A woman has said she was left feeling disturbed after checking out the footage on her Ring doorbell camera. She’s had quite a lot of unwanted behaviour on her property
A woman was stressed and anxious after checking Ring doorbell camera footage which showed a string of unwanted behaviour on her property. Video doorbells are becoming more common, with approximately one in five UK homes now kitted out with one.
The handy devices allow homeowners to remotely view and interact with visitors, as well as keep track of any suspicious activity occurring around their property. One woman, however, is sick and tired of people using her lawn as a shortcut to another street.
She explained it’s “not an obvious or well-travelled path to cut through”, yet she’s spotted many individuals “lurking” on her property, which has left her feeling uneasy.
Her home is situated near a “dead end”, and many cars mistakenly venture down her road only to have to turn around and go back from where they came.
More recently, she’s noticed pedestrians ignoring the plethora of signs which clearly point out the road is a dead end, and trespassing onto her property to access the streets behind her house.
Though the area isn’t easy to navigate as it’s “covered in trees and foliage”, these intruders remain undeterred. Although a fence would deter them, she can’t afford to install one “without spending a small fortune on removing all the trees”.
This has resulted in numerous strangers continuing to use her land as their personal “shortcut”. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, she’s taken action.
On Reddit, she disclosed she and her partner have installed trip wire between the trees and posted no trespassing signs.
They had previously installed “motion detector flashing lights” but found them irritating as their neighbours would inadvertently trigger them just by moving around their own homes, so they switched them off.
Now, they’re turning them on and are “going to reposition them to flash in a more isolated area” in hopes of deterring intruders.
Recently, the woman was alarmed after reviewing Ring doorbell footage to find a “random stranger” acting suspiciously during broad daylight, cutting across her lawn and “dragging a suitcase”. Later on, another man “cut through” at 9pm.
By that time, it was dark outside, and she was left feeling on edge. The strangers’ behaviour was captured by her neighbours on “their Ring cameras”.
Posting on Reddit, she expressed her concern: “This definitely sketches me out and I’d prefer not to have people lurking on our property at any time of the day.”
In the comments beneath her post, other Reddit users offered advice. One suggested: “Before you do anything else, you need to put up No Trespassing signs. Then look into putting up a fence.”
However, the woman disclosed that a fence was beyond her budget. Another user empathised with her situation, and shared: “It took me forever to save up for a fence but ultimately that was the only thing that stopped people randomly cutting through my yard instead of walking around the block. It annoyed the heck out of me that they just ignored the signs”.
A third said: “I read a story once that had this same issue, but there were a lot more people walking [through]. Guy had video cameras and everything.
“He decided to put up a motion sensored sprinkler system. He caught it all on tape.”
Another commented with a more humorous tactic: “We have a sign ‘WARNING: Venomous Snakes in the Area’ that seems to work well to stop the cut-throughs.”