If the walls are thin... all information is fair game. The secrets that are exposed, the lies uncovered, the heartache, the joy..... heck, things we can listen from our neighbor's lives can be better than any telenovela. So many buildings are built so paper thin (thank you slumlords of NYC) that listening is unavoidable. And Lord do the neighbors have issues.
Redditor EskildDood wanted to hear what secrets have been overheard by "accident" by asking...
Redditors with thin walls, what have you heard in your apartment?
Vroom. Vroom.
Giphy"I can hear when my neighbors vacuum. Our building tends to vacuum together as a result. I hear my upstairs neighbor and go "oh hey i should vacuum haven't done that in awhile and its already noisy." Then my downstairs neighbor and my left hand neighbor start vacuuming. It's kinda hilarious. My right hand neighbor doesn't vacuum with us but does sing opera while doing dishes."SurvivingJupiter
2 A.M.
"Years ago I had an upstairs neighbor. At 2am, every night, I would hear something sprint across the entire apartment. I realized three things, it was very fast, it took small strides, and it never deviated from its path. One day, I saw my neighbor outside and I said, "I don't know how you have energy at 2am?" He responded with, "Dude, I've been working the midnight to 8am shift for 15 years. Doesn't bother me at all."
"That night, I watched him leave his house, drive off, and waited two hours. At exactly 2am, I heard what sounded like two feet hit the floor in his bedroom, and the marathon started."
"A few weeks later, I see him outside. I tell him what I hear at night and he says, "That's strange, no one has my keys, it's just me and my rabbit up there." MancetheLance
For Good Measure.
"I once heard a former roommate laughing with his then girlfriend about how they're screwing me over on money. Turned out they were taking my utility portion and buying various games and alcohol."
"Instead of confronting them, I confirmed what they said with the utilities company (they hadn't paid the bill is 2 months) and I moved all my stuff out that day while they were at work. For good measure, I took myself off the lease and told them about the GF that had been there 6 months."Azurko
TWICE?!?! Miracles.
Giphy"I've heard and felt the neighbors upstairs having sex."
"And apparently they like to rearrange the furniture at least twice a week."3720-To-One
The Phantom.
"I actually manage an apartment complex where my office is surrounded by a one bedroom unit. The building is old and the walls are thin. The tenant that used to live in the unit was a quiet man but would frequently sing beautiful opera music. His voice was amazing and I loved it every time I heard him sing!"
"Then one time I saw him in the halls and made the mistake of asking if he was the one who sang these beautiful opera songs. His face turned red but he confirmed that it was him. I told him that I always enjoyed it when I heard him sing and that it would always brighten my day."
"Never should have said anything because I never heard him sing again."_Funke_
Damn it Jessica!
"I once heard an argument that went a little like this:"
"Stop treating me like I'm stupid!"
"You asked if Seahorses were mammals, Jessica!"
"THEY GIVE LIVE BIRTH." ApplepieButterfly
Ummm... 911?
"My upstairs neighbors taking turns zapping each other with a stun gun, hitting the floor, groaning in pain, and then laughing like Beavis and Butthead."yesnogoodbye
Secrets.
Giphy"Heard the couple next door arguing. The wife was furious because she realized he had been cheating on her after she found out she had chlamydia. He tried to convince her that she must have been the unfaithful one. She still lives there. He doesn't."thedesertnomad
Second Floor....
"I lived on the second of three floors. Below me, there was a couple who scheduled their fights for Saturday night. You could hear the female absolutely berating the male, saying how he looked at another girl while they were out or something like that, and he would do nothing but resignedly respond in a monotone voice. I couldn't hear his side- it was very much like the teacher in Charlie Brown. Then, the morning after, without fail, they would have crazy loud makeup sex."
"Above me was a drummer. Now I wouldn't mind it, except he practiced early and late, and never really got any better. It was painful. Luckily he was kicked out, and the punching bag guy took his place! At least he kept a consistent beat... Even when it shook my entire apartment." Astrea23
The Stairwell.....
"In college, I lived in a crappy apartment nearby the school, that was mostly populated by students. Halfway to class one day, I realized I forgot a book and had to rush back to my apartment to get it. As I was running up the stairs (which shared a wall with the stairs in the next door apartment, which mirrored my own) I could have sworn I heard someone yelling. I ignored it and ran to my room to grab my book."
"As I clambered downstairs, again I heard yelling, and I paused to listen. I heard some unintelligible moaning, and eventually heard the words "help me," weakly groaned from the stairs next door. I rushed out and tried their door, but it was locked. I totally forgot about my class and ran to the apartment management office, hoping that someone was there. A manager was, thank goodness, and after I explained the situation, she grabbed her master keys and we booked it back to my neighbor's place."
"She opened the door and the poor guy was laying in the stairwell (it was one of the ones that goes up halfway to the second floor, then turns 90 degrees for the rest of the way), clearly having fallen. I called 911 while the manager ran over to the guy. Ambulance came and picked him up, and I later learned that he had fallen down the stairs after passing into a brief diabetic coma."
"I guess he hadn't eaten in some time; I don't know too much about how diabetes works. Anyhow, to this day, I feel grateful that I forgot that book. That poor guy could have died, slumped halfway down the stairs with his face in the carpet."thatdanglion
Tiny Furniture?
Giphy"My upstairs neighbors used to do the furniture moving thing. We both had studio apartments and it was a huge mystery to me how they could move what sounded like a warehouse full of furniture for an hour in such a tiny place."york100
Daddy....
"My downstairs neighbors are a couple with a one year old boy. The babies room is right under mine. They speak so sweetly to him I'm not even mad that I can hear them so clearly."
