Someone in my garden taking pictures of us inside?!

[cholla]

Something really flipping creepy happened to me last night and I guess I just need someone to say they believe me and I'm not going mad!

I was stood at our kitchen sink washing the dishes in between feeding my 9 mo ds who was sat in his high chair. There is a window directly in front of the sink which looks into our conservatory, which then looks into the garden. It was about 6pm and pitch black outside. Then suddenly there was a flash that seemed to come from the garden. By flash I mean the type of 'white' light that comes from a camera flash and I am convinced that someone was in the garden taking pictures of me and my son.

DH got home not long after and, while he hasn't directly said it, I know he just doesn't believe me. Okay so I was slightly hysterical by the time he got home but still...

so I guess I'm asking, AIBU to expect not to be treated like a child who has fabricated something out of nothing? Or is it likely to have been something other than a camera flash? DH keeps saying 'the light in the conservatory must have blown and that is what you saw' but I KNOW 1. The light wasn't on and 2. What a light from a camera flash looks like.

Someone tell me I'm not a hormonal hysterical mess and it might have been someone taking a picture. I feel like I'm going mad!

Someone playing pokemon go maybe?

Any chance it could have been a neighbour with one of those flashy lights on their bike wheeling it into their garden or something like that? I would be really creeped out too!

On the plus side I had DS packed and ready to go by the door on about 0.4 seconds ready to run if need be. At least I know feel confident if anything was to ever happen we'd be 4 mile down the road haha!

Of course you're not going crazy OP, I also believe you.
Make sure you drop the blinds or draw the curtains, before it gets dark, people can see in, but you can't see out.
It could be many things, do speak to your neighbours, also take security precautions, lock doors, put chain on etc.
Your DH is the one who needs to get real !

Firstly, are there any footprints of other corroborating evidence?

Secondly (and more important) - I had a couple of random bright flashes in my peripheral vision one day, turned out to be my retina tearing. You might want to get an optician to have a look at your eyes - I didn't find out for a day or so until the tear began to bleed into my eye - not good.

any chance there's a road running behind one of the gardens that backs onto yours? it could be car headlights. That's what usually happens with ours.

I would get your eyes checked by an optician. Sometimes seeing flashes of light can be serious.

Get a motion sensor security light and just incase get your eyes checked.

I would also have a quick word with neighbors

I mean this very kindly but how have you been feeling mentally? Just asking because years ago during a time of terrible stress in my life I had something similar happen in that I'm sure i saw a flash if light in my house. In my case my DH was there and he didn't see it. I got uncharacteristically angry and upset about it.
The next day I had a massive panic attack at work and had to leave. I was suffering stress and anxiety but up til then i had been pretending all was fine.

If it flashed it would almost certainly reflect of the window and white it out. I've tried.

But it's more likely something else.
A single lightening flash had dd1 swearing someone took her photo once.
I once got weirded out by a strange light that turned out to be a dog walker.
Our back garden is enclosed and surrounded so you wouldn't think car headlights could show. We discovered one day that if a car is reversing into the drive opposite the front of our house we get a flash in the back garden where the headlights reflect off a window.
Most likely something like that.

Firstly, seeing flashes of lights can be a medical emergency. If you see any other flashes or if colours are brighter etc - get urgent medical help

secondly, a flash would just produce a reflection, if they were in the dark taking pics of you inside they'ld need to turn their flash off… that said, there's no guarentee that creeps aren't also thick and can't use their cameras properly!

Yes. There could have been someone in your garden, it does happen… but be careful with the flashes in your eye thing too.. if anything else is unusual in your vision get it urgently checked

I don't doubt that ypu saw something.

Realistically though, why would someone have climbed into your garden to take pics?

I believe you saw a flash, OP.

I don't believe or disbelieve that it was someone with a camera - there's just no way of knowing. But please get yourself to a doctor if you see flashing again, just in case

Got a telly licence?

I don't think you'll find out for sure what it was OP. However, if I were you I would treat it as a wake up call with regards to securing my home. Locks on gates, make sure your garden isn't accessible easily if someone wants to climb in - so no bins by fences for example. Close your curtains as soon as it gets dark, and if you don't have blinds in your conservatory get some fitted.

Diddl perhaps the intruder has a thing for mams wearing holey pjs and no make up

Thank you for all the replies. I guess I needed/wanted that from DH as opposed to 'nah it's in your head'

What time was it, more exactly? Could it be children playing, pretending to be private detectives? That a camera flash light (or on a mobile rather) goes off seems to exclude adults sneaking around taking photos. A true "private eye" would of course never be so clumsy so as to set off the camera flash...

Could all the layers of glass cause a weird reflection? I mean it could have been distorted to look like it came from one place when it came from another. How high up was the flash? Was it head height or higher? Someone in another house could have been taking a photo of a fox for example... Obviously you saw something, hopefully it was something innocuous.

Actually I think I met a real 'private eye' once, but it was on the tube. I didn't realise until after the occasion, you just (barely) notice there's something slightly off. But I see you're point, it not being worthwhile to talk about it as all you would get back would be a 'nah it's in your head'. Was never able to quite figure out why it happened. If it did, that is.

What kind of ceiling lights do you have? What were you washing up?

I quite often amuse myself and annoy the children by deliberately manipulating reflections of shiny saucepans or spoons in the kitchen window - if you get it just right you can have a fantastic light show of flashes and really annoy them by following them around with a light for which they can't work out the source.

But that's me and I'm childish .

Maybe the intruder has run home, rubbing his hands in excitement at his pervy picture...

I met a real private eye once. I reported him to the police for skulking suspiciously, he'd been reading the same page of the paper for 2 hours and drinking the same cup of Pret coffee (no Pret near us). They told me he was a private eye... I did point out that he wasn't a very good one. Then I went and told him I'd reported him to the police but it was ok, they'd reassured me he was a private detective...

He kind of sighed and said "you're about the tenth person who's reported me, why hasn't anyone reported my colleague round the corner?"

GardenGeek so it was YOU!

KathArtic you actually got that spot on! I asked DH why anyone would want to fap over a sleep deprived monster with sick in her hair. He said he would which I'm taking as a compliment.

Seems to be a lot of talk about private detectors I have nothing to hide I tells ya! Double checks..