In Their Own Words – Olden Times
In this edition of In Their Own Words,
we hear from people who have had the misfortune to meet home invaders and
robbers during the 60s and 70s – and there is a common them through the
stories. See if you can spot it…
We begin with Diana, who was getting ready
for a night out when her intruder struck…
It was the
night of the Company Dance, and I was going to meet the girls there so we could
dance the night away and generally have fun.
I had been to the hairdresser, and applied a hell of a lot of hairspray
to keep my dark hair up on my head.
Given my skin
colour, I wanted to stand out – and the dress I had bought that day at the
store certainly did that. It was made
from a silver fabric, sleeveless, with a metallic effect solar and hem on the
skirt at my knees – and to complete the outfit, I was also wearing a brand new
pair of boots – matching silver leather, with a three inch block heel, that
came up over my knees and under the hem of my dress.
So I was about
ready to go, and had just fastened the pearl drop earrings into my lobes when
there was a noise in the hallway. I
figure it was just my cat coming in from outside – the cat flap was in the
kitchen door – so I didn’t pay much attention to it. That was a mistake, looking back, because it
was only when I stepped into the hallway to get my wrap that I saw the
telephone cord had been cut.
And then I felt
the pressure on my back, as a male voice told me to walk back into the front
room. It was a sharp pressure, and I was
too surprised to do anything other than to walk back in. I do remember asking what was going on, but
he just told me to walk into the room, and then sit down in the chair.
The chair he
walked me to was a wooden one, with armrests, and upholstered in a brown
material for the seat and back. I sat
myself down, and whoever it was then ordered me to put my arms on the armrests,
hands palm down.
As I did so, I
looked to the side and saw a tall, thin man standing there, wearing a black
sweater and pants, and with what looked like a stocking pulled down over his
head. He had my carving knife in one of
his hands – and a roll of silver tape that I kept for emergency repairs in the
other.
A roll he tore
the end of free, and then wrapped it around my left wrist and the arm of the
chair, securing my arm down in a tight silver band there and then below my
elbow.
As he moved
round and secured my right arm to the other armrest, I looked at my low
television, in the wooden cabinet, and could see the reflection of my boots in
the glass of the screen. And then his
back as I watched him take the roll of tape and wind it tightly round my ankles
and feet to secure them tightly together.
He also taped my legs together below my knees, the leather squeaking and
the tape crinkling when I tried to move them.
That was when
he asked me where I kept my money and valuables – and I told him, if only to
get him out of the house. He then tore
strips of the tape off and pressed them firmly over my mouth and jaw, before he
left the room – and a short while later, the house, leaving me alone unable to
move or call for help.
I was just
grateful my friends came later to find out why I had not turned up…
Yootha was a middle aged woman who liked
to dress in a – tasteful way, which proved attractive to someone…
Nowadays, if I
was the same age, I guess I would be called a cougar – I liked to wear skin-tight
clothing and liked the way men showed their appreciation.
This particular
day, I was wearing a very tight black body stocking with a deep neckline, and
leopard skin pants with heeled sandals.
My brown hair was up in a beehive, and I was busy tidying the house when
there was a knock on the door.
When I opened
it, there was a man and a woman standing there.
The man was wearing a smart suit, with a white shirt and dark tie, while
the woman was wearing a black jacket and skirt with a white camisole. He flashed some ID, and said they were
Internal Revenue Service agents, calling to do a snap audit.
Well, I
explained my husband usually answered those sort of questions, but he said this
would only take a moment, and they were government agents, so I agreed to let
them come in. It was only after I closed
the door that the woman spoke – and that was to thank me, and to tell me to put
my hands in the air.
I turned slowly
round to see she was now holding a handgun, so I did the only thing I felt I
could do – I put my hands in the air, as the man took my arm and walked me into
the front room of the house. There was a
game show on the television, which was placed next to the bucket chair that he
made me sit down on, and then told me to put my feet up on the leather seat,
and put my arms round my legs.
