Masked Intruder Raises Quite an Alarm in Quiet Neighborhood

A usually quiet, woodsy neighborhood of Brookfield is fortunately not going to the dogs, but it is certainly for the birds.

At 6:07 p.m. May 8, a resident of the 18200 block of W. Burleigh Road called police to report an audible alarm going off repeatedly at the home of a neighbor two doors away.

Worried there might be a break-in, the caller had gone to his neighbor’s home, he said, and didn’t see anything suspicious. He tried the doorbell, but no one answered.

But the alarm kept sounding, he said, some sort of very loud outdoor system that sounded like a big bell. He noted to officers that there are ADT alarm company signs posted on the property.

Most puzzling was that the alarm would sound for awhile, then stop, then turn back on, over and over.

An officer was able to contact the homeowner and meet him at his home. The homeowner advised that he was all too aware of the alarm problem – it was a woodpecker hammering on the metal cap of his chimney.

He told the officer he’d tried several times earlier in the day to get it to leave, but to no avail.