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PrintDing Dong Ditch Saves Family
It’s one of the oldest pranks in the book: the “ding dong ditch.” The prankster rings the victim’s doorbell, then quickly runs away or hides before the resident answers. The unsuspecting victim drops what they’re doing to answer the door, only to find that no one’s there.
Sharon Mardis, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, a widow and mother of four, told ABC News that she suspected she’d been a victim of the prank when she responded to her ringing doorbell at 1:00 a.m.
“My doorbell started ringing, and I came to the door,” Sharon told ABC News. “There was nobody at the door. I went back in the house. Got 10 to 20 feet and the doorbell started ringing again. I came back to the door, nobody at the door.”
But after she stepped outside to look around and came back in, she smelled something. Smoke.
Sharon quickly gathered her kids and the family pets and ran to a neighbor’s house. Only then did she realize how bad the fire was. The roof of the house caved in, the house was quickly ravaged by flames.
The smoke detectors had never gone off: they were out of batteries. Good thing for the mysterious doorbell.
Firefighters found that the flames had fused the wires of the doorbell together, causing it to ring. But strangely, the fire wasn’t related to the doorbell wiring at all. It had started in the bathroom, well down the hall. From there, the flames didn’t spread to the nearby bedrooms, where the children and Sharon were sleeping. Instead, they improbably reached the doorbell first.
Making it ring repeatedly, alerting Sharon to danger.
Sharon believes it happened that way thanks to a guardian angel. I’m inclined to agree. See the video below (and scroll down for this week's giveaway!)
Congratulations to Nancy Bird, the lucky winner of the 2010 edition of His Mysterious Ways. This week, one commenter will be randomly chosen to win our 2011 One-minute Devotions Page-A-Day Calendar. Leave a comment below to have a chance to start every new day with a dose of inspiration! (Makes a great Christmas gift too.)
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Adam Hunter is a senior editor for Guideposts magazine. He’s edited the Mysterious Ways section since October 2006, and is continually amazed by the astounding stories shared by readers. Follow him on Twitter: @MMysteriousWays
Your Comments
Thanks for the great comments! Nosmo... she would have never smelled the smoke had the doorbell not awakened her. That said, yes, absolutely right, make sure you have working smoke detectors!
Wow! The power, love and warmth of Gods fingers saved this family P.T.L.
Donna Davenport
It seems to me that the smoke is what warned her of the danger and not the doorbell. If anything, the doorbell distracted her from initially sensing her surroundings. The most important thing to have in a house are properly working smoke detectors.
Tragedy wrapped in a blessing. Praise God for sparing the lives of all within the burning house. A shorted-out electrical wire is in the Hands of God. What a warning! He is so good. Thanks for the story. All the best, Effie-Alean Gross
My in-law's family had a house fire - they were not at home at the time. One of the few recovered possessions was a bible that had never burned, everything burned around it.
What a joyful story. I'm sure that this family will never forget this day.
This certainly does make one wonder. They were certainly lucky to be saved.
That is a miracle, that she was brave enough to go out on the porch at 1:00 in the morning. Not sure I would have at that hour. Glad that everyone is safe!
We need to be more aware of the Angels around us. When traveling, and forced to follow behind a slow vehicle, i sometimes wonder if an Angel placed me there to avoid an unpleasant surprise further along.
What a miracle for this family!
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