“Love thy neighbor” is disastrously difficult to do when your neighbor is driving you insane. Oh, it’s all very good and well to preach about how we should all get along and how communication solves everything… until your next-door neighbor starts digging up the flowers in your garden or sticking nails into people’s car tires at night.
Those are but a taste of the stories that Reddit users shared with redditor Oilpaintroses who asked them to share tales about their ‘crazy’ neighbors. Some of these are a tad quirky. Others could lead to some major arguments in the neighborhood. While a few are simply neighbors from hell and we’re surprised that the redditors living next to them haven’t moved away yet.
Check out some of the best bizarre-o neighbor tales below, upvote the ones that intrigued you the most, and if you’re feeling up to it, share the crazy things that your own neighbors have done, dear Readers.
The author of the thread, redditor Oilpaintroses, told Bored Panda that they’re shocked about how much their post blew up. “My neighbors were yelling at each other as usual and, as a sort of way to vent, I posted the question. I knew there are plenty of bad neighbors in the world, but it still surprised me how it blew up. It ranged from petty drama to straight-up crimes,” they said. Read on for the rest of the interview and for the redditor’s tale about their own neighbors from the ninth circle of hell.
#1
She dug up my fancy flowers and replanted them in her own yard, 15 feet away.
Image credits: lalalimabean
#2
We had an older lady living in the apartment above us. We both had balconies with wooden floors. We would be hanging out on the balcony after dinner and she didn’t love it so she would hold a windex bottle to the gaps between the boards and spray us with windex then quickly run inside and refuse to answer the door....
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#3
My sister’s neighbour reported my sister to the police because her kids were playing in my sister’s garden. Not for the usual reasons, too much noise etc. Nope, because a volcano in Italy had erupted and the radiation would hurt them. My sister lives in the U.K.
Image credits: JimmyHerbertKnockers
According to redditor Oilpaintroses, a good way to avoid ‘crazy’ is to live in a remote area with as few people nearby as possible. “That’s my personal dream,” they revealed to Bored Panda.
The redditor also opened up to us about their horrendous upstairs neighbor and her family who had been driving them insane over years and years. “My upstairs neighbor is a neurotic, untreated OCD widow with 5 asshole sons that fought constantly at ungodly hours and disrupted my sleep all my childhood,” they said.
#4
He jumped in front of my car while I was driving down the road to yell at me for going through his trash at night. Told him it was probably raccoons. He refuses to believe it to this day.
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#5
Hung a dead deer from his tree for 4 months after deer hunting season
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#6
My neighbor sits in his yard, hides behind his plants and meows at people who pass by. He is not dangerous at all but he is not right in the head either. His caretakers are his parents and they seem to be very nice people. His dad once told me "he just likes to be a cat" and left it at that. I didn't ask any more questions.
Image credits: MajorSagittarius12
“She flooded our apartment, causing mold and sending me—who later developed asthma—to the hospital. Her situation is rough, but after dealing with her BS and her sons’ BS for years, I feel nothing positive towards her. Her sons are trash and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
The redditor continued about their hellish neighbors: “To put a cherry on top, one of the sons married and had a daughter with some form of mental retardation. He and his wife dump this poor child on her senile grandma for weeks on end while they do God knows what. You can imagine all the screaming and cursing I still hear as a young adult. It’s a mess. That whole family is a mess. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.”
#7
My parents next door neighbor Nancy. Started with the "no trespassing" sign in the backyard that faces our yard and nothing else. Set up a motion activated flood light that faces the side of our house and nothing else. She stabbed our ball when it landed in her yard when we were children. Called the cops on the neighbors because "their dog barked constantly" despite them not owning a dog. Thinks my mother (the sweetest person you can meet in this world) is a backstabbing traitor for warning the new neighbors not to let their kids play on Nancy's lawn. Verbally assaulted me for chasing deer out of our flower garden, etc. But the true "phycho moment" came with the trees.We have large trees along the property line (just barely on our side) and she was starting to go all psycho about the tree is gonna fall and crush her house and demanded it be cut down. We consulted an arborist who said it did not but could use a trim that would make it impossible to fall on her yard at all. The entire time they were trimming she stalked the property line and screamed if anyone stepped over it. While this trim was happening a single stick fell on her lawn. She lost it. Threatened to call the cops, told them they better have all their licenses up to date, etc. Arborists tried to blow her off but my mom insisted they check. Sent someone to City Hall and renewed their license. 30 min after that a cop showed up to check as Nancy had called them. Arborists were super thankful for my mom warning them.
