CuriositiesMAY 9, 2022

60 Times People Had "Neighbors From Hell"

Mantas Kačerauskas and Adelaide May Ross

125

Sharing a neighborhood can create a beautiful bond between residents. Ideally, when you moved in your neighbors brought over a freshly baked apple pie to help you feel welcome. Now you walk your dogs together at the same time each morning and share a pot of coffee after. When we’re lucky, our neighbors can become lifelong friends.

On the other hand, when we’re not as fortunate, neighbors can become sworn enemies, exchanging passive aggressive glances each time they pass on the street. From fighting over parking spots to playing music at ungodly volumes, we’ve perused the Ask Reddit community to find some of the most appalling neighbor horror stories and compiled them here. Below, you can read all about the pain of these unfortunate living situations, and count your blessings if you have angelic neighbors. Then if you’re looking for more “neighbors from hell” content, check out this Bored Panda piece next.

#1

60 Times People Had "Neighbors From Hell"

My neighbors in college thought it would be fun to shoot the pellet gun in their backyard. When shooting at cans wasn't satisfying they went ahead and shot my cat. I was gone at the time and when I got back home, my cat had ran back in through the window to hide, blood all over the floors. Took him to the vet who removed the pellet and he died two days later from peritonitis. One of the saddest moments of my life.

montgomerygoose, Alexander Andrews

Report

301points

Living in close proximity to others provides neighbors with a great deal of power to make our lives more pleasant or more challenging. But when it comes to Americans, many of them are not huge fans of their neighbors. SWNS Digital reports that 36% of Americans have had issues with neighbors “that escalate into full-blown arguments” and 25% say they have a “long-running feud” with someone living close by. Due to this tension, over 40% of Americans trying to avoid their difficult neighbors intentionally.

But why is it so hard to “love thy neighbor”? Apparently, the top catalysts for issues in a neighborhood are disagreements involving: noise, parking, trash/messes, animal noise, yelling or screaming, privacy issues, animal waste, property lines and family conflicts.

#2

I was the neighbor from hell once. I realize how much I sucked now, but at the time I was apparently just a douche. I lived below a couple with two young children (one couldn't even walk yet). I was in a band, and since I worked the 2-10 shift at my job, we recorded our album, in my apartment, after 10:30pm every night. I can't imagine they liked me at all, but they never really complained and were nice enough when I would see them in the halls and stuff. Still, now that I have my own kid, I realize I sucked BIG TIME.

hatfarm

Report

260points

In extreme cases, neighbor disputes can even escalate to someone taking legal action. FindLaw breaks down some of the common reasons neighbors seek help settling disputes and what their options are in various situations. First they note that issues typically arise when there are stark differences in homeowners’ backgrounds, including cultural, lifestyle or socioeconomic differences.

Sometimes neighbors want to deem someone a “nuisance”, but everyone defines that word slightly differently, and for the sake of a lawsuit, a homeowner has to be able to prove their neighbor is “interfering with the enjoyment of [their] property”.

#3

I guess not "from hell," but still. The neighbors f*****g kids man. It starts every spring. They only have one speech volume, which is scream. It sounds like children are being murdered on a daily basis. They jump all over my porch swing even though I have repeatedly asked the parents to tell them not to. They run up and down the stairs of my porch constantly. I am just waiting for one to get seriously hurt and then it's my fault. I have a narrow driveway and last summer the one got his bike wedged between my house and my cars' passenger door, scratched the s**t out of it. Basically they just run wild and the parents either don't care, or are too drunk to notice at times. I don't know when I turned into a crotchety old man at 30 but damn those kids.

dc5trbo, Keira Burton

Report

236points

#4

Cop here. I went to a disturbance call where two neighbors were blowing leaves at each other with leaf blowers. They were actually mad while doing this.

jkorpela, Paris Lopez

Report

207points

FindLaw explains that nuisance claims are broken down into two categories: private and public. A private nuisance is one that only affects a small number of people in a close vicinity. An example would be a dog barking loudly and incessantly. A public nuisance would affect a much large number of people. For example, “ a nearby hog farm that fails to properly treat its waste, thus permeating the entire community with extremely unpleasant odors”. FindLaw also notes that nuisances tend to involve non-tangible factors, like sounds and odors. Where nuisance claims become tricky is proving in court that the disturbance is continuous and substantial. When possible, it’s best to avoid the hassle and sort these issues out one-on-one.

#5

Used to have a neighbour that put their extra bags of garbage out next to mine. This might not seem like such a big deal, but it was nearly every week, and our municipality had a 2 bag limit - if you had extra bags, you had to put a sticker on them (purchasable for a mere twenty-five cents) or they would not be picked up.

