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.

Do you have any flaming torches? If so, you could put an unruly mob together.

shamelessly placemarking
Honestly. Laughing out loud at the ghost/giant cat/demon theory.

Maybe it's a Venom situation (although they can't be parted I don't think).

@Nicknacky

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.

Police don't just get people into trouble, they also perform welfare checks etc. If OP phoned the non emergency line and said my neighbour lives alone but I can hear someone in his house, its up to them what they do with the info. No one has said phone up and get him arrested for being odd.

So he’s too shy to say hello or make conversation but will give you a whole shopping list and ask you to get the things for him?

@Beannag Who said anything about getting him arrested?

And I know police do welfare checks, I have done more in my years of service than I can count. But this isn’t a concern for welfare, it’s nosiness. The police will do zero about this as it isn’t a police matter that someone is moving about inside a house and the neighbour doesn’t know who it is.

[quote Nicknacky]@Beannag Who said anything about getting him arrested?

And I know police do welfare checks, I have done more in my years of service than I can count. But this isn’t a concern for welfare, it’s nosiness. The police will do zero about this as it isn’t a police matter that someone is moving about inside a house and the neighbour doesn’t know who it is.[/quote]
Okay so if someone has concerns the police won't do anything, sounds about right, they're pretty shite overall so not a surprise.

Fritzl

.

He sounds very reclusive, and it may well be the person you are hearing is a partner/siblings or parent with extreme agarophobia, doesn't have to be something sinister. Your best bet is to find a neighbour who has been there years and ask them if anyone else lives there.

Why don't you just ask him?!

Say "who lives with you? I thought you lived alone, but with the houses being semis i can hear someone else when you're out. I don't mean to be nosey, but I couldn't help noticing. Who is it that lives with you?"

This gives me the creeps and I really think you should do something because if it turns out to be a hostage you can save their life. If you call the police anonymously and say the person at this address is holding someone against their will surely they have to check?

But then again it would suprise me if they don't, police are more interested in investigating women for wrong think these days...

Then watch his reaction very carefully.

It does sound like someone else is living there. Possibly someone who is housebound for some reason or another.

Are you suspecting that he doesn't know someone else is there?

He could be a shy reclusive type, but how would you feel if in months/years to come you found out he had been keeping someone in the house? Not sure what I would do to be honest (not placemarking at all )

@Honey12346

This gives me the creeps and I really think you should do something because if it turns out to be a hostage you can save their life. If you call the police anonymously and say the person at this address is holding someone against their will surely they have to check?

But then again it would suprise me if they don't, police are more interested in investigating women for wrong think these days...

0h ffs, you can't call the police and accuse a neighbour of keeping a hostage just because you sometimes hear noises from their house 🙄

And people think HE'S the wierd one. I think you're the one to be concerned about. I'd be well freaked out if my neighbour was obsessed with knowing my every move.

Are you sure you're not imagining it OP? The mind can play tricks?

Go through his wheelie bins next time he goes to work.

Stop offering him help if you're afraid of him. Listen to your gut. He doesnt live alone so you don't have to feel obliged to help at all. And even if he was alone, you still dont have to help him with anything.

@nokia3210567

Will be reading about this man in the news in a few years. If he makes you feel scared/hairs go up on back of your neck there probably is something wrong.

When you know he has gone to work you could call the police saying you think there is a burglar next door as you heard crashes and your neighbour lives alone 🤷‍♀️ or something like that

Seriously? how ridiculous.

[quote Mikadua23]@Wheresmybiscuit3 every time I hear these things I get paralyzed with fear, no way I will be able to deal with this or investigate futher ..because I usually hear things when he leaves for his nights shifts!
When he works days I dont pay attention with noises because I am too busy with life and crazy toddler and there would be no chance of me hearing anything 😪😪[/quote]
Ironically you don't sound 'busy with life', you come across as completely obsessed. He is probably fed up wit you and your 24 hour surveillance.

I'm scared and place-marking...

Had the man actually specified that he lives alone and has no family/ friends or have you just assumed this because you’ve never seen anybody else in the house? Just because you have never seen another person doesn’t mean there isn’t another person living there, and if there isn’t another person living there I wouldn’t automatically assume it’s due to something untoward like a person who has been kidnapped or a person who is hiding in the loft. The person is obviously not locked up if they are coming downstairs and opening cupboards.

The most likely explanation is either that the noises are caused by something else and are not footsteps at all or that he lives with a partner/ family member who is unable or unwilling to do things like come to the door or leave the house. This could be due to a disability, ill health or mental illness or perhaps a cultural/ language barrier which makes the person anxious about being out and about. If there is a second person and that’s who you’re hearing there is every likelihood they are moving around the house in the day too but you aren’t aware of this because you assume their footsteps and noises belong to the man and can’t distinguish one person’s noise from the other’s.

I’d be the same OP if I was home all the time I think! If it’s very clearly human footsteps I’d do as @LynetteScavo says and just ask him when you see him for a chat. Just a friendly ‘weird question but does someone else live with you? I heard someone pottering about when you went to work and I was just a bit worried that someone had broken in or something but I’ve heard a couple of times now so thought I’d check with you!’ Sort of thing?

What I don’t understand is why you are being friendly and neighbourly to him if you are afraid of him. If I felt that way, I would keep to myself and ask other people why they don’t like him instead of treating him as if he was 80, doing his shopping and serving him Christmas dinners.

If you feel he is not nice, listen to yourself. Fear is a self protection mechanism.

@Doghead

And people think HE'S the wierd one. I think you're the one to be concerned about. I'd be well freaked out if my neighbour was obsessed with knowing my every move.

Me too!