1. Leaves
I came home to find about 15 leaves pinned to my front door with a note saying, "These are all yours!" The neighbor lady was upset that the wind had blown leaves from our yard onto her garage.
2. Introduction
We had lived in the house for almost a year when a neighbor came over to introduce himself. My Jack Russell Terrier – the friendliest dog ever – was by my side, and the man approached holding a two-meter metal rod. When I asked what it was for, he smiled innocently and said it was a safety precaution because he wasn’t sure if he’d need to hit my dog.
3. The Neighbor Parties
He threw parties in his yard several times a week, but not for the reasons you might think. The music and guests weren’t too loud — actually, there were no guests. He lit a campfire, set up about six chairs and plates around it, and chatted with invisible friends. At first, I thought he was on the phone or video chatting, but no. He was alone, grilling and eating while having long conversations with people who weren’t there.
4. Transplanting
Under the cover of night, he dug up my newly bought flowers and two bushes and planted them in his own yard. We were direct neighbors, and muddy footprints gave him away in about three minutes. I still can’t understand how he thought I wouldn’t notice.
5. Meow
Next door lives an elderly couple and their son, who’s about 30. Every day, he hides behind a bush by their fence and meows at passersby. His parents are kind people and have no issues with him, but it’s clear he’s a bit off. His dad once said, "The kid just loves being a cat," and that was that.
6. Nails
The woman was the loudest advocate for finding whoever was driving nails into the tires of cars parked on the street (which had happened multiple times). I installed a camera on the fence and discovered she was the nail phantom.
7. Shameless
She accused me of rearranging her two glowing decorative reindeer to look like they were having sex. I told her that as a lawyer and mom of three, I’m more sophisticated than that, and I was 300 kilometers away with my family at that time. She claimed to have video evidence but never showed it and hasn’t spoken to me since.
8. An Interesting Neighbor
I once saw him mowing grass on his paved driveway, then watering the street with a hose for hours — in the fall.
9. Why
The elderly lady was nice at first, but when my son’s family accidentally kicked their ball into her yard and asked for it back, she went inside and came out with a huge knife, stabbing the ball to pieces right in front of the kids.
When my son called me, the lady was still stabbing the ball’s remains with a twisted, snarling face. Her neat gray bun had come undone, long hair fell over her face, and her clothes were dirty and tattered from mud. She looked like a crazy witch. That’s how we found out she was a neighborhood psychopath.
10. Noise Complaint
On the first night, she knocked on our door at 2 a.m., asking us to quiet our dog because it couldn’t bark over the loud barking. We don’t have a dog.
