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Thin Walls, More Mysteries: The Weirdest Things Neighbors Have Accidentally Seen Next Door
Interview With Expert
Living in an apartment building means you are never completely alone — thin walls, shared corridors, and facing windows can turn a normal day into an unexpected encounter with your neighbor.
But not everyone is a full-time busybody like Aunt Petunia from the Harry Potter series, craning their necks to spy from their windows. Sometimes you just can’t help but overhear — or get a little curious about — whatever mischief your next-door neighbor is up to.
It also makes living in a city more interesting, where communication and connections are few and far between.
A reddit user recently asked people who live in apartment buildings “What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve accidentally seen through a neighbor’s window?”
Some of the responses are odd while others are downright hilarious. But they all remind us why living in an apartment is never boring.
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#1
Saw my neighbor practicing a full breakup speech… to his houseplants. He even paused for their “responses.” Honestly I respected the commitment.
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#2
Looked outside once and saw my neighbor gently blow-drying a turtle. I didn’t even know she owned a turtle. Still confused to this day.
#3
I have seen (and still see) all types of things out my windows.
The sweetest was a couple who would waltz in their very very tiny apartment. They seemed so happy
The weirdest was next door neighbors would take their dog out to their yard so he'd empty his bowels. The thing is they would both follow him around and stand there staring at him silently while holding hands. It was super creepy for some reason.
Apartment living inevitably creates proximity and these strange encounters are bound to happen once in a while whether you like it or not, thanks to the way the buildings are designed.
We spoke to Quill R. Kukla, a philosophy professor at Georgetown University in the US, who says that “seeing and hearing (and sometimes smelling) things about one another is part of the fabric of urban life.”
“Our current trend of building glossy loft apartment buildings with huge windows, and building them with cheap material that is not soundproof, heightens our access to one another's business.”
Kukla is also the author of ‘City Living: How Urban Dwellers and Urban Spaces Make One Another’ (2021), a book that explores how living in close quarters shapes daily life and social interactions.
#4
Goats. A handful of goats.
I was just taking my trash out, and there was a sound I didn't recognize. I turn to look, and there were goats in my neighbor's apartment. She was rather baffled when I asked about her hircine guest a few days later. Turns out, Her BF had rented a bunch of goats to play a prank of his best friend. He felt bad leaving the goats in the truck, so he brought them in the apartment for a few hours, until he packed them back up and drove them away to do the prank, without telling my neighbor.
#5
My upstairs neighbor was giving a PowerPoint presentation to her cats. Like she had slides. Charts. Pointer stick. The cats were asleep. She kept presenting.
#6
Not my apartment building but walking downtown Boston, waiting at crosswalk and happened to look up about 4 floors. Completely naked woman standing in a window so still I thought it was a mannequin at first. Then she waved at me. And started combing her hair. I kinda laughed and the lady standing next to me looked at me and then looked up. She started laughing and I started laughing and the light changed and we went on our separate ways.
#7
A raccoon family scaling the side of a house and climbing into a hole in the roof.
#8
Not seen, but one day me and my wife where walking from our car to our apartment, maybe 11:00PM and we hear a women just exclaim very loudly "I AIN'T NEVER GONE TO BED!" from inside her second story apartment.
To this day one of us will randomly blurt out "I AIN'T NEVER GONE TO BED!" and both break out laughing.
UnclePanda 48 minutes ago
In our family, it's "Stupid pole!" in honor of a 4-year old fisherwoman's final conclusion that the pole, was in fact, the problem. She's 21 now, my fishing coach and buddy, and we each caught a rainbow trout on a sunny day a couple of weeks ago. She generally outcatches me about 8 to 1. Same pole.
#9
A neighbor watched the John Travolta version of Hairspray every night for over a month. Idk what that girl was going through, but I hope she’s doing ok now.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 2 hours ago
You watched the neighbour for over a month and she is the weird one?
People-watching is not just limited to apartment buildings or neighbors. Europeans have been doing it since the 17th century, when cafes became a place to not only have coffee but also watch life unfold. From city streets to public parks, many people enjoy observing human behaviour and social interactions in real time.
It is our inherent need for connectedness and curiosity that draws us in.
“I live in Germany, where yelling at your fellow building residents for misusing shared spaces like halls, courtyards, bicycle racks, and foyers is famously a national pastime. But even the yelling helps us all feel that we are people who share space rather than living in our own private bubbles,” Kukla shared with Bored Panda.
#10
I once saw my neighbor having a full-blown, passionate argument with his cat. he was doing all the talking, the cat was just licking its privates. Honestly, the cat had the better points.
#11
Lived in a building of just studio apartments. The one across from me always had the blinds closed, two guys lived there, never spoke to them rarely even saw them. One day blinds were wide open. Nothing inside but stacks of towels folded on the floor in neat rows.
#12
Lots of arguments going on over there. One day she left for work he left for work about 30 minutes later she came back with a U-Haul and 5 college age looking guys and emptied the entire place out. He came home to an empty condo. I don’t think it took them more than an hour to empty the entire place.
Billo66 1 hour ago (edited)
I had a friend several years ago who was, I wouldn't say best friend, but a very good friend and co-worker. One day his GF turns up with a huge black eye. Says they were ridind in his open top jeep and a branch hit her. I knew better. She trusted me enought to ask if I would please make sure he doesn't come home for lunch break as she was moving out. I took him out to lunch, smoked with him, kept him busy. I don't feel the least bit bad about it. Friend or not I will not just stand there and watch someone be abused. Edit: In a sense I did feel like I betrayed him but oh well, I took the lesser of two evils.
