I AM NOT OP. THIS IS A REPOST SUB! THIS IS NOT MY SITUATION.

The original was posted on r/LetsNotMeet 1 year ago.

Mood spoiler: actually not THAT creepy and kind of sweet

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I think there is someone living in my shed

Title says it all, but it also doesn’t say anything.

Lately I’ve been noticing something off about home. Like there’s something else there with me, my wife, and our two dogs, but I have not been able to put my finger on it until today.

For some context, I live in a duplex. We share the property with another guy in his mid twenties. He has his own house and we have ours, but we share the laundry room that leads to our respective backyards that are separated by a fence.

This all started around two months ago when the guy sent me a text:

“Hey man, just a heads up someone stole my bike out of the sun room”

This is extra creepy because to get to our sun/laundry room you would need to hop the brick fence surrounded by shrubby trees and then hurl the bike over. Unless the thief had the most massive pair of balls ever and walked it out through one of our front doors when we weren’t home. Either way, I didn’t feel right and made more of an effort to keep the door locked.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I let my dogs into the backyard and one of them starts sniffing at the shed. No big deal, the lizards are coming out with it heating up, they probably just chased one under the door. I finally got them to come in but didn’t give it much thought.

I hardly ever go into that shed. Nothing wrong with it, it’s just kind of out of the way and I’m not really a “hang out in the shed” type of guy. So we generally use it for storage. Suitcases, furniture that doesn’t fit/match the house, camping stuff, you know boring suburban shit. We probably enter it maybe three times a year.

After the 18th day in a row of my dogs being curious about the shed, I decided to have a little looksy to see if maybe there was a Komodo dragon or something in there since they wouldn’t let this thing go. Nope, no Komodo. But what I did find literally made me piss myself just a little bit. Just a few drops.

Inside the shed was the bike that my neighbor had stolen a little while back. My first thought was “oh fuck, my wife is a klepto,” but quickly ruled that out. She doesn’t even like to bike. Then I was briefly worried that my neighbor thought that I was the thief. I mean it’s in my shed. I don’t know how to explain that if he found out, plus I wanted to give him his bike back.

I kept looking around and found one of our sleeping bags unraveled but balled up behind a box. Inside of it was a sack of what looked to be around $20 in change and singles. There was also a a bag for garbage and had lots of food wrappers inside.

Eventually my brain accepted what it was ultimately denying at first and put two and two together. Someone, I don’t know who, is living in my shed. Or at least was. Maybe my dogs spooked them off. Or maybe they sleep there every night and leave during the day. If they weren’t coming back why would they leave the change?

I left everything how I found it and and thinking about what I should do next.

Whoever did it must have gotten in through the spare set of keys I keep hidden in my backyard. I locked up and brought them inside with me tonight. Hopefully whoever it is gets the message and moves on.

I’m going to install cameras tomorrow. I will keep you guys updated if anything more happens. Please hope for the best and that this person isn’t a lunatic.

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The update was posted 1 year ago.

(Update) I think there is someone living in my shed

Alright guys I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news. The bad news is that for three nights now my cameras have not picked up anything, so no creepy footage for you guys.

The goods news is for me. No footage :)

But the story doesn’t end there!! A few people who read my post suggested I contact some local homeless shelters. After all, I didn’t want to get police involved and ruin someone’s life potentially and this very well could have just been a person who hit rock bottom and just needed any kind of shelter.

So I called around these past few days and explained this story to some people who knew the homeless population. The first few conversations went something like this “doesn’t sound like anyone I know of... but let me hook you up with _____” after about the 5th or 6th time of telling to hit up someone who may know, I got a bite.

‘Susan’ has been working with the homeless community in my city for ≈3 decades. She listened to what I had to say with eagerness and I could tell she had a lightbulb go off almost right away.

“That bag of food wrappers you found, were there a bunch of party mix little bite muffins?”

This was it, she was dead spot on, there were probably like 10 in there.

“Ahhh you’ve got nothing to worry about. That’s Old Man Dan.”

‘Susan’ proceeded to tell me the brief version of Old Man Dan’s life.

Old Man Dan is a supposed Vietnam veteran who like many of his peers fell on hard times. She said that he has probably lived more of his life homeless than he probably has functioning within society. They feel like he suffers from a multitude of mental health issues such as PTSD and multiple personality, but has never been a concern for violent outbursts. He has mostly kept his head low and just tried to hang out.

He also has a habit for shoplifting boxes at a time of party mix little bites from the grocery store. I guess they’re his favorite.

But Old Man Dan was infamous for one thing: setting up little bases around town. Some, they said, he’s gone years undetected. Other times he’s caught in a day. There are usually little bites wrappers found in these places, that’s what usually gives his identity away. They said he’s really good about not going back to where he’s not welcome. He’s just trying to not draw attention.

Some of his local hideouts include: under the bleachers at a high school (the away teams bench, less security), abandoned swimming pools (like ones swim teams would practice at), he had a tent on a golf course, but his most common are a plethora of sheds and guest houses he can find a way into.

So now that I knew that my wife’s life, my precious baby pups’, my neighbor’s, and my life were not in any immediate threat, I took a moment to ponder and make my next move.

I asked if ‘Susan’ would come by and grab his stuff and track him down. She said she knew his usual spots. I tossed his trash (it was just wrappers no cans or recyclables) but gave her the sack of a cash and coins, with a little extra from my coin jar. I also let her give him the sleeping bag.

My neighbor kept the bike.

Anyway, hopefully that’s the end of this saga. I’m moving this summer anyway so not really anything to worry about long term. But although I knew his intentions weren’t malicious, part of me still feels violated that this was even happening. How many nights did he sleep out there without me knowing? I shudder at the thought.

So, Old Man Dan, if I see you on the street I’ll throw you a few bucks and a water. But r/letsnotmeet in my shed.

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I AM NOT OP. THIS IS A REPOST.