What to Do When Someone Knocks on Your Door in the Middle of the Night

A couple of years ago, when my mother still lived alone and before it became evident that her dementia was worsening, I took my wife and two daughters for an overnight visit.

man knocking on door

She lived about four hours from where we do, and we often planned visits that allowed us to spend two days or more with her.

If someone knocks at your door in the middle of the night, do NOT open the door, and ask them what they want. If they’re asking for help (red flag)“OK, I get that you need help, let me call the police right now, and they will be able to assist!”

My mother liked to sleep on the couch in the living room. She had this irrational fear of sleeping upstairs, afraid that a middle-of-the-night disaster or home invasion would go unnoticed if she slept on the upper floor.

My wife and I had gone to bed in a bedroom upstairs, while my kids were sleeping in yet another bedroom on the second floor.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken by the sound of my mom’s small dog barking and I heard my mother say, “What’s wrong, you want out?” I listened as she opened her front door and was suddenly surprised by a stranger standing on her stoop.

I assume the stranger’s knocking at the door had startled the dog and we had all slept through it. Or perhaps the dog heard this stranger, with no intention of knocking on the porch prowling around.

I immediately got out of bed and pulled my pants on to see what was happening. I heard my mother say “You’re not coming in!” as I reached the top of the stairs. I quickly returned to my bedroom and grabbed my Sig Sauer .357 auto from the dresser.

As I reached the foot of the steps I saw a strange male, repeatedly trying to open the storm door which, fortunately, was locked.

My mother still seemed to be bewildered at the whole situation and was trying to ask the stranger what he wanted and who he was looking for.

I gently moved my mother out of the way and firmly explained to the man he had the wrong address.

I made sure he saw the very large firearm I was holding in my right hand. His eyes immediately widened and he stumbled back off of the porch and disappeared into the darkness.

I don’t think he was expecting someone else to be in the house or perhaps he assumed my mother was alone since she had been the one to come to the door.

I immediately locked the front door and performed a security check of all the doors and windows in the house.

I scolded my mother for answering the door in the middle of the night and returned upstairs to calm my own family, who were upstairs listening to the entire incident.

The fact is, a lot of people are uncertain about what to do when someone knocks on their door in the middle of the night. My mother is far from the only one who would have responded in the manner that she did.

Many people are raised from a very young age to be helpful, considerate, and polite, even to strangers. Yet what should we do when we hear that middle of the night or early morning knock?

There is no set answer to this question because there are simply too many variables that could impact the correct course of action.

But I can tell you, after 30 years of law enforcement, that knocking on the front door in the middle of the night is not an uncommon tactic for home invaders to use.

There are two types of scenarios that are often in play where this is concerned.

The first scenario is that one of the attackers knocks on the door. This could be a male or a female pretending to be in distress and needing assistance.

Just out of view, on one or both sides of the door are more attackers waiting to push their way into the house as soon as the door is unlocked and opened.

The second scenario is where the same, male or female accomplice knocks on the front door and attempts to hold the attention of the resident.

While you are busy trying to help the person at the front door, one or more attackers attempt to breach a back door and come into your house from a blind spot.

Both of these scenarios are highly effective, and both rely on your good intentions and desire to help strangers.

So, what do you do if someone knocks in the middle of the night?

My suggestion is for you to consider the same logic I tried to explain to my mother before leaving, in the hopes that she would never repeat her actions.

Should You Answer the Door?

Do NOT answer the door in the middle of the night, or early morning. Once you commit to unlocking and opening your door you have, at the very least even the odds for the person in front of you.

If there are more than the one you see, you have tipped the odds unevenly in their favor, even if you are armed.

As a police officer, you learn that one of the riskiest actions you can take is when you are off-duty with no immediate backup.

Despite all of the training and experience, police officers still want to keep the odds in their favor. You should do the same, not just for you but for your family as well.

In this situation, you must keep in mind that you and your locked door may be the only impediment standing between some really bad people and your sleeping family.

One wrong decision here could have consequences for more than just yourself. In my case, my mother had made the decision for me and had already opened the door. She put my family at risk along with herself.

Tip: if when you ask who it is, they say it’s the police, you should try to first acquire more info before opening the door. Seeing some badges, noticing the police car when looking out the window, getting a quick and straight answer when you ask them their names are good examples.

Should You Try to Help Without Opening the Door?

