Strangers In The Night: 40+ Times People Caught Bizarre Things On Their Doorbell Cameras

Doorbell cameras are incredibly convenient to have and add a great sense of security and peace of mind to the homeowners that have them. They’re relatively inexpensive for the purpose they serve, plus you can review footage at a click of a button, report packages stolen, or see who creeps around your door.

But what happens when you actually see something horrible? The whole reason you have it is to reassure you that there aren’t any bad guys lurking outside your door. So, it’s very unsettling when you accidentally witness something weird or even scary on these cameras.

In this listicle, we feature a couple of those scenarios. Some users on the internet shared seriously creepy things they saw from their doorbell cameras, and we’re so relieved that this did not happen to us. 

Too Early

Waking up to someone ringing your doorbell at 5 AM is often a cause for alarm. Your mind races as you think, “Is there an emergency?” Because no one knocks that early unless something’s wrong. Well, that’s not exactly true. It could just be a small child in pajamas asking to play with your son. 

But then, as they should, the owners of this door cam realized quite fast that there was a toddler walking around unsupervised in only a few pieces of clothing at dawn in winter! Thank goodness nothing happened to him, and he got home safely!

False Sense of Security

When you see the police, you should be able to feel safe around them and not fear for your well-being or security. However, that doesn’t always happen. It’s even worse when you hear them at your door saying they plan to assault you! Makes your heart sink into your shoes, right?

Fortunately, the person who heard this on their door cam realized early that they weren’t real cops and immediately called 911. Luckily for them, their proximity to the fire department saved them, seeing as the fake officers took off at the sight of real officers.

Tech Win

This is the kind of story we like to hear. Well, sort of. While we don’t want anyone’s home broken into, it is great to hear that the footage caught on these cameras can be handed over to the police and help them catch the culprit. 

Interestingly, how funny is it that the thief looked intently at the new doorbell, wondering whether it was a camera but ended up ignoring it? Though this is a terrible example, always listen to your gut, people! Plus, he was cautious with his fingerprints but not his DNA. Not a very smart thief this one.

Stolen Package

It happens now and then that someone gets your address wrong and delivers a package to the next-door neighbor. With that said, it is a bit odd when someone comes to your house with a package you did not order at 1 AM in the morning. 

It’s not like it could be a surprise gift from a friend. But then it gets weirder when someone comes and grabs that package off your doorstep a few minutes later. So, the box that wasn’t yours gets stolen too! Luckily, it was just the neighbor.

Foreshadowing

Children are often crucial in creepy horror stories. Sometimes they allegedly communicate with dead people, or they can see the future or a bunch of other weird scenarios. So, you can imagine the surprise and shock this family must have felt when they saw their sleepwalking son on their door cam. 

Not only is it scary that he walked out the door in his sleep without anyone knowing but it’s also creepy that he is having conversations with someone who was probably already gone! They caught the whole thing on camera too. Well, at least the little kid got to say goodbye to his grandpa.

Plant Lover

Ever wondered why tree huggers are called like that? While it may be a derogatory term, these guys may be onto something. Apparently, hugging trees is a great way to de-stress, as it makes you happier! However, if you choose to practice that, maybe do it to your own trees in your own yard. 

This person claimed that a random person pets their plants every now and then. It is creepy, but at least he was not destroying or stealing the plants, so he probably just loves them. However, maybe don’t hire him as a gardener. 

Porch Pirate

This person helped their neighbors by setting up an elaborate prank for porch pirates. For those who don’t know, these are people who steal packages off of other people’s porches or front doors. The prank was meant to stop them from stealing again.

Someone tried to steal boxes this person was going to dispose of, so they mixed rancid chicken broth, some dog poo, and silver nitrate – a chemical that isn’t particularly harmful but stains the skin for weeks before fading. It worked like a charm. If you have this problem, you know what to do.

Where is She?

There is nothing more frustrating than getting a call where someone insists on speaking to someone you do not know, and when you try and explain that they have the wrong number, they don’t get it. Mostly we just hang up and hope they get the message then.

Now imagine if that happened to you, except it is not on a call, but rather a stranger at your door. They keep demanding to see someone whose name you don’t recognize. It can be quite scary, especially when you’re home alone.  

Caught Red Handed

This person did not have a creepy encounter on a door cam but rather an embarrassing one. When he housesat for his parents, he decided to get his party on, and while taking out the trash, he walked past the camera in only his boxers and lost his phone in the trashcan. 

The following day his mother texted him a video of everything – his phone falling into the trash by accident and his efforts trying to retrieve it, all of that in just his boxers. She then sent the video to everyone they knew! She probably figured it was only fair to spread the joy! 

