THE BABYSITTER
A young couple living in a large isolated house had gone out to a dinner party one
evening and left the baby-sitter in charge of their two children. The children had
been put to bed and the baby-sitter was watching the television when the phone
rang. She answered but all she heard was a man laughing hysterically and then a
voice saying, "I'm upstairs with the children, you'd better come up." Thinking it was
"one of those phone calls" or a practical joke she slammed down the receiver and
turned the television sound up. A short time later the phone rang again and, as she
picked it up, the unmistakable hysterical laughter came down the line and the voice
once again said "I'm upstairs with the children, you'd better come up." Getting
rather frightened she called the operator and was advised they would notify the
police and, should he phone again, could she keep him talking in order to give them
time to trace the call and have him arrested. Minutes after she replaced the receiver
the phone rang again and, when the voice said, "I'm upstairs with the children,
you'd better come up," she tried to keep him talking. However, he must have
guessed what she was trying to do and he put the phone down. Only seconds later
the phone rang again, this time it was the operator who said, "Get out of the house
straight away, the man is on the extension." The baby-sitter put down the phone
and just then heard someone coming down the stairs. She fled from the house and
ran straight into the arms of the police. They burst into the house and found a man
brandishing a large butcher's knife. He had entered the house through an upstairs
window, murdered both the children and was just about to do the same to the poor
baby-sitter.