As most of you know I have been working on this old house and being pretty happy about it. But I was not prepared when I discovered someone had invaded the privacy of my home. I was shocked and scared to learn that someone had been in my house and had hid in the attic while I was at home. The only thing taken was some medication, but they also stole my peace of mind. I was content and happy, in my home. I was job searching and moving forward, trying to move past the loss of my mom, and suddenly I could not move at all. I was frozen by fear trying to figure out how this or these people got into my home and would they come again. The police did not reassure me. Thus new locks on windows and doors, became a top priority. Even with new locks I would block doors or jam a chair underneath a door handle to stop entry. I covered windows to keep prying eyes out and my heart raced and body shook, as I lay in bed at night listening to the sounds in and out of my home. Thus they stole my restful sleep. I discovered I was losing gas from my car. Each week when it was topped off in filling which should have been less then ten dollars turned out to be almost twenty dollars. I left outside lights on and checked my car before going to bed and then during the night to no avail. A locking steering wheel bar and locking gas cap stopped that loss. But it was a loss that stole my faith in my fellow man. It has been almost a month since that discovery day and once again I am moving forward more careful with the knowledge that we are living in a new era where others no longer respect older people and that it is important to keep watch as we go about our daily lives. Keep your doors and windows locked day and night, and be prepared to prevent the loss of your freedom and your peace of mind, by knowing someone may be watching as you come and go. Most important is don't let fear of knowing keep you rooted in one spot. If you notice something odd report it to the police. Tell your neighbors so they can be on alert as well. Safe guard your home and enjoy your retirement and live a life of leisure.
This is a scary story. I cannot imagine an intruder inside our house. It would surely scare us because intruders here enter the house not only to steal but also to kill. In our village, there were so many incidents of break-ins some years back that records would show injuries inflicted on the home owner and one owner was even killed. Surely, you cannot have peace of mind especially if you are living alone in your home. That is another reason why we have 2 housemaids - they take care of our 3 dogs and at the same time they man the house when my husband and I are away.
My God Sandy, what a shocking time you've had lately..I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you. You're right, people, particularly if they've lived in a safe place for a long time, do tend to get complacent, and feel we're safe in our own homes. Sadly , today regardless of how good or bad an area is we are all potential victims of crime, so the best thing is to keep yourself as security conscious as possible. You're bound to be in shock now...I know that feeling having been burgled myself some years ago, and it took me a long time to get over it, and I wanted to move immediately to anywhere else..however I live in one of the safest places in the UK, so I had to accept it was just one of those things, and probably unlikely to occur again..and more likely if I moved elsewhere, so I stayed put, and just put as you have, a lot of extra security in place. You're going to feel unsettled for a while, that's natural, but try not to let it rule your life...these people are scum, and you mustn't allow them to adversely affect your psyche. Take good care of yourself..
So very sorry to hear this Sandy - Holly has said it, don't let this incident rule your life, although by your post I doubt it will, you just need time Sincere good wishes to you for peace of mind and happiness in your future
That is scary. How did this intruder get out of the attic? Did you call the police? I don't think I would ever live in a house alone again. I had nasty neighbors and they were the ones I feared.
Frightening, to say the least. Our home is always thought of as sacrosanct, inviolable, we hope. Nonetheless, during our second winter sojourn here to the desert, forced entry was made into our old farmhouse in Missouri. Much of my wife's collection of antique glassware, as well as our computer, was dashed to the floor. My small safe, down in the sunporch, was either unfound, or ignored. It contained many firearms. There was broken glass everywhere. The door of the microwave oven had been manually rent nearly off the hinges. The bathtub in the unused bathroom, walled closed by temporary means, contained feces deposited there. We were alerted to this devastation by a neighbor, who had determined the back door had been broken open. Other neighbors, ostensibly outraged by this intrusion of privacy, cleaned up the extreme mess, in our absence, 2000 miles away. Whether their intent was completely honorable is immaterial. We trusted them. Upon our return from AZ, we imagined that a neighbor nearby, upset at my refusal to sell an adjacent parcel of land to him, (he was preparing to move away), had paid others to perpetrate the devastation. We had, by then, and most fortunately, a buyer for the property who had already become owner of a major portion, who was unconcerned about the breach of security. Strange as it may seem, as far as we could determine, absolutely NOTHING had been stolen! The main effort was driven towards breaking up household goods. We surmised that the perpetrator was fully aware that ":Breaking and Entering" was far less criminally punishable than Breaking and Burglarizing. Frank
How horrible Frank. Can't even imagine finding that. It certainly sounds like it could have been that sick person bent on a revenge.
