WTF Just Happened? (Imaginary Intruder)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Two nights ago Sr. Weasel and I were sound asleep, with his mother in the guest bedroom, and someone awoke us at 3am just pounding on the door. We don’t have a chain lock or a peep hole, so we didn’t answer it. I heard a man talking and then a car door slam and whoever it was drove away.

A bit freaky in the moment, but nothing panic-worthy. Probably some drunks with the wrong house or something.

Today Sr. Weasel went to the grocery store. While I was in the bedroom home alone I thought I heard a car pull up in the driveway. I thought it was **Sr. Weasel **returning early, but nobody came in the house, so I figured I’d misheard.

Then I’m using the guest bathroom which is right off a long hallway, and I swear to fucking god, slow, heavy footsteps walked right by the door. We have a 3’’ gap under our bathroom door so I saw shadows shifting as the person walked by. We have cats but this wasn’t rough and tumble cat playing around stuff, it was footsteps.

I had left the bathroom door unlocked, so as soon as I heard the footsteps, I jumped up and locked the door. There was a pause, and then the footsteps reversed direction and walked, slow as you please, right back into the kitchen. After that it was hard to hear anything, because I had the bathroom fan on. I was afraid to draw attention to myself by turning it off.

I messaged Sr. Weasel to see if he’d returned home early – he had not. So I asked him to come home (poor guy had just gotten to the grocery store) and I also messaged his father (who manages our complex) to see if there was any scheduled maintenance – no, again. I stayed put in the bathroom until my husband got home and gave the house a once-over. All doors locked, no signs of forced entry, nothing taken.

Now, I’ve had extreme anxiety before, and I understand how nerves can get the better of you, but the odd thing is, I didn’t have particularly high anxiety before or during or after any of this. I was anxious after I heard the footsteps but I started to calm down when nobody tried to bust down the bathroom door. So I can’t just say, ‘‘Oh, I panicked and overreacted.’’ Because I didn’t. What I saw/heard and how I reacted were pretty damned reasonable.

But on the other hand, it doesn’t look like anyone was actually here.

I’m confused. And now, somewhat paranoid. He just left to go grocery shopping again so I figured I’d tell you all to distract myself from the fact I’m home alone again. :eek: :stuck_out_tongue:

2

I wonder if someone has a key? Do you know if your place was re-keyed when you moved in? If it wasn’t, and maybe if it was, it might be worth it to get the locks re-set and new keys.

Make sure you keep your cell phone with you.

3

We just had keys made. I’m thinking chain locks for sure.

It’s probably nothing, but damn. I heard and saw what I heard and saw, you know?

I used to have extreme home invasion anxiety but this was nothing like that. I wasn’t particularly worried about anything before it happened, and even when I thought someone was in the house I was relatively calm the whole time. I’m used to weird noises by now because of the cats. But this was… different.

4

That’s creepy. I’m really glad you are OK.

5

There are some fairly simple alarm systems you can install that basically sound a chime when doors and windows open. It’s just two contacts next to each other, glued or nailed into place. When the door/window opens, the contacts separate, and they send a wireless signal to a chime.

Might be worth checking out. I’m worried that a door chain won’t be enough, because you’ll have times when only one of you is home, and you need the other to be able to get in.

6

I’m officially anxious now. Anxiety at night is nothing new, but now it has an added layer of credibility. I really wish my bedroom door had a lock.

7

I’m late to this party, but … is it the kind of different that maybe you should discuss with a doctor? Maybe?

I certainly don’t know of course, you’re the best judge - but if I recall, you’re on some heavy duty medication. That can play tricks, sometimes.

In other suggestions - maybe your father-in-law will let you get deadbolts in addition to peepholes.

8

Also, I meant to ask - do you have a carbon monoxide detector? If you do, you should probably test the batteries. I mean, that’s always good advice. It only takes a minute.

If you don’t have a carbon monoxide detector, this would be a good time to get one.

9

They have battery powered alarms that you hand on a door handle & turn on. If that door moves, they go off. This is a similar model, but it is put under the door as a door stop.
The trick is to train yourself to set it up when you are home and to turn it off and take it off when you are getting ready to leave. They used to be big for people who stayed in hotel rooms a lot.

If you want a physical barrier, maybe a security bar?

PS- I think you are right about getting new locks. Imagine owner (A) leaves a key with a neighbor to water the plants. Then owner (A) sells house to owner (B)… but the neighbor still has a key.
Add that the neighbor now has a kid who wants to finance his video game habit without working and suddenly owner (B) has a Creeper.
Long story short? Change the locks.

10

That seems plausible. Except for her moving around what she described reminded my a lot of the things I’ve seen people describe perceiving during sleep paralysis.

I suppose a drug reaction could cause something similar without the paralysis.

11

I’ve had sleep paralysis. I wasn’t sleeping, this was in the middle of the day, and it wasn’t accompanied by a feeling of dread. I was really quite calm throughout the whole thing, especially for me. I didn’t panic, I just locked the door and texted my husband to come check things out. Even at the time I thought, maybe it’s nothing. But on the off chance it was something, I wanted to be on the safe side.

I am on some heavy duty meds but I don’t think hallucinations are one of the side-effects. I think it’s 90% likely I was just mishearing the cats. It still bothers me because while that’s the most rational explanation, it doesn’t make a lot of sense with what I saw and heard.

12

Would hallucinations be a side effect of carbon monoxide exposure?

13

Get a rubber door stop for in the bedroom/bathroom. If you ever have to barricade yourself in, they are a very effective (and cheap) way to keep a door shut :slight_smile:

14

Yes, I’ve read that it was common with inside gas lights.

15

It could happen, but it’s unusual. Carbon monoxide prevents oxygen from getting to your brain, so it can cause the usual brain-deprivation symptoms. It would be weird that you don’t have other symptoms of CO poisoning, but who knows.

So it’s a long shot, but having a CO monitor is a good idea, still.

I’m sure you’re right and it’s the cats conspiring to freak you out.

16

Reminds me of something that happened to me, and gave me a terrible (but momentary) fright.

The family was away on a trip but I had to stay behind for work. I had the whole house to myself.

I was taking advantage of that fact to have a shower with the door to the bathroom open. I was happily showering when … I saw clear as day someone’s head pass silently by the doorway! It looked like someone over 6 feet tall just walked slowly past!

I nearly jumped out of my skin in terror, knowing I was totally alone in the house … I got out of the shower, wet and covered with suds, to discover … that my kid’s helium balloon (roughly head-sized) had deflated enough to float free of the ceiling, and had floated past the door. That was the “head” I saw.

17

Might have been a ghost

555-2368

They’re ready to believe you!

18

Does anything in your house burn gas to produce CO[sub]2[/sub]?
I would get a CO[sub]2[/sub] detector to be careful, but the worse thing of course is someone coming into your house. I would change the outside locks.

A haunted house, where furniture would be heard moving, and someone would set on the bed and talk to the occupants was determined to be hallucinations from CO[sub]2[/sub] poisoning.

19

I was just thinking of this thread because of something that happened to me the other night. I was lying in bed, trying to sleep, and I heard some clomping around on the stairs up to the bedroom. Now alert, I listened to try and determine if it was an intruder, or just one of our spectacularly ungraceful felines. My efforts were frustrated by the sound of the fan, so I got up to turn it off, and spent the next several minutes listening to complete silence until I had to say “fuck it” and went downstairs to watch TV.

I’m thinking of getting a set of these.

20

As soon as they got them off, most cats would kill the person who put them on.