Ding-dong-ditch culprit turns out to be… a slug

It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. About 30 minutes after midnight, someone rang an apartment doorbell in Bavaria, Germany. The home’s occupants Lisa and Domink had already gone to bed, and Lisa told German news outlet BILD that she had no intention of answering it, since she simply does not answer the door after 10 pm. Plus, it was probably teenagers playing ding-dong-ditch. But then something eerie happened. 

“My sister-in-law, who lives one floor up, called me and asked if my doorbell had been ringing too,” said Lisa. “It just wouldn’t stop ringing for her! While I was on the phone with her, it rang again and again. That’s when we called the police.”

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect was that their motion detector and camera wasn’t registering anyone’s presence. The doorbell was ringing without a person in sight. 

“We felt really uneasy. You keep hearing the doorbell ringing, but you don’t see anyone. The house is old, it creaks a lot – and we didn’t want to go out. It was just creepy,” Lisa explained. 

When the police arrived, they searched the premises to no avail. It wasn’t until they had all gathered at the front door and Lisa’s husband looked at the doorbell that the culprit was finally identified. 

“I said, ‘I know who rang the bell!’ There was a slug sitting right on our nameplate. You could even see its slime trail as it crawled across the sensors,” Dominik explained. 

[ Related: Slimy slugs and snails surprisingly thriving in LA. ]

No wonder the camera hadn’t picked up on anyone’s presence—the offender was too small. For once, it wasn’t a teenager’s fault. The police took immediate action. They removed the slimy delinquent, reminded it of its territory, and released it in a nearby field. 

It’s not surprising that a slug would be out and about so late. These mollusks, often described as shellless snails, are most active at night, since they prefer cool and damp weather. They move from place to place via their single foot and trail of slime. 

While I still wouldn’t advise answering mysterious doorbells in the middle of the night, at least now you know that it isn’t always a serial killer.