Video Shows Why You Shouldn’t Open the Door for Strangers
Parents often tell their young kids and teens to never open the door for strangers. Now, after viewing scary footage from her home security camera, a Morganton, N.C., resident is glad she listened to her instincts and followed that advice herself.
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The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told WBTV that a female stranger showed up at her house around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday and, after unsuccessfully trying to open the homeowner’s locked front door, began knocking.
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Upon hearing the noise, the homeowner turned on the porch lights. “She said, ‘It’s me,’” the homeowner told WBTV. “‘My boyfriend dropped me off. We got into a fight and I need to use the phone.’”
The homeowner refused to open the door, and eventually the stranger left. The homeowner told WBTV that when she was speaking to the stranger through the door, she couldn’t see anyone else there. But when the woman later watched the surveillance video, she saw a terrifying sight: another person — wearing the scary mask from Scream — crouching at the bottom of the porch stairs. And then a third person appears at the stairs about a minute later.
After watching the video, the homeowner told WBTV that she couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about what might have happened if she’d opened the door.
She told WBTV that she wants to share her story to warn others not to open the door if they don’t know the person on the other side.
For parents who occasionally leave their teenagers home alone, it’s important to talk to them about what to do if a stranger is at the door. Sherryll Kraizer, PhD, founder and director of the Coalition for Children, a nonprofit organization that prevents child abuse, bullying, and interpersonal violence, and author of The Safe Child Book, says that, surprisingly, kids shouldn’t ignore the stranger at the door, acting like they aren’t home. “People who want to rob a home often knock first,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “So you don’t want to pretend you’re not home.”
Adds Kraizer: “We recommend that the child approaches the door but does not open it. No matter who it is. They could say, ‘My dad is working in the house and he can’t be disturbed. Come back later.’”
Also, try a role-playing game of “What if?” with your kid, Kraizer recommends. “It’s a game of asking a question and then talking through the answers,” she says. For example, ask, “What would you do if you were here by yourself and someone knocked on the door?” Then run through different scenarios to see how your child would react, and talk about the safest strategies. “So, what if the stranger says, ‘There’s been an accident; I’m hurt and I need a doctor’?” says Kraizer. “Your child could say, ‘OK, I’ll call 911 for you,’ without opening the door. The minute you say ‘911,’ if they’re up to no good, they’re gone.”
Or strangers may say they have a flower delivery for the mom and need a signature. Instead of opening the door, the teen can either ask to have the flowers left outside the front door or to come back later for a signature.
The game isn’t just about safety, but also about teaching teens to think for themselves. “It’s to have the confidence that they can think on their feet,” says Kraizer. “And it turns something that’s scary into something that’s empowering.”
(Photos: WBTV)
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