Shadow on the Storm Door

In the late 1980s or early 1990s, in a close-knit West Texas town where everyone knew their neighbors, two siblings were home alone on a cold, dark winter night. A 14-year-old girl was babysitting her 6-year-old brother, a common and trusted arrangement. The scene was typical for the era: the pair were curled up on the floor of the common room, the only light coming from the kitchen down the hall and the glow of the television.

They were watching one of the gritty, true-crime news magazines popular at the time—60 Minutes, 48 Hours, or Hard Copy—which was delving into the horrific details of a neighbor-on-neighbor crime. The story featured a quiet man who had snapped, mutilating the family next door and kidnapping their young daughter. As the program detailed the ongoing manhunt, the line between the chilling story on screen and the safety of their own home was about to vanish.

The Knock: Fiction Collides with Reality
About 45 minutes into the show, the narrative tension was shattered by a sudden, violent noise from their own front door: BAM BAM BAM! The siblings jumped and screamed, their hearts racing. After the noise stopped, an eerie silence fell. They initially rationalized it; this was West Texas, known for ferocious winds that could slam porch furniture against the house. But just as they began to relax, they heard the distinct sound of the exterior storm door closing. Someone had opened it to pound on the main door.

Fear solidified into terror. The older sister crawled to the television and turned it off with a loud thunk, plunging the room into near-darkness, lit only by the distant kitchen light. The two froze, exchanging terrified glances, their attention locked on the front door.

The Escalation: The Threat Moves to the Back Door
The young boy, kneeling on the floor, turned to look at the common room’s back wall—a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows and a large glass door leading to the pitch-black backyard. Then, they both heard it: the faint rattle of the back doorknob being gently tried. It was locked with the knob lock, but not deadbolted.

A moment later, the quiet testing erupted into a violent assault: BAM BAM BAM BAM! Someone was now violently jerking and forcing the back door, trying to break in. The entire wall of windows shook violently with each impact. The older sister screamed, breaking the paralysis. She grabbed her brother, dragged him down the hall to her bedroom, slammed the door, and barricaded it with her mattress and anything else she could find.

The Rescue: A Panicked Call and a Welcome Sight
Fortunately, she had grabbed the family’s heavy, beige cordless phone. In her panic, she couldn’t recall the sheriff’s number. Instead, she hit redial, reaching a friend. Between gasping sobs and uncharacteristic profanity, she conveyed the urgent message: someone was trying to break into the house and help was needed immediately.

Crouched together in the barricaded room, the boy shaking uncontrollably, they heard nothing more until the blessed sight of headlights finally washed through the windows. The friend’s parents had arrived.

The Aftermath: An Unanswered Question
The rescuers found no one outside. An investigation by the family and likely the sheriff’s department yielded no answers. The only potential evidence was a few scuff marks on the bottom of the back door—marks no one could definitively say were new or old. The incident remained, and remains, an unsettling mystery.

While nothing like it ever happened again, the experience left a permanent mark. The siblings gained a lifelong, unwavering habit: they never, ever forget to lock the door.