The doorbell surveillance business is booming. It’s now expected that their sales will reach $1.4 billion by 2023, up from $500 million last year.
Once the doorbell camera is installed, the homeowner has video access to their front porch from any location with Wi-Fi. If you believe the Ring ads on TV, you can also scare off unwanted strangers and burglars by yelling at them through your app. But they're a controversial product. Data privacy experts criticize the idea, and researchers are not convinced they’re really making us any safer. Or just feeding on people’s fears.
We may not have the answers to these questions just yet, but we can at least take a look at some of the weirdest and creepiest things caught by these cameras. From a sleepwalking baby to an orange glow after a chemical plant explosion, and a stranger who comes to pet plants once in a while, some sightings that people saw on their doorbell cameras and shared in this Reddit thread are indeed chilling.
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I have a camera doorbell. Not a ring. The creepiest thing I ever saw was the night I had two cops come to my door. They stood outside the door talking to eachother about if I was home or not and who would r*pe me first.
I was at home at the time.
My dog alerted me by whining at the door, and I checked the DB cam. I listened to them talking for about 10 seconds before I called 911. The operator told me they didn't have cops in my area and to stay away from the door, put at least one more locked door between me and them and to stay on the line and quiet until the real cops could get there.
I live around the block from the fire department so it was less than 2 minutes later when a fire tuck pulled up and the two fake cops ran off.
At 5ish in the morning, sun was just starting to come up and it's the middle of winter. My husband half asleep answers the doorbell on his phone in bed next to me. It's a toddler wearing nothing but a pj top and underwear. Husband says "hello?" Toddler says "can (my son's name) come out to play?" Husband still half asleep says "not right now maybe later" About 3 mins later husband suddenly sits up as the reality of the situation dawn's on him and he rushes out of the house to track down a wandering toddler walking barefoot in the streets in freezing weather. Turns out my son's toddler friend from daycare who's been to our house once for a playdate just walked straight out his front door undetected and memorized the route to our house. For me it was the possibility of his little journey ending very differently than it did in a number of terrifying scenarios that still haunts me.
My neighbor and I were out on a snowy night, when a toddler came out of a side street in only a diaper, we grabbed him called the cops who took him to the hospital for a checkup found his mommy so doped up she didn't know what the cops were trying to tell her. Needless to say she does not have her child anymore!
I bought my ring when they weren't available in the UK. I imported it from America. Next door got broken into and the guy doing it was clearly looking at my doorbell wondering if it was indeed a camera or just some fancy new doorbell. I recorded him using their doorbell with his t shirt over his finger (to stop his prints) and him breaking in by kicking through the bottom panels of the door. I showed the video to the police and they said aha yep we know him. I also caught him smoking a cigarette, throwing it on the ground and leaving that sweet DNA on the butt. police picked him up, used the cigarette and my videos as evidence and charged him. He got 3 years at her majesty's pleasure.
To find out more about the doorbell cameras and what experts think of them, we reached out to Daniel Markuson, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN. For those who’ve never come across a doorbell cam, it's a “smart home security device that lets you see the person approaching your home before they enter,” Markuson said.
He continued: “Some of the smart doorbells (like Amazon’s Ring) give you remote control of your doorway. The device is attached next to your front door and connects to your mobile device over Wi-Fi. When someone tries to visit you, you can see the person through the installed camera and allow or deny entry to your house remotely,” Markuson explained. NordVPN’s research shows that 16% of users own smart doorbells.
My little brother is a sleepwalker, this one time he snuck out of the house (while still asleep).
My sister said she heard someone talking just outside the door, went to look and saw my brother sat on the porch couch apparently having a conversation with my grandpa. She says he was telling my grandpa “I love you” and “I’m going to miss you.”
My dad got him back inside the house without waking him up and nobody gave much thought into what just had happened until a couple hours later when my uncle called telling us my grandpa had passed away while asleep.
My little brother says he doesn’t remember anything but we got it on video, we can’t hear what he’s saying too clearly but he was definitely talking to someone and he sure as heck said “I’m going to miss you” at least twice.