"One morning the dad went in to get the baby out of bed and I hear him go "can you say daddy? Can you say daddy?" And in the tiniest little voice I heard "daddy." My heart melted."Kaaitlynnx
The Mystery....
"In our old apartment our upstairs neighbor had extremely loud, theatrically enthusiastic sex in the middle of the day. The puzzle was that he would stop in the middle and we'd hear him walk to where the bathroom is, stay there for a minute or two and then walk back and resume in the bedroom. It was the same pattern every time. We could never figure out what that was all about. Any ideas welcomed." excelsior1907
Mozart!
Giphy"An argument about money while I was doing the dishes. It ended with a slammed door and one of them on a piano, hitting the keys like a maniac. Some people read, some people go get something to eat, some people exercise... this fool relieves stress by going crazy on a piano. lol"FultonHomes
On the Lamb....
"I moved from far away, so I have a different state license plate than everyone else at the apartment complex. A couple of days ago I head my upstairs neighbor drunkenly ranting to his wife about what he thinks I'm up to. He's convinced that I'm on the run from something. I'm just in grad school lmao."greatergood2019
But Gina!!!
"Gina, I love you! Gina no! Gina, dammit put the knife down!!" At this point, both the apartments adjoining to Gina's called the police. Gina's husband decided to spend the night elsewhere." oldmuttsysadmin
Bullseye!
"I lived next to a couple some years ago and they came home after a night out and started fighting about who was better at darts. I thought they were joking but it got pretty heated. Doors were slammed."
"Edit: Since people are asking, they were playing darts at the bar earlier that night. From what I could tell they were playing as a team and the boyfriend wasn't pulling his weight and was super defensive about it (had an off night, allegedly). The girlfriend was mad he couldn't accept she was better. I'm no detective but think they had some relationship issues bigger than darts."Aromatic_Bird
Alarmed!
Giphy"More what my neighbor heard... I'm a deep sleeper and was an even deeper sleeper as a teenager. My phone alarm was going off for 30 minutes and my neighbors could hear it through the walls, assumed it was a burglar alarm and called the police. Waking up to the police banging on my door was confusing."iMac_Hunt
mundian to bach ke.....
- "lots of sex"
- "my presumably constipated neighbor trying to poop, aka 5 min of grunting and heavy breathing"
- "someone snoring like what I can only describe as a diesel truck revving its engine"
- "a little girl practicing playing what I think was a violin every night for a while"
- "someone blasting middle eastern music. I shazamed it and the song is called "mundian to bach ke"
- "what sounded like a woman forcing herself to puke, with lots of crying. IDK if she had food poisoning, or was bulimic or what."sam_the_shinobi
5 Doors Down.
"My University accommodation had paper thin walls, you could hear people having sex 5 doors down, and I could hear my friends music from even further away." SashaPrykhodko
"Yeah I know."
"I heard the couple that used to live next door go through divorce. Their yelling got progressively worse until I realized that their relationship really wasn't healthy. Once she mentioned that they had split up and that she was moving I was like "Yeah I know." Anorcrakna
Things that go Bang!
"The way my old apartments were laid out, the neighbors bedroom was right next to my kitchen / dining room. One night, I hear them banging (thin walls are thinner when the bed is hitting the wall) while I was fixing dinner. I just turned up the music and continued on with my life. Two hours later, I was cleaning up, doing dishes, and generally tidying up when I heard the familiar thump thump thump of banging."
"I think, good for them and bag up the trash to take out. Thump thump thump. I open the door and take my bag of trash outside. As I'm walking out, I see the male half of my thumping neighbors.... walking in from his car."
"Walking back from the dumpster, I see a half naked dude running out of the neighbors apartment. They moved shortly after that." Cypher_Shadow
"first of all."
"Couple upstairs would argue frequently. One particular evening, they had an epic battle. It was hours long."
"About 2 hours into the argument (11 pm on a weeknight) we heard the woman shout "first of all."
"That was the moment we knew sleeping wouldn't be restful that night." EE327
Adele! That is all!
Giphy"My male neighbor from India belting out hello by Adele at the top of his lungs. It was magical."kittenkin
"Man, my old building was full of Chinese internationals and every so often i'd get a free concert of whatever Chinese music is popular, Jessie J. and Taylor Swift. It's truly beautiful." foursevenniner
Disconnect.
"I could hear my neighbor fart and when her phone went off on vibrate. It was like having roommates I couldn't see."overmyhead5
"Oh, I thought they were connected. Every time her phone went off, she farted." TalisFletcher
"Bless you!"
Giphy"Someone sneezed."
"We said bless you."
"They laughed." KiltedLady
"Are you my old neighbor?"
"First day in my apartment, I was sitting on my empty living room floor eating pizza. I sneezed and I heard the guy above me say, "Bless you!" He was my favorite neighbor after that." hey-there-reddit
"YOU'RE HAVING SEX IN MYYYYY BED?!"
"Upstairs neighbors were a single mom and teenage daughter. They were very loud. The mom's room was above my room. One day I had off and was woken up by sex upstairs. It was pretty common in the previous couple weeks. This time, though, someone came in and started screaming."
"YOU'RE HAVING SEX IN MYYYYY BED?!"
"Turns out the daughter had been skipping school and coming back to the apartment with her boyfriend. They were the ones having sex in the mom's bed. The fight that ensued should've earned both women awards." BluestLantern85
The Fragile Ones.
"My ex-neighbors never let their kids leave the house, and preferred to raise bubble children. The older son (12 or 13) was pitifully fragile. One day I heard him crying because he pooped on his own hands." WagonJ3
Sometimes it pays to eavesdrop!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below!
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.