Jade, You were quite right to be careful. Could be that, had said person spoke, it might have been with a broad Derbyshire accent.

Here's a story of my own. About a year ago I too answered the door. Caller handed me a card saying she was dumb and could't speak, but would I like to buy one of her drawings ? This was on Merseyside, BTW.

I didn't buy one but I had no reason to believe that she was anything but genuine. However, I'm now wondering if there's a factory somewhere printing drawings for people to hawk from door to door, claiming they've drawn them. But why the silence gag?