What to do?

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

25 minutes ago, OptOut said:

If some dude was doing that to me I'd approach them and confront them directly. You've just been letting a guy follow you around for MONTHS? He could be a threat to you and your family, you need to confront him in a non-violent manner.

Perhaps gather a couple of trusted friends to back you up and hold up phone cameras in his face. Maybe you follow HIM around playing weird buzzing noises in his ears, follow him home, see how he likes it.

This is terrible advice and you should not do this. Doing this would only escalate the situation, which is not what you want to do if this person is actually stalking you.

19 minutes ago, Californication said:

Just to be clear, I have read up on schizophrenia in the past because I've helped taken care of someone that has the disease. This is not that. 

Even if it's not schizophrenia, there are a million other things it could be. Mental issues can take on an incredibly wide variety of forms. And, as Khromak hinted at above, self-diagnosis is not generally a good idea, especially for something like this. You should talk to someone who's actually trained and qualified to be able to tell you that it is, in fact, not any sort of mental issue. Until such a scenario happens, it's impossible to be certain, no matter how certain you personally are that this isn't a mental issue.

[OptOut | 8,889]

I would confront the issue head-on, is what I mean. There's no way on Earth I'd allow someone like this to threaten myself and my family on a consistent basis for months on end.

Someone like that is getting their kicks off of making you scared or annoyed, it's a power trip. You need to cut the power out, show them they can't control you, can't scare you.

Then again, I don't live in a country where every second person is armed, and every third person is a legit psychopath, so your milage may vary. 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

1 minute ago, OptOut said:

Then again, I don't live in a country where every second person is armed, and every third person is a legit psychopath, so your milage may vary. 

Yeah. You don't.

Like I said, terrible terrible advice.

...And frankly I'd be very surprised if your suggestion ended well no matter where you live, honestly. Doing that is only begging to escalate the situation and could very very very easily lead to someone getting hurt, or worse. That is the last thing you should do in this type of situation.

[OptOut | 8,889]

2 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

Yeah. You don't.

Like I said, terrible terrible advice.

...And frankly I'd be very surprised if your suggestion ended well no matter where you live, honestly. Doing that is only begging to escalate the situation and could very very very easily lead to someone getting hurt, or worse. That is the last thing you should do in this type of situation.

Well, he went to the police and they didn't do anything, it sounds like this guy is a ghost. Confronting him directly will prove whether or not he's actually a real stalker, he will need to answer for himself at that point.

I'm not telling anyone to do anything, I'm just saying what I would do, ill-advised or not.

[Sumez | 2,967]

Whatever you do, getting a gun sounds like a really bad idea

[The Count | 528]

I'm not convinced this isn't a troll post, but definitely start with speaking to your psychiatrist/psychologist/therapist. 

[Scrobins | 1,727]

There's really no constructive benefit to others calling this a troll post. We the staff are monitoring this and at least one of us is in direct contact with the OP. If we thought there wasn't something of legitimate concern here, we would lock the post and ban the OP.

We will police this thread and forum, just worry about whether or not you feel like engaging.

[Brickman | 3,995]

10 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Whatever you do, getting a gun sounds like a really bad idea

It’s the American way my dude. Shoot everyone up first and then ask questions later.

45 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I would confront the issue head-on, is what I mean. There's no way on Earth I'd allow someone like this to threaten myself and my family on a consistent basis for months on end.

Someone like that is getting their kicks off of making you scared or annoyed, it's a power trip. You need to cut the power out, show them they can't control you, can't scare you.

Then again, I don't live in a country where every second person is armed, and every third person is a legit psychopath, so your milage may vary. 

Yeah you and I could do this in a normal functioning society but unfortunately as you said, in the US they’re all armed and the mental checks on gun owners is weak at best. This would be too risky of an approach if it were real.

My wife’s brother has bi polar and this sounds very similar to the things he describes.

He thought someone was following him for months on the bus and taking about him and laughing at him. Then he started getting random people involved by saying that they were assisting with the stalking. He would often hear sounds too or swear that people around him heard it and were getting annoyed too.

The next best thing would be to see a mental health doctor. They will be more help than the police. Hope you can get well soon.

[Californication | 1,477]

One of the other reasons I know it's not in my head is because the sound gets blocked by physical objects. Let's say I am walking down a straight road and the noise seems like it's coming from behind me it will soften the further I get or if I take a turn.

 

[Brickman | 3,995]

4 minutes ago, Californication said:

One of the other reasons I know it's not in my head is because the sound gets blocked by physical objects. Let's say I am walking down a straight road and the noise seems like it's coming from behind me it will soften the further I get or if I take a turn.

 

The mind is very powerful and can convince us of a lot of things. Maybe just to be safe see a psychologist and a doctor and see what they say. It couldn’t hurt to get their views and then you can tick that off.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

1 minute ago, Californication said:

One of the other reasons I know it's not in my head is because the sound gets blocked by physical objects. Let's say I am walking down a straight road and the noise seems like it's coming from behind me it will soften the further I get or if I take a turn.