Given today’s technology and the massive proliferation of cell phones, anybody knocking on your door in the middle of the night cannot possibly need to use your telephone.

In the one chance in a million that they do, they should do so at a gas station or a convenience store, if for no other reason out of courtesy to whomever they are waking up.

If you are a female or an elderly person and someone is knocking on your door because they are injured, being assaulted, or simply lost, what possible assistance could you render them even if that is truly the case?

I would hesitate to suggest that even a young, healthy, well-armed man should be foolish enough to venture outside his locked door where he might be overtaken by multiple attackers or by an armed attacker.

Should you pretend that you are not home?

This could actually backfire on you and this might just be the green light the people outside are looking for in order to attempt to break into your home. This is probably not a good response either.

My recommendation:

Keep the door locked, and listen to the rest of the house to make sure you don’t hear sounds that might indicate someone is trying to breach another door.

Yell at the visitor through the locked door: “I understand you need assistance, and I am calling the police now!” 

Then don’t simply sit back down to see if they go away, call the police emergency number and explain that there is a stranger at your front door trying to get you to open it.

Your announcement, “I’m calling the police now!” is the last thing someone bent on home invasion wants to hear.

Not only will the person on the front step hear it but if you say it loud enough anyone exploring the back entrances will hear it as well.

If the person is truly in need of assistance, they will appreciate your actions, and might even sit down to await the arrival of the police.

If their intent is something else other than that, the person will probably respond to the announcement by suddenly vanishing into the dark.

If that doesn’t happen, one last thing you can do is inform them they are trespassing. Door knocking isn’t trespassing, but the moment you let them know you want them to leave, it becomes trespassing.

What Other Steps Can You Take?

But whether the stranger vanishes in the dark or they wait, if you feel uneasy waiting for the police to arrive, trust your gut.

Begin making calls to your neighbors. Wake them up by phone and ask them if someone knocked on their door.

Keep them on the line while you explain the entire incident to them and inform them that the police are on their way. Nothing will stir a nosy neighbor’s curiosity like the arrival of the police next door.

What this will really accomplish, however, is half the block turning the lights on in their own houses and pushing their noses against their windows which would frighten off all but the most psychotic felons.

If you do hear noises at the rear of the house, the threat level increases immediately and you must respond accordingly.

Call the police, and this time tell them you now think an intruder or several, are trying to break into your home.

Even if you are armed or have access to a weapon, get everyone who is in the house to a safe room, and behind a locked door.

On your way to the safe room, turn on any outside light to eliminate hiding places outside your home and help protect police when they arrive.

Once the police do arrive, describe the person as best you can, ask them to walk through your house with you so that you can check the doors and windows, and then go back to bed.

Ask the police to speak to neighbors who may have seen something more, since they were woken up by your phone call while the intruder was in the area.

Whichever actions you choose to follow, it should be something you have not only thought about yourself, but you’ve talked over with your family, including the kids.

Practice waking everyone up in the middle of the night and getting them quickly into the designated safe room. Time yourself and make it a challenge to beat your previous time.

How to Create a Designated Safe Room Easily

Your safe room should be as fortified and as prepared as your budget and resources will allow. Sure, some people can afford to hire it built with all the bells and whistles, which is great for them.

But if you cannot afford to build a state-of-the-art safe room, you can gradually add things to a bedroom or another room to create a safe space.

  • Swap the flimsy interior bedroom door for a more solid one or even a reinforced steel door.
  • Add a deadbolt lock along with a security bar or door jammer
  • Reinforce window locks in the room as well
  • Replace the short screws in the lock plate with longer ones
  • Make a plan to get out of the room if going out the door isn’t safe.

The idea of a safe room is to keep intruders out and your family safe inside for as long as it takes for help to arrive.

For this reason, add supplies, such as bottled water, first aid kit, additional ammunition, an extra cell phone, wall charger, AND a fully charged power bank, pet supplies in case you are able to swoop them up on the way in, etc.

Store the supplies in a closet or under a bed, or in a locked cabinet if you have young children. You can even store a portable toilet in the room to be used if needed.

Having supplies already in the room will help to reduce the amount of time you take to get to the safe room. No need to run around grabbing supplies—just go straight to the safe room.

It also wouldn’t hurt to clue your neighbors in your safety plan. Maybe exchange walkie-talkie units so they can reach you and you can reach out to them. Definitely include your kids in the planning.