Image credits: XANA12345 1
#8
He eats my flowers.In his defense, he told us that he has been doing it for years when he introduced himself after we bought the house. He also brought over frozen cookies in a plastic bag, as a housewarming gift, but wasn't sure what was in them. We share a side yard and as he was talking to us, I noticed his all brick house, was actually roofing shingles, layered to look like brick. It started to register that he may be a little out there.
He's a great neighbor. Just an older, eccentric stoner who keeps to himself and eats my flowers. No shame. Comes over to my yard, and eats my lillie's raw, or brings scissors and clips the heads to 'boil and make jam'. It's crazy to me, but we have embraced it. I planted a couple raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry bushes 3 years ago, when we first moved in, on the side yard we share. As well as a few knock out rose bushes. I told him to help himself to berries/roses anytime, especially before the birds do. The bushes have all gone insane and the entire side of my house is now a yearly buffet for my neighbor. Having a decent relationship with a crazy guy I share a property line with, is worth some deadheaded flowers.
Image credits: TraumaSparrow
#9
Stuck a barbecue-fork in my cat
Image credits: LadanReddit
Despite what I said earlier, communication—or rather good communication—is at the core of solving most neighborly disputes. And, if we’re being honest, communication helps solve most disputes to do with people anywhere.
The point is to be polite but firm, have a clear understanding of where both parties stand, and look for a way to compromise and find a way out of the mess. Starting things out on a diplomatic footing is better than activating your dastardly neighbor’s full-on defensive mode from the get-go.
#10
We used to live next to a woman that would have a disco party for her cats in her backyard at 2 am every few days. She would put up a disco ball and party lights with music playing. It was a little bit odd but what made it crazy was her dancing like a Native American performing a ritual around the disco ball. It’s honestly one of the strangest things I’ve ever witnessed!
Image credits: epicsunrise77
#11
I used to live next to "screaming guy". It was a cheap apartment and hearing through the walls didn't take a lot of effort. He would yell pretty regularly (at the phone? TV? something?) We could never figure out what it was.It was always during the day and we could never find sporting events that corresponded to the yelling times.
He was always polite and soft spoken when we interacted with him in person.
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#12
His doghouse has electricity.The doghouse sits there in his backyard at night with a light on, radio going (the dog loves listening to the radio, apparently), and a small electric fan in summer to keep him cool.
It's not so much "crazy" as, perhaps, a bit eccentric. How many doghouses have electricity, lights, fans, and a radio playing for the dog's enjoyment?
Image credits: Back2Bach
The Today Show explains that some of the very worst offenders in your neighborhood are likely to include racket makers (from those who love pumping loud music at all hours of the day to fighting couples), property line fanatics eyeing your tree branches growing above their fences, and slobs who hate tidying up.
The best cure for bad neighbors is not living next to them at all. So if you’re looking to buy or rent a new home, you should check out the neighborhood. Send out some feelers and listen to what the word on the grapevine is about some of the more colorful characters on the block.
#13
She stalks us. Like every time I get home she’ll walk outside and tell me I was either 3 mins later getting home this time or that I’m home 2 mins earlier and then ask me why.One time my friend and her sister came to pick me up.
The neighbor was against her window with her hands and face pressed up on the glass trying to look at who was coming to pick me up.
My friend and her sister were so terrified they called me telling me to hurry up bc a crazy lady was staring at them through a window.
I replied “oh it’s just the stalker neighbour!”
Ya that was a funny day.
Image credits: Competitive-Menu-146
#14
The old lady who lived below me left me multiple cryptic letters blaming me for the birds chirping too loudly in the mornings. Not pet birds. The sparrows outside. This went on for months.
Image credits: NarcolepticKnitter
#15
Next-door lady standing on her driveway yelling at me because acorns have fallen from a large oak tree on my property onto said driveway, demanding that I cause the tree to cease and desist from this intentional criminal activity.
Image credits: konqueror321
Today suggests that something you really should do before you move in is to have a drive around the neighborhood at night to see what the area looks like during a different time of day. You might spot some issues that would never have come up during the day. Furthermore, you should consider talking to the local store owners for any gossip.
#16
he took it upon himself to mow my lawn while I was at work (my mower broke and I couldn't get it fixed (needed to wait until next payday)Ran over a rock in my yard, damaged his mower, and asked that I pay to replace the blades.
Dude I didn't even ask you to mow my lawn...
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#17
She called the FBI on me. Then she would call Crimestoppers on me.
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#18
[Poops] off the balcony
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However, if you’re already living next to ‘insane’ neighbors, then you really ought to start by tackling the issues that pain both of you head-on. Agree to have a chat, keep it cordial but to the point. Offer solutions and possible compromises, even if you’re in the right and want to blame them.
#19
He cut down my row of cedar trees, removed the branches, sharpened the trunks and pointed them at my property. I never thought I would see the modern use of an abatis outside of trench warfare.
Image credits: haddonfielder
#20
He was hopping my fence during the day when I was gone at work to use my backyard pool. When confronted (thanks to a snitch neighbor) he claimed he had an agreement with the previous tenant that he could use the pool whenever he wanted. Guess what? I'm not that tenant. I have a bunch of security cameras now.#21
The downstairs neighbours next door seem to have completely ignored their back for a number of years, it’s a completely overgrown mess. I can’t really complain though because a family of foxes seem to be living there now and they have adorable little fox cubs that I can see from my bedroom window
Image credits: Wikiramblings
If communication doesn’t help and the situation keeps getting worse, consider calling the police or even taking your neighbors to court. It’s not the nice way to go about things but some neighbors left ‘nice’ years and years ago. After all, getting the authorities and the law involved is far better than fighting fire with fire and crazy with crazy.
#22
Country boy moved to the city into the house next to mine. Landlord had done a terrible job with upkeep so the back yard was covered in dead brush and overgrowth. Country boy saw a country boy problem and employed the best country boy solution he could think of. He lit it all on fire the day he after he moved in.#23
They adults in the family let their small (but surprisingly agressive) dog out unleashed and without a muzzle - we live right next to a very busy road and public sidewalk and the dog will often chase children and bark at other dogs, cars, people. Its a mess and they ignore any reasoning.Funny enough, their children always have the dog on a leash and apologize if he goes after anyone.
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#24
I used to live next door to a guy who would mow the lawn only at night after 10 p.m. We called him the midnight mower.
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#25
Pulled us over pretending to be a police officer, saying that we had somehow broken the law whilst pulling out of our driveway and that she was “going to call it in.”She isn’t a cop lol.
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#26
We came outside one day to see him pouring bleach on the patio. Asked him what he was doing, he tells me "the bugs are back. You see em? With their little wings?"No bugs. I didn't have the heart to tell him, so I said "you must have better eyes than me!"
Dude clearly has schizophrenia. Apparently he's had exterminators in 3 times in a year, I keep thinking about the kind of person that just says "oh yeah I see em, that'll be $750"
Image credits: Live2ride86
#27
I was dogsitting, probably about 16 years old. My neighbor charged into the house while I was there- with a gun, pointing it at my head and while on the phone with the owners of the dog claiming "There's an intruder!" REAL LIFE AINT CALL OF DUTY. I remember you Daniel, [screw] you. Seriously.#28
Once dated a girl who lived across from "Frank the Tank". Frank was a large man who didn't much like his wife, so he would spend HOURS on his riding mower basically going over the same 130sqft while sipping coors lights. Always in shorts that may have fit at one point but now made his thighs look like biscuits popping out of a can. Never a shirt. He would jiggle immensely.He also liked to watch the local younger girls run around...
#29
-Poisoned our dog once-I have a hedge in front of my house. When it gets trimmed and a single [friggin] leaf falls on her driveway (which she cleans every day) due to wind, she gets angry
-One time she just let leafs blow onto her driveway. She then picked all of them up and put them in a bag, which she hung on my door, saying that "it belongs to us" in an angry voice
-One time in 2004, my mom participated in a TV show where a singer would visit your house and a professional chef made food for you and the singer. She constantly yelled at the camera crew and tried to hit their equipment with a broom.
Image credits: GamePlayXtreme
#30
When I first moved in my neighbor walked into the house, unannounced.When my wife gets home, sometimes she wants to stay in her car having a phone conversation. He will come out and walk down the side of his house, checking his sprinkler controls and looks at my wife.
He has a two huge bushes he refuses to cut. It blocks our view of backing out of our driveway. The fire department came by to clear trees and bushes around the fire hydrants. The neighbor came out and yelled at the fireman. "This bush is older than you!". Needless to say, I hope there are.no house fires.
#31
She has 2 very big persimmon trees that provide a ton of fruit but insists selling them for $2.00 each. All the neighbors scoff at that price and nobody buys any and all that fruit falls to the ground and goes to waste year after year. The lady is in her mid 80’s
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#32
He is about 6’6 bald and white as a ghost. He stacked up logs in his front yard and practices throwing axes and knives at it. We live in a residential area with little kids. We call him “knife throwing guy.”
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#33
Used to live in a little town of 300 people where we had an elderly neighbor named Gladys. She would routinely look near our garbage can outside and take the recyclable bottles and cans we would leave for her.After we cleaned out a fish tank, we put the gravel and fake plants in a bag and left it on top of the garbage can because it was already full.
About a week later, Gladys hollered at me while I was outside to come over as she wanted to show me something. She had taken that bag we had left and planted the fake plants along the side of her house. She said she wasn’t real confident that they would make it but so far they seemed to be thriving! I could only nod and compliment her on her green thumb.
#34
Ours is the classic retired old man, terrible health and literally nothing going on in his life. He's not married, and I try to stay out of everyone's business, but I don't believe he has any kids. Rarely has visitors.I think he had a dream once of being a police officer but never quite made it. So he's taken it upon himself to be the neighborhood police person. He spies on everyone and makes it his business to know everything.
My "favorite" encounter was catching him literally camping out in my front yard bushes early morning, spying on neighbours a few doors down. He had a coffee mug, note pad, blanket... literally just hanging out in my front yard making notes about the weird folks who were likely doing drugs at home.
When I asked him what he was doing, he just didn't seem to understand that it was inappropriate. He seems to like us so it's nice, I guess, but he creeps me out.
#35
I used to rent the basement apt of the neighborhood crazy lady.Her car was decorated with thousands of rocks that she glued all over it. The property was incredibly overgrown. She had 5 unlicensed dogs, 2 cats, turtles that lived in her bathtub, pigeons, chickens, a rooster and more animals that I can't specifically remember but I do remember counting them all up she had something like 17 animals upstairs. She'd regularly practice saxaphone while the dogs howled along with her.
She didn't have a job and spent everyday going on craigslist free and picking things up. There was a room in the basement where she kept all of the stuff that was 3-4 feet deep and completely packed. I remember a cardboard stand up of Captain Kirk and one of the statue of liberty sticking out of the horde.
I desperately took a job as a door to door solicitor for a short time and was randomly assigned to my neighborhood. When I introduced myself to the next door neighbor and said what house I lived in they were about ready to wring my neck haha. I told them, "Yeah it probably sucks living next to her but I actually live there so yeah, no sympathy."
#36
Not sure if this counts as crazy but I have this neighbour who is part of a spiritual organization called "Brahma Kumaris". Every time someone in the neighbourhood is going through rough times, especially deaths in the family she goes to their house and instead of offering condolences she preaches how they should join this organization and things will be better. She doesn't acknowledge anyone the rest of the time except the time when someone dies or a new family moves in the neighbourhood to whom she preaches and gives books written by leaders of the organization.#37
This older lady lives across the street from me and she is OBSESSED with leaves falling on her lawn. To the point that she will come out of her house and pick up one individual leaf off the grass in the fall (or any other time). She spends hours a day outside with the leaf-blower in fall.She will go and knock on other neighbors' doors if she thinks you have too many leaves on your grass. She'll come over into your yard and do it yourself herself if you're not home.
What I think is weird is that she's in her 70s, no kids or grandkids living with her, and lives alone in a pretty large 4 bedroom house with an amazing in-ground pool in the backyard (with a slide and diving board and everything). Nobody has used that pool in at least 5 years yet she opens it up every summer.
Somehow she likes my family and has never once yelled at us about our leaves and randomly brings things over like half-eaten gallons of ice cream and ask if we want it because she's not using it. ???
#38
My neighbour in the flat upstairs likes to stand outside my open (ground floor) window at 6am and argue with her dog. Like "I know you don't want to go home yet, but if you don't stop being a dick you're not getting your sausage roll". Or "I'm not the one who wanted to go out, so what's your problem?". Happens at least twice a week.#39
She calls the city on everything. Ever walk out, look at your yard and think, "Yep. I need to mow this weekend." That is the point where my neighbor will call the city and complain that my lawn is too long. If I park on the street she will call the cops and complain that my car is an abandoned vehicle (even though it has current tags and is parked in front of the house it's registered to). The cops got tired of dealing with her and told me I need to park in my driveway and that I cannot park in the street or they'll tow my vehicle. If she sees my dogs outside she calls animal control and claims they're being neglected and abused. She is currently going around the neighborhood telling people that I am poisoning her cats (which I'm apparently doing a horrible job of since the cats are healthy and very much still around). She is a truly awful person who is very much mentally unstable. She doesn't just do this to me though. Other neighbors on the block complain about the exact same thing.#40
He thinks the zombie apocalypse is coming. He's set up booby traps in his garden, has some guns, and has been making weapons like throwing stars.#41
He had 3 little trees in his front yard and one day lemons appeared on them. We were like woah those lemons grew so fast and on closer inspection we realized they were fake lemons.
Image credits: waffleironone
#42
This woman lived next to us who needed to have the police called on her at least once a week.She would scream at her roommate at all hours of the night, go into a drunken and sometimes drug-filled stupor, and scream at us while tripping out as we sat in our backyard.
More than once I had to kick her out of our home because she walked in unannounced, beer in hand and drunk as ever.
One time I called the police because she was screaming about killing someone and rolling around on her front lawn.
Another time I received a call at work (one in the morning as I work third shift). My gf informed me they had to evacuate the house because the neighbor's garage was on fire. Turned out either she or her roommate had done it while doing drugs or smoking in the garage.
She ended up moving away but would still walk to our house to ask for our lawnmower. She was not happy when I told her to get off my porch.
#43
Had a neighbour who wouldn’t let anyone use his driveway because he didn’t want it to get dirty. Anyone including himself. He parked on the street outside. If he thought you were having a party he would drag a bunch of plastic bags full of god knows what to the end of his driveway so no one could turn around it. One time I came home and he was outside hosing it down in the rain.#44
She has a penchant for going around sticking nails in people's tires at night. This has happened dozens of times to nearly everyone on the street, though she's slowed down since more people started installing video cams and motion-sensor lights in their driveways.
Image credits: Dahhhkness
#45
Hangs out naked or near naked with the curtains and windows open. A lot.#46
We have a neighbor we call "the screamer lady" because when her kids were young she would basically sit at her window and run out and scream at anyone driving by if she felt they were going too fast, ranting about the safety of her children (who may or may not even be home at that point in the day). To this day she still sits and studies traffic and glares at motorcycles. Her kids are grown thankfully so the screaming has ceased#47
Has a sign in his front garden "does not play well with liberals". My town voted 70% for Biden. His kids are complete [jerks] too.
Image credits: maxpowr9
#48
I had a neighbor who once walked into our apartment uninvited because she wanted to complain that we were being too noisy (it was actually a different apartment doing construction) and later gave the whole building bedbugs because she was letting homeless people stay in her apartment#49
The neighbour behind us had a leak in his water pipe and, rather than fix it, he just had the sump pump drain it out into the back yard. This meant that all year round the back of our yard was a little bit damp.Eventually, the leaky pipe burst and filled the house with five feet of water. His solution to this was just to keep the pump running and flood the entire neighbourhood. After about an hour, a posse of all the neighbours whose yards were being flooded confronted him and called the city to shut off the water.
The city fixed the water pipe and the neighbour ended up with a large fine. At least my yard stays basically dry now.
I should also mention that this neighbour once rented the house out to a bunch of crackheads and it nearly burned down because the ex-girlfriend of one of these morons snuck in and set the house on fire.
#50
Called the police on people parked perfectly legal in front of their house, took pictures of my partners dad just working in the yard, disappeared suddenly without a trace and then suddenly come back home in the dead of night 8 months later.Weirdos.
#51
One of my neighbors regularly goes off to anyone who will listen about how the government is spying on her. She has distributed letters to everyone in the complex with the deranged story full of conflicting claims. It gets really awkward when she starts yelling at trades persons who are just there to do a job. I have to escort anyone working outside my unit because she will tear into them. She tried it once with me when I was doing maintenance on my AC unit, figuring I was one of the trades people who were hired by the government to install spy equipment.I think she might have gotten new medication, but she still gives me the side eye wherever she walks past.
#52
Had severe anger issues and yelled at anything or anyone he didn't like on the street. A few years ago he had a road rage incident and when he started banging on the other car's windows the occupants got out and beat him badly. During this he had a heart attack and now barely has enough mobility to walk to the mailbox and back, also he doesn't yell anymore.#53
My guy was married but lived totally separate from his wife. She would visit every so often and he would travel to her too every now and then. Always wondered about that until I got a chance to be invited into his house. A Horder of garage sale stuff. Dolls and just doll heads skattered around and boxes of toys, and whatever else you can imagine. Only a 2ft path throughout the house. He also had a over grown yard full of all kinds of plants. It was kind of cool looking but seeing an over grown jungle after some years was a bit concerning. Nice guy and we would share a beer all the time. My best neighborhood friend.#54
Get drunk in the morning, sing like a peacock high on lsd in the afternoon, have a conversation with the other crazy neighbour 3 houses down from her balcony in the evening, than have a screaming contest on the phone after midnight.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3yvC5Oq
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