Really beautiful, and evidence that there's more to this existence than we know.
Not super creepy, but there is a guy that pets my plants sometimes.
Who's a good little plant? You are! Yes, you are, my little plant!
I watched a delivery driver get knuckle-deep in their own nose and then plant a gangly looking booger on one of our columns. That was the funniest.
The creepiest? Our neighborhood is a common target for porch pirates. Our neighbors got a bunch stolen off their porch a few years ago and we all put up cameras after that. You'd think porch pirates would recognize that many houses have cameras now, but you don't get to porch pirate status by being an intelligent person. I moved some cardboard boxes outside, intending to load them in the truck and take them to the town dump. I got busy and forgot I set them out on the steps. It got late. A porch pirate came along and picked up the main box that the rest were crushed into, thinking it was some expensive package. We were unaware anything was going on until the dogs went nuts, meaning someone was at the front door. I went out, took a quick peek, nothing. The dogs went nuts again a few minutes later. This time I went back outside armed (wouldn't be the first time I needed it). As I approached the front door, something ran across our front yard and through both sets of gardens. I then heard some crapbox rev up and putter-fart away. I checked security cam footage and witnessed that lowlife cram himself into the largest cardboard box to hide when I approached the door the first time.
It's cool though. I left some presents for the porch pirates last year and they haven't been back since. Package up about 10lbs of dog crap, old chicken broth (bonus if you let some chicken go rancid and toss that in too) and silver nitrate in a large ziplock bag. Glue it upside down in a cardboard box so that the flaps contact the bottom. Glue the bottom of the bag against the flaps of the box. When someone opens the box, it tears the seal open and makes one hell of a mess that they will never be able to clean up.
Maybe this is what's going to be in glitter bomb 5.0?!
Load More Replies...Kitty litter in Amazon Boxes (used kitty litter) ! I have done this two or three times, I assume it's not the same guy!
A woman walked down the street carrying a heavy shopping bag. A mugger ran by, grabbed the bag out of her hand and took off. The woman laughed and laughed. Someone asked what was so funny? She had been robbed after all. She said, she was just on her way to the laundromat and that was a bag of dirty cloth diapers.
Load More Replies...You went out armed? See this is what we in the UK don't understand. If someone steals something from our garden/porch we can confront them, cause they ain't going to be armed. Unless it's with a knife and then we just back away and call the police. I could never in all honesty go out with a gun to defend my post. Whatever I have that they wanna steal, it ain't worth taking their life for. Everyone has a family, everyone started life with potential. Everyone has a story to tell. And you would shoot them for stealing your post?
When I agree with you, you're forgetting one thing: this is 'Murica, so it's plausible that the porch pirate is also armed. In which case you'd better have something to protect yourself.
Load More Replies...I'm a little lost - what are porch pirates? Are they like garden gnomes?
I love the idea of leaving a crappy present for porch pirates, but I'd be more concerned of the repercussions. I can almost guarantee if I tried that in my neighborhood, they would come back and deface the house, car, smash a window etc. :(
Does anyone else find it a but fuçked up that they literally went to the door with a gun? I understand wanting to protect your mail, but shooting someone for it.
I'm don't think the homeowner knew until after the fact that it was only a porch pirate. ("Forgot I set them out on the steps", "it got late", "we were unaware", "the dogs went nuts", "someone was at the front door"). He didn't bring a gun the first time he checked the door; it was only after a second alert that he became concerned enough to bring a gun. He was likely concerned about an attempted break-in, which could be a life threatening situation.
Load More Replies...I'd think carefully before seriously booby-trapping a package like this because if you hurt someone, even a package thief, you might be criminally liable for causing their injuries.
When asked whether Markuson thinks that doorbell cameras are a good tool to maximize security at home, he said that they can help you feel physically safer, as you can see the people who pass by your house. “If a camera is connected to Wi-Fi, it can help you protect your house even if you are away from home.”
On the other hand, Markuson warned that as with all IoT devices, there are a lot of security and privacy risks associated with smart doorbell cameras. “A doorbell camera may be hacked, or a company that manufactures certain products may be unethical with its user data,” he said.
