A woman has been left feeling "uncomfortable" and "upset" over her next door neighbours' "creepy" behaviour.
The woman moved into a new home around six months ago and lives next door to two older gentlemen. When she went away on holiday, the neighbours contacted her estate agent, who they're friends with, and got him to call her claiming they were "worried" as they'd not seen her.
Upon receiving the phone call from her estate agent querying her whereabouts, the woman was baffled by her neighbours' actions and found it "intrusive". Now she's home, she claims her neighbours are "creeping her out more".
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Craving advice, the woman took to Mumsnet's popular Am I Being Unreasonable (AIBU) thread. She said: "I posted here that I was on holiday last week, and these men got my estate agent to ring me to see where I was. They are friends with my local estate agent.
"They said they were worried about me. This creeped me out as I instantly got the feeling that they weren't worried about me, they just wanted to know where I was. I felt it was very intrusive and over the top. If there was a young woman living alone next to me and I hadn't seen her for a week, I wouldn't dream of getting an estate agent to ring her. It is totally creepy.
"Now I am back in my house, my neighbours are creeping me out more. Many times that I go into my front garden, the men come out and stare at me. For example I went out to cut my front lawn. I was cutting my front lawn, and the man next door came out into his front garden, and just stared at me the whole time.
"Then this morning I went out to pick up a delivery. Next door, he was walking out of his front garden. But when he saw me come into my garden, he stopped walking, just stood there and stayed in his garden and stared at me until I went back in. They never say a word. Just stare. What do I do. I'm starting to feel really upset in this house. I wanted to have a nice private house. Now I'm starting to feel uncomfortable every time I go out."
Her post was met with a string of replies from fellow Mumsnet users, keen to share their thoughts. One said: "I remember your first post. It's all very odd and would creep me out too but I think I would have to take back control and confront them. Just say hello the next time you see them and see how they respond. I hope it works out for you!"
Another said: "I would move house. Be careful confronting nutters. Not worth the risk." Another advised: "Get CCTV up and running.
- Get a dog
- Wear a ring on your ring finger
- Look up some male voices on youtube or radio 4 or something, play them just loud enough to be heard with closed doors but not distinctly - make them think you have male company
- When you leave the house, have a fake phonecall like "yes see you tonight darling"
- If you have male friends or relatives, get them to visit if you can - just to be visible. Let your postie know (quietly) what's going on. They can be invaluable in spotting weird behaviour
- Nothing wrong with submitting something online to the police as a way of tracking the behaviour - it can help build up a picture over time (I am having to do this now)".
A fourth commented: "Your best bet is to mainly ignore it. It's a bit creepy but you just have to laugh at it and ignore it. Being so much closer is quite difficult though." Another asked: "My immediate thought is speak to the estate agent and tell him you're considering selling because the neighbours staring at you is freaking you out. Could he speak to them re not staring? Or ask what they're playing at?"
A sixth said: "Ugh, I hate that women still have to put up with this c***, even in their own homes. Why can't men just leave us alone?! I'd have probably snapped "it's rude to stare" by now, men trying to intimidate me like that just gives me the absolute rage. Do you enjoy living in the area? Would it be worth looking to move again?"
Another added: "If a neighbour stood staring at me and not speaking, I would ask them why they are staring? They sound like a bunch of weirdos and I wouldn't feel safe in my home, get some cctv and maybe a dog if possible."
At the time of writing, 89% of Mumsnet users voted she was not being unreasonable to feel concerned by her neighbours' actions.
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