They won’t be kids forever, and maybe one day when they are grown and away from home, your practice will come back to them and serve them well in the same situation.

It is always safer to err on the side of caution even at the risk of appearing unfriendly or frightened.

midnight door knock Pinterest image

27 thoughts on “What to Do When Someone Knocks on Your Door in the Middle of the Night”

  1. Excellent article.
    I have a wireless video doorbell that I can answer on my cell and speak with and record whoever is at the door.

    First week I installed it, I hear my door bell ring on my phone while at work. I answe the door, see who is there and tell them to leave the premises immediately. All is on video

    Also, all my windows are hurricane impact resistant and you can beat them all day with a bat and you are not getting in. Ditto,for the doors.

  2. Excellent Advice. I have had a CWP for many years and always have a weapon with me when I hear knocks in the middle of the night at my house which is in a rural setting. Normally, I will not let anyone in the house during the night, but will call for law enforcement. The one time, years ago, that I broke that rule, I wound up driving a young man to his apartment complex at 3 am in the morning after he asked for help following his car “dying” on the street, in a pouring rain. My wife stayed in our bedroom, with our 3 month old son, with a pistol of her own. I answered the door with my pistol in my bathrobe pocket. All went well and I safely returned home, but the next day, when I went to the gun range to shoot, I discovered my 9mm had a broken firing pin and would have done me no good if the encounter had turned out wrong. That day, I learned a lesson that has remained with me since, not only about opening the door at night, but about the old, “1 is none” rule.

  3. Excellent article!
    I’m a friendly, trusting person & very much about helping others. I would rather not, even in daylight, though, want to answer my door like I opted to do a couple weeks ago for a cable guy and again in the evening after dark, for some person who was trying to serve court papers to the last tenent. I was foolishly lucky, plus the 2nd time I actually had a friend over but it could have been bad.
    I just couldn’t hear what was beginning said on the opposite side of the thick door & I felt foolish for not opening it. After all I live in a gated community with security, and a code for automobile entry.
    Good advice…better safe than sorry. I like the wireless video doorbell Navy vet mentioned above…now on my ‘wishlist’!

    1. Hi,sorry for the late reply. I’m in the UK too.one thing I find helpful is keeping a can of something, like beans or soup,behind your front door. Not only will that make an excellent weapon, but they would have a hard time prosecuting you for using it. You can use it to either hit with, or throw.

  4. Good article. I live in the East Hollywood California and around 5 am. I woke up to the sound of my apartment room door bell. I usually sleep with my radio on and at first that kind of drown the sound of the doorbell. I woke up to hear the door bell rung a few more times with a soft knocking -knocking softly. i was afraid to answer because I am a female who lives alone.

    I was so scared to look through my door peephole afraid that they can see me and shoot me through the peephole. I did not know who it was and I usually do not have visitors. I called the police who took 35 minute to arrive on the scene.

    I like the idea above about calling all the neighbors so they can look out their windows.

  5. I was hoping that maybe you could help me figure out what’s going on here since 2016 I’ve heard weird sounds around my house like a knock at the door my friend Jason heard that same noise a year later I’ve even heard the door knob rattling and taps on the glass whoever it was took it way too far and hard hey hey in a mans whisper it seemed to be coming from right outside my window I still hear some of these sounds to this day but the weird thing is when I go to look there’s no one there the one time I thought I even saw a guy dresssed in black but the one time we called the police they said it was just a deer but I personally think it was a way weirder situation then that because of all the sounds I’ve heard and the fact that my house got robbed in 2012 is another reason I wonder if someone is trying to get into my house

  6. Really helpful. Just the other day my grandma woke up in the middle of the night by a noise. Scared shitless. Sheriff got involved. I’m ready for the jackass to come back.

  7. My husband and I live in a small country town in a neighborhood close to the police station and downtown.
    I woke up at 2:30 in the morning a few weeks ago to use the restroom and went out in the kitchen for a
    drink of water. After I went back to the bedroom, there was a loud pounding on our front door. We have
    a large open porch at the door where I heard it. Our dog started barking and heading for the door and
    then I heard the pounding again, but not quite as loud. My husband slept through the whole thing and I
    didn’t wake him up. I just went to bed and didn’t hear anything else after that. But I started thinking, we
    have blinds on all our windows and half curtains that are pulled to the side. The blinds are always shut at
    night and from the road, you can’t see anything. But if you’re on the porch or right next to the window, one
    could watch and see just about everything through the cracks in the blinds. So that’s when I thought we may have a window peeper in
    the neighborhood too…but at 2:30 in the morning? We have a lamp nightlight in the dining room we
    leave on at night for the dog because he goes back and forth, so it is kind of bright in the house.

