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People Break Down Their Bad Neighbor Horror Stories

I've been lucky not to have terrible neighbors. In fact, living in a big city, I'm more likely to hear stories about people's terrible roommates. Every now and then, New York Magazine publishes another piece of long-form journalism about awful people doing terrible things to other people for no apparent reason, like this piece about a roommate from hell. No, thank you. Hard pass.

But some people are unlucky. Really unlucky. They shared their stories after Redditor DistributionOk9089 asked the online community,

"What is your worst experience with bad neighbors?"

"When my wife and I moved in..."

"When my wife and I moved into our house in the summer of 2019, the neighbors on either side of us warned us about the people renting the house directly behind ours. Apparently, they had been known to cause trouble and blow things way out of proportion, bordering on paranoia of everyone around them.

We kept it in mind but had no issues for the first 6 months or so after moving in. Their house sits on a hill behind ours and so overlooks the majority of our back yard due to the elevation change.

Well, one night (morning, technically) at about 3 am we wake up to Ring notifications from our phones showing video from our front doorbell - there's a man standing barefoot in a sleeveless shirt on our porch POUNDING on our front door.

We give it 2-3 minutes just watching him on the app thinking maybe he's drunk and has the wrong house… essentially giving him the benefit of the doubt. But then we start to hear him say "come out you f**king pu**y, I'm gonna f**k you up" etc and he leaves the porch and starts to head around the side of the house towards our backyard.

Considering we had NO idea who this was, my wife now immediately calls the police as I move out of our bedroom towards the external doors to look/listen for any attempt of a home invasion. At this point our neighbors directly behind us throw a HUGE spotlight into our backyard from theirs.. we're thinking okay cool they know something is up and they're trying to help us out by shedding light on our backyard.

The cops arrive several long minutes later and knock, we explain the situation and they head out back to look around and get the scoop from the neighbors with the spotlight. It turns out that the spotlight neighbor was the one on our porch, he had jumped our fence into our backyard and up into his yard and then threw the light on.

He told the police that several nights prior, I had let my puppy out into MY OWN backyard in the middle of the night and because I was in my boxers, that I was "trying to expose myself to his family" because they could look down on our entire yard from where theirs sits.

He then followed this up to the police with "evidence" which consisted of videos he had taken THROUGH OUR WINDOWS of my wife and I inside of our own home doing totally normal things like chores, watching tv, etc.. nothing inappropriate or scandalous (not that it would have mattered anyway, we were in our OWN HOME). Because of the elevation difference, if they went out of their way they could technically slightly see-through our closed blinds due to the angle… so they had been filming us for no reason at all and expected the police to see this as reasonable?

The cops came back in and my wife was devastated, a huge breach of our privacy of course and totally unfounded accusations as we had never done anything to anger these people, we hadn't even met them. The police told us "just don't worry about it, if he tries something again just give us a call" which wasn't the most comforting at the time.

They moved out a few months later without any additional issues, my wife and I celebrated like it was a holiday when we saw the moving van in their driveway."

NoWayThisIsTaken

I bet you have celebrated. In fact, I have no doubt that you did. Those people sound like a nightmare.

"The dogs were able to get through..."

"Their dogs got into my backyard and attacked my dog. My dog ended up ok but it was a long recovery and he still doesn't walk right. He was and is the happiest dog ever so to see him on the ground covered in blood was the worst thing ever.

The dogs were able to get through because their kids had taken a plank out of my fence (they didn't have a fence).

I left a letter on their door explaining the situation. They showed up at my door to tell me that it was my fault for not having a stronger fence and that they wouldn't be paying any medical bills.

After a lot of them yelling and me calmly explaining why they actually would be paying, they eventually complied. They did build a fence, backward, with the flat side facing them.

They are also loud as f***, got chickens that escape on a regular basis in our suburban neighborhood and are overall scummy people."

Wolf97

That poor dog! What is wrong with people? It sounds like you still live there, which blows.

"When I got my first job..."

"When I started my first job post-college, I was thrilled to live by myself for the first time in my life. I had this beautiful 1 bedroom apartment in a solid part of town.

