We had a crazy person show up in our basement a few years back. It was my husband who discovered him - turns out that was his first meeting with his sister’s (who then lived on the upper floor of the house, but wasn’t home at the time) boyfriend, who was off his meds and not exactly dealing well with the experience. Fortunately, he wasn’t violent, just freaking out. That’s different from a sister-in-law, who physically attacked her then-husband without provocation, and my (abuser) father-in-law too; both have mental illnesses and have done seriously whacked-out stuff. Come to think of it, SIL followed up her attack by running down the street in her undies, yelling.
Me, I used to work in psychology; when we worked in the Psychiatry offices (outpatient clinic, not a ward) all of the rooms had panic buttons, and death threats weren’t uncommon at all.
That being said - we just discuss mental illness issues more, rather than covering them up. (And noting that I did say the guy would be coming inside, but just into the foyer - with blankets and stuff - if I happened to be alone, or all the way inside if my husband was here.)
In my opinion it’s really a no-brainer. If he’s naked and bleeding and it’s sub-zero weather outside, I’d let him in without a moment’s hesitation. I would tell the individual to wait on the porch while I summoned help. Then I would call the cops and the EMT’s in that order. Then I would get the 12-guage, and if my room mate were home, tell him to cover me with his .38 just in case. Then I would open the door again with the shotgun in plain sight (pointed towards the ground) and ask him if he still wants to come in. Then I would administer first aid treatment as necessary, talk to him in an attempt to determine exactly what happened to him and to see if he’s mentally disordered, and just wait for the first responders to show up.
Try and do what I can while he stays outside. I wouldn’t assume something happened to him, I’d assume that he had happened to something or someone and possibly was still in the process of happening.
Maybe if winters were colder, or the police station was farther off, or I lived in a location where there were fewer crimes committed by insane, violent people. But that’s a lot of risk.
I’d feel bad about it, but I probably wouldn’t let him in, unless he seemed very bad off, but would call the police, and let him know that help was on the way. I’d give him something to cover up in, and something hot to drink if I could get it out to him without worrying that he’d force his way in.
I live in Washington, DC and I honestly don’t think anyone on my street would open the door for a stranger in that situation, but I think we would all call 911. Someone who is still active enough to bang on doors is not going to freeze to death in the 5 minutes it would take for a police car and ambulance to arrive.
I’m sure you don’t mean it this way, but man, does this sound ironic.
I’m a small guy without any combat experience since before puberty (precious little then), and my best weapon in the house is a ceramic chef’s knife. Our house has neither a foyer nor a garage: the front door opens into the living room, and the back door into a bedroom. If someone came into the house freaking out, there’s very little I could do. So I’d definitely be on the cautious end of things, calling the cops asap and either getting them supplies through the back door (put them out there, then lock the door, then go back around front and tell them about the supplies), or telling them to wait for the cops to come from their station a mile away.
But as others have said, it’s hard to know for sure until you’re actually there.
I looked through this thread and didn’t see anyone actually point this out.
If someone is dying from hypothermia they will shed their clothes. The brain / body is malfunctioning at this point in laymans terms and they suddenly feel hot.
Not like the old days? I’m sick of hearing rubbish like this. I’d like to see a shred of evidence that there has been some huge shift since the Golden Age of Nostalgia that suddenly filled the world with nutcases who will murder you at the drop of a hat.
I simply don’t believe the world is a significantly more dangerous place than it was in the childhoods of anybody alive today. All that has changed is perception - the media ensure that any bad thing that happens anywhere in the western world has effectively happened right in your back yard because you heard about it on the news. Result: paranoia and nobody looking out for anybody any more. It is very depressing. In fact most stats I’ve seen show there is considerably LESS violent crime about these days than there ever was in the 1960s or 1970s, say.
I don’t see how an injured naked person is such a threat. I’d let them in, taking necessary precautions to protect myself of course, and call for help immediately. If I felt uneasy about the person for any reason, I would let them into the garage, which has a lockable door between it and the house, and keep them shut in there.
Well, given my current living situation I have a hard time making the hypothetical fit realistically. But the short answer is: I live alone, hell no I’m not letting him in. I’ll call 911, if there’s a way to pass him a blanket/hot tea/whatever that doesn’t involve letting him in or risking that he’ll force his way in, then I will. But given that 1> people lie, 2> criminals don’t always “look like” criminals, and in any case, 3> naked outdoors when it’s below freezing makes me think he’s either high or mentally ill, and therefore extremely unpredictable (and possibly impervious to pain); I’m not about to put myself at risk. I might be able to defend myself depending on a number of factors, yeah, but I don’t want to get into a fight in the first place; by its nature I doubt I could get through a fight without getting injured in some way, even if I “win.” (Having had prior experience with all of this, too: a few years ago I was mugged by a short, dumpy teenage girl who would have been about the last person I’d peg by looking as a criminal. I did win that fight, she ran off without my wallet or her own cell phone and shoes, and she was in handcuffs 10 minutes later, but I ended up with a nasty crack on the head.)