So, every week, I would go out (after putting my two cans out the night before) and find that there were extra bags of someone else's garbage left behind.

It took a long time to determine who the guilty party was, and a couple of extra bags each week added up. I would put on my rubber gloves, open the mystery bags, and sift through them, trying to find identifying information. It was very frustrating, because every week, there was nothing. I knew that the culprits had kids, because there were always dirty diapers. I knew that they were disgusting, lazy, sons-of-bitches, because every bag was full of styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery, which they apparently found more convenient than washing dishes - hence their production of surplus waste every week.

This went on for a ridiculously long time. I would sift through their bags, be disappointed, rebag their garbage, and then grudgingly store it in my garage, with the only other option being to pay for surplus stickers to take it away. Happily, we didn't have a car, so there was lots of space in the garage.

Then - one fine August day, it happened! A bill! A bill was in the garbage! A bill with an address on it, writ large. Finally, I knew the household which was responsible for all the extra garbage. The cheapskates that could not find it in their budgets to affix the mere twenty-five-cent stickers for their surplus waste, and instead sneakily put it out in their neighbours' yards. They were three doors down, and across the alley.

I waited for their van to be gone, and then went over to their gate, opened it, and placed all their garbage carefully back in their driveway. Since fair is fair, and I was already obliged to handle their garbage and rebag it, it I emptied it all out and took my bags back, leaving their six months' extra garbage in a heap in their driveway.

I don't think they ever worked out who had had their revenge on them, since it was pretty clear that they were leaving extra bags for everyone who shared an alley with them - but that was the end of their illegal dumping. It does give me some satisfaction to know that, even if I had to handle and re-bag their garbage when it was fresh, they had to re-bag it after it had been fermenting for months in my non-climate-controlled garage. Pricks.

Larry_Mudd

Report

189points

#6

Many stories but I will leave this bit of speech my genius neighbor spouted last weekend.

Screaming this from her front porch to her adult son who just jumped in his jeep...

"Put your seatbelt on, you been drinkin'!"

anon, Gerrie van der Walt

Report

174points

Another reason residents might seek legal help is when a neighbor is liable for water damage. Water damage can require costly and time-consuming repairs, but FindLaw notes that it’s “important to know exactly what your neighbor's responsibilities are before pursuing a claim”. If water damage is due to a natural occurrence, such as rain runoff, it’s not their fault. Homeowners have a responsibility to protect their own property if it rests on lower ground. However, when water damage comes from landscaping, plumbing issues or other preventable causes, neighbors can be held liable.

#7

I have actually been a terrible neighbor, it's something I actually still feel a little bad about (sort of). Basically where we lived we would get a lot of snails when it rained, I mean buckets full of them, it was a ritual of my mothers to go out and collect them all and 'dispose' of them 'humanely' with a brick.

Being a 6 year old I absolutely loved snails and would feel really bad for the little guys and would go out and grab as many as I could in order to 'save' them, of course it made sense for me to simply throw them over the fence into my neighbor's yard where they could go live happily. It was only much later that I overheard a conversation between my neighbor and my mother in which she was saying all her roses had been almost destroyed by snails, the even worse part was apparently they belonged to her husband (the roses) who had passed away so they held a lot of sentimental value.

After that the snails got 'released' to the house behind us who my mum didn't like so no one was none the wiser.

Sorry lady neighbor I hope your roses grew back okay.

Sugarbombs, Mats Hagwall

Report

166points

#8

A older lady lives several doors from me that is the terror of the complex and self-appointed "neighborhood watch".

She's called the cops on our mutual neighbor numerous times, for everything from excessive noise (No. I share a wall with them.) to suspected drug dealing, since they had they gall to sit in their car with a friend *in front of their own damn apartment*. She's called animal control on their cat, who sits in his front yard wearing his collar and tags staring down my cat. (She's complained to the landlord about mine as well. I chipped her, because of this nut.) Apparently, her dog won't stop barking at our cats. (Um, yeah?)

She "patrols" our sidewalk (It's a row of townhouses) with her poodle, and I've caught her peering in and trying to open my car.

I'm a nurse, so guess whose door gets banged on if she has an "emergency"? This is frequent. My answer is ALWAYS to suggest she see a doctor, and she's not likely ever getting a different one since I don't want to get sued. In the last few months, she's been sure she's having a stroke, been sure she's having a heart attack, had palpitations, felt lighthearted, "spranged" her wrist, and needed me to check her blood pressure twice.