Everything was great until 6 months later when new tenants moved in next to my unit. I had a package go missing (a phone case). Amazon had posted a photo of it at my door, so I thought that it was just a fluke. Then it happened again, and again, and again. The office wouldn't accept packages, so I had to get my items delivered to friends' places instead. Overall wildly inconvenient and the police didn't care in the slightest when I reported it, so I just figured I'd deal with it.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I come home after being gone for less than an hour, to see that my doorknob and front door were scrapped up and the knob was barely hanging on.

Long story short, I had been parking in plain view of this guy's window, so he was able to tell when I was home. I am 100% convinced he tried to break into my place, and that my coming home early interrupted him. I googled his name after I moved (I got it off a package at his door) and found that he was a convicted felon with charges that include grand theft auto, domestic assault, drug dealing, and an attempted break-in."

LadyRingo

That is disturbing. Thankfully nothing more dangerous happened. Hopefully you don't live there anymore.

"The upstairs neighbor's..."

"The upstairs neighbor's dog peed on their patio and it dripped down onto me while I was sitting outside reading. I yelled and ran to shower and when I texted them to ask them to take their dog out to pee in the future they said it wasn't their dog and it must have blown over from somewhere else. What?"

ClubwithaJungleTheme

People will truly say anything at all to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It's truly outrageous.

"I had an upstairs neighbor..."

"I had an upstairs neighbor let their dog take s**** on their balcony. I'm guessing this was going on for a while as I started to notice a brown viscous substance leaking on my potted plants on my balcony. It wasn't until it rained that I could smell that it was dog sh*t and piss. At that point, it was very obvious. I got him evicted because it kept happening."

drumsareneat

"Lived on the bottom floor..."

"Lived on the bottom floor of a two-story Victorian. There was very little sound insulation between the two floors. When we moved in there was a friendly older couple that had a dog. We could hear it running around but honestly no big deal. Then they moved out and these three young guys moved in. Seemed nice at first but they turned out to be horrible.

Officially the rental agreement said quiet hours started at like 9 pm. We basically told them, look, we're usually out of the house a lot and not home until late. As long as you're quiet by midnight during the week and 2 am (bar time) on weekends we're cool. This seemed incredibly reasonable to me. Within a couple of weeks of them moving in it was non-stop crappy techno music being blasted at all hours. As we had said, we weren't home much so that didn't bother us all that much. What did was the Tuesday night parties going until 4 am. I'd go to their front door to ask them to quiet down and it would take a few minutes of ringing the doorbell and pounding before anyone would come down. Usually, eyes were glazed over from either booze or drugs. I complained to their landlord multiple times but nothing really fixed it. I finally just started calling the cops and that would get them to stop for that night at least.

"The final straw was they had a party with easily 60 or 70 people. Again, not a big deal, until it was 3 am and the club music was blasting and everyone decided jumping up and down would be a great idea. I actually could see the ceiling flexing. I finally sat down and wrote a cease and desist letter detailing the city's noise ordinances and various other legal sh*t that would give me cause to sue them and put it in their mailbox. Sent it to their landlord as well. That stopped things. Should have done it months before that.

Finally, the landlord had enough I guess because he came in and raised their rent to something insane like $6000 a month. We live in an expensive city but that was like 2x market rate at least. There was no rent control for this building so they were out within the month. Was pretty glorious to hear them yelling at each other about finding a new place to live."

bg-j38

"She's had to call the cops..."

"My mom has a neighbor who literally looks through her window to try to see into the house. She's had to call the cops on her multiple times."

HappiestCorgi5639

There are few things more aggravating than Peeping Tom neighbors. Had a friend who dealt with one. It was invasive and unnerving. Thankfully, they don't live there anymore.

"I used to live in a house..."

"I used to live in a house that was split into two apartments. My neighbors had the lower half, and I learned we had issues with the HVAC when their cigarette smoke came visibly pouring out our registers: stank up everything we owned.

Then one of them stole my car."

SmoothRevolution958

Again... I am counting my lucky stars that I have never had to deal with a horrible neighbor. On the off chance that I manage to own property someday (ha, that's a lauigh), I pray that I don't end up dealing with anyone that terrible. Hopefully I don't jinx it!

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us in the comments below!

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Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?