Advice needed Can an old analog intercom short-circuit and ring the wrong flat? (we had a weird visitor last night)
So for background. Me and my partner, around 30, live in a small apartment complex (circa 6 apartments) in the middle of your typical small town. Europe, very safe area, not a hotspot for drug use or anything, quite the opposite. The analog intercom/ring/doorbell (really not sure of the terminology here, sorry) is very old, something like this .
Yesterday, between 22:00 and 23:30, someone rang our doorbell three times. What happened always was:
The person ringing.
We pick up the ring phone, asking "Hey, hello! Who's there?"
No one says anything on the other side, but keeps ringing.
Ringing continues for three or four minutes, continuously, without stopping.
Ringing stops.
Nothing for 15 - 30 minutes. Then AGAIN.
First time we thought it was an accident. Second time we walked through the hall of the first floor of the apartment complex to look out of the window there, but before we got there the person was gone. All this time we tried communicating through the ring phone, but nothing.
Eventually the third time I immidiately dashed through the hallway while my partner was still asking who is there. I looked out of the window and saw the woman.
I would write it off without this incident, but it just gave me creeps. I leaned over to see properly at the main doorway and suddenly I see a girl, or woman, maybe a bit younger than us, but seemed adult - ish (definitely not a kid playing the "doorbell game" unless the age range for that changed since my time) She was walking away. I yell affer her, very loudly, she had to hear it:
"Hey! Do you need something?"
Nothing. At this point my boyfriend gets there and yells even something like:
"Cmon, stop, we get playing around one time, but this is too much!" to which I yelled, at that point genuiny frightened:
"If you need something from us just tell us!"
But the girl didnt turn around, didn't speed up, didn't even flinch, genuinely ZERO reaction. She just kept, very slowly, very calmly walking through the street until she dissapeared behind the corner.
Now, you might think I am freaking out a little bit, but the last, third ring was what was IT for me. I get teens playing around, but the woman didn't even move slower or faster. I immidiately thought "drunk" so even if I saw her from just from behind I immidiately looked for any sign of like, wobblines, but no. It was like it was a very measured, deliberate pace.
We have paper thin walls so if there would be other apartment ringbells ringing we would've known. So it was just us. I asked my neighbor today, just to ve sure, who said she had no one ring her, but suggested that because this is a really old building, maybe the person tried to ring someone else and there was a short circuit and it connected them to our apartment by accident. Its true those are old doorbells.
But do you think that is a plausible explanation?
There is one more thing but really it just makes this even weirder and I don't wanna seem like I am reaching. Several weeks ago, I woke up my partner in the middle of the night at like 1am, claiming I heard a dorbell and it woke me up. My partner said he heard no ringing, we agreed it was probably in my dreams, and we both went to sleep. If that's true, that means there was one more strange ringbell incident in our apartment complex and I am wondering if this is more "ask the landlord for a new doorbell system and stop freaking out" kind of issue or should I start, like, asking around if anyone has similar experiences and try to actually look into it deeper? I don't wanna freak out for no reason, I tend to be a little bit like that. I tried asking AI, where at some point it claimed it's likely the ringbell really short circuited, but then some sources say there is a very low probability of that happening, but hard to say without me understanding how those ringbells really work.
End even if, like, why would anyone even behave that way towards someones apartment anyway, even if she wasn't ringing us? I think the answer is "kids" or "tweakers" but it just, he whole situation in general made me so anxious I need some reassurance it's really JUST shorted doorbell or tweakers or kids.
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u/RosemaryThorn 10d ago
Maybe the girl is deaf or had earbuds in and just happened to be walking through your neighborhood.
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u/wermmin 10d ago
I might have used the wrong term, I didn't mean street, I meant one of those small "paths" that lead to various apartment complexes. They're one way and end at the apartment comples. when I say we caught her walking away, by that I mean she was literally meter under me just three steps away from our doorbell trying to leave our front porch trying to walk away from the apartment complex by that path.
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u/MmeGenevieve 9d ago
Many people with these sort of entries just ring people in without checking. The lady clearly wanted to get into the building without alerting the person(s) she was wanting to visit. She may have been planning to surprise an ex boyfriend or cheating spouse, she may have wanted to check for unlocked doors or unattended laundry once inside. Maybe she wanted a warm place to sleep, a private place to relieve herself or to use drugs. She could have been at the wrong building altogether.
You did exactly the right thing.
Edit: grammer.
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u/IhopeitaketheL 10d ago
I have a ring camera and there’s a community section where people post footage and ask questions to their neighbors, and pretty often I see incidents that are somewhat similar. Someone is confused, ringing a doorbell late at night. Sometimes they even try to open the door to the house. Often times they look really disoriented. I don’t live in a bad area, either. My guess is that there is some kind of mental issue happening. Psychosis, schizophrenia, severe PTSD. If they didn’t seem intoxicated they also may have just thought they came across the home of a friend or family member.
Do you have doorbell cameras?
