The Neighbors Who Cried Wolf... Maybe... I Think? Advice?

[Lioness Blackfire]

Some of the stuff in the "Ten Years Ago Today..." thread got me to thinking on this again, as it's something that's been bothering me for the past few days.

So, I live in one of those neighborhoods where everybody (and I mean everybody) yells and screams about everything. The slightest little thing will set them off, and sometimes it's for absolutely no reason at all. (Like when the neighbor kids used to hold screaming contests. That scared the bujeezus out of me the first time it happened!) Our yard (4 1/2 acres) is the largest on the street, as it used to be a small farm. There is a large, steep slope down leading to more flat land out in back, and the whole property is enclosed by chest-high fencing and trees. Running up against the back of our property is large, wild park.

So last week my friends and I went down the back hill and pseudo-camped for three and a half days. On the last day, one of my friends (I'll call her "K") brought up the complaint that she usually has when she's here - that she's worried about the screaming neighbors. Now, when she brought this up, I was surprised, because I'm a mite deaf and hadn't heard any shouting over the some seven trillion tree frogs, cicadas, crickets, and birds that were within hearing distance of our camp.

I tried to reassure K, as I usually do, that the neighbors around here scream and yell all the time. But this time (unlike previous times) she persisted, saying that the night before she heard someone screaming "let me out", and that just then she had heard someone (the same voice?) screaming "help me".

At that point, we paused in speaking and I strained to listen, and thought I might have heard over the extraneous noise, faintly, something like "ehhhh eeeee". I shrugged and told her then that it could very well just be the normal stuff, but that if she wanted to call the police, she was more than welcome to. She did not, and neither did anyone else in our group.

I have not, in the days hence, heard any suspicious screaming. That is to say, none that I could not decipher the words from. On the other hand, the windows in my bedroom face the opposite direction than the source of the sound.

I've been beating myself up a little over this, honestly, because I've gotten to wondering - should I have called the police? I couldn't tell what I was hearing, but I trust K implicitly, and if she said she was hearing "let me out" and "help me", I believe her. But if she thought it was really serious, why didn't she call the police herself? She's the one with good hearing, after all. On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time that someone around here yelled distressing things for no apparent reason. (We used to look into these things, back when we first moved here.)

I'm so torn. I don't know if it's even worth calling the police, three days after the fact, knowing my neighborhood, and not even having heard it clearly myself. What do you guys think?

[crazylegs]

Quoth Lioness Blackfire

I'm so torn. I don't know if it's even worth calling the police, three days after the fact, knowing my neighborhood, and not even having heard it clearly myself. What do you guys think?

*You* shouldn't have called the police as you didn't hear anything, your friend on the other hand should have done if she knew where the shouting was coming from.

[Norton]

I'd say there's nothing to be done at the moment, since this was a few days ago and you specifically didn't hear anything. However, keep your ears open and be ready to call the police in the future if you hear screaming.
Maybe it's only kids playing around, and the police will just warn them to keep it down. Maybe it's something more serious, and the police will at least be notified if someone's in danger.


One of my neighbors screams, too. He seems to have some mental problems, and once in a while will scream a string of crazy shit at his wife. I don't know what the situation is, and maybe the wife is not really a victim, but I'm glad my boyfriend called the police on them when he heard screaming and banging noises coming from the house (he was asleep with the AC on, so they must have been really loud). Supposedly, the guy just punches the walls, but just in case he goes from that to hitting his wife, I'm glad the police at least have evidence of his past behavior if we ever have to call them again.

[Crazeyal]

Beating yourself up will not solve anything. Remember how you feel now, and if it comes up again, do the right thing. Calling the police over screaming contests?? Perhaps not. Someone asking for help? Always. Even if it's simply to tell the idiot to stop scaring the neighbors, it's always worth it.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I live in the country, as in backwoods-I-have-a-still-in-my-yard-and-a-hunting-dog-in-the-truck kinda country. Love it to pieces, but I actually have neighbours (Grr) that scream and shout and do stupid shit like run a motorcycle at 3am really really loudly. Now, should I call the police for disturbing me? I happen to think so. But I'm not technically a resident of this state (I reside one state over but am here for work only) and the cops here aren't as....good?....at their jobs as the ones in TN (I have a problem with an Officer of the Law who's on meth while on the clock).

So I plug up my ears and ignore them best I can. I'm leaving soon anyways and if they want to kill their voice-boxes that's their problem.

I hope they get laryngitus.

[BarbieGirl]

We live along the river. near some unincorporated area, and one rainy day our neighbors heard what they thought might have been yelling for help from the river. My husband said it was animals. They called the cops, cops went searching along the river for the 'guy' drowning. It turned out to be the goats at the farm across the river.
So I wouldn't worry about it unless you hear it again.

[Lioness Blackfire]

Thanks, everybody. I feel quite a bit better, now. I will keep my ears open, and if I hear something suspicious, I'll be calling the police.

Quoth RetailWorkhorse

(I have a problem with an Officer of the Law who's on meth while on the clock).

And I thought regular meth-heads were scary!
Police officer + drug-induced paranoia =