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Then proceed to walk down the stairs. Now I usualy have a few nightlights on, or in the kitchen, the stove light. USE WHATEVER YOU CAN TO GET AN IDEA OF WHERE SOMEONE MAY BE!!
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NO.
A THOUSAND TIMES, NO.
NEVER attempt to clear a house, building, or other structure alone.
The only exception is if you have to go to the aid of a loved one. PERIOD.
If you attempt this, you run a VERY real risk of being ambushed. I wrote an answer to this in another thread. You do NOT want your last coherent sight in this world to be seeing the person who killed you headed toward your wife or children.
If you hear the bump in the night, call 911. STAY PUT. Arm yourself, and wait.
If you have children, teach them to either stay in their rooms, or if they're close enough to your room, to come to yours. If they're old enough, and responsible enough, consider arming THEM, with explicit instructions to hold fire until they can identify that the person coming into their room is NOT one of you.
Make sure that you call 911 immediately. Identify yourself, tell the dispatcher what is happening, describe everyone in your house that SHOULD be there, and tell them who is armed.
STAY ON THE LINE WITH DISPATCH until responding officers arrive.
If you live in a two story house, and the bedrooms are upstairs, so much the better. Let them run off with everything that is downstairs. It's only property anyway.
Your most precious gifts are the children in their rooms, or the wife or husband beside you. As long as the burglars stay downstairs, LEAVE THEM ALONE.
If you happen to surprise someone in your house, the best thing to tell them when you have them at gunpoint is:
GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!!!
Let them go! Unless you have some else backing you up, and BOTH of you are trained well in detaining a potentially dangerous subject, LET THEM GO.
Folks, trust me: you do NOT ever want to be in a situation where you are going through a darkened house or building, looking for someone who may want to KILL you. It's not fun.