Freakish thing happened @ 2:30 this morning
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Freakish thing happened @ 2:30 this morning
Still trying to figure it out. I had one of those nights of not really sleeping much. DH was snoring a lot, I had lots on my mind and the dog was restless and kept wanting to go in and out. Between 2:30 & 2:45 I awoke from a dead sleep to the sound of Kali barking (outside) - the kind of bark that means *someone I don't know is here*. I sat up in bed.
At that time Jen came running down the hall to tell me SHE was just awakened from a dead sleep by someone knocking or pounding on the house and then Kali started barking. My B/R is in the back of the house; Jen's is in the front. I got up and we were both scared, Kali was outside, but no longer barking. We have a new front door with a huge glass oval in the middle so sneaking up on the door to peak out is no longer possible. We knew that *whoever* was out there was gone because we could see Kali lying on the patio in the back.
I questioned Jen and asked if it couldn't have been a car going by with loud music/bass booming, or possibly the sound of trains in the switching yard that is near the back of the subdivision and often you can hear the sounds of freight cars knocking together when they switch them; or maybe it was tugboat/barge action, since we are a block off the Miss. River. She insisted it was someone banging on the house, she said she thought at first it was someone banging on the window of Jeff's old room (next to hers). The only reason I didn't dismiss her claim was that *I* awoke to the dog's barking.
We turned on all the outside lights and eventually could see that there was no one around, and Kali was completely calm then, and we had her inside by then also. I turned on a bunch of inside lights and left them on.
We didn't call the police since no one was there, but now I'm feeling pretty creeped out about it. It could have been any number of things, like someone going down the street, knocking on every door/house just for twisted kicks. Something is sticking in our minds though.
There's a kid - either middle school or early high school age - who, the last few weeks, after school, is walking up and down the street with his Ipod in his ears, carrying books, for HOURS after the buses come. He is obviously a *special needs* kid, you can tell by his behavior. So far he hasn't done anything worse than tease the dog through the fence - and when I saw him doing that I told him to stop. Then I started seeing him in the mornings. It appears that someone drops him off in our neighborhood so he can catch the bus here, and that he waits to be picked up in the evening. But then, last Saturday, he was roaming up and down most of the day. IMO, this is a recipe for trouble. If he doesn't live here, he shouldn't be left alone to roam the streets all that time. But, he hasn't actually done anything, other than be an annoyance, to my knowledge. So our thought was that maybe it was this kid, though I can't imagine why he'd be out in the middle of the night on a school night.
Now I'm wishing we'd called the police. And I've actually been thinking of calling them just because the unsupervised kid is walking up and down the street 5 or 6 days a week. BUT I keep thinking that since he hasn't done anything, they won't really give it any thought.
What would you do???
That is freaky. {{{HUGS}}} I think I'd document this and call the police. Other people may have called with similar concerns, and perhaps the police can piece together information. It may not be anything, but it *could* be. KWIM?
I don't know his parents'/gaurdians sititution. But if they are a single parent like me and have to be to work before school opens then I can understand the need to drop him off. But at the same time if he is a special needs kid, I can't and would not leave him alone, I think he would be more vunerable to strangers, being taken advantage of, or just getting into trouble. Now what is Kali wasn't is, he could be teasing a dog and cause that dog to attack him.
I would say wait one afternoon andn see whom picks him up and talk to them about your concerns, but this day in age , folks are too quick to jump down your throat, blame you for meddling. and no one needs confusion.
SO I say out of concern for this kid, I would call the police and make them aware of the hours the child is dropped off and picked up so that maybe they can catch up with an adult, If they didnt' take it seriously (which I think they would) at least you know that you did report it and will be guilt free if the worse case scenerio was to happen.
Creepy!! I'd definitely contact the Police!!
I would at the very least talk to your neighbors to see if anyone else had anything out of the ordinary happen.
The child walking around for hours without any supervision is not normal and pretty irresponsible. I'd check into that. I've BTDT in my old neighborhood.
I would likely check with my neighbors also to see if they heard anything last night. As far as the kid walking around, if he is in late middle school to early high school, that would put him at about 15ish years old? Honestly, while it isn't something I would do, I don't really think it warrants a phone call to the police. By law (at least in my area) he would be old enough to be walking around unsupervised by a adult. I wonder why he just doesn't ride the bus home though...... it is strange!
If the kids has special needs, any age is not a good age to be wandering around unsupervised for hours, and a parent could certainly be in trouble for that. As for not being dropped off at his own place, his parents could have lied about where he lives to get him in to a certain school, which could be why he's wandering for hours.
