LYME — Local residents have been receiving an unexpected guest lately, and the police chief hopes someone from the public will step forward to help identify who that guest might be.

Chief Shaun J. O'Keefe said that in the last week, someone has walked into three homes and a bed and breakfast in the evening, and then left without being seen and without taking anything.

“It's very odd,” said O'Keefe. “Someone just walked into these houses, didn't confront anyone or say anything, and then left.”

In most of the incidents, O'Keefe said, the residents were at home when someone walked in, but the residents assumed it was just family members coming home. But when they called out to the person in the other room, whom they thought was their family member, the person left.

All of the incidents occurred during the early evening except one that happened around 9:30 or 10 p.m., said O'Keefe, and none of the residents was able to identify the intruder or even describe a vehicle.

“It's just a very strange thing,” O'Keefe said. “I don't know if this is someone who is testing to see if anyone's home before committing a crime or maybe just a teenager trying to prove he's brave. I'm not sure what it is.”

In the case of the bed and breakfast, O'Keefe said the owner walked into the kitchen and saw someone running down the stairs off the back of the house but assumed it was an employee or a guest.

“They weren't alarmed at first, but when they learned that other people had been having similar things happen, they grew concerned,” O'Keefe said.

In none of the cases was anything taken, and O'Keefe said the town hasn't been hit by the wave of burglaries that has hit other areas of the state.

“I even spoke to the Hanover police chief today to find out if he was seeing anything similar to this, but he said he wasn't,” said O'Keefe. “I don't know if it's isolated to Lyme or not.”

O'Keefe hopes that someone from the public might be able to provide some useful information, but in the meantime, he strongly advises that residents lock their doors. He also said that if residents encounter an unknown person in their house, they should avoid confronting the person, move to a safe location and call 911. Descriptions of the subject, as well as license plate numbers are always helpful.

Anyone with information is asked to contact O'Keefe at 795-2047.