Free Gnomes

It is more expected that people steal your belongings from your yard rather than give you free things. Well, aside from littering or illegal dumping. So, this person got an odd but cute surprise when they saw a gnome that was obviously not theirs in their yard. 

They saw a woman who was infamous for her love of the creatures drop off free gnomes in unsuspecting people’s yards for some unknown reason. Maybe she was preparing for some epic reveal or video on how her neighborhood was filled with cute gnomes that were all her favorite! 

Mezuzah 

If you don’t know what a Mezuzah is, it is a piece of parchment paper, common among Jews, that is usually placed in a decorative case and contains scriptures from the Torah. The word means doorpost in Hebrew and is often put on the doors of Jewish homes. 

When this couple moved in, they saw a Mezuzah on their door but decided to leave it. They later noticed that an elderly man came to the door once a year, touched the paper, and left. Maybe it was just a kind blessing he came and gave the house. 

Inception 

The event caught on this person’s door cam is one of the funniest we’ve ever heard. A woman had a door camera installed for security since she lived alone. The device she got would send her a notification when someone was outside, and it did precisely that one morning. 

It was during the dark, early hours, so she couldn’t make out exactly who it was. Who could blame a lady who isn’t tech savvy when she doesn’t realize the dark figure on the footage is actually her showing her barking dog that no one was outside? The poor woman must have been embarrassed. 

Racoon City 

While this one did not come from a door cam, it was still a camera affixed to someone’s porch. They reviewed strange footage featuring some furry friends having an odd meeting on their porch as they stared at the person’s front door for a long time. 

It’s not that creepy, although if 12 raccoons were staring at our door, we’d be a bit uncomfortable too. Who knows, maybe they were just being kind to the homeowner by offering free security. Or maybe, they were on a stakeout!

Happy 4th of July

The fourth of July is usually a time for citizens of the United States to celebrate and have a big party. Usually, there are fireworks, friends and family over, and of course, a few drinks to make the day even more fun. But you should never have as much fun as this person did. 

Now we’re not so sure that walking around on all fours in someone else’s backyard and then vomiting unchewed candy in their driveway can be classified as fun. We just hope that didn’t ruin Skittles for you as it did for us!

Good Ending

If you are someone who gets scared easily, you know how hard it is to ‘unlearn’ the reflex to jump at every little noise your house makes. However, sometimes you simply get a feeling that something is not quite right.

This mom and her special needs child were snuggling on the couch when they heard some rustling, and when she looked at their door cam, she realized someone was stealing the bike. Luckily, they reported the incident immediately, and the police helped them find it. Who steals from a kid?

Early Visit

No one wants to be woken up by someone setting off their door cam at 3:00 AM. Especially if it is someone super creepy looking, speaking in nonsensical sentences, or having a conversation with someone that is not you or anyone else for that matter. 

We hope this person was sleepwalking and not under the influence of some substances. That would make us feel better about the eerie words they said. Whoever this Tommy was, they must have really done a number on this guy.

Daredevil 

Dogs are great at picking up weird noises, although a few usually turn out to be false alarms or just other dogs walking by. Luckily, this one made enough noise for their owner also to be alarmed and check the front door’s door cam. 

A young guy was at their door trying to unlock it with a key he found close to their home, probably thinking it was the key to the front entrance. But this is odd since it was in broad daylight with their cars in the driveway. What was he thinking?

Cameras are Good

This person used to think it was weird to have security cameras in and around homes. But to his surprise, he learned they were truly beneficial when they scared off a person who seemed to have some sinister ideas in mind. 

We would feel just as creeped out if we saw someone in our yard menacingly holding a baseball bat. So, as expected, the family all went out to ask the guy what he was doing, but he fled. If you were skeptical about cameras before, we bet you’re reconsidering them now.

Peekaboo

Peeping is a crime and a very serious one at that. This person was smart enough to install a smart camera in their bedroom window. One day, they got a notification that some movement was picked up near the camera. 

A live stream of someone trying to peek into your room is beyond gross and horrifying. We cannot help but wonder what this person did next after watching a random guy watch them. We hope they called the police and that the person never returned. 

HOA

There shouldn’t be a lot of reasons for six people to gather outside your house and whisper amongst themselves. But when it happens, you can only hope it was for innocuous reasons rather than something malicious or eerie. The odds are, however, rarely that good.

This person’s girlfriend seemed to think it was the HOA – a group of people in charge of an estate or gated community – who were having a discussion about their home and the others in the neighborhood. Maybe it was HOA, or maybe it was some weird spell being cast!

Creepy Ex

When you break up with someone, you can always count on the possibility of seeing the other person’s true nature during the conversation or the next few moments after you break up. We are not talking about tears or pleas, things like this. 

Jealousy or rage often pops up after a breakup or divorce, and that sometimes makes people do weird things, like stalking their house and peeping through the windows. This person should maybe get a restraining order against their ex and definitely lock their doors.

