'The Knocker' Strikes Fear in N.C. Widows

March 18, 2010— -- It sounds like a scene from a horror movie: It's late at night, you can't get to sleep and, suddenly, there's a knock at the door.

But it's not a movie.

Women just outside of the small town of Rutherfordton, N.C., told ABC News it's really happening to them -- and has been for years.

The women are all widows over the age of 60, and they all live in the same rural neighborhood.

The women asked not to have their names reported for fear of repercussions from the person they call "the knocker."

"You never know when it's going to happen," one woman in her late 60s said. "You try to forget it. You try to put it out of your mind, but you know it's gonna happen."

The Origin of the Knocking and a Common Link

Bobbie Condrey said her 83-year-old mother is a victim of the knocking, one of five widows in total who are experiencing the late-night nuisance.

"From six to 16 years, these five women have been bothered by the one we call the knocker," Condrey said.

One woman said it started happening to her soon after her husband passed away about 10 years ago.

"I live alone and I began hearing, it sounded like in the beginning, a few small pebbles being thrown on my back window in the den where I stay at night," she said. "When I first heard it, I would go look and I wouldn't see anything."

Another woman, 62, said it started happening to her more recently.

"It started six years ago, just prior to my husband being diagnosed with a brain tumor," she said.

The woman now lives alone and said the problem has gotten worse.

Condrey said her mother started hearing knocking 16 years ago. Now, she said, her mother is getting phone calls at all times of the night, too.

She added that her mother's situation has one thing in common with some of the other women: It happened around the time she became a widow.

"My mother has been bothered, it started right after my father died," Condrey said. "He's been dead about 18 years and it started a couple years after he died."

No One Believes Them

Condrey said her mother went years without telling anyone -- even her -- about the knocking.

When her mother finally told her about it, she said, she was skeptical until she heard the knocking for herself.

"My husband and I, we wanted to be sure that this was going on," Condrey said. "About three years ago, we wanted to be sure so we stayed at my mother's house. I would spend the night for several nights. He would spend the night for several nights. Our oldest son would spend the night. And we all have heard the knocking."

One of the other women said she doesn't tell people because she knows they won't believe her.

"I haven't called police because I know they can't do anything about it," she said. "They think you're crazy."

Condrey said she's spoken to the sheriff's department multiple times about the problem, but that they still haven't been able to catch the perpetrator. And for the last year, she claimed, the sheriff's department has stopped trying.

"The only thing the sheriff's department has done was they bought three deer cameras and put [them] up at my mother's house and at one of the other ladies' houses," Condrey said. "Well, just as soon as the knocker realized -- see, they're infrared; you can see that in the dark, the infrared light -- just as soon as he saw those, he avoided the area and knocked on a different part of the house."

When contacted, the sheriff's office told ABC News it would not do any interviews regarding the case over the phone.

Sheriff Jack Conner told The Charlotte Observer that he has spent more money and manpower on the women and their case than on the other 63,000 residents of Rutherford County.

Condrey said the more the women call the police, the worse the knocking gets.

"It was almost like he was playing a cat-and-mouse game," she said.

Living in Fear

Since the knocking started, Condrey told ABC News, her mother has lived in fear and is afraid to go out after dark.

"She no longer goes to church on Sunday night or Wednesday night because she doesn't want to come home at dark," Condrey said. "My mother's gone to church three times a week since I was a child. She won't even come over to my house to eat supper with us if it's going to be after dark when she gets back home.

"Her joy has been taken from her because she's scared," Condrey added.

One woman who's heard the knocking also doesn't feel as safe as she used to.

"When I go out now, I don't feel as free and as safe," she said, "knowing every night dreading to see dark come because you know sooner or later that night or the next night, that you know somebody's gonna tap on that window."

Another woman said she's glad she's still physically able to defend herself.

"I sleep with a gun beside my bed," she said.

Motive

Each woman who spoke to ABC News doesn't think "the knocker" is trying to break in.

"I think that the person that's doing this to these women gets a thrill from knowing they're terrifying these women," Condrey said.

One of the women thinks "it's just an aggravation. [The person or people behind the knocking] just want to aggravate people."

At this point, the women don't care who is doing it, or why. They just want to be able to sleep at night without the knocking.

"I want help," one of the women said. "I've prayed constantly for this person, and I want help for them, and I want it stopped. I want to be able to see night come and not worry about hearing a tap or a slam against the window or maybe something damaged outside that I have to go and repair or pay for. I want it stopped, and I don't want anyone hurt. I don't want to see anyone get in trouble. But I have mixed feelings. I'm angry. I've lived long enough to know that probably this person is sick and they need help."

"I just want it to stop," another woman said. "I just hope it stops. That's all I ask, is stop."