I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood where people do not just mill around in the middle of the night. Plus, I have a family which includes a young child. So, no way I’m opening the door to strange visitors in the middle of the night. If they insisted, I’d ask them if they needed me to call the police for them.
I’ve had something similar to that happen to me before, and I was extremely scared about going back to sleep again! 
The dog would go batshit (there’s a bay window right next to the front door and he’s HUGE and jumps up on it when people approach) so I would assume that would drive the person off. If they persisted, I’d look out that same window and ask what they wanted - the way our community is set up, mistakes are made about what house’s front door goes with what garage (where the street address is displayed). It’s truly an IDIOTIC mistake to make if you see the place in the daytime, but at night I can see how it might be confusing.
I’m not worried, either. See, my door is locked so I don’t have to worry.
Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure,
I’d face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
There’s no law I’m aware of anywhere in the U.S. that requires you to answer the door if someone knocks (at whatever hour).
If someone claims their car broke down or some other emergency and their cellphone has quit, I’ll make a telephone call to get them help.
I can’t imagine a situation in which I’d open my door to anyone at that hour except if it’s a police officer and there’s a marked cruiser in the driveway.
There must be doorbells that ding dong then big dogs barking.
Much less good than ill? What a sad way to see the world. I believe the good vastly outnumbers the bad, and always expect the best of people unless they give me reason to think otherwise. But, hey, whatever works for you. (And thus ends my participation in this hijack; sorry OP.)
The only time it’s happened it was some girl looking for a party. She figured out she had the wrong place as I was answering the door. I’m wide awake at midnight so it was no big deal. I’m less likely to answer, and more concerned, at 9 am than midnight.
We live in a quiet suburban neighborhood and nobody ever comes to the door after about 8pm except on Halloween. The only excitement we ever had was around 2:30 am one night when I woke up to strange sounds and noises, looked out the window, and realized that the house across the street was extremely on fire. Smoke and flames everywhere, fire trucks blocking the street, fire chief using our driveway as a staging point, etc. At that point, if somebody had knocked on the door, I would have definitely opened it. But they didn’t bother us.
Aside from a situation like that, though, I would go to the door with a cell phone and look through the peephole. If I didn’t know the person on the other side, the door is staying locked and we can try shouting through the window.
I know we disagree on some things, but this isn’t one of them. Lights on, and a hard look at who is (or how many are) out there. Have someone with 911 already keyed into a phone with a finger on the green button before you even say “who is it?” Maybe even call a neighbor or two across the street & ask them to turn on their porch lights too.
Creates that nice visual and unspoken statement that “I’m not surrounded. YOU are.”
Take the Kevin McAllister approach and play 50’s era trashy gangster movie dialog through the door, and laugh as whoever’s out there runs away in terror after hearing gunfire erupt.
I’m usually still up at midnight so my first reaction is puzzlement. I see who it is and deal from there. The last time I got a late night knock it was the police asking whether a “Scottish man” was staying with me. Apparently his car was parked on the street and they wanted to speak to him… Never did get to the bottom of that one. The time before was my ex, drunk and in a bit of a state following a friend’s wake (I’d come back earlier). I made him a cup of tea, talked him down and called a taxi to take him home.
I’d probably assume it’s a roommate who’s gotten locked out or the building super (less likely, but maybe if something was leaking into an apartment below) although I would yell “Who is it?” before opening it. Or I’d wait and see if one of my roommates answered the door themselves.
Once I was the person knocking at midnight because a former roommate locked a second lock on the door that we never used and I didn’t have a key for. I shouted who I was while knocking and she opened the door for me thankfully.
Agree with Iggy upthread. But this actually happens quite a bit to me, living in a college town where everything happens after midnight …
I always look out the window and dont open the door if Im not expecting someone. I keep all the outside lights on so that anyone approaching my property is clearly visible. Once it was the EMTs letting me know my elderly neighbor’s MedAlert had gone off and did I know the combination to his entry lock? (I didnt, but why didnt they call his daughter who surely is listed on the MedAlert database?) Another time it was a half dressed girl who was screaming that she was being raped and then she ran down the street. I called 911. Another time some drunk kid was trying to break in my house. He took off when the police arrived tho.
Sorry no, no response from the police. But I did look in the morning and there were foot prints in the snow at the door, so I do know at least it was really someone.
No response meaning they never told me what they found, but they did respond to the call!
Of course, the emergency services around here seem to have circulated a memo that knocking on or otherwise engaging me through my window is the way to gain access to my apartment building (the window is on the ground floor and faces the street). The fire department have done it to get in here (there wasn’t a fire, false alarm), and this New Year’s Eve, I was rather startled when a police officer suddenly popped his head in through it (yeah, it was open, we’ve had a very warm winter up until just a couple of weeks ago). Apparently, some rapist/thug had been chasing a woman down my street, and he was wondering if I’d seen or heard anything, which I hadn’t.
I was quite shook up by that for quite a while, actually, but mostly because my apartment is such a mess, and I was embarrassed that he’d seen it. No law against that, though, it seems, and he didn’t appear to take notice.
I would do the same thing that I do no matter when someone knocks.
No matter what time of day, I look through the peep hole to see who it is and if I don’t know them and if I have not invited them, I do not answer. I have arranged my peephole so that the person who knocked can’t tell that I am looking out at them.
If they appear dangerous, I call the police.
Do you know how many people are harmed when they open their door to a knock but they don’t know the people knocking?
Want proof that is a good policy? Just try to count in your mind all the times that someone has knocked on your door or rang your bell and you answered the door. How many times were you happy that you answered? How many times were you unhappy? If you were unhappy more times than you were happy, that should be a clue to you not to answer.
In most cases that I have answered a knock but did not invite anyone to come by, I was sorry. Most times it was someone knocking at the wrong address or someone trying to sell something I did not want to buy. The same goes for phone calls.
As far as the police goes, there is no law that states you are obligated to open your door when the police knock. If the police have the right to enter your house, you can be sure they will enter. If they do not have the right, you can be sure that it would be best for you not to open your door.
“Big dog barking - do he bite?”
I hardly ever answer the door in the first place because mostly I don’t feel like dealing with the people on the other side. But if I did, on a whim, decide to answer the door, I wouldn’t be affected by OMG it’s dark out!
If someone knocks on our front door, they don’t know us. We never use that door.
We do have a camera there, so we don’t have to open the door to see who’s there. If you don’t have such a security system, get a peephole camera!
If you don’t know them, and want them gone, hit the shower button.
Add me to this list.