Any weird neighbor stories?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Been in the same house/neighborhood 50 years --

Have I got stories!

From wife beaters to peeping Toms to hoarders to drug dealers, I have seen it all.

The ones that stand out was the neighbor directly across the street who became a crack addict who let his dealer move in and sell at all hours from the house. Four years of increasingly insane behavior. The house was called in to the cops dozens of times -- they were on a first name with the guy. Sometimes there would be a raid, sometimes he would get hauled off to come down off the drugs. One day I heard a loud fight and then a giant BANG and went to the window to see a naked man running down the house stairs, who then when into the intersection and raced around it, looking around like he was paranoid and expecting very bad things to happen to him. Cops were called, ambulance arrived -- just a customer on a really bad trip. Finally the owner developed psychosis from all the drug taking. He started to put his own shit into jars, vases, and flower pots and throw them over his fence in the middle of the night at his neighbors driveways. After many calls to the City, he was finally taken away for his own safety and remains in a mental health facility a year later.

Then there was the speed house where there was a full SWAT raid around 10:00 on night. There had to have been 30+ officers, camera crews, a helicopter -- the whole deal. There was a sniper leaning against my roommates car, balancing his gun on the hood. It was very stressful to watch, hoping no one did anything stupid that would cause firing to break out.

Then there's the guy who died in his front bedroom one day. He was very strange, never spoke to anyone around him and walked his dog once a day with huge earphones on. No one noticed anything amiss until the neighbors were overwhelmed by a nasty odor. When they finally got in to the house the entire neighborhood was overcome by the smell.

Even with all that, the neighborhood is great for the most part.