I have some flowerbeds out front and they've gotten vandalized, so I got camerasto cover them. I also live down the road from student housing so I get drunk kids stumbling through all the time.
Every semester around finals, various groups of kids come 'pay tribute to the fae for luck' by sitting around my jasmine bed that has a faerie house neighborhood in it. They praise the faeries, begging for luck, & leave tributes in the form of little snacks or small trinkets like bottle caps. It's hilarious & adorable.
Do a little remodelling, so there is a little table and maybe somewhere to sit/kneel/stand without damaging the flowerbeds and maybe a little sign that says 'Please be careful around the flowers'
Random guy comes to our door at 1 AM, looks into the Ring then puts something down on the door mat but doesn't ring the bell. About 15 minutes later, someone approaches the door quickly, takes it and runs off.
I saw two events in the morning and was like WTF. Seeemed super sketchy. Then my next door neighbor texted saying he got home super late, ordered food, and the delivery driver dropped it at our house instead of his.
Not really creepy but there’s a serial gnomer in my neighborhood being caught on doorbell cameras. She’s dropping off gnomes on the unsuspected and walks away.
Another problematic aspect of doorbell cameras is that they can be vulnerable to hacking. “First of all, it is harder to hack a device that is not connected to the internet. But if your doorbell is smart and connected to your home Wi-Fi, you should be more cautious,” Markuson said.
A previous owner of my house had installed a mezuzah on the door. My wife and I aren’t Jewish but we left it because.
About once a year in the early spring, a car will pull up in front of our house. An older man will get out, walk to the door, then Touch the mezuzah then get back in his car and leave.
It’s not the previous owner, but it may be the person who put it there.
I was drunk as f*ck watching my parents house when they were on vacation, woke up the next morning to a video my mom sent me, I was taking out the trash and dropped my phone in with the trash... I'm in my boxers trying to get my phone out of the trash can... my drunk a*s falls into the garbage can and I had a hell of a time getting myself out. I remember none of it. My mom proceeds to send that video to the rest of my family... and extend family.. and some family friends. Scary, no... but pretty hilarious
I live alone and my son recently installed a ring doorbell. About 5.30am I got a notification that a person was seen at my door. I watched the video and there was a really creepy person (was still dark) hanging around. I rang my son, he has the app to access the doorbell videos etc. Turns out it was me showing my dog there was no one outside.
It turns out that one of the most common issues associated with IoT devices is their security flaws. The cybersecurity expert said that researchers at Dojo, an IoT security company, have found that bad actors can intercept your doorbell by accessing the network it uses.
“As a result, anyone who’s hacked your device can monitor who enters or leaves your house and can even steal your Wi-Fi password. Moreover, they can trick you into letting in a stranger by showing you a video of someone you know. If your doorbell stores some of the videos, hackers could also steal them and use them for blackmail,” Markuson concluded.
Not a ring cam, just a porch cam. The creepiest thing I've seen? Racoons.... like 12 of them lined up on my porch staring at my front door for what seemed like a really long time...
My daughter woke me up really early one day, so we were settling in the couch to watch some TV. I hear a rustling on the porch and figure it's wind, but then feel weird and look at the cam on my phone.
There a guy on the porch taking her special needs bicycle!! He lifted it over the baby's wagon, and that was the sound I heard.
I jumped up and opened the door (it was early, pre-coffee, wasn't thinking very clearly yet). He was gone. We called the police to make a report, and they came out to see the clip. Then they said "Is it that bike right there?" Apparently, he dropped it at the end of our street when he heard our door open.
We felt dumb for not checking, but we're glad we got the bike back.
A chemical plant blew up a few miles from my house and you could hear the a distant explosion and see an orange glow on mine
Got an alert that someone was at the door and my dog barked, but no knock. I thought I heard something, so I checked the camera and a younger looking guy had walked up and tried to unlock my front door with what I guess was a key he found on the ground close to my house.
In broad daylight! With our cars in the driveway. What the actual f*ck.
