A Dread Of The Coming Dark, and of 'The Knocker'

Charlotte Observer ^ | March 14, 2010 | Elizabeth Leland

[FreeManWhoCan]

Five elderly women in rural Rutherfordton sleep uneasily, waiting for mysterious taps.

One woman has written on a calendar each time she heard knocking at night. Sheriff's officers have found nothing.

RUTHERFORDTON On a dirt road, between two pastures in a picturesque corner of the county, five widows say they are being terrorized by a man they know only as "The Knocker...................."

[Hot Tabasco]

Don’t ask ‘who’s there?’ just shoot through the door and ask questions later.

I had to laugh at one of the comments left following the story. He worried about the next Jehovah Witness to enter the neighborhood..........LOL!

[caveat emptor]

He was pecking on an aluminum ladder? Man, that must have given him a headache!

I've seen this species do similar things a few times before, and it's always with aluminum - gutters, downspouts, flashing.

[arthurus]

They are big on downspouts around here.

[depenzz]

“This guy would go from being ‘The Knocker’ to being ‘The
Runner’”

Or ‘The Shitter’

[Nepeta]

Birds aren’t tapping on downspouts in the middle of the night, or going into basements and tapping on floors.

[arthurus]

No, the jays are daytime things. At night in cold weather we get raccoons up in the shell of the bathtub when there is hot water in it topside. It scared the wife pretty badly the first time.

[Nepeta]

No, the jays are daytime things. At night in cold weather we get raccoons up in the shell of the bathtub when there is hot water in it topside. It scared the wife pretty badly the first time.

Critters can generate some scary sounds--but typically, they are erratic, and with a little reflection, they don't really sound like people. Raccoons are the cause of many scares. I was amazed to see one climb right up a neighbor's metal downspout one dark night--I would have thought it was too slippery.