And I have it pretty good considering the utter hell she brings towards our poor Muslim neighbors. She probably got them all put on terrorist watch lists. "You know, something about that husband just disturbs me. What about you?"

My landlord is great, my rent is reasonable, my unit is nice, quiet, and ten minutes from work, and I like my other neighbors.

She's old and annoying. She can't live forever, right?

nikils

Report

161points

#9

Looked out of my window to see my neighbour leaning over my 6ft high fence, and stretching right into my yard to saw some of the main branches off my tree... My tree had never extended over the fence and her limb-hacking killed it.
A few months later, she cut one of the wires attached to our boundary fence that was holding up a shade cloth in my back yard. I called the cops on her.
And a couple of weeks later, all the plants along our boundary fence mysteriously died, and seriously damaged some of my trees...
And I still have no idea what her problem is!

gadget_girl, Nidhi Tokas Dahiya

Report

146points

When it comes to how friendly Americans are with their neighbors, there is a generational divide. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans who are 65 and older are the most likely age group to know who lives close by, with 34% knowing most of their neighbors, 56% knowing some of them and only 4% not knowing any of them. On the contrary, 23% of Americans between the ages of 18-29 report not knowing anyone in their neighborhood or building. Age is not the only factor at play, though. When it comes to trust, white, affluent seniors are the most likely group in all of the US to trust their neighbors.

#10

When i was a baby the old lady who lived above us put a hose through the window into my cot.

gotn, freestocks

Report

126points

#11

When I was a kid, my next door neighbor wanted to build a patio for his numerous cars into my yard. He got mad when we told him not to.

TheSithLordFender

Report

124points

#12

Neighbour behind my house would scream at her kids daily to the point our kids would be afraid to play in the backyard.

By "scream," I mean things such as "You f*****g little c**t! Get the f**k out here!" (verbatim quote) to a kid that looked like he was 8 or 9.

My ex even tried to help out one day; one of her kids was up a 3-storey tall tree of hers that hung over our fence and wouldn't climb down (I wonder why?) and this banshee was screaming all sorts of bile at him to come down. My ex calmly says to the boy "Please climb down, sweetie. You might fall" to try and convince him; the woman then turns on her "What the f**k do you think you're doing? Don't you f*****g talk to my kids!"

I made the mistake of calling the cops on her once while she was abusing several people. She then came after ~~my~~ me physically.

Antarius-of-Smeg, engin akyurt

Report

115points

Trust in neighbors seems to be directly tied to level of wealth. “67% of those with household incomes of $75,000 or more say they trust all or most of their neighbors, compared with just 37% of those earning less than $30,000 per year”. Similarly, when race is factored into the equation, white Americans have the most confidence in their neighbors again, with 62% of them trusting all or most of their neighbors. This is likely because white people are the highest earners in America and can afford to reside in the safest neighborhoods.

#13

Ten chihuahuas

anon, Tesla Fans Schweiz

Report

113points

#14

Not from "hell" exactly. We used to live in a property with 2 units and we were in the back. Lived there for 4-5 years before the new front unit neighbours (a couple in their 60s-70s) moved in. A few weeks in, she complained about our front yard bit which was not a shared area and it consisted of a tree and 3-4 small bushes. She wanted us to plant something nicer in OUR private area (2m x 1m) keeping in mind we were in the back so no one from the street could see it anyways. My mum told her she didn't have the time to do that so she suggested we hire her gardener to take care of our area and mum told her we didn't have that kind of money to spend. Next thing you know she sends us her grandson (he would've been late 20s) to try and convince us to change our plants to what she wanted. She hinted we should do it because he was a professional *private detective* and he was really good at his job. Crazy plant lady.

chang_rocks, Dakota Lim

Report

113points

#15

When I was growing up, my father wound up adopting an orange tabby cat that the neighbor behind us had abandoned as a kitten. It took months for this cat to slowly trust my father, and another year or two before he would allow anyone else to pick him up or pet him, but once he opened up, he was the single most affectionate cat I'd ever known. You could pick him up in your arms and he would wrap his tail around your arm like a monkey while hugging your neck.

We had Bill for three or four years, and he lived in our shed out back, spending most of his time in our backyard. Occasionally he'd wander across the street, especially when the other neighbors would give him treats.

One day my father got a knock on the door. The guy standing there was a neighbor from 3 doors down whom we'd never met. The guy had Bill in a trap, and said he caught him outside his house, that Bill was disturbing his chihuahua inside and making the dog bark.

The ultimatum was made: either we could take our cat to the animal shelter, or the next time around he would capture Bill and take him to the pound. Bill simply couldn't stand being an indoor cat, and so my father wasn't really left with much choice. He took Bill back from the neighbor, sat inside crying, and finally drove over to the animal shelter and have him over for adoption.