    Anyway, I put up drapes on all the windows. i had a feeling that someone may be watching at different times, hours, etc and didn’t feel comfortable with just the blinds. I also thought of a security camera.

    When I told my sister about this, she said she would have looked through the blind to see who was out
    there, but I was too scared and didn’t do that. And perhaps I should have called the police…they are
    right diown the block next to the park.

    But I settled for the drapes on all the windows for now and have not had another incident.

    Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions? If it happens again, I’ll call the police right away.
    times.

  8. Don’t answer the door ever. My daughter just called to say a guy knocked on the door asking for money. He is always walking around trying to get money for yard work. Sorry but I think he’s a druggy. If you hire a vagrant they might rob you. She was calling her retired police neighbor for advice. I’m waiting to hear back from her now

  9. I’m a single female. I’ve been in my apartment for almost 3 years. One time I did knock on a neighbors doors to ask them to keep the noise down after midnight so my first thought is usually that it’s a neighbor. Last night shortly after I went to bed I heard a knock at my door. I tried telling myself it was my imagination but my cat was sitting bolt upright staring in that direction too. I wasn’t about to answer it but growing up as a latchkey kid someone broke in when we pretended we weren’t home so I’m never sure what to do. I own a gun but last night I kept thinking about how the place I put my gun wasn’t easily accessible. The gun is now stored in a place where I have easier access to it. That still freaked me out. Never did find out who was knocking or why.

  10. I had a incident someone tried kicking my door in late at night. I wasn’t home but my roomate was. She was petrified and was afraid to move or do anything. They tried the back door then tried the front door. They finally left.

  11. So I am a young single female and I live with my family well at 1:50 am someone opened the door and my Dad went to check the door and it was locked also, no one was in the house? I’m scared to go to sleep, what do I do? I looked it up on Google and that just scared me more!

  12. Someone rang our bell we have two locks and a bar lock. So I stayed up and waited to hear if they would mess with the door and heard nothing but next time I will shout “If your a neighbor in need of help I am calling the police. They will be here in a few minutes. Please wait for them.” I do not like the idea of being outnumbered.

  13. That’s scary!
    We hear a loud hard thump at the front door every single night for the past 4 years and no ones ever there. What could this mean?

    1. This same thing is happening at my apartment an occasional thump that started at 6am. It keeps happening every 15 minutes or so. I’m scared shitless

  14. I live in a Mobile Home. It would be easy to break in. Doors are weak and could be kicked in. I found the back door partly open one night. The chain lock held. I am 83. I have no weapon for protection. Trusting God.

  15. If they do happen to break in your home through a back door or something, if you have a stereo that is pretty loud (a stereo with a remote control) put on a hard rock CD and turn it up full blast. The last thing that they want is noise and that ought to turn on porch lights all up and down the street. That will draw some unwanted attention to potential burglars or attackers not to mention confuse and scare them. No doubt it will foil their plans and they will probably run away. Kinda like a poor man’s burglar alarm. If you don’t have a loud stereo with a remote control and a hard rock CD where the first song is loud and hard maybe think about getting one.

  16. Not answering the door when not expecting anyone is actually good advice 24-hours, not just at night. At about 10 pm one night we did have our doorbell ring and it turned out to be our next-door neighbor to let us know they were having a new roof installed in few days, and he just left a note. I do like the suggestion to tell anyone that you’re calling the police for their assistance.

  17. A few nights ago, my dog started barking a little after midnight. I have security cameras with the monitor in my bedroom. I was shocked and scared to see a man at my front door. I thought that he was trying to break in and called the police. I showed them my Ring video and they said they saw the man there down the street and went after him. He told them that I had left my car trunk open. He said he closed it and wanted to let me know. They believed him. He later said the same thing to me after I posted about it on the Nextdoor App. I am still scared and freaked out.

  18. I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and I am bothered by several knocks on the door in the wee hours of the morning that wakes me up but no one is in sight. I am posting a note saying this trespassing and i will call police – knocks are being tracked and I will charge the person who is doing this.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *