To be scared of my neighbour? Weird noises at nights...

[Mikadua23]

So this is going to be very messy and long..
We moved here 2 years ago, we live in 2 semi detached house and our neighbour is on our right.

We live in cul de sac and the area is very quiet and peaceful.
I dont work right now due to taking care of our young child and being pregnant with our second so I am home all days.

My neighbour is a man in his ( I believe 50s)
He is very shy when you try to say hello but usually kind, we don't have problems and never had.
He lives alone and have no family or friends, nobody ever visited him for the last 2 years..
He was always alone on christmas, easter or other celebrations..
We would check on him through the covid situation when he would not leave his house for few days at all and we would do some food shopping for him, he was very happy with the help.
I would give him christmas cards but never had one back (not that I expected him to give one! I have purerly felt sorry for him)
I would also give him a portion of christmas dinner last year and he was very happy although never really came back with dishes , he just left them outside our door 2 weeks after..

Our landlord did say to us when we first moved here, that our neighbour is weird and nobody in the road likes him but I never asked questions.

I wouldn't care about the way He chose to live if not the fact that he works night shifts every other week and every time he leaves the house, you can hear noises from his house like someone is still inside which is odd because he does live on his own.
As I mentioned before...
He never even had a friend coming over...

We share walls and it usually takes about 5 mins after he leaves around midnight and then you can hear someone coming down the stairs inside his house .

I dont know why, I am scared of this man and always find him a bit weird, it shouldn't really be in my intesrest whats happening inside his house but the whole thing is just odd.

Despite all this..

He never goes anywhere except his job where he works 12 hours shifts around 4 times a week.

You're the weird one knowing and caring so so much about your neighbour's lifestyle.

I'm starting to wonder now if my neighbours think I'M strange! I too dont answer the door unless i'm expecting someone (which for the last 18 months hasn't really been possible but i'm a quiet person anyway). I have no family in my area, always leave the tv on to help me sleep and my cats sound like elephants. I'm completely harmless though

None of it sound particularly weird except the noises when he's out. He may have a partner or relative you don't know about?

Did he ask you to go food shopping for him during the lockdown? If find that very weird if a neighbour turned up at my house with a bag of shopping I hadn’t asked for. If he did ask you to get some shopping, was it enough for 2 people?

He may have someone staying who can’t or doesn’t want to go out for whatever reason.

It’s fun speculating though.

But op I think you need to get a life

Let them know you can hear them. If he's out for 12 hours, there's a lot of daytime in each night shift. Knock to drop a parcel round when you know he's out. You could call out, or tap on the wall when you hear them. If someone's there, they may want to be able to make contact with other people. But just be friendly, don't make assumptions about their situation.

Anyone remember the drama series about people living in a huge house divided into flats?
Think it was called What Lies Within, one of the tenants gets murdered and dumped in the lift.
Anyway, a retired school teacher has the garden flat, and an ex pupil of his lives there in secret. I think she'd committed a minor crime but he'd convinced her she needed to remain hidden.
Maybe it was based on your neighbour

Oh but if you're in a terrace, it could easily be noise carrying from a further away house.

I would speak to the community police if you have one. Or the local police and see if they can you a care visit,

Knock on the walls!

@Mintyt

I would speak to the community police if you have one. Or the local police and see if they can you a care visit,

I'd probably do the same if you're convinced something weird is going on. Better safe than sorry...gives me the creeps.

Obviously only option based on no return Christmas card, late plate return and no other contact is ring 000 and tell them your next door neighbour is holding someone hostage who is only out at night when he goes to work.

@lottiegarbanzo

Oh but if you're in a terrace, it could easily be noise carrying from a further away house.

OP said it’s a semi.

I'd be knocking on walls to make contact or knocking on the front door when he went out - can you possibly look through the windows?

L@Babyjune21

You have scared the absolute shite out of me, thanks 😭

I'm thinking it could be one of three things:

Harbouring a fugative/illegal immigrant

Elderly/housebound/unwell/agoraphobic relative or partner.

Identical twin.

Believe it or not, identical twins can sometimes be literally identical, right down to the clothes they wear and the way they cut their hair - even in into their old age. I saw to women twins of around 65 the other day who were like that. I very much doubt they had ever lived apart or married. They looked a little....eccentric.

I will add that I tried to google him as I know his Surname because of the amount of parcels but it looks like there's nothing....

Go onto 192.com and search for him, as you know both his name and his address. If there is a second person registered at the same address it will return a result.

Poor chap! I feel really sorry for him with all your speculation OP ☹️
He’s probably completely harmless, somewhat reclusive and finds himself living next door to curtain twitching neighbours.
Maybe someone else is living with him, who’s equally unsociable, yet you’re jumping to conclusions that there’s a criminal or unpleasant situation involved.
I know how gossip escalates the mundane 😊, I expect there’s a perfectly simple explanation.

There’s a house along the road from us where a mother and adult son live; he’s rarely seen other than when getting in or out of his car to go to work, she’s seen occasionally with him.
Some neighbours have speculated about how ‘odd’ they are. So what?
They’re not doing anyone any harm so far as I know!

I cannot believe several people are saying to call the police. Well, I can because this is MN after all, but for gods sake.

Satisfying a neighbours nosiness is not as police matter, regardless of how some posters will try and dress it up to justify it.

'Accidental' package opening ?! .
I am joking obviously for the 'don't be cruel to the man' crowd!
I think you know deep down if you can hear a human next door or if it's just house noises i.e. pipes, heating etc.

@FakingMemories I did message him first asking if he needed anything and then we arranged for shopping

Why don't you just knock on the door and look through the letterbox next time you hear the noises? The man himself isn't there so it can't possibly hurt. If someone answers just say 'Oh I'm so sorry, I thought Bernard lived alone - I was concerned about hearing someone in the house and was checking it wasn't a burglar.'

This is ridiculous

Poor bloody guy.

I am totally & shamelessly placemarking