A Camera on My House
 

I've lived in this house over five years. Three and 1/2 years ago my then-neighbors moved and a single woman, probably in her late fifties-early sixties, moved in. She obviously wanted to be 'friends' with me but I felt something was very OFF about her and resisted in a very nice way. Last summer she asked me if my 14 year old son would be willing to cut her grass for an agreed upon price. She said, "I want him to sign a contract right now!" Um...to cut your grass? She also required that he wear steel-toed boots, leather gloves and eye protection (things we had to supply) while he mowed and get a complete training session on her mower (a standard push mower) (oh, and all these requirements were presented to me in writing.) Now, my son had been cutting my yard and the OTHER neighbors yard with a push mower for a couple years now without incident and I thought she was going a bit overboard. I wasn't interested in him or me 'signing' a contract either. I told her to forget it, it was too much bother. She then presented me with a type-written note about how mean I was, what a 'bully', and she hoped my son got his foot cut off with the mower. I knew before all this that the woman was probably bi-polar but this was a bit much. Things got frosty after that. A month or so later something happened to her cyclone fence (a small tear in it) and she blamed me and my son. NOW the woman has a video camera pointed at my house!! I feel so violated and there is NOTHING I can do about it! It's perfectly legal for her to videotape me, my family, my comings and goings, etc. She is the sort who LIVES for this shit, she has nothing to do all day, no friends, and stirring up a neighbor war would be right up her alley. She is VERY litiginous--I gathered that from my (very) few dealings with her. She'd like nothing more than a reaction from me and I won't give her one, but, damn, I feel kinda sick to my stomach every time I go outside!

Put up little signs...

:wstupid:

I wonder what effect a laser pointer would have on a camera... Nah, she'd probably deliberately look into it and sue.

People suck, there's just no way around the basic fact.

Is it a web cam, or something that eats up media like tape or discs?

But wouldn't it be funny if, say, someone in a full Ninja outfit, unidentifiable, suddenly appeared on camera and whipped out their wang and took a 30-second piss all over the window where it sits. Really soak the thing down. Followed by, say, a little sign saying don't fuck with this neighborhood.

Naw. As a proven harmless Sensitive Male (TM) I would never actually do anything like this. It's basic human decency and can only aggravate the situation. I recommend ignoring it as hard as possible. Sometimes passive-aggressive is the right way.

get a camera to video her camera. She'll have to escalate, and eventually you'll get to an equilibrium of mutually assured video.

i am 90% sure it eats up media.

I thought of having a masked streaker go by the camera, but, as you pointed out, passive-aggressive is best with someone like her who is DYING for attention.

I just really does make me sick. All I can do is look at it and wonder if she is taping me. I can't even go lay out in the backyard now. I feel like a prisoner in my own house and it's perfectly legal and OK for her to do this.

At least make it interesting, Bri. For the love of Pete, you have the perfect opportunity to jack with her. Hang nudie pics outside...with little pieces of black tape over the naughty bits. Make up signs of your own, like "My neighbor is videotaping me 24/7. Write your opinions here." Find some mirrors and spend some time directing sunlight into the lens. In fact, get several mirrors, put them on stands, and assure that at least one of them will be directing sunlight into the lens at all times. When she moves the camera, move the mirrors. Put on a ballerina costume and do Swan Lake outdoors. Offer to dog sit for several friends, then chain them all up outside in full view of the camera and feed them beans. Put up a couple of bird feeders and attract squirrels. Get some big sheets from the thrift store and build a giant blind.

Actually, I like the laser idea the best. Wait until she's asleep, then burn the CCD out of the camera with it.

If you'll post a Google Earth view of your place and indicate the neighbor's place, I'll try to think up even more creative stuff for you to do based on the juxtaposition of the camera and your property.

A laser pointer of the appropriate wattage would likely blind the camera. A suitably focused floodlight might do the same...and possibly an infrared flood woiuld work in daytime too.

Too bad it's not one of those S-band fed video cams; a lot of fun could be had overloading the back end with your own signal. Show her whatever you like: the Hindenberg burning, the goatse man, random YouTube clips, a picture of a video cam looking back at her...

Can you contact the police to contact disablilty services or senior services ? Approach it as a 'welfare' check?

Make it seem like it is in her benefit that someone see what's happening with her?

I know it's about feeling violated. The story you told shows how off balance she is and you are right in feeling awful about it.