My mom saw a guy wandering around her yard with a baseball bat in hand late at night. Her, my brother, and our Great Dane went out to ask him what the f*ck he thought he was doing. Guy immediately ran off.
Used to think security cameras at home were weird. Now I know they can give you a head start in case someone shady is about.
Not a ring doorbell, but a small camera in my bedroom window.
I caught a man watching me through the window in real time. My phone alerted me that there was movement outside my window, so I opened the live stream and watched the man watch me.
Have a security camera pointed at the back of the house toward my detached back garage....
The weirdest thing that still f*cks with me was late night on 4th of July. The noise of neighborhood fireworks kept the regular animals away, but my camera did pick up an individual hanging around the back of the house and neighbors back lawn. Definitely was a person....
....but they were walking on all fours like a goddamn spider. Not once did they go back to walking on their legs. They were gangly looking....lean and not pudgy. Also wearing a dark shirt and pants. Their face was always kept down.
This creeper was crawling all around the back and into the neighbor's lawns on all fours for like 10min before they f*cked off and left the area picked up by the security camera.
The next morning a pile of human sized sh*t plus a copious amount of vomit was found in the middle of my driveway at the back of the house.
There were whole un-chewed skittles in the vomit.
So yeah, creepiest thing my outdoor camera has picked up: gangly human crawling around the back driveway of my house on all fours while vomiting up skittles.
I want to know what drugs turn you into a skittle vomiting sh*t spider
My wife’s ex-husband in our backyard looking in the windows.
My neighbors mom looking to come "kick my a*s" while i was home. I didn't realize she was there until later bc i had headphones on
At the time i was 24 and he was 37 i think. He was all pissy because i told him next time i hear him beat his gf I'm calling the cops no matter how much she begs everyone not to
So he sent his mom over
Rewatching that video just gives creepy vibes knowing that i was home but oblivious
Not too creepy, but there was a man in my area for a time that would wear a jumpsuit and a TV on his head and he would randomly leave old TVs and monitors on people's porches. Dude hit up like 50 homes. Never caught.
Honda Civic riding back and forth slowly around our neighborhood playing ice cream truck music loudly. Hoping it was a stupid prank and not something more sinister.
Dude crouching behind my car while me and my mom got out, crept up right behind it and we didn't even notice, his face was covered, didn't see until a day or two later watching random clips.
It’s not actually a Ring doorbell (just a security cam), but we caught this mountain lion casing my car late one night.
6 people standing about 10 feet from my door and just staring at my house this past September.
They were there muttering to each other for almost 20 minutes before going to the next house on the row and muttering there too.
My girlfriend thinks they were the HOA, but I don't totally believe that.
I have a camera in the hallway inside the house facing the door. Some one with a motorcycle helmet opened the front door, pet my dog, and then left. Checking the front yard camera, there was no motorcycle or car in the driveway. We changed the locks and got a security system that night.
The power line across the street burst into flames for a moment. Not a transformer, but the cable itself. Maybe it's not that unusual but I've never seen anything like it.
A full grown man had a gun and shot someone, dont know if he missed or not, all I knew was I was scared.
Whats most scary is my ring doorbell went of several times in the middle of the night for no reason... I changed the setting to video only wake, instead of audio/video. It went on for about a month.
Not creepy, but funny We had this huge inflatable pool in the backyard, and it started loosing air. we looked around, and we found holes and claw marks. We do have a cat, but he's not that stupid. We eventually checked the ring footage and sure enough: an entire family of racoons playing in my yard.
This thread is about doorbell cameras but it's without any pictures (with BP IOS app)???
I agree. I have a ring doorbell and if I had a strange story to tell I would have the images to back it up.
Load More Replies...You have to be quite careful now in the UK on how you install ring doorbells and other surveillance equipment. A landmark case has recently made it possible for you to recieve a £100K fine for invading your neighbours privacy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58911296
This is not really new - just people not realising the law and putting up ring doorbells without thinking about what they can view and record. They would be better with traditional CCTV and making sure the cameras point at their property only. You can film and record but you need to make people a) aware you are and b) not store any footage or c) use it to watch the activity of your neighbours. If people object then you should really make some adjustments.
