I've had two very bad experiences answering the door so I only do it during the day but never at night unless I or one of the kids is expecting someone.
Four years ago a guy in his twenties came to my front door. It was dark outside and cold. I answered and he asked for Michael. I said sorry, there's no one that lives here by that name. He made a quarter turn to his left as though he was leaving and stopped. My heart sunk. I had a feeling he was going to push his way in otherwise why would he stop and pause like that. Just at that moment my crazy and super scary looking dog came running out of the kitchen down the hall toward the door barking like crazy. i slammed it shut.
When I was 12, I was home alone for about 20 minutes one Friday night because my dad went to pick my older sister up from her part time job. About five minutes after he left, someone came to the front door and rang the door bell non stop. I was in the basement, came upstairs, and opened the front door. We had a screen door that was locked. There was a guy in his twenties with dark curly hair and glasses and he was grabbing the screen door trying to open it. I slammed the front door shut and he was banging on the screen door and still ringing the bell. I ran to check that the garage and back doors were locked and that all the windows were locked. At this time he's banging on the living room window. then it all stopped for about five minutes. I thought he had left. Next thing I know he's banging on the back door and the kitchen window at the back of the house. I was so scared. This whole time my dog was barking like crazy. I grabbed the biggest knife and ran down to the basement and hid behind the furnace where I thought he would never see me if he got in. He continued banging at the back forever and then went back around to the front of the house to bang on the front windows and door. Then it all stopped for good. Five minutes later my dad and my sister came home and I was hysterical. It doesn't end there. A few days later, Monday or Tuesday, I was coming home and there were some guys working at the front of my house on something. I don't remember what they were hired to do. One of them looked me straight in the eye and stared at me. it was the guy from Friday night with the dark curly hair and glasses!!! I ran inside and told my mom that was him who tried to get into the house. She didn't really believe me and she went outside and said "did you come to the house Friday night and bang on the door and scare my daughter?" and of course he said no. Like he's actually going to admit it. She took his word over mine and that was the end of it. Well actually, I still have nightmares once in a while that he's there and I'm trying to lock the back door and windows and that back door just won't lock.