Angry Mom

When it comes to arguments, it’s never wise to involve anyone’s mother, especially not your own. It’s even worse when you ask them to stand up for you when you are a grown adult of 37 years old in a situation where you are clearly wrong. 

This guy did the right thing by threatening to call the police if he ever heard his neighbor hurt their girlfriend again. The neighbor then chose to tell a ‘higher power’; his mom. The woman then went over to kick his butt. Did she know why this guy threatened her son?

Littering

We would get angry if someone left their trash on our property too, but this story is something to be more confused than angry about. A random guy left old monitors and TVs at people’s homes and somehow never got caught. 

And all that while wearing a TV on his head!  We are not sure if this all happened in one day or over the course of a few days, but either way, it still is impressive and very odd. Thanks, but no thanks, TV man!

Not Ice Cream 

Do you remember in the old days how you would wait eagerly on a Sunday afternoon to hear the familiar ice cream truck jingle and run to catch it and get some tasty ice cream? Yeah, we really had it good. 

But it is less nostalgic and more creepy when you hear the song and excitedly run to the window only to see a regular passenger vehicle just slowly diving up and down your street, playing the music, but no ice cream in sight. What were they planning?

Oblivion is Your Friend

It seems that being oblivious was a good thing for these two. They were driving out of their driveway and completely missed someone trying to cause some sort of trouble for them. The creep was hiding right behind their car!

Would you prefer not knowing someone was trying to hurt you and finding out a few days later like these guys, or would you want to know and possibly fight them off there and then? Whatever the case, we’re glad they’re okay.

Unwelcome Lion

If you live close to a nature reserve, or some area with wild animals such as coyotes, mountain lions, or bears, you know that there is always a chance you can encounter them. Often, however, you never think it will really happen. 

These people probably never thought they would have an encounter with a wild mountain lion, but when they reviewed some footage, it proved them wrong! We don’t know about you, but that would be the end of late-night plans for us.

Accidental Witness 

The last thing you want to see on your door cam is someone getting seriously hurt because of someone else’s ill intentions. That is exactly what this person might have seen, and we would be just as scared if we were in their shoes.

This person just happened to be in perfect view of our guy’s door cam when they shot at someone. There is no confirmation on whether he missed or got the person, but it is scary that it happened pretty much at this person’s front door. 

Who Goes There?

This story is not only creepy because someone entered this person’s home, petted their dog, and left for no reason. It is also quite puzzling since they couldn’t find any evidence that the person was outside their property at all! 

They could only see the intruder from their indoor security camera coming in to pet their dog. How strange! We are glad they changed locks and added more security immediately because we are sure no one would sleep that night had they not done that.

Hot Speeds

This person caught something unusual on his camera’s footage. The power cable just across his street spontaneously burst into flames for a moment. You would think that it would burn for quite a while since it’s electricity, but that was not the case. 

Surely that is odd to anyone unless someone can explain how an insulated cable can just randomly burst into flames. Looks like it’s not just people who get caught on camera doing weird things. Thank goodness it did not start any wildfires or burn someone’s house down. 

Faulty Tech

There are a lot of spooky coincidences that can happen due to faulty tech. You might have a fright if your radio turns on and off at random times or the lights flicker, and of course, your doorbell is no exception. 

When your doorbell rings and you don’t have a way of proving that something triggered it, it starts to veer too closely to creepy horror movie vibes. For example, this person experienced that, and even after changing their device’s settings, the problem still persisted for weeks!

Can I Borrow Some Sugar?

You’ve probably seen this in movies. A kindly neighbor comes over and shyly asks for some sugar since they were baking some yummy cookies but unexpectedly ran out in the process. They promise to share a few if you can spare some. 

But it doesn’t often happen that a stranger walks up to your home to ask for some gasoline. Sure, they might have been desperate and stranded and started asking random people, but it’s still odd since they just walked off with no explanation. 

Twin Dog

There would be little to no alarm if you saw your dog on your door cam. But when you are convinced it is your dog on the door only to discover that it’s actually in the house and not outside, it gets weird.

Of course, this could be the result of a bizarre coincidence, but it is so creepy when you’re so sure that it’s your pet only for it to be a random dog on your doorstep. What are the chances of an almost identical dog showing up at your home? 

Unnoticed

You would think if a chase for a drunken man in just his underwear ended up in your yard, the police would notify you of any damages they saw, even if it is not immediately. Unfortunately, they didn’t do that for this guy. 

They didn’t even wake up to all the commotion that was undoubtedly caused by the drunk person yelling at the police in their front yard. They were probably lucky that they didn’t and that they had security cameras to prove the damages and claim them. 