Could someone who had been drinking have come to your door knocking, and then maybe realized they were at the wrong place, or the dog scared them off? I can see something like that happening in the middle of the night. I would have been freaked out, too.
I agree, i'd call the police and voice my concern and bring the situation to their attention.
Also, let them know that someone was banging on your house in the middle of the night. Perhaps they will make it a point to patrol your neighborhood for a few nights to see what's happening.
Marcia - Your post makes me remember my college days. I lived in a townhouse and had a basement bedroom. The gal next door, Gretchen, had a boyfriend that would show up at all hours after he'd been partying. He would just climb through her window so he wouldn't wake her roommates. He was always coming through my window whispering, "Gretchen, baby, I'm here. Move over." I'd have to shove him back out and send him on his way. Once he was actually in my bed sleeping when I came home. At least my boyfriend at the time understood and laughed about it.
The kid looks to be 13-15??? Hard to say. He's not very big, but just from the hours he is on the street, he's either in the middle school or the high school. From what I've been able to figure out, it appears *someone* is dropping him off at River Road at the end of my street, and he's walking down near my house to catch the bus to either the middle or high school. And he's back roaming around at the time either of those buses drops kids in the afternoon, which is roughly 2:30. I've seen him walking up and down the street as late as 6 PM, and he's on the street before 7 AM; the middle and high school buses pick up before 7.
He always has an Ipod and is always singing at the top of his lungs, but just walking up and down, sometimes sitting in front of my house, or my neighbor's house. It looks like he talks to himself, and he teases the neighborhood dogs. I've seen him walk up driveways and back down. Sometimes he walks back and forth the length of 2 or 3 houses, over and over. He just *looks* like there is something else going on with him, not quite *normal*. I just started noticing him about 3 weeks ago. And that first week I saw him, my dog was outside and kept barking furiously. I opened my kitchen door and he was directly across the street from my driveway, doing all these weird hand motions and saying things to the dog, so I yelled to him *Stop teasing my dog*, and he left - that day. It's always been weekdays, but I saw him last Saturday roaming around too.
I guess Jen and I are getting paranoid, wondering if it could have been him.
As for a drunk knocking on the wrong door - it was banging rather than knocking, Jen said it sounded more like banging on either the window in the room next to hers or possibly the glass in the front door. She said it was more than a few loud *knocks*, that it was a consistent banging, and when Kali started barking it stopped. The barking woke me up and Jen was already down the hall to my room. We were both scared, and I flipped on all the outside lights. The dog had stopped barking, we could see her out the back door, and I let her in. I actually loaded my gun, it was just creepy. We looked out windows and could see no one.
I've been gone much of today, so I don't know if the kid is out there. Actually there have been a couple days this week when he WASN'T there.
I know Jen is now afraid to stay here while DH and I are in Vegas. Not sure what to do about that.
I would contact the school, the bus company, or see if you can see the mom. I sure hope it wasn't a case of the mom not picking him up at all, and the kid banging on doors to find someone to help him. That situation doesn't sound good at all.
Sorry that you guys have been so scared. I can understand her feeling nervous. When do you leave? Hopefully whoever it was won't be back, and she'll realize she's safe.
We leave Sunday morning. She probably wouldn't even stay here, but I need her to take care of Kali. Hopefully everything will be fine!
I think I'd be leaving a light on, in the kitchen, or something, so if something weird happened, the house wouldn't be totally dark.
We do have a nightlight, in the kitchen, because it's hard to walk through a dark kitchen, after being in a bright basement at night, but that's not a very bright light, if something weird is happening.
I would definitely contact the school system and/or the bus company. If he is a special needs kid - and it sure sounds like he is - this sounds like a neglectful parent. He definitely should not be roaming the street for long periods of time after the bus drops him off, and it sounds like he doesn't have much in the way of social skills or rule-following skills. Some authority needs to look into this.
Whether he was your middle of the night disturbance is something you'll never know. Be grateful you have a dog that barks at strangers - most opportunistic invaders back off when they hear a barking dog.
Does Jen have a couple of female friends who would stay with her while you are away? I don't blame her for being uneasy. And, of course, she ought to keep her cell phone at hand at all times.
I think I would definitely report it to the police, tell them about this boy and that you are wondering if it might be him, and tell them you and dh will be away during X period and your college age daughter will be alone in the house.
