Neighbor From Hell

Every so often we hear of someone who has the neighbor from hell, one who can't escape their crazy neighbor's disruption to their lives. My friend has such a neighbor. The neighbor happens to be a severely unbalanced elderly lady and that makes it all the more difficult to battle her harrassment.

Mary and Don live in a lovely home situated in a small town. Their house is fairly new so the houses in their neighborhood have been built quite close together. Their's, and the neighbor from hell's, backs onto a no-man's land owned but not maintained by the county.

The trouble began a few years ago when Mary's next door neighbors, also seniors, spread their lovely backyard rock gardens partly out onto the county land. No-one cared except the unbalanced lady who lived on the other side of them. Nothing encroached onto her property but she felt the wild weed infested county land should be left as it was. She made her neighbor's life miserable every time they stepped into their yard and they finally had to sell their house and move away.

Mary and Don, one house up, sided with the rock garden people and thereby drew the "Wrath of Margaret" upon them, too. Don decided to put a little vegetable garden behind his fence and on the county land. Margaret took it upon herself to block his access to the land with huge rocks laid against his back gate so he couldn't open it. He removed the rocks regularly and also mowed the weeds down a bit so he it would look neater where his veggie garden was. Margaret phoned the police to complain about the garden. Of course, nothing came of it.

Margaret would scream from her deck at him and sometimes hide in the bushes waiting for him to go out there and then jump out yelling at him that he was ruining public land...with a veggie garden???

One day Don discovered rods driven into the ground where he had been mowing the weeds. Margaret must have been trying to trick him into ruining his lawnmower. Remember that this is only a tiny area just on the outside of his fence. Don would remove the rods and ignore her rantings but it was beginning to get on his and Mary's nerves.

The other day when Mary drove up to her house she saw her husband soaking wet and sitting on the front porch. He said that he'd been out in his garden and Margaret turned her garden hose on him. The police were on their way. It was time to put a stop to this crazy woman who was making their home uninhabitable and they were finally going to lay charges against her.

The police came and talked to Don and Margaret. They told Margaret that they could arrest her right that moment but chose not to do so. After all, she is elderly and unbalanced...but where does that leave her poor, put upon neighbors?

Did she learn from this episode? NO! Don discovered more half buried rods and removed them as she stood and screamed at him. He ignored her and came into his own yard to talk to another neighbor while Mary went down to close the gate. Margaret was on the other side of the gate and lost her balance, falling on her butt and screaming blue murder. Thank heavens someone other than Don and Mary were there to see it all because a new neighbor came running out, berating them for being mean to Margaret and asked her if she needed an ambulance. It was like the Keystone Cops. Ridiculous!

Margaret, who had only plopped down on soft earth on her behind said that she needed an ambulance so one was called. They came, listened to her ranting and raving as she showed them the offending veggie garden, and they left.

The police arrived. They spoke to Margaret and listened to the same ranting and raving before they left. They didn't even bother talking to Don and Mary. Margaret's husband had earlier escaped in his car for parts unknown.

Mary wants to sell her house and move away.

I don't know what I would do in such a horrible situation. There's no way to reason with an unbalanced person like Margaret and add to that the fact that she's elderly. My fear is that her anger and propensity for violence is escalating and she might do damage to their cars or their home. They can't go out in their yard without Margaret popping out from behind the bushes screaming at them. I will bet that unless she's caught doing actual damage, there is no way to stop her harrassment.

It's such a shame that probably the only way for Don and Mary to get any peace is to sell and move. Pity the unsuspecting buyers.