I would think a camera and a threat to your son would be grounds for investigation. The only way to relieve this is to get others involved in her welfare. I know it dosn't sound fair but sometimes you have to use the system to fight the system. Tell disability or senior services how worried you are for this person. The police can help.

I can just see the patty wagon comming...

......then the funny lady can sell the homemade movie to dateline and we can all watch Bri doing Swan Lake too .:p

All fab ideas, and I thank you. I WAS thinking about calling Adult Protective
services on her (anonymously, of course) and tell them that I am worried about her 97 year old father who lives with her (she moved him in a few months ago--I saw her at the grocery one day when she didn't see me and she was YELLING at him) and have them do a check just to fuck with her but then I think: that's just what she wants. A reason to escalate. I like the sign "My neighbor is videotaping me 24/7 Write your opinions here" a lot! Very funny! The mirrors idea is doable too. If I got a laser would shining it into the camera lens for a few min. disable it? And could I do that from the safety of my own house or would I have to get right up into the camera lens?

Write her a note and nicely ask her to remove the video camera. If it remains in place, mail her a copy of the letter certified, return receipt requested. This part is to CYA in case she tries to sue you. If she continues, then proceed with Operation Annoy Neighbor.

Set up your own video camera taping her video camera taping you :p . Get a cheap telescope and set it up next to your video camera, pointing straight at your neighbor's house. Set up a strobe on the other side of the video camera so it looks like you are taking flash photos of her/house. Put an inexpensive (child's toy will work) satellite dish looking thing pointing at her house, just under the window. Invite friends (who are in on the plan) to come over in dark suits and cluster in the window as well as outside...all pointing, staring, making notes and looking thru binoculars at your neighbor's house. Make it appear as though you are planning WWIII.

Stormie

I'm all for burning it out. just make sure the firing point is off camera somehow so theres no proof you did it... or "well if it's legal for her to point the camera at my property its legal for me to point a pointer at hers!"

I think she is about as escalated as much as anyone would want to see. You doing nothing won't keep her stable. YES , do do a check on poor ole dad.
It's got to get worse before it can get better. Might as well help it along.:evil2:




You guys' ideas are funny. I wish I could think of ways to fight drama with drama.:cool:

Gee...I'm already equipped for that option with "Spiny Norman" (scroll down) in the backyard.

http://www.voicenet.com/~maggie/spinynorman_as.jpg

It's kinda fun to make it slew around from inside the house and point at things; that central hub both rotates around a vertical axis and tilts the antennas up and down.

I always wanted to put a video cam on it too, never got around to it...

First talk to her nicely to take the camera down. If it doesn't work, then send her a certified letter. If that doesn't work, then call the cops. Tell them it's aimed in your window. I believe there are peeping tom laws in some states that prohibit cameras pointing into private dwellings.

My understanding is that a laser pointer won't destroy the camera, but it will wash out the picture so much, she won't be able to see anything. If you know anyone with some basic electronics knowledge, they can wire a laser pointer up to a power supply, and keep it turned on continuously, aimed at her camera lens. Won't eat batteries that way. Won't destroy or harm the camera, but she won't be able so see anything. If you aren't damaging the camera, she can't complain about it to anyone.

Also, do you actually have it in writing that she hopes your son will chop his foot off? If so, hold on to that baby. Show it to the cops and any other authority you can.

And on a final note. If she really is that litiginous, you may want to do nothing, or even consider selling the house and moving. I've heard plenty of stories of nutty neighbors and thier lawsuits. It doesn't do you any good to go into court over and over and over again, defending yourself against frivolous lawsuits, even if you win every one. You will still have to pay thousands of dollars in court fees just to get the lawsuits thrown out. Does she have deep pockets that would allow her to file lawsuits against you? You know her better than anyone, so only you know how she might act, but it's something to consider.

That's what I was worrying about with the lawsuit issue. If the laser is always on, she could say that her vision has been impaired.

I don't see how her vision could be impaired by looking at film of a pointer.
I love the poster of "my neighbor is filming me... post your thoughts here" and the one of your friends with gear dressed in black, but I would station one all over my property at different times of day and night with different gear. A guy with a camera in the morning at the fence, a lady on the roof with binoculars and a notepad, a young man just sitting in the middle of the front yard with a listening device pointed at her house not even trying to hide it..... too much fun.
http://www.shopwildplanet.com/store/merchant.mvc?