I agree... call the police and tell them the whole story. But, I would feel better, if it were my daughter, if she stayed somewhere else. This might be a one time thing, but you just don't know, anymore. Could she come back daily to feed the dog? Not to get anyone riled up at me, but that is the very reason why we keep our gun loaded.You said you loaded yours, but what if the person had come in on you all and you didn't have time to load your gun? We are extremely careful with ours,they are always securely out of sight when the grandkids are here.But, DH has taught them the do's and don't's about gun safety. Our grown children also have a loaded gun in their homes.But, again, they are very careful.I really think Jen should go to a friends hous. I will keep you all in my prayers.
UPDATE:
Last night around 7:40, Jen was leaving and she called to tell me the kid was sitting in my neighbor's driveway next door; and she said she saw my neighbor driving into the subdivision as she was driving out. I went to my office window which has a clear view of his driveway, and sure enough, the kid was there, leaning against one of their cars. Then I saw my neighbor's wife bring her garbage out, look at him/not say anything and return to the house. Needles to say I was a bit surprised.
So I called them. Spoke with the husband, who I will call *T*. I asked *T* if he knew about this kid. Well, apparently he knows quite a bit. He told me that several weeks ago the kid just appeared when he was working on his cars. He asked the kid who he was and where he lived. He told me the kid's first name and that he lives *somewhere back there*. Well, the street directly behind the subdivision (we live on the main street) is an area of rentals that are mostly Section 8 housing now, and it's not a very nice area. There are a few streets back there, so *T* is not sure which one the kid lives on. He also said the kid goes to the high school, and was *retarded*, that it was totally obvious when he spoke. I thought he was special needs, and apparently he is. Anyway, *T* said the same things I've said, that the kid is always walking around with his Ipod and singing (LOUD) and just hanging out.
So I told him about the incident @ our house. I also mentioned something that happened a couple weeks ago around midnight, when someone was on the (other) side of my house, triggered the motion detector lights and the dog was barking, and I actually heard something, it sounded like someone running into my garbage can. At that time, I passed it off as another animal in the middle of the night. *T* said he wouldn't be surprised at all if it was this kid!
So what I told him is, it's trouble waiting to happen if this kid is roaming the streets practically 24/7, particularly on a street he does not live on; and that it's not safe for the KID, particularly if he's *slow* or even retarded, and young - anything could happen to him, and if he's messing around people's houses, especially at night, there's a good chance he's going to end up hurt or accidentally shot if he's mistaken for a burglar; and I was wondering why his parents/family aren't giving some kind of supervision! *T* said he gets the impression the kid is someone's income, in the way of a welfare check and said he thinks they probably aren't concerned enough to worry about him.
By the time we finished our conversation, the kid had left. What I plan to do is this - and it will be a few days before I can do it since we are going to be gone, unless I see the kid today. I am going to call the non-emergency number and request an officer to come to my house (while the kid is on my street and I can point him out to the officer), and tell him all of this, and ask him to investigate. The kid's a minor, they should be able to find where he lives, take him home, and at least talk to the adult who is SUPPOSED to be supervising him. I don't know if calling the school will do any good, without having the kid's first and last name, but it's worth a shot too. The buses are run by the school board, all the bus drivers know is which kids are supposed to be on their route, and that the kids have to be wearing the proper school ID, so that would be a dead end.
Also told *T* that we'd be gone and Jen would be here and asked him if they would keep an eye out for her, which he agreed to do, and asked me to make sure she had their phone number and tell her she could call any time of the day or night if she needed them, or was afraid. So I feel better about it and plan to look into it.
Good that your neighbor is aware of the situation, and is volunteering to be a good neighbor while you're away. Jenn should program his number into her cell phone one-button system.
I think your plan is good. But, I'd call the non-emergency number ahead of time and talk to them about the situation, and ask them if they will send someone out if you call the non-emergency number when the boy is hanging around. I think it is better to be able to have a discussion where all the questions can be asked and answered at a time when you are not asking them to send someone out when you call, so that the background is known and the officers know what they are going to be handling. Maybe there's a community relations officer you can talk to about this situation.
Well, I do agree that I would be calling now and explaining the situation to the non emergency number. Especially with you guys getting ready to leave town. I would tell them everything that has been going on and ask them what you should do when the kid returns.
Yikes Karen 
Ditto on calling the police anyway, to report the situation. I'm glad about the neighbor keeping an eye out for Jen. I'm sure that makes you feel better.
That is so sad that the poor child appears to so unwanted and uncared for. Perhaps your neighbour is correct that he is a "source of income", either a welfare check or a foster child. Some poor kids just get the short end in life.
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