As I did so,
the woman handed him a ball of twine, and I watched as he tied my wrists and
ankles together with the twine - to each other, and then my wrists to my
ankles. It left me looking like a ball,
but not totally uncomfortable.
Unlike the thin
black scarf which the man then pulled between my lips and tied round my head to
keep me quiet. I had to watch then as he
ransacked the room – and what was worse, the woman sat and made me watch the
godawful game show. Come on Down –
seriously?
Paula remembers one Saturday morning,
when her family plans took a very different turn…
Robert, my
husband, worked at the local credit union, and one Saturday a month he manned
the office. This was one of those
Saturdays, and the plan was after breakfast I would take our children, Laura
and Steve, to town for some school supplies.
Laura was eleven, and Steve was seven.
I remember I
was wearing a green and brown print dress, with long sleeves and a knee length
skirt, as well as black heels. Laura was
in orange – a knee length dress with black stripes and knee length socks, with
black Mary Jane shoes, while Steve had on a jumper with different coloured
orange stripes, blue jeans and black shoes.
Like I said, a
typical Saturday morning, and the kids were watching the television while I was
making a list for the shopping in the kitchen – and then was when the terror
started, when a man walked into the kitchen and aimed a gun at me. He was tall, with short fair hair, and wore a
woollen hat with a black long sleeved top and grey pants, as well as gloves on
his hands.
He told me to
put my paper and pen down, and to put my hands on my head, as we both listened
to Laura and Steve laughing in the front room.
Picking a pair of clean white sports socks out of the laundry basket, he
then walked me into the room, and Laura actually screamed when she saw the
man. He just told her to be quiet, and
then told Steve to go and pull the curtains over the front windows, or he would
get hurt.
The kids were
petrified, and so was I, as I watched Steve run to the window and pull the long
curtains over, then sit down as she and Laura hugged each other. The man then told me to sit down in the
chair, and told the kids to lean forward and put their hands behind their
backs.
I had to watch
as he took some lengths of white cord – like the type you use to pull blinds up
and down – out of his pants pocket, and tie the wrists of both of them together
behind their backs, before he knelt in front of them and tied their ankles in
the same way – all the time with the gun in full view of all three of us. He then balled each of the socks up, and
stuffed them into the mouths of my children, so that they couldn’t say very
much at all, and told them to keep them in there, or he would use more of the
cords to make sure they stayed in.
I still had no
idea what he wanted – but I found out, when he told me to call my husband, tell
him that we were all been held hostage, and that if he did not do exactly what
the man who was coming to see him said, we would all get hurt.
I could see how
scared they were, as they tried to talk, the edges of the socks sticking out of
their mouths and the material getting darker, so I nodded and called my
husband, saying exactly what I had been told to say. He asked to speak to whoever was there, so I
handed him the phone – and I can’t really repeat what he said he would do if my
husband didn’t do what he was told.
He handed me
back the handset, and my husband said he would do what they wanted, before I
hung up – and he turned me round, pulling my hands behind my back and tying my
wrists tightly together with more of the cord.
I was then pushed over to sit beside the kids, and my ankles tied
tightly together – and I knew I was going to be gagged, but /I had no idea what
with.
As bad as the
kids may have felt to have a sock in their mouths, to have the gusset of a pair
of hose pushed into your mouth and then the legs tied round your head is worse
– and then he did what he had threatened to do, and tied rope round the heads
of both of them to keep the sock in place.
We were
helpless, unable to do anything but wait as the television played the room in semi-darkness
– until we all heard a car horn, and the man looked past the curtain – then
left us to try and get free…
Emma was taken by surprise one evening
as she watched the news…
I was watching the latest on the Presidential
campaign, with Nixon speaking on the report, with my dinner on the tray on my
lap. I had not changed after coming in
from work, and was still wearing a sleeveless blue-green top with a pleated
black skirt, and black heels. I was also
still wearing my glasses, with my dark hair up on my head.
Anyway – I had
just finished my dinner when the whole thing began – someone was behind me,
because I could see the small hand holding one of my kitchen knives next to my
throat as a female voice said not to move until she told me to. I wondered what was going on, but the shock
and surprise had left m speechless, as the voice asked me if I was going to do
as she said.