Fired Contractor 

Letting go of someone that has worked inside your home is always a weird situation. If you let them go because they were not doing a good job or they were slow, it is definitely not going to be a positive exchange. 

This single mom with two kids had all the reason to be terrified when she noticed the contractor they let go came around their home one early morning. Why do these things always happen at dawn? Luckily, he didn’t get into the house — also, shame on the police for being too slow. 

Paranormal Activity 

If you don’t believe in the paranormal, that is completely okay, but even if you don’t, you have to admit that this is rather odd. If you saw things in your home moving without explanation, surely you would be freaked out too. 

We would also convince ourselves that it was just the wind moving the mailbox flag, but the paper towel unrolling itself for several seconds that’s just too bizarre not to ignore. We would move and let the next owners deal with the ghost! 

Sleep Walking

This person was clever to think of placing their door cam inside their bedroom to investigate why they had such poor sleep quality. However, we would argue that sometimes, it is better not to know why than to see this. 

Sleepwalking is, of course, more than actually just walking in your sleep. It could be anything that resembles any kind of movement you do while you’re awake. Including eerily staring at the camera, mumbling incoherencies, and then putting it back in the same spot it was. 

Creepy Kid

When you move into a new home in a new area, you have to get used to a lot. From the traffic on your street, the noisy neighbors, and in some cases, it seems like you need to get used to some creepy kids. 

These people only checked their door cam a while after receiving a notification of movement. They saw a kid in a winter jacket just staring at their door for a few minutes and walking off. Let’s hope the kid was really just staring at the dinosaur. 

Wrong Way

We’re sure this has happened to some people. Have you ever tried to open a car only to realize after struggling with it that it wasn’t yours but just happened to look like it? Or maybe you tried to open your neighbor’s mailbox in the lobby of your apartment instead of your own. 

But this woman took it to the next level, thanks to careless indulging. She walked the opposite way from the club she was partying at and mistook someone else’s home for hers! She tried to open a stranger’s door and even started threatening the occupants when they did not open. How embarrassing. 

High Walls

Good fences make for excellent security. These people had the perfect walls to keep a thief out. Can you imagine not knowing that someone tried to break into your home and only find out because you were helping your neighbor?

These people were helping their neighbors out by showing them some footage from the night before when someone broke into their home. In the process, they found out they were actually the first target! Let’s hope the thieves didn’t come back to finish the job.

Clown Costume

Many people have a fear of clowns, and if this event happened on any other night, it would be a hundred times more creepy. Luckily, it was Halloween, which was definitely a great explanation for why there was a clown at this person’s door. 

This poor person also suffers from a fear of clowns, and a kid, all alone, dressed up as a clown, came up to trick or treat, and deliberately made creepy gestures and movements close to the camera. We wonder if they got any candy after these shenanigans.

Not So Sneaky 

It is weird seeing someone trying to sneak up on your house to commit some sort of crime on your cameras. For example, this person saw a stranger sneaking around their house, probably scoping it out, until he saw the camera. 

Luckily they bolted when they saw the camera and decided to try their luck at the neighbor’s house. Let’s hope he was just trying to scratch an itch and not hurt these people. This person had unfortunately suffered a theft at the time too. Luck was clearly not on their side. 

Quick Thinking

You never expect to see someone from the side of the street single out your house and approach it to creep you out, but that’s what happened to this lady. Fortunately, thanks to her online job, she was awake when this happened. 

She managed to think quickly on her feet and woke her dog up to scare the man away. The odd thing is that he chose to scratch the door. Was he intoxicated, weird, or trying to trick the woman into thinking it was an animal that needed help? 

Never Leave Your Gate Open 

No matter what, never leave your gate open. Luckily for this person, when they left their gate open to wait on their mother, it was only a Jehovah’s witness who approached their door with a pamphlet and not someone with ill intentions. 

You would expect people to have the decency not to come up to your door when you have a gate that is far away, slightly open. But these people saw an opportunity to spread the word. Sadly for them, they were met with two angry dogs that scared them off. 

Selective Hearing

When salespeople approach your door, you would not expect them to bang loudly on your door. You would think they would have a friendly knock and understand when they are told no. But this company had a more aggressive approach. 

We would immediately get annoyed if someone knocked that loudly on our door and did not hear us when we declined their services. Since this guy kept banging on the door, they were threatened with police action, and only then did they decide to listen.

Cute Bears

Many people have the misconception that bears are cute, cuddly, and harmless. But if you live in an area that is known to have wild bears roaming around occasionally, you know how scary they actually are. And like any animal mother, their mothers are the most dangerous.

Luckily these people had some dogs to scare the bear and her cubs away. However, it also could have gone the other way, where the mother bear could have attacked the dogs or tried to come into the house. Better get some extra protection on those doors!