At 3 am last night, Kim woke me up saying that there was someone knocking at the door.  Waking up and hearing the erratic knocking, I went to the front window, finding no car besides our own parked in the driveway or in front of the house.  Looking to the side by the door, I couldn't see who was knocking, so I went to the door and asked "Who is it?"  No answer.

The knocking continued, and as there are some shady people living across the street from Kim, I wasn't willing to open the door to just anyone that late at night, so I asked again:  "Who is it?!"  "Open the door," came a scratchy reply.  The person then tried turning the doorknob, but the door was locked and deadbolted.

"Open the door," followed by more erratic knocking.  "Open the door!"  "Who's there?" I asked again, but with no answer beyond knocking and more attempts to open the door. 

Kim called 911 and told them that there was someone at the door who wouldn't identify themselves.  A few minutes later, two police cars pulled up and questioned our visitor. 

It turned out she was an old woman with alzheimer's who thought she was living in Chariton and at her son's house.  They asked if she was from the nursing home down the street, to which she said no, but upon taking her over there she said she recognized the place.

So there you have it - a pretty creepy occurrence which made me glad that the front door was locked (imagine waking up to find some old woman standing over your bed) and really got the adrenaline flowing.