I just nodded
as she told me to put the tray down on the coffee table next to my chair, nice
and slowly. I did that, and then she
told me to stand up and get my purse. It
was on the top of the bureau my television set was on, so I slowly stood up and
walked over, turning round to see who it was as I opened it up.
She was a
teenager, could not have been more than nineteen, with short brown hair, and
wearing a denim jacket and jeans with a white t-shirt under it. And she had a mean look in her eye, as she
told me to take my wallet out and give me all the money.
I did that,
before she told me to sit back down and put my hands together in prayer in
front of me. As I did that, she walked
round and took out of her pocket a long length of brown rope – which she used
to tie my wrists tightly together, then wrapped it round my legs above my knees
to keep my hands there, and finally around my ankles so that I could not stand
up.
Well, I wasn’t
going to be able to get to the telephone on the wall to call the police – and
that was where she left me, turning the television up so that nobody could hear
my calls for help…
For Chloe, it was the family friend who
came to her rescue in a very special way…
We lived at the
time in a modern house on the outskirts of town, and I was the dutiful
housewife, looking odd and keeping the place clean, and also helping out at the
local church. Which is where I had been
that day, as I drove home. I remember I
was wearing a red waistcoat and skirt with a long sleeved black top underneath,
as well as black kitten heels.
It started when
I pulled up at the lights, only to hear the passenger door of my car open as a
man got in. He was scruffily dressed,
with a beard and wearing glasses, but he also had a gun which he jammed into my
side, and then told me to just drive home.
I was scared,
but he spoke calmly, and when I told him there was nobody else at home he
seemed to relax a little, and told me he just needed a place to lay low for an
hour or two, as we drove onto the concrete patio in front of my house. He then told me to very slowly get out, and
not to make any fuss as her got out as well, accompanying me to the front door.
As we went in,
he closed the door behind himself, and then told me to leave my purse by the
door, and accompany him into the kitchen.
As we went in, he pulled a chair away from the table and told me to sit
down, as he took out of the pocket of his pants a roll of black tape.
Tape he then
used to secure my wrists together in front of me, and my ankles, before he
helped himself to some food and milk, sitting at the table and talking to me as
if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do.
Once he had
finished, he told me to stand up and made me jump into the front room, turning
on the television as some stupid soap opera started to appear. I sat down on the long couch we had, before
he made me lie on my side, and then covered my mouth with a lot of strips of
the black tape so that I was unable to call out.
That was where
he left me, as I watched him take the money from my purse and then leave the
room. I could have been stuck there for
hours, if it wasn’t for Petey. He came
into the room and looked at me lying there, and then jumped up onto the couch,
licking my face and loosening the tape.
Never had I
been so glad to see our dog come to my rescue…
Finally this week, Zara tells of a tale
of a Marlin and a robber…
We lived in
Florida, and my husband loved to go deep sea fishing – which explained the
‘thing’ in out front room. It was a
preserved marlin, suspended in a wooden cabinet he had built with his own
hands, right next to the television.
And on this
Sunday morning, I was never so glad it was there as I sat on the floor. I was wearing a blue cardigan over a white
top, black slacks and blue deck shoes – al adorned with silver tape, courtesy
of the man who had forced his way into our house an hour before.
He didn’t
speak, but he made his views known – especially when he made me lie face down
on the floor and taped my wrists together behind my back with Gorilla
tape. He then wrapped the tape around my
ankles, as well as my legs above and below my knees, before he rolled me over
and covered my mouth with the tape.
I was too
scared to move as he ransacked the house, and then I heard him leave – and I
started to wriggle round, eventually rolling over and managing to sit myself up
as I looked round. Everything was
scattered over the floor, he had taken a lot of things – but that damn marlin
was still there.
With its long,
sharp horn…
I shuffled over
and managed to get my wrists against it, rubbing the tape on it and hoping I
would get free that way…
Did you spot the connection? This has been In Their Own Words – see you
next time…
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