Load More Replies...Even creepier to think about is what the Ring doorbell company has recorded you doing. Oh, they’re watching you, alright!
Our cctv showed us just how much our neighbour dislikes us. We've had on going issues with the bloke for years but on one instance the camera caught him driving up our driveway, ramming a tumble dryer towards the garage. It must have caused some damage to his car - it did to the tarmac. We only put it out for the scrap man to collect. He then proceeded to dead head all his flowers and throw it on our grass. Strange man.
Further to @Pat Bond: Very true. Video and audio captured outside of your own property boundary is potentially in breach of personal data rights. Of course, as well as providing data to Amazon for free, which they sell on - potentially making everyone more vulnerable to burglary with a pieced together schedule of comings and goings. But also Ring is hackable.
I have a camera watching my cars in our communal parking. It captures more wildlife than anything else - regular visits from a fox, a blue tit and once a little wren looking for spiders round the camera. Funniest was strange man having a good look through the windows of my car - turned out to be neighbour's father who was visiting and he liked my car. I bought it because we had a spate of cars getting scratched by kids on scooters - thankfully I haven't had to use it to confront their parents to get them to pay for damage.
In school we learnt that during cold war there were silly rumours in America that there are wild bears walking freely on the streets of Russian towns and cities, and we were like "no way, no one could believe such bs!". Turns out there are bears, lions and racoons on American streets. I feel weird. We have birds, stray cats and dogs, squirrels in parks, and i saw a rat two or three times. Also - gunshots?!
Well, maybe in Alaska there are grizzly bears that walk through the streets and possibly a black bear walking in a street at night. They do like to raid bird feeders. A friend of mine had a black bear raid her bird feeder. As for Lions, maybe they meant mountain lions? Also known as Cougars or Pumas depending on where you are, they don't like to be seen, but are occasionally at night. I get lots of pictures of them on my trail cameras, but have only seen one in person once. Raccoons are pretty common around here and I see coyotes pretty often too.
Load More Replies...Had one looking at my mom's front porch because of disruptive relative. We also caught the local tweaker wandering around her front yard, using her garden hose to cool off just generally being creepy. Had to drive thirty minutes to her house several times that week to run him off and have the cops trespass him so he could be arrested later. He finally quit coming around but mom has dementia and knocked the camera down because she was "being watched". We finally got it back up where she can't see it.
I live on the same property as my parents and a niece and her family. One day I heard a noise outside and looked all around and couldn’t find anything, but then “person detected at gate” popped up. When I looked, I saw this guy just walking straight up the driveway. Called the cops, took about 10 minutes for 2 deputies to get here. Go to show one the video and the other starts walking around the houses and outbuildings. I’m zooming in on the guy and before I even hand it over, I realize it’s my niece’s husband. He changed shifts and totally threw me off. He was taking their garbage cans to the road. Sigh. I was embarrassed to the cops then laughed my butt off telling my parents.
Can you get these things with a Mace spray option? Asking for a friend.
I live in an apartment complex, and someone kept dumping their trash on my front porch and lawn. It was (mostly) liquid supplement bottles and other health food type stuff. It got so bad I had to get a camera for the front porch. Finally caught them, and turned the video into the front office. Still have no damn idea why they were doing it, why they were singling me out, and why the type of trash was so oddly specific.
I'm fascinated by this thing that there's no front gate, or perimeter wall, around these properties. I think the last time we had someone knock on our front door was like 1979. Since then we've had 6ft walls and gates... no more solicitors, JWs, beggars, petty thieves, etc. You basically have to seriously plan a military operation to get into a house here.
Not creepy, but funny We had this huge inflatable pool in the backyard, and it started loosing air. we looked around, and we found holes and claw marks. We do have a cat, but he's not that stupid. We eventually checked the ring footage and sure enough: an entire family of racoons playing in my yard.
This thread is about doorbell cameras but it's without any pictures (with BP IOS app)???
I agree. I have a ring doorbell and if I had a strange story to tell I would have the images to back it up.
