First I want to say HAPPY MONDAY!!! I have been pondering this for a few days and before I drive myself crazy with it I thought I should share it here.. I live in an apartment complex and a few of us who are pretty close have been woken up late at night with someone loudly banging on our doors , called the cops and did all that and came up empty handed also called the office of the complex to see if anyone else has been complaining of the same thing and no one has been.. It would be easy to say it was kids but I know in my stomach it is not , however I don't know who it is but I also know there has been at least 4 break ins in the community in the 2 weeks .. Hopefully someone here can help me with this .. Thank you

Gosh Shy that sounds pretty scary! Hope it gets taken care of very soon. How many times has this happened to you?

I think your best bet is to smudge the hallway outside of your apartment and the apartment itself. Burn some candles and incense and hopefully this spirit will find its way to the otherside.

Just 1 time so far !!! Thank god -however when it happened I ran down the stairs out in my night down and swung open the front door and of course nothing was there ! sigh...

So your thinking it is more paranormal then someone doing it ?

Well, I mean, if you keep going to the door and nothing is there, either what you're hearing isn't coming from the door (understandable, this happens to me all the time!) or its paranormal. Being preemptive can't hurt, and if it still bothers you, think about maybe installing a camera at your front door if that's possible.

Here's my take on it. (for what its worth)

I think Tresses is correct, it can't hurt to be pre-emptive and do something that's relatively easy to do and has no adverse effect (other than perhaps your neighbors looking at you kinda strange). What you're dealing with may or may not be paranormal, but it can't hurt to treat for that and at least cover one base.

There are a number of things which can cause this. For off from your explanation I don't see that you're completely certain that its a knocking on the door or just something that sounds like knocking. You mention its been happening to a close group of individuals there. When you say close do you mean physically close as in living adjacently, on top or below each other? Or is it 4 individuals that know each other but do not really live in such a proximity that they could be hearing the same sound at the same time?

If it was me and if it had reached a point at which its bothering me, I would either purchase a cheap surveillance system from Harbor Freight or online and set up a few cameras. Most of those systems can record a weeks worth of video with no issue at all. Or contact your apartment manager and ask them to provide such a system for your security. You may even want to offer to help pay for part of it or work together with neighbors to provide such a system.

This would eliminate the possibility of issues with living pranksters or kids. Also it would provide a level of protection and deterrence.

That having been said, it can also be a neighbor knocking on the walls, or a headboard banging against the wall (I don't think I need to explain more about this, we all know where that's going). Or perhaps a pipe in the wall which is shaking and knocking against the walls. If the individuals hearing the sound are along a "wet-wall" and are above/below each other that would lead towards a piping issue.

If you're concerned with a possible break-in, I would deal with that issue first before assuming something paranormal. Personal safety trumps any other concern.

Rather this is or isn't paranormal a camera never hurts. It can capture living or non living so you can see what it is doing this to you.

I am more worried it is someone in the community or tied to it not paranormal ... and yes I know for a fact it was a knocking at my door and not a wall ... and my other close friends live in seperate townhome ... all I can say it is very strange

Wow, i'm really sorry that you're having this happen. I tend to agree with tresses and cc. Definitely at least cover that base and i've seen walmarts carry wireless security cameras. I think that would also be a great idea so either way, you'll have proof of who or what it is.