The Babysitter

    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.