Load More Replies...You have to be quite careful now in the UK on how you install ring doorbells and other surveillance equipment. A landmark case has recently made it possible for you to recieve a £100K fine for invading your neighbours privacy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58911296
This is not really new - just people not realising the law and putting up ring doorbells without thinking about what they can view and record. They would be better with traditional CCTV and making sure the cameras point at their property only. You can film and record but you need to make people a) aware you are and b) not store any footage or c) use it to watch the activity of your neighbours. If people object then you should really make some adjustments.
Load More Replies...Even creepier to think about is what the Ring doorbell company has recorded you doing. Oh, they’re watching you, alright!
Our cctv showed us just how much our neighbour dislikes us. We've had on going issues with the bloke for years but on one instance the camera caught him driving up our driveway, ramming a tumble dryer towards the garage. It must have caused some damage to his car - it did to the tarmac. We only put it out for the scrap man to collect. He then proceeded to dead head all his flowers and throw it on our grass. Strange man.
Further to @Pat Bond: Very true. Video and audio captured outside of your own property boundary is potentially in breach of personal data rights. Of course, as well as providing data to Amazon for free, which they sell on - potentially making everyone more vulnerable to burglary with a pieced together schedule of comings and goings. But also Ring is hackable.
I have a camera watching my cars in our communal parking. It captures more wildlife than anything else - regular visits from a fox, a blue tit and once a little wren looking for spiders round the camera. Funniest was strange man having a good look through the windows of my car - turned out to be neighbour's father who was visiting and he liked my car. I bought it because we had a spate of cars getting scratched by kids on scooters - thankfully I haven't had to use it to confront their parents to get them to pay for damage.
In school we learnt that during cold war there were silly rumours in America that there are wild bears walking freely on the streets of Russian towns and cities, and we were like "no way, no one could believe such bs!". Turns out there are bears, lions and racoons on American streets. I feel weird. We have birds, stray cats and dogs, squirrels in parks, and i saw a rat two or three times. Also - gunshots?!
Well, maybe in Alaska there are grizzly bears that walk through the streets and possibly a black bear walking in a street at night. They do like to raid bird feeders. A friend of mine had a black bear raid her bird feeder. As for Lions, maybe they meant mountain lions? Also known as Cougars or Pumas depending on where you are, they don't like to be seen, but are occasionally at night. I get lots of pictures of them on my trail cameras, but have only seen one in person once. Raccoons are pretty common around here and I see coyotes pretty often too.
Load More Replies...Had one looking at my mom's front porch because of disruptive relative. We also caught the local tweaker wandering around her front yard, using her garden hose to cool off just generally being creepy. Had to drive thirty minutes to her house several times that week to run him off and have the cops trespass him so he could be arrested later. He finally quit coming around but mom has dementia and knocked the camera down because she was "being watched". We finally got it back up where she can't see it.
I live on the same property as my parents and a niece and her family. One day I heard a noise outside and looked all around and couldn’t find anything, but then “person detected at gate” popped up. When I looked, I saw this guy just walking straight up the driveway. Called the cops, took about 10 minutes for 2 deputies to get here. Go to show one the video and the other starts walking around the houses and outbuildings. I’m zooming in on the guy and before I even hand it over, I realize it’s my niece’s husband. He changed shifts and totally threw me off. He was taking their garbage cans to the road. Sigh. I was embarrassed to the cops then laughed my butt off telling my parents.
Can you get these things with a Mace spray option? Asking for a friend.
I live in an apartment complex, and someone kept dumping their trash on my front porch and lawn. It was (mostly) liquid supplement bottles and other health food type stuff. It got so bad I had to get a camera for the front porch. Finally caught them, and turned the video into the front office. Still have no damn idea why they were doing it, why they were singling me out, and why the type of trash was so oddly specific.
I'm fascinated by this thing that there's no front gate, or perimeter wall, around these properties. I think the last time we had someone knock on our front door was like 1979. Since then we've had 6ft walls and gates... no more solicitors, JWs, beggars, petty thieves, etc. You basically have to seriously plan a military operation to get into a house here.