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.
#1
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.
487points
#2
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.
373points
#3
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.
359points
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.
#4
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.
337points
#5
Not super creepy, but there is a guy that pets my plants sometimes.
255points
#6
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.
253points
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.
#7
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.
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235points
#8
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.
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231points
#9
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.
222points
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.
#10
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.
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218points
#11
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
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209points
#12
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.
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208points
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.
#13
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...
203points
#14
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.
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190points
#15
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
174points
#16
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.
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169points
#17
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.
168points
#18
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.
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156points
#19
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.
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143points
#20
My wife’s ex-husband in our backyard looking in the windows.
143points