The mystery of the midnight knock
Went to sleep around 2 a.m. last night, after thinking to myself how nice it was that my house is so quiet that I no longer need to sleep with earplugs.
Sometime around 3:30, was awakened from what I think was a kind of distressing dream (though I don't remember anything about it) by three loud impatient knocks on my door.
Woke me up instantly, but not into any sort of clarity. I was just barely awake enough to think a couple of things:
- Someone is trying to break into my house, and they're knocking first to see whether anyone's home or wakeable. (Notice how it didn't occur to me that there might be some kind of emergency that a neighbor would need my attention for. Maybe I subconsciously assumed there would've been a doorbell in that case.)
- I left my motion-sensitive porch light off earlier, so if it's really a knock, they're standing out there in the dark. (Scary!)
- It's probably not a knock. Maybe the pole I left in the kitchen (for changing high light bulbs) fell over.
- My laptop is probably in the living room, where anyone who breaks in could easily find and steal it.
- If I immediately go back to sleep, I won't sleep well, fretting about this.
- Getting my chair over to my room door to block the door will be more logistically difficult than I can handle right now.
I also turned my phone on just in case I needed to dial 911 in a hurry.
Eventually I dragged myself out of bed. Got halfway across the room, realized the laptop in question was in my room, realized my full laundry basket was next to the room door and could block it. Peered out into the dark hallway, saw nothing unusual.
Closed my room door, put laundry basket in front of it, stumbled back to bed, fell immediately asleep.
Until 6:30 or so, when I was awakened by the sound of lightly squealing door hinges followed by a small thud, as if someone had abruptly swung a door partway open and run it into something solid.
I think at that point I was too exhausted to even try to figure out whether someone had just tried to get into my room. I think I fell back asleep quickly.
When I woke up again, I looked around the house. No sign of anyone opening any doors. No sign of anything having fallen. Nothing on my front door or porch.
Maybe something banged against the outer wall of my bedroom? Maybe it was an animal on the roof? Maybe it was an earthquake? No idea.
It's also possible that I dreamed both sounds. They certainly didn't feel like dreams, but I don't have a better explanation.
And this has happened before, a year and a half ago, at my old place. (Woke up to loud knocking, fell asleep again, woke up later to sound of someone walking around my house.) Which seems to lend credence to the dream theory.
Still a little disoriented. Perhaps I'll take a nap later.
