Shocking neighbor stories and a dark Christmas?

Oh my goodness! You must always keep an eye on your surroundings no matter where you go, but when something tragic happens close to home, just moments away from your own doorstep you just cant help to think of it when you come out of your house, that’s no way to live. If it were me, id get a dog or two for companionship & protection. I just seem to have local boozers who fight with one another on Friday/Saturdays.. I remember as a kid we had Neighbors who happened to be Devil Worshipers.

When I lived in town, my neighbor physically abused his wife. My sister was walking by their house one day when she ran out. He followed, pummeled her, and dragged her back inside.

On top of that, he was a holier-than-thou Jehovah’s Witness.

The wife would not speak to me in his presence – not even ‘Hi’ – but if he happened to be out and I was in my yard, she would come over and chatter away. Sad.

A guy a little to the west of my place drove over to the next city to our west. He abducted two girls, did whatever to them, and then killed them. He put their bodies through a wood chipper and then drove around the area roads, throwing chunks of the bodies out the car windows. There was some surveillance coverage, so he was nailed. The cops had to walk the roads, picking up the pieces. The guy committed suicide in the jail.

A couple of days ago they discovered a guy in a public toilet around my place. He was already dead by the time he was discovered. No one knew exactly how he died. The guess was that he used too much drug. Now I still feel creepy when I have to pass that toilet.

@Mimishu1995 Well, I guess dying on the crapper would be a crappy way to go.

@Adirondackwannabe but at least people could only see the aftermath and the real background story was left for the imagination. Your story was much creepier.

Yes. twice in my life. 1st, 1977, I was 18, living alone when this freak murdered an entire family 10 doors down from me. www.murderpedia.org/male.C/c/chase-richard.htm
I was terrified for weeks until he was arrested. Really sick guy.
2nd back around 2000 when a neighbor kid a couple miles down the road whacked his mother with a garden shovel when she refused him the family car keys. This was extra shocking because we all lived in a peaceful rural area and I used to talk with this women about her beautiful gardens.

One never knows.

I’ve mentioned an incident from my past before in a different context, but since you asked …

In an earlier age in this country, it was no big thing for kids to walk to school. It was part of the school policy, in fact, whether it was written or not, that if kids lived within a mile of the school and didn’t have to pass through a dangerous intersection (traffic-wise, not crime-wise), then the kid walked to and from school. So I had a one-mile walk to school.

One day as I was walking home from school – and I don’t recall exactly what age this was, and whether it was first or second grade, but I think probably first grade – a young man emerged from a nice house on my route and pleasantly asked if I would like to see [something interesting, I have totally forgotten what] in his house. As I said, I have no idea what the thing was [a puppy, perhaps?], but it sure sounded interesting to me at the time and there was no reason not to see this interesting thing in this friendly guy’s house with him, so I agreed.

As I entered the front door behind him and he headed upstairs, this mean old lady emerged from another room in the house, spotted me and yelled at me! “What are you doing in here? Get out!” So I got out, went home and told my mother about the mean old lady who wouldn’t let me see the puppy [or whatever] at my new friend’s house.

It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes later that I was repeating this story in front of Mr. Oliver, a neighbor of ours who was about 8’ tall (maybe 10’; he was huge!) in our living room. I had not known until then that Mr. Oliver was a policeman. He may have been 12’ tall in that imposing blue suit, but he was even friendlier than my new ‘friend’ had been. I got tired of telling him the whole story, but I wanted to make sure that he got it straight so that he could give that mean old lady what-for.

I’ve silently thanked that “mean old lady” many times since then. And Mr. Oliver, too.

No one explicitly said what was up, what had happened, or what Mr. Oliver was going to say to that mean old lady for yelling at me, and strangely, we never had a “stranger-danger” talk in those days, but I did learn not to be quite so friendly to people that Mom and Dad didn’t know.

Jebus @Coloma! How could they even consider leaving that guy loose?

@CWOTUS Oh, how scary. so did they arrest him?

I was at a park, a bar b que, with my friend and her husband. There was some gang banger hanging around us. At one point my 5 year old son was swinging on the swings, about 20 feet away, and this gang banger was crouched near him, tossing sand and saying something to him, like “You want to play?” My son just gave him a strange look and moved to a swing further away.
I started to approach them, then I heard a loud BANG!! My more aggressive friend had slammed a bottle, hard, into a metal trash can. She deliberately slammed it against the side.
At that point the gang banger looked up and quickly moved away.

It just makes me sick to think if we had been just a few seconds later.

@Dutchess_III Yep, he was released when he was younger from a facility for mentally ill even though he was caught biting the heads off of birds he caught on the grounds. lol
He was violent disorganized schizophrenic, the worst kind of crazy.

That is just insane. Insane.

There was a couple who lived down the street and around the corner from us. The wife worked with my husband for a bit when he worked at a ranch. They were a fun couple to be around at company parties. The wife left the ranch and started working at the local DQ.

