At 2.30 this morning the sound of the doorbell shattered the silence of our house. After a few seconds of confusion and annoyance I got up, tiptoed through the house and peered out a window that looks onto the front porch. I saw a figure retreating from our front door and heading down towards the other apartments in our block.

After some whispered discussions between hubby and me, and much monitoring of the window, we decided it was a mistake and went back to bed. Our heads just hit the pillow when the effing doorbell rang again.

I looked out the window again and saw a man dressed in what appeared to be a military uniform; camouflage rain slicker, maroon beret with some type of sheild pinned to it. A number of scenarios went through my head as to why the military would be knocking on doors in the wee small hours. Will we have to finally have to make use of the nuclear fall-out shelter?

We thought it a good idea to see what was going on, so we cracked the door and peered out. The man immediately started speaking in what sounded like German. His voice was monotone, sounding kind of depressed and upset. We asked if he spoke French. No. English. No. The conversation was going nowhere and to be honest was kind of creepy, so we said sorry and closed the door.

It took literally hours for us to get back to sleep and we spent the rest of the night straining our ears to every strange noise and wondering where the wierd "army" guy went and what on earth he was doing wandering around ringing doorbells at 2.30 in the morning.

I am still perplexed by it today and have no idea what all that was about last night. Anyone have any theories? Is there a Swiss legend of a wandering army ghost who rings peoples doorbells in the night?