I can surely imagine how unsettling it would be to find that someone has been hiding in your home while you were there, which would be far worse than having someone break into your house while you away.
That is terrible @Sandy Wood I can only imagine how I would feel if that happened to me. I remember one time many years ago I arrived home from work to find someone had been in my apartment. It was an eerie and unsettling feeling. The police came and dusted for prints, as I mentioned this was quite some time ago. It turns out the culprits were strongly suspected to be children because the only thing that was determined to be missing was candy, which had been wrapped for Christmas, so I can imagine how violated you must feel.
Thank you so much for all your supportive comments. Yes, I was in shock and in a sort of panic as mentioned to figure out someone was in my home while I was there was very scary, and to have them come back one night and try to get in the backdoor while I was home was worse as in the fact they did not care that I was home. So my home is now locked down and I feel sad needing to do this. I discovered this morning how they had managed to gain entry to my car which was locked. They slit the rubber seal that holds the window in place. I had opened the door and bumped the window and it wobbled. Upon closer inspection I noticed the rubber going toward the front of car was sliced almost to the V section and this makes the window unstable. Since I have been running the air conditioner lately I had not had the window down and had not noticed the window being loose. Now I have more damage to repair. I was talking to someone today who said it sounded more like revenge since the only thing taken was meds and they just played with other things, but took time to put my toothbrush in something very horrible and moved things, broke nothing, only other then my peace and quiet. I still do not know who did it, but I hope they are done with me.
OMG! Sandy, I know how you feel, almost. Just this past week, in my backyard one day I heard what was like cement on cement scrape. I was cooking and the kitchen door of our apt. leads to our tiny backyard. We finished eating, I went outside and saw my heaviest potted plant moved a full feet. It shook me up for we have a wall separating us from the outside. It happened on a Sat. when the working people were not there who have a parking lot right on the other side of my backyard wall then the business people's warehouse appears. It's a weird feeling that someone uninvited was there and let you know they were there. We lock our back door all the time now. The Landlord put a thick chicken wire on our windows that face our backyard to guard us and I felt secure. Now we are more careful, looking out the window before we go out to the backyard, the funny thing is they must be watching and waiting until the business people leave for the weekend to invade our backyard...premeditated attack. I sprinkled salt, ilto chase away evil and to remove evil from the backyard. I Prayed for protection and safety for our home and for my family. I was recently told about Saint Joseph, who can bring you financial gain. Saint Michael protects from everything. God help & bless us all and protect us all, thank you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Even if I pray I stay alert.
I feel fortunate to live in a place that is relatively safe. Although even in Maine, it may not be a good idea, if I wonder whether or not I locked the door before going to bed, I am not overly concerned about it, although we generally do. We don't lock our doors during the day, or while we're up. There have been a couple of home invasions here over the past ten years, both by people looking for abusable medications. Mostly, that sort of thing doesn't happen in northern Maine. There is too great of a likelihood that the homeowners have a gun, I think.
A while back my neighbor was in the hospital and the doctors told family members it was a matter of time before she passes to call in the family. This was the eve of Thanksgiving. I was cooking a big turkey, and noticed young teens on her patio thinking that the son and family came down from Georgia. Then hearing loud talk and crashing window, I called the one son who lives in town. Asking him if his brother made it in from Georgia, because there are kids on your mother's porch. He asked me if one of the kids was a girl, and told him yes. He said, I'll handle this. I'm fussing around with side dishes, when getting a call from the police. They asked me all kinds of questions and told them min. by min. what was going on. I can see her whole side of patio from my kitchen window. The dispatch gal said, the police would be out, and told her, there already here. We had SWAT, K-9 unit, police. out here. They were all arrested, but the sad fact the girl that was in on it was my neighbor's grand-niece. They stoled her jewelry, still can't find it, drank her liquor, broke window, heated food in her microwave. Popcorn all over the place. My neighbor is fine and jokes with me, HA they didn't find my Colt 45.
@Ken Anderson No news to you, I realize, but others need to be aware that everyday citizens in possession of firearms are a proven deterrent to active criminals, even though the anti-gun crowd harps constantly claiming having a gun poses far greater danger to the armed than being not armed at all. By their thinking, those facing grave danger should be prepared to use whatever hunk is at hand against a gun-wielding assailant. All the while, those making these claims are surrounded by armed guards......