No, if the pointer was on all the time, she could move the camera and claim that the now uninterrupted beam hit her eye.

I'd check with a lawyer and see if there are any laws against just burning her house to the ground while she is out shopping.

Just wait until 3am and spray the lens black. From behind of course.

Good point. Brianna would probably but not certainly win that lawsuit, but only after spending thousands in legal fees.

Don't do anything vigilante, Brianna. She sounds like a nut job who will just make you miserable. Go through proper channels, ignore it, or move. Those are your options.

yeah, I guess it's best that I just ignore it as much as I can. We've done nothing to deserve this treatment and if I think about it too much I go crazy. I don't have the money to fight every little battle she would want to create. The really funny thing is that she wants to build a drive way on the land between my house and hers but she doesn't have enough room. She approached me last fall to ask if I would allow her to build it anyway! I couldn't get "no" out of my mouth fast enough. She's the type who moves into your neighborhood and leaves a bunch of trashy crap in her yard (old windows, wheelbarrows, god knows what) and plants PLASTIC flowers in her flowerbeds! She also has those motion detector lights on her house. Paranoid, much?

Let's find an old mannequin, dress it like her, lynch it in the front yard for a few days along with some stuffed animals, then burn it while dancing around to Manson's Antichrist Superstar album!... Man, how come no one ever points a camera at my house?

As for the crap in the yard, do you have no zoning? If so, call them on her.

Where exactly is the camera, and what exactly is it pointing at? Serously, this can't be legal, but (luckily) I don't have any experience with this. Does she have a sump pump? Back it up by plugging the hose with a potato, you guys have been getting a lot of rain, no? That worked for a neighbor A whose other neighbor B was pissing him off by putting B's hose in A's yard. (after A told me that story, I made a mental note not to bitch about A's dog shitting in my yard when he lets him roam the neighborhood)

The camera is in one of her bedroom windows. She's got her blinds pulled away and pinned back! It points directly at the side of my house--the side where my driveway is. Almost directly into one of my side living room windows. Depending on how wide an angle the thing has she can see a lot--the whole one side of my house with side yard and part of back yard. She can see who is knocking at my door, who comes and goes. And it is totally legal for her to do this. She's on HER property. The next time she comes strolling in front of my house I'm going to get my son's videocam and film her walking by. That's within my rights, too. And I'll make sure she sees me doing it.

Somehow a friend of mine's terrible neighbor ended-up with 5lbs of prickly pear cactus seed in his front yard. Was terrible.

Round-up "FREAK" or some other such large word in her front lawn. That'll take awhile to grow back. Even better, just do totally random spots, so that she won't know a human was the cause. Bwa ha ha ha ha!!

This is funny especially because it takes awhile for the stuff to work fully. Do it the right before you leave for several days, so the brown spots show up when you are gone and she can't link you to it.

I just made myself laugh out loud at the thought of this....

All great ideas. I'm afraid she'd catch me though. Who knows how many camera's and re-con stuff she has? Inside her house (I've been in twice under protest) it's like a flea market with junk piled all over and just a little space to walk thru the rooms. She has, like, forty shelves on one wall with all kinds of crap on them. All the junk in her yard is in her backyard. I don't think I can complain about that. See? She really IS insane.

find out the name and address of her attorney, and send him 1 cert. letter per day. i think he'll bill her for the time it takes to read them.

Honestly, the best thing to do would be to erect a couple of tarps between your house and hers as close to the camera as possible.

If she's got that much crap laying around her yard, I can almost guarantee you she's violating a city anti-crap ordinance. Get online and check out your municipalities Municipal Code, and if she's in violation, complain to the city.

Also, shouldn't she have to prove that she isn't using a telephoto or zoom setting on that camera? It *is* illegal to be a voyeur or peeping Tomasina. If it is pointing at your house, how are you to know she isn't using it to invade your interior space?

I think a suitably sized sign with an arrow pointing to her house which reads "I do not believe my neighbor is a pedophile, she just likes videotaping my underage son", would do the trick.

another good example of using the law to your advantage! :thumb:

Nice!

Do it the Marine way. Kick her ass.

Or do it the Navy way, and call the Marines. Just joking, folks. Remain calm....

There has to be a solution within the law. Some limits as to how far this shit could go. I bet a call to the PD and a visit from an officer would clear this crap up .

