The sharp barking of the dog jolted us awake. She sat in the middle of the room, staring intently at the ceilingand then we spotted something horrifying up there and called the police.
Tonight, we woke to the sound of sudden, loud barking.
At first, I didnt even understand what was happening. The room was dark, my heart hammered, and the dog wouldnt stop barking as if warning us of something terrible.
My husband flicked on the lamp, and we both sat up in bed. The dog stood in the corner of the room, fixated on one spot.
“Seeing ghosts again,” I tried to joke, but my voice trembled.
This time, though, laughter felt impossible. Exhaustion, annoyance at being woken in the middle of the night, and the eerie tension in the room made everything feel unsettling.
I asked my husband to take the dog to another room so we could sleep, but as soon as he reached for her, she bolted back to the same corner, growling and barking.
“What is it? What do you want?” he snapped, irritated. “Why wont you let us sleep?”
Then he froze. His eyes locked onto whatever the dog was staring at.
“Call the police. Now,” he said sharply.
“Why? Whats there?” I whispered, trembling as I followed his gaze.
Thats when I saw itsomething horrifying. Right in our own bedroom.
In the corner, nearly hidden in the folds of the wallpaper and the shadow of the wardrobe, was a tiny black dota camera lens.
We both froze. The camera was so well disguised wed never have noticed without the dog.
The police arrived within half an hour. The officers removed the device, plugged it into a laptop, and checked the footage.
No faces were identifiablewhoever did it had taken precautionsbut they said cameras like these were usually used for spying on residents or gathering blackmail material.
We couldnt understandwho would do this? We had no enemies, nothing valuable to hide.
Days later, the detective called back. The camera had been linked to a server in the basement of the house next door.
When they raided the place, they found our neighboura quiet, unassuming middle-aged manhad been collecting footage from multiple flats for years.
He even planted cameras in homes where hed been invited for tea, exploiting their trust.
But the creepiest part? Among hundreds of files was a folder with our names. It held recordings from the past few weeksevery movement, every conversation, even our most private moments.
The neighbour was arrested.
And the dog? She became our hero. Without her barking that night, wed have lived under surveillance, completely unaware.
