identify my kids’ voices and such. I can also tell the difference between their voices coming from their mouths, and a 1 inch speaker, but I’m weird like that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/59 "2013-09-06T13:50:44Z")

</div>

Note that the OP was in the basement, and the speaker was in the kitchen upstairs. So presumably the voices were somewhat muffled and I can understand not being able to “tell the difference between their voices coming from their mouths, and a 1 inch speaker”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102/60 "2013-09-06T14:02:51Z")

</div>

> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Note that the OP was in the basement, and the speaker was in the kitchen upstairs. So presumably the voices were somewhat muffled and I can understand not being able to “tell the difference between their voices coming from their mouths, and a 1 inch speaker”.

My kids really yelling for help in my house, versus it coming from a very, very small speaker would be extremely distinguishable to me, even in a different room, maybe even more so. But again, I’m weird like that.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102.md?page=2)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hell-officially-scared-out-of-me/668102.md?page=4)