Bad situation. Good luck.

I know a lot of evil things you can do to annoying neighbors. Most involve what could be called vandalism by authorities. The trick is to NOT get caught.

Try spilling bleach over an underground gas main, in a trail leading up to the house.. Spell bad things with it.

Does she have cable TV? Stick a pin into the wire and cut it off flush with the outer covering. That will kill the reception and be hell for the typical repair guy to find.

Mess with her car, a few BBs in a hubcap will panic a non-mechanical person.
If you can get into it, a clamp-on fishing weight on the accelerator cable will give her a nasty jackrabbit start. Dead roadkill inthe summer heat smells bad and will stink out the car forever.

You mentioned she keeps crap in her yard. Help her with her collection. Get other people's trash from the curb (legal to do) and store it in her yard, then complain about it. I once stuffed a dead fish into a neighbors drainpipe in summer, waited until the heat swelled it up and then the stink wafted over the area. Health Dept was called from several residences. Cats from all over moved into the yard. Mayhem and hilarity from me.

I have lots of ideas yet, pm me for more.

Brian

Introduce her to your ex-boyfriend.:haha:

I wish you were in my area, I have four ten-thousand watt halogen light stands that go up to ten feet tall that you would be welcome to. I'm not using them.

That's an OCD sufferer's house. Get the county psych people in there.

footfootfoot and lookout123, you two made me LOL for real.

Brianna, if she lives for this type of shit why not go along with it. Wave at the camera, bring people over and point it out (being sure to smile and wave). I'd bet that would set her off. Meanwhile get the shrinks / city inspector or whatever you need out there. Double whammy.

Oh, if it does eat media you could certainly plant a flag somewhere. It would probably register movement with every gust of wind. Then again she could be using something rewritable or not even using media (an old trick our school system used for the on-bus cameras) because she just wants to irk you not record you.

Screw it. Just flash the camera. Repeatedly.

You could always trim your shrubbery to send a message.

now THAT'S funny!

If she's crazy, she can continue to be crazy until she becomes a clear and present danger to herself and others. Collecting weird crap is crazy, but not dangerous. OTOH, being dangerous is not necessarily the result of being crazy. You have to meet both tests.

Now, if all that crap should *catch fire*, that would be dangerous.

Except that Brianna has to do EVERYTHING by the book on this one ... because she has more to lose than the average next door neighbor.

Probation works that way.

No, no, no...I mean if the OC crazy neighbor were to cause a fire with all of that crap in her house, she would probably be determined to be a threat to herself and others.

I wasn't suggesting that Bri commit arson, fer cryin' out loud. Although....nahhh.

Ah, *asterixes (sp?)*, not "quotes".

I'm off probation!

wolf is right, though. I don't want to get into any MORE trouble or look like I'm being crazy myself. I think I will just send a note asking her to remove it or point it at her own property and not mine. My son's father is concerned that she is videotaping our son--which seems creepy, as others here have pointed out. He might even write the note on my behalf as he works for the city we live in.

Congratulations!!

Thank you :)

It feels good not having to report to Carl! (though Carl was a very nice man)

tbh, I fast forwarded a lot of this thread... has anyone else put forward the idea of a parabolic mirror in line of sight of the CCTV camera?

Semper Fi!

Thanks, We're just doing our job.

HEY! Speaking of crazy, couldn't you jsut find out her post office box number and shoot a staple gun into the lock?

Nah, forget it. That was just out there.

And finally, a camera on your house is better than a pox on your house.

i submit that you invest in 20 gallons of the cheapest milk you can find. wait until you can't be seen/identified then pour it all over her yard. heat + humidity + milk = barrels of fun. someone will certainly call the authorities about the horrid smell coming from her property. and unless the investigator has come across this particular prank they won't figure it out for quite a while.

Bri - your life seems to be filled with mucho drama.

How about ignoring the neighbor and just living your life? As long as you & yours aren't doing anything wrong, then let the old hag burn up her money watching you doing nothing.
I can think of a million different "revenge" ideas, but just like the rest of the ones presented they would only result in even more attention..... I'm assuming that's what you don't want???

*ding* We have a winner. My Bro-in-law lived next door to the "same person". He and the Mrs. just couldn't let it go and it escalated ugly. Your nutjob, having been a nitjob for a while, is going to be better at playing this game than you. Don't play.