However, living in shared spaces also makes us think where the boundary really is.
Kukla believes urban dwellers are smart enough and “know how to deal with proximity.”
“We have distinctive skills for managing one another's comfort zones, knowing how to adjust to one another's pace, knowing when to engage and when to stay out of one another's business, and just generally how to cope with the chaotic intermixing of bodies,” they add.
Research shows that people living near shared spaces often report lower privacy levels and it’s no wonder that many add blinds or reflective glass to reclaim their personal space.
At the same time, being aware of our surroundings, as long as it is harmless and respectful, is simply a part of life in urban spaces.
“Surveys show that urban dwellers are more comfortable with diversity than others… It makes us more tolerant and understanding of the differences between us, and less threatened by these differences,” Kukla says.
#13
Not even kidding, a faith healing exorcism. This was in 2020.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 2 hours ago
Have you heard of a reverse exorcism? If is when a demon tells the priest to get out of the child.
#14
Once saw my neighbor giving a full pep talk to a plant. Not watering it… literally hyping it up like it was about to run a marathon.
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago (edited)
Sometimes they need a bit of encouragement. If they still don't improve, take the sickest one, show it in turn to all the others, and remove it. Permanently. They'll get the picture....
#15
I saw my neighbor having a full blown argument with himself, like two different people, it was honestly kinda impressive and made me more curious about the people I live around.
#16
Went to pee in the middle of the night. Two ladies in the next building were dancing, one in just a thong, the other in flimsy pajamas. They seemed to be having a great time, like a home rave. 🥳.
MonsterMum 1 hour ago
I knocked on my neighbour's door as their drain was clearly blocked and leaking onto the pavement. The young lady (a student) answered the door in skimpy nightwear, fluffy mules and cat ears. I was a little surprised, my husband kindly offered to knock if needed again
#17
Caught a neighbor practicing his ‘surprised face’ in the mirror for like 10 minutes straight. Oscar-worthy stuff.lmao.
#18
A pig. Used to live in a 3 floor building with a courtyard pool. The units had floor to ceiling windows. One summer day while floating around a pot belly pig pushed through the blinds and watched us swim for about a half hour.
Zig Zag Wanderer 1 hour ago (edited)
Quite common on balconies in Hanoi, as it happens. Fattening up for a feast....
#20
Walked past my window at night and saw the dude opposite me cutting his pizza with scissors. No shame, no hesitation. Just snip snip dinner time.
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago
Why wouldn't you? I think you need to stop being weird about this one!
#21
Visited a 5th floor youth hostel in Vancouver and couldn't sleep. A couple of presumably homeless guys took everything out of a long (40+ feet?) industrial dumpster, carefully picked through them, and they completely put everything back.
#22
Someone repeatedly dangling a giant fake non-realistic spider on a long rope out of their apartment window and over the sidewalk below. I would have guessed it was a prank but they were doing it while no one was walking by
I also worked in a high rise office across from a high rise hotel where I was one day lucky enough to be sat in a conference room in clear view of an attractive very naked man leisurely wandering around his hotel room. I did not pay very much attention to the meeting I was in haha.
#23
I was living on the third floor and one night I looked out my window and a guy on the first floor in the next building had all his windows open and the lights on.
He was taking a dump, completely naked, while his dog was just staring at him.
#24
A fox. A real fox (the chicken stealing kind) used to sit up in the window of an apartment I’d walk past on my way to grade school in San Francisco. Not a city known for foxes.
Felt kind of sorry for it because it didn’t look like a very large apartment.
#25
Was staying in Boston my husband and son went to a baseball game. I was looking out the hotel window and there were some guys working on a car. I settled in with my book. It was nice to hear them ribbing each other. One new guy appeared he went inside the apartment and came out after kissing a woman, I saw through their window. He joined the guys at the car. A different guy went in the apartment then he and the woman went into the bedroom and disappeared from my view. I saw him next putting his shirt on and heading back down to hang with the group at the car. I realized I had just witnessed an affair with the other guys wife. How brazen and bold.
#26
I used to live in Washington, DC. A Supreme Court justice lived in the building next to mine and left her blinds open frequently. She watched a lot of sports.
Zig Zag Wanderer 1 hour ago
This is how Hunter S Thompson uwe to watch TV in Cuba. The neighbour over the road was deaf, so had the volume up load, and he used binoculars. Obviously couldn't choose the channel!
#27
I was probably the one being watched. Hung out with a girl that worked there and would always show up after dark. Insisted on leaving the patio blinds opened while we had our time together.
Turned out her ex lived directly across the pool from me.
#29
A guy in a Santa Speedo. Nothing else. I could see his bathroom from my apartment window and he was standing in front of the mirror posing.
What do you think ?
MonsterMum 1 hour ago
The house opposite mine has a frosted glass bathroom window. For some reason the residents felt that was enough. The bath is in front of the window, with a shower over the bath. I soon found out the lady who lived there wasn't a natural blonde as she stood in the bath with one foot on the window ledge whilst she shaved! I looked up one day and saw her partner vigorously 'washing' his genitals!
MonsterMum 1 hour ago
The house opposite mine has a frosted glass bathroom window. For some reason the residents felt that was enough. The bath is in front of the window, with a shower over the bath. I soon found out the lady who lived there wasn't a natural blonde as she stood in the bath with one foot on the window ledge whilst she shaved! I looked up one day and saw her partner vigorously 'washing' his genitals!
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