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Jehovah’s Witness Went a Little Too Far
We have all received the Jehovah’s Witness knock at the door. The timing is usually perfect with dropping a glass of milk or sitting down to eat. They have every right to practice their religion as they see fit. If spreading the Word is part of their faith, I am okay with that too, in a general sense.
My driveway is ¼ mile. It is obscure by design. In the driveway of a farmhouse there is a delivery box with my house number. I want to make it easy for drivers, especially Amazon, to deliver their parcels. Next to the delivery box, there is a path into the woods. It is thick and overgrown for a reason. It then opens to a big field. Through the field and back into the woods, you would find my house at the end.
I built the house three years ago on the farm I grew up on here in central Massachusetts. It is as far back as I could possibly build, and I am surrounded by hundreds of acres of conservation land. A great deal of that is swamp.
Yesterday I was working in my garage. I got a notice that my Amazon delivery is four stops away. So, I wasn’t too surprised when I was notified someone was coming up my hill. An unmarked white van showed up a minute later. They drive up to the house about five times per year. I really don’t mind. I noted on my delivery box that they can deliver directly to the house if they want to. Nine out of ten times they leave it in the box. Unbeknownst to me, but knownst to my wife, The Jehovah Witness had to have followed the Amazon driver and waited in my field for the delivery to finish. You may say I am paranoid. An uninvited person only comes to my house about once a year.
I went back to work. My wife spoke to, and politely dismissed, the JW. She came to the garage and told me about it. Mostly, I was disappointed with my lack of preparedness. Other than obvious deliveries, I am always carrying when someone shows up unannounced. And this person came and went without me knowing. Normally if he wasn’t trailing Amazon and caught me by surprise, his chances of meeting Jesus would have been much higher. Messing with people in Podunk is a bad idea.
Yes, I am a little defensive. Last year’s uninvited guest was the subject of an all-day manhunt complete with two helicopters and state police search dogs. He was hiding on my property and then got chased into the swamp by a state trooper with a keen eye. The year before that, an old couple just drove in announced. My builder was telling them about it, and they decided to come onto my property and check it out on a Sunday afternoon.
Comparing this to a conventional house, it would be like someone entering your backyard along a side fence. While there, they look behind your shed. Then they go to your back porch and see what you have under there. Then they knock at your back door.
I suppose this issue could relate to anyone looking for signatures, donations, etc. If there are any Jehovah’s Witness members here, please comment. I think this comes down to the expected level of privacy, which is above what it normally would be for a house on a street. At the very least, he was far too aggressive, and shadowing an unmarked Amazon van is probably illegal.
Obviously, there is nothing to do about it now, but I would like some opinions.
Published in General
I read this to my wife and she reminded me of when a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses came to our side door. The only way we knew was our dog barking. We looked out and saw two people standing frozen in mid stride. Looking straight ahead without blinking. Our dog, a part-pit bull mutt, had broken his leash.
We apologized, but I don’t recall them ever coming back.
“Hercules hasn’t broken his chain since the time he treed the Sheriff.”
What’s this referring to?
Ancient family history.
His name wasn’t’Hercules’ anyway. It was Oscar.
What, all this about Jehovah’s Witnesses and their eccentric if energetic theology and so little about a town my ancestors lived in in the 18th and 19th centuries?
The marvelous a cappella group Hudson Shad even used the famous name of the area in their recording of The Wedding of the Painted Doll (Puppenhochzeit, part of the repertoire of the equally marvelous Comedian Harmonists) in their album Spawn Song.
You may go back to delivery drivers and evangelizers now.
Funny you should mention the Comedian Harmonists, the German vocal group that was eventually outlawed by Hitler because they sang too many songs from England and America. I am a minor fan of their music.
Chowderhead, your property sounds like just the place for a Ricochet meetup.
Great idea. Friends are always welcome. I live near Sturbridge, MA. We are entering ‘plow the driveway’ season, followed by, ‘fix the driveway season’.
JW evangelism operates on a point system.
If they get to talk you they get points.
If you refuse to talk to them they get points.
Its a works religion
Hmmm. I usually drive through there on my way to family in Maine. I may ping you next time.
Please do. I work from home half the time. I’m in Maine right now on a startup.
A few years back, my sister and I were training for a walk/run marathon. A couple of young, neatly dressed Mormon men approached us as we exited my yard. My sister cheerfully said, “Sure, we’d love to hear what you have to say, as long as you can keep up!” Within 3 minutes, they were too out of breath to talk and gave up.
On a more sober note, this was the year I installed cameras and central station monitoring everywhere on our property.
Violent turf war?
Last I heard the small number are instead given dominion over a larger number – who like said dominion.
I’ve heard he sets traps to prevent that.
I choose not to live in fear. But I do have some surprises here and there. I got a amazing trail cam from Cabela’s a couple years ago. The camo was fantastic. I went to change the battery and pop the memory card. I forgot where I put it. Gone forever.
Unless someone stole it.
And maybe easier to spot now, in winter?
That is good camo.