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u/Voodoodriver 10d ago
It’s fairly common movie thing to walk up to an intercom and buzz all the apartments at once.
Somebody buzzes the person in without checking.
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u/anothersip 10d ago
I have a feeling that the intercom/doorbell system has just been wired incorrectly, or is so old that it's failing and shorting. Or possibly even had some water ingress that's short-circuiting the wired contacts between apartments' buzzers and their respective apartments. Age/oxidation can also affect electronics in many strange ways. I'm sure you've seen those creepy videos of old battery-powered toys just "coming to life" on their own; similar concept.
I would ask the building/flat manager if they've been working on the doorbell/intercom system at all lately, and advise them of what's been going on. They'll want to know if their system is malfunctioning, wired up incorrectly, or if their tenants are being harrassed. Those possibilities are all real liabilities for them.
Barring that being the issue... They would want to know about their residents being harrassed, as well. So, let them know what you saw when this all happened.
Keep documenting anything strange that happens. If you can capture it on video, that would be ideal. There are inexpensive indoor security cameras you can get, as well. That peace-of-mind can be nice to at least confirm the times/dates of when this seems to be happening.
Hope you're able to figure it out.
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u/HighColdDesert 10d ago
I've heard of people sleepwalking who are hard to wake up. Maybe she's a neighbor and she was sleepwalking?
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u/Competitive-War-1143 10d ago edited 1d ago
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u/OCDivagirl 10d ago
Def would creep me out too but there might be a logical explanation! First of all, was the third time the same multiple ring with no answer pattern? Or was it one or two rings that time? I’m wondering if the first time it could have just been kids that you didn’t see and the third time was unrelated? Though that doesn’t explain why she didn’t answer you exactly…I suppose if it was the first time she rang the bell then maybe she was freaked out by your dramatic response and thought you were overreacting and tried to just ignore you in order to avoid conflict? Just imagining as a young woman myself, if I came up and rang an apartment doorbell maybe to sell something or bc I had the wrong appt or something, if someone ran out yelling at me and I HAD NOT been ringing the doorbell prior, I would have been like, “what is wrong with this guy?!” and I might have thought you were sort of unhinged.
The other scenario I can think of is that it was someone who got the wrong apartment…or the cross wiring for a diff apartment…and the woman was deaf/HOH. If she was visiting a friend who was expecting her, they would know she couldn’t hear so there would be no reason they would talk to her through the intercom, and she may have genuinely not heard you yelling. Similarly maybe she can hear but does not speak your language so was not sure how to respond.
Maybe ask around your building if anyone was expecting a visitor who is deaf/hoh or speaks a different language?
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u/happyhappytacotimesb 10d ago
Is there a Facebook group for your small town? If you get a picture or video of her you could post and ask? But honestly I would definitely ask the landlord/bring up this incident and the fear it created. Maybe they’ll consider upgrading the system.
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u/Previous-Foot-8905 9d ago
It seems like she may have buzzed through to your apartment by accident as she had the wrong apartment number (or you're correct and this could be a wiring issue) but as for the way she was behaving, it seems to me like she was there to engage in some sort of nefarious activity and wanted to look as inconspicuous as possible, which is why she didn't react when you attempted to speak to her. I suspect that she was probably there to collect drugs from someone, but it could be anything suspicious, really. It's also possible that she wanted to get into the building by any means possible (likely to engage in some sort of nefarious activity is my prevailing theory), and was hoping that you would just buzz her in and if that's the case, she probably did this to a few people in your apartment building hoping to get let in, but you did say that you didn't hear any other doorbells, so maybe it was just you. Either way, I hope this doesn't happen again, as I imagine that this would have freaked you out. I got the creeps from reading it.
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u/bumbling_womble 10d ago
Yeah this would drive me mad too. Absolutely get the building and landlord involved, community is your first line of defence in a complex. Tech is second. Third is police unless it escalates but a report is always good to put in, as the other commentor stated she may be a victim. I don't agree however as it's so targeted, I would start combing through people in your past, start with who would know your address. This is why no one knows where I live.
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u/wermmin 10d ago
We've been thinking so hard and the only idea I had is that I worked as a teachers aide for two years like seven years ago, in this area, the kids I taught back then realistically would be around that age...like 23 at this point... I taught eight grade...but that just seems bonkers, I didn't have a single conflict with any student and I doubt they remember me at all.
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u/bumbling_womble 9d ago
Oooh yeah that's definitely possible. She may have admired you, think you're a safe person or maybe even be trying to just communicate but is too unwell or high.
I hope you can move soon, it's a lot to deal with
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u/GarlicMotor 10d ago
First of all, try ringing the apartment from the outside and have your partner answer it - what if intercom is broken and the person ringing didn't hear you say "hey"?
Could it be that the doorbell is short-circuiting and ringing randomly? In this case the woman walking away was a random woman, so she didn't react to you yelling for her.
Is your doorbell connected to electricity or are there batteries? My doorbell started ringing randomly but quite frequently when the battery was low.