Have you ever had those moments when life throws you a curveball you didn’t see coming? We’ve all been there! In life, unexpected knocks at our doors are just part of the deal. From surprise visitors to bizarre twists of fate, these people recall the strangest knock they’d ever gotten at their front door. All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. “It Was A Night I’ll Never Forget”
“When I was around 15 years old, my parents owned a duplex in Torrance, California. They wound up splitting up, so my dad and brothers lived in the back house, while my mom and I lived in the front house.
It was summer, and everyone left their windows wide open to get a bit of ocean breeze in the house. There was a knock at the door around 1 a.m., and it sounded like something metal. I looked out of the window and saw the man standing outside. When we didn’t answer the door, he proceeded to the back house where my brother answered the door.
My brother told the man, ‘You need to get the hell out of here,’ but he proceeded to walk back up to the front house and knock again.
This time, he mumbled something, and it sounded very odd. I spoke Spanish and English, and it didn’t sound like either of those. He stood at the door for a bit, then finally made his way down to his vehicle, a cream-colored station wagon. Finally, he left.
The next day, we were watching the evening news and they put a sketch up of a man. Lo and behold, it was the same man at our house the night before.
I turned to my mom and said, ‘Oh my god. That’s the same guy from last night.’
Right then, my brother came running into the house and asked, ‘Have you guys seen the news? It was the same guy at our door last night!’
‘I told you it was him,’ I said to my mom.
According to the news, the man was spotted in the next town over Redonda Beach, California. A few days later, he was apprehended in East Los Angeles trying to steal a car, and he got beat up.
The man was no other than Richard Ramirez, the ‘Night Stalker.’
I felt fortunate I lived to tell the story because the situation could have easily gone the other way. I had a friend in prison with Ramirez, and he claimed a shadow of evil followed him everywhere. Like the guy was GENUINELY terrifying to be around. When he was at our door, I had the same feeling.
It was truly I night I’ll never forget.”
2. “Our Family Was Never The Same”
“This was one of the worst feelings in the world.
A while back, my brother picked up a hitchhiker. To my brother’s surprise, they both worked at the same place. Thinking he wasn’t well off, my brother picked him up and drove him home every night.
About six weeks later, my mom wanted to invite the hitchhiker over for dinner.
The hitchhiker complained, ‘This meal is gross! I don’t want to eat it,’ and turned to my brother and asked, ‘Can you take me home?’
‘I don’t want to take you home,’ my brother said.
Then, my brother walked into the kitchen and asked to speak with my mother alone. He explained how the hitchhiker was beginning to scare him, and how he felt threatened around him when they were alone together.
My mom scolded, ‘Well, you brought him here. You need to take him home.’
So, my brother took him home. We noticed he didn’t come back on time, and he wasn’t answering the phone at his house. My mom got a sick feeling, and she knew something was wrong.
About a few hours later, someone knocked on our front door. It was a police officer and a priest. By this point, we knew what happened. This ‘hitchhiker’ pulled a gun out on my brother and shot him. My brother died instantly. It was the most unexpected knock on the door I’d ever received.
Our family was never the same afterward. It left me an only child at 11 years old, and I never quite figured out how to cope. I had to grow up on my own going forward.”
3. The Wrong Guy
“It was a Friday night, and I had a hard day at work. I was watching a movie, enjoying a pizza, and just started to relax and enjoy the night. Then suddenly, I heard a loud knock on my front door.
When I opened the door, two well-dressed stern-looking men were standing outside.
I asked, ‘Can I help you?’
The men flashed their badges and said, ‘You can turn around and put your hands behind your back.’
Stunned, I stood there for a few seconds as they turned me around and cuffed me.
I said, ‘What’s going on? What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
The undercover officers read me my rights and said, ‘You’re being arrested for the murder of a woman that happened a few months ago.’
At this moment, I remembered I had read about the murder a few months ago. The woman worked at a club about 10 miles from my house.
One of the officers said, ‘Do you understand these rights as explained to you Mr. Dunova?’
‘Excuse me? What did you call me?’ I asked.
‘Mr. Dunova,’ he replied.
‘Are you SURE of the name?’ I retorted.
‘Positive,’ the officer said.
‘Well, it’s not me,’ I replied, ‘Walk over there and grab my wallet. Pull out my driver’s license, and you’ll see I’m not the right guy.’
My last name was very similar to the murderer’s name, just off by one letter. When the officers arrested the right guy, I saw his picture in the paper. We looked eerily similar, too. The crime wound up being in a few documentaries, but they always left out how the officers arrested the wrong person first. Go figure!”
4. “I Nearly Collapsed”
“When my husband and I first got married, he was working in construction. His team was behind schedule, and he warned me about how he wouldn’t be getting home until well after midnight. I went to bed around 10:00 p.m., only to be awoken around 11:30 by a knock at the front door.
‘I must have forgotten to unlock the door,’ I thought, going to let my husband in. To my surprise, two burly, bearded men stood on the porch.
For about 2 seconds, I relived every torturous moment of every scary movie I had ever seen, all while realizing I was in a flimsy nightgown. My fight or flight kicked in, and I was only seconds away from calling the police. As I picked up the phone, one of the men stopped me and explained what their actual motive was.
He explained, ‘Hey, lady, we just saw a bear in your backyard! Can we go chase it?’
As I nearly collapsed in relief, I think they ‘got’ how scared I had been.
‘Hey, we’re sorry! We’re spotlighting, looking for deer, and we saw this bear take off into your woods. We just wanted to go after it!’ the man said.
Just then, my husband’s truck pulled into the driveway, and I pointed feebly in his direction.
‘I don’t care, just go ask my husband first, okay?’ I replied.
We still laugh about my ‘scare’ to this day. Thankfully, I hadn’t felt threatened in our home ever since.”