Anyway. I live on the third floor of a 3-story walk-up, so if he were actually outside pounding on the front (foyer) door, I wouldn’t be able to hear him anyway. I don’t respond to my buzzer if I’m not expecting someone as a general rule, either. If he were actually pounding on my front door, he’s already in a warm hallway, and hell no I’m not letting him into my apartment. I’d be calling the police about some crazy guy trying to break into my place.
Sure, if I had a house with an attached garage, I’d put some blankets/food in the garage, make sure the door to the house was locked, and let him in there. Lacking that option, I’m just not going to put myself in a position where I have to fight for my safety.
I voted “something else”, I would let him in, but I’d get the neighbours so I had some help. They wouldn’t all be asleep midnight and they would open for me, even if they wouldn’t open for a stranger.
I have had people coming in for food or a place to sleep before, but him being naked and behaving crazy would probably be off-putting enough to get someone over to wait for the ambulance .
I’d rather die because I was a decent human being than live because I was an asshole. Helps that I don’t have anyone living with me and no one who is dependent on me.
I would likely call 911 first and make sure he knew that the phone was on and connected to the police before I let him in or ASAP after letting him in, but I’d let him in and cover him with a blanket even if I couldn’t do anything else.
There are plenty of bad people in the world, but there are more good people. There are more situations where someone ends up naked, bleeding and freezing by accident than as a deliberate ploy.
And I may be an atheist who doesn’t believe in an afterlife, but I know what kind of behavior would get you into heaven if there were a just God, and that’s the kind of person I want to be. I guess that makes me a good Samaritan in a more literal than usual sense.
Not necessarily, there are guys who don’t feel particularly threatening and women who feel dangerous. And it’s got nothing to do with size, either.
I’d be calling emergency services (in most of Europe it’s 112) in any case and not open the door until they had my address, but knowing me, I’d open the door. All my family lives in apartment buildings, the only one where he’d be outdoors is the one I’m renting near Seville. If the house I happened to be in was my brother’s and my sister in law was in: she’s a doctor, so she’d definitely start treatment right there.
Let him in and allow him to warm up while the wife calls the authourities. Throw him a blanket and tell him to sit his ass on the floor while we wait. I have a gun, two dogs, and enough attitude at that time of night to be damn certain he or she is following my commands while we wait. I’m not, however, going to let someone die in the cold from fear for my own safety. There is one door, and I have six rounds. Unless he’s got an army of crazed bear cavalry out there I think I’m pretty safe.
As near as I can tell, you’re absolutely right to doubt that it’s more dangerous today. Link is to a 20-minute TED lecture by Steven Pinker arguing that the world is less violent today than it’s ever been. Very interesting stuff.
But still. I have a wife and a daughter and no weapons. The way I defend myself is to stay out of trouble. If trouble comes looking for me at midnight, I’d be very cautious. If it seemed likely to me that the person outside was in danger of death before the cops could show up, I might ask my wife to take my daughter into an upstairs room with a lock and a phone, and then let the person in; but absent the danger of immediate harm to the person outside, I’d try to let the cops deal with it.
I’d rather throw them the key to my car and let them go get warmed up inside, and risk their stealing it, than risk that they’d come inside and blow a major violent freakout.
I had a history professor who said that the writing of every generation indicated that people always feel things are getting worse when in fact things were almost always getting better.
With regard to how people treat each other, I’m not sure the world has changed all that much.
However, I think the point that Airman Doors, USAF made is a good one. It’s not about whether people are more violent or crazy now, it’s about an evermore litigious society. I have no idea how commonplace these stories are but haven’t we all heard about burglars successfully suing homeowners after falling through their roof?
I still think I’d help folks in most situations but it’s not unreasonable to wonder if a good deed will go unpunished.
You did notice the “quotation marks”, didn’t you? Christ, what an overreaction.
The point is that when I was a child my family would have let anybody in under those circumstances in half a second, but now my mother wouldn’t do it on a bet. It’s not the reality that’s changed but the perception, and that’s what matters when you look at the responses to this poll.
If I were married and had a man about the house, I might answer differently, but I’m not very mobile, so any halfway strong person would be able to get the upper hand quite easily. I picked three, call 911 and throw out blankets, food etc.