About a week later we noticed activity outside the neighbor's house down the street. Come to find out, the neighbor and his noisy chihuahua had been in the process of selling their house, and moved out just a couple of days after trapping Bill.

My dad rushed back to the animal shelter to get Bill back, but they had already adopted him out. According to policy, they couldn't tell him who had adopted Bill. Somewhere I hope he's still out there with some other loving family that doesn't have an a*****e neighbor like that...

ArbiterOfTruth

Report

113points

Not everyone is a nightmare neighbor though. There are still neighborhoods full of friendly individuals who want the best for one another. To help residents become better neighbors, we checked out Debby Mayne’s article “The Best Tips for Being a Good Neighbor”. Debby, who’s a fiction author and etiquette writer, noted that “the ultimate goal is to live in peace and harmony” and, "Though that’s not always possible, you can at least do whatever it takes to prevent hostilities and long-lasting hard feelings.”

Her first tip is an obvious but important reminder: be conscious of your noise levels. “Mowing [your lawn] at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning will not endear you to your neighbors," she notes.

#16

Downhill neighbor behind us cut down the hedge between our house and theirs, complained we were 'peepers' trying to look into their house from our terrace above. Their dog then tore up our very old 4-foot fence between the houses and we put up a 6-foot fence topped by a 2-foot section of lattice (max allowed by law) and they could no longer see in to our place. Then they built a 3-foot raised deck so they could see over again and called code enforcement and the police because we were 'peeping' again. The police blew them off and code enforcement cited them for the illegal deck which they had to take down. :)

Altarocks

Report

112points

#17

Found a neighbor of mine putting his trash in my cans. Then when I confronted him he tried to fight me.

HAMSTYLE_, the blowup

Report

98points

#18

My neighbour cut the Cable with her garden sheers, I presume an argument over the bill.

She wouldn't let the cable company in to repair it. So they had to by pass her house, my house and about 6 others had no TV, Phone or Internet for 8 days.

Bbrhuft, Anna Shvets

Report

96points

Next, Debby reminds readers to follow the “Golden Rule” as a neighbor. This includes respecting privacy and personal space, promptly returning items you borrow, stopping neighborhood gossip in it’s tracks, and being responsible for your pets (including their noise levels and droppings around the neighborhood). Around the holidays, it’s nice to send greeting cards or drop off small gifts on neighbors' doorsteps. And when misunderstandings do arise, try to resolve them quickly and gracefully.

#19

I lived in a house that had been split into two apartments. Next door was a crackhead. Normally, crackhead kept to herself and didn't bother me except to bum a cigarette or two every few days.

One day she needed a smoke, but I was down to my last pack, and payday wasn't for another three days, so I said no. She must have really needed a smoke, because it was like a rage switch had been turned on in her head.

I turned around and went back into my apartment to get away from her screaming at me, and she went back into her apartment and started pounding on the walls. At least I thought she was just pounding on the walls. Turns out that she grabbed a hammer and was smashing her way through the walls to my apartment.

I called her boyfriend who was basically a decent dude, and he rushed home and got her calmed down. The hole in the walls was basketball sized by the time she was stopped. Luckily for me they were already being evicted, so I didn't have to worry about her anymore.

**Tl;Dr** http://i.imgur.com/rjX661r.gif

stopstaringatmeswan4

Report

89points

#20

I work in the agricultural industry and sometimes have to help sort out disputes between neighbours.

I have always been shocked as to how two grown adults (or two families) will allow the situation to degrade to the point of violence.

One time I was contacted because of a dam usage dispute. Basically, the two warring neighbours were unsure of the boundary between their two properties and both wanted to use this one particular dam. Both had in the past fenced it off, and both had cut the other neighbours fence down.

I identified who the dam belonged to and provided advice accordingly. The neighbour who came off second best wasn't happy... He didn't say anything to me, really. But he did throw a tonne of dynamite in the dam, rendering it useless. It also exploded the animals drinking from it at the time of detonation.

Another person is suspected of taking revenge on his neighbour for some sort of personal slight. I say suspected, because it's been thoroughly investigated and no one knows the clear details. All I can say is that the neighbour disappeared without a trace and rumour has it, was cut into pieces and stuffed down an out of commission bore hole.

On other occasions, I've had to deal with neighbours who have shot at each other, lit each other's infrastructure on fire, stolen each other's property (including livestock) or even in one case, revenge f****d the neighbours daughter. Keeps life interesting.

FrankenstineGirls, Idin Ebrahimi

Report

82points

125