One summer afternoon the husband went to DQ and shot his wife while she was working, then fled to a neighboring town where he stopped his car and shot himself. They both died. They had two daughters that were classmates with our sons. The children were in their mid to late teens when this happened.

Thanks for the replies. Broken_EarthAngel That sounds scary, but probably more common than we realize. I mean dark things going on. I hope that is not why your angel got broken? @ibstubro I’ve seen that sort of thing too (not here) it leaves a sick kind of feeling in your stomach doesn’t it? @Adirondackwannabe That is spine chilling and something you’d expect to watch on horror TV. How awful. @Mimishu1995 Yes, it is strange how we will never look at a building we know had a tragedy in it the same way ever again. Ugh! I know I won’t of this home. @Coloma It’s hard to believe that happens in real life, but then of course it does. How horrific. That sounded so creepy gosh. @jonsblond So awful when family members kill and it appears it is often the case, I can’t wait to find out all the ins and outs of what happened since it’s all under wraps for now. @Dutchess_III Funny how one can sense evil or bad intentions at times.

I grew up in a gang infested city. We had shootings regularly, even at my high school. We’ve had riots and infamous serial killers. Sad to say, but I got used to it. I feel more comfortable in a urban environment than hicks ville.

So I have felt that feeling, but it occurs when I’m in the middle of nowhere, like when camping or isolated areas. I can never sleep. I am hyper alert to noises. If I saw someone I’d freak out. I’d most definitely need a weapon, at all times.

Funny how that works out.

The half burnt, mutilated body of an 80 something year old was dicovered in a garbage disposal bin in our quiet street a few meters away from us. Turns out they had cut off the pads of his fingertips so he would not be identified. A few weeks later it was revealed that the old fogie was involved in really dirty business and was knocked off by the underworld. Creepy when I think about people walking past the innocent looking garbage bag not realizing what was inside!

Heh..I’m the polar opposite of @tinyfaery
Living the last 23 years in a rural environment is what makes me feel safe. I’d much rather worry about running into a Mountain Lion or tripping over a rattlesnake than having a confrontation with a carjacker, a serial killer or gang member.
Even though I grew up and have lived in larger cities, once you go country there is no going back.

I need silence to sleep and city noise is an assault to my senses anymore.
We have an electric gate here at the entrance to the property and an intercom system in the house, motion lights around the house, shop, horse barn and a dog that barks as well as a gun safe with guns.
. Out here there is little crime because everyone has guns and a robber would have to be pretty foolish and desperate to attempt a break in on the Ponderosa. lol

@ZEPHYRA We first noticed them when they were slowly cruising around the park, in a low slung, ghetto car. A pimp mobile, blasting rap and hip hop out the windows. They both had on red bandanas on their heads. The one just silently slipped up on my son. When a grown ass man, obviously a gang banger, suddenly shows an interest in playing in the sand with a 5 year old, there isn’t much to “sense.’

It makes me sick to even think about what could have happened. Another reason I moved out of the city to a much smaller town.

I love my city. I’d take art, food and cultural diversity over crickets and motion sensors any day.

Plenty of art, food, premiere wineries and cultural diversity near here too, just nice to come home to peace and natural beauty and crickets serenading you on warm summer nights is an awesome way to fall asleep. Each to his own. Not worrying about waking up with an axe murderer standing over your bed is a nice bonus too. lol

I should also be clear in that the motion lights are for predators lurking around the house and barn, to light the driveway when parking after dark and make it easy if we need to go check on the horses at night. They are not intended to be a security system, they are intended to light our own path. lol

I lived in Placerville for 2 years. I know what kind of people are out there. White people, racists, homophobes, nothing, nothing and nothing.

Lots of Wal Marts and chain stores, chain restaurants and
nothing.

Most of that area is a shit hole and a massive fire danger. Don’t bother thinking outside your box. Everyone knows you are always right.~

SYLB.

@tinyfaery You know nothing but your own bias.
“Shit hole” well, your memory must not be serving you very well.
There is ONE Walmart that went in about 15 years ago, no chain stores, the every town McDonalds, Taco Bell and Dennys. Our historic Main St. has art walks and caters to a lot of artsy peeps.Things have changed a lot in the last several decades. There are beautiful wineries & vineyards everywhere, we boast some of the most beautiful farm trails in the nation and our wine rivals Napa.

Many wealthy growers have wine properties here and there are equally stunning properties everywhere. Rich in history, an hour from Lake Tahoe, a pretty premiere place to live. Yeah, there is a fire danger, as is true for all Northern CA. wildlands. Man, what tripped your psycho switch? Wow, just wow!

I had hoped your bad temper had mellowed the last few years, clearly it has not. Damn, you hold grudges over internet disagreements for years. talk about crazy. Yikes.