That is not definitive proof that this cannot be a mental issue. Again, self-diagnosis is not sufficient. Talk to a doctor, someone who's trained and qualified, to definitively, absolutely rule out that possibility. I mean, you've been a caregiver for someone with schizophrenia, yeah? And you've read up on it? If that's the case, you should know how real, and how detailed auditory hallucinations can be. Not saying you have schizophrenia, just making the point that this changes absolutely nothing. You really, sincerely should not just immediately dismiss the possibility of this being a mental issue, I'm serious. Again, not saying that to be dismissive, I'm saying that because you don't seem to have genuinely considered that possibility for even a second.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

1 minute ago, Brickman said:

The mind is very powerful and can convince us of a lot of things. Maybe just to be safe see a psychologist and a doctor and see what they say. It couldn’t hurt to get their views and then you can tick that off.

Yeah, if nothing else, talking to someone qualified and having them definitively rule it out as a possibility will get people like us to finally shut up about it possibly being a mental issue, and like I said, would only make your case stronger and more believable. Even if you're absolutely certain that's not what's happening, you should do it anyway since it would still benefit you even if this person really is doing this to you.

[RH | 4,921]

Ok, this would be my follow up to this.  Think about it--how is this guy doing this?  What device does he have?  What does this sound like, exactly.  Shouldn't this guy be a nuisance to your entire neighborhood/apartment building?

I'm starting to agree.  If this seems legit, go to a doctor.  Have them record the sounds and get them to help you take it to the police.

Also, one last question--have  you gone to a Police Station?  How did they respond to the noise, or did it stop?  Maybe, if there's a bench in front of a station, you can sit on it for a couple hours for a couple of days.  If you keep hearing the sound... that's probably a good tell that this could be a phycological issue--the police wouldn't put up with that sound, non-stop, at their own headquarters.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

16 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Yeah you and I could do this in a normal functioning society but unfortunately as you said, in the US they’re all armed and the mental checks on gun owners is weak at best. This would be too risky of an approach if it were real.

Although, I'd reiterate that I don't think seeking out the stalker and trying to piss them off in retaliation would go over very well no matter where you live.

[Californication | 1,477]

10 minutes ago, RH said:

Ok, this would be my follow up to this.  Think about it--how is this guy doing this?  What device does he have?  What does this sound like, exactly.  Shouldn't this guy be a nuisance to your entire neighborhood/apartment building?

I'm starting to agree.  If this seems legit, go to a doctor.  Have them record the sounds and get them to help you take it to the police.

Also, one last question--have  you gone to a Police Station?  How did they respond to the noise, or did it stop?  Maybe, if there's a bench in front of a station, you can sit on it for a couple hours for a couple of days.  If you keep hearing the sound... that's probably a good tell that this could be a phycological issue--the police wouldn't put up with that sound, non-stop, at their own headquarters.

So sometimes it's a high pitched noise.  That one can go long distances, but I realized when I was at the beach that the spread wasn't as big as I thought. If I get far enough away, I can hear the area it's covering in the distance.

And sometimes it is an amplified voice that attempts to sound like a whisper. Sometimes whatever he is using is turned up the wrong way and I hear his normal voice like when you accidently press the wrong volume button on the TV. What ever he is using to amplify his voice seems like it works on shorter distance like up to a quarter mile. When he is talking it sounds like background noise to most people, but if you hear it off and on for 10 hours it's fucking annoying.

Now, I was renting a room from a family. I had a seperate entrance and generally just said hello to them. They thought the whole thing was funny at first. I initially thought it was coming from inside the house so when I got fed up, I stopped paying rent. The family moved to one of their other properties for three months, until I was ready to move. They have never asked for any money.

[RH | 4,921]

Seriously, go see a doctor. No one here is judging you, but there's no way someone can constantly blast noise for a quarter mile, all the time, wherever you go and it not annoy enough people that the police would stop them.  The police would do it alone because even the ones that are patrolling your neighborhood would find it obnoxious.

And no, no one that's around it long enough would "find it funny".  How could they?  If it annoys you, it is annoying everyone else.  Someone's not magically sending sounds to your brain, and you admit that.  So go to a doctor.  If by some chance we're all wrong and someone really, really is messing with you, the doctors can assist you in getting the help you need.

Even still, I highly suggest the sit-outside-a-police-station test.  There are noise ordinances for a reason and someone would either stop it OR it'd be proof that something else is going on and getting doctors assistance would, again, be the likely solution.

Edited February 19 by RH

[Scrobins | 1,727]

I’m going to echo what’s already been said in abundance: see a mental health professional.

This is a webforum for video game enthusiasts and is a weird place for advice or camaraderie or commiseration for what you’re going through. We are not equipped to help you. And it is getting tiresome that you refuse to accept the overwhelming consensus this community is offering to you.

[Californication | 1,477]

1 minute ago, Scrobins said:

I’m going to echo what’s already been said in abundance: see a mental health professional.

This is a webforum for video game enthusiasts and is a weird place for advice or camaraderie or commiseration for what you’re going through. We are not equipped to help you. And it is getting tiresome that you refuse to accept the overwhelming consensus this community is offering to you.

For sure. Thanks.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,090]

1 hour ago, Californication said:

Now, I was renting a room from a family. I had a seperate entrance and generally just said hello to them. They thought the whole thing was funny at first. I initially thought it was coming from inside the house so when I got fed up, I stopped paying rent. The family moved to one of their other properties for three months, until I was ready to move. They have never asked for any money.

This is the biggest tell right here.  If you were living by yourself in a detached house, then the thought of you actually having a stalker as you described would be maybe 2% believable.  Reading between the lines, it sounds like your story about the family moving out supports your claim: they were legitimately scared of the stalker and/or annoyed by the noise as well, but here's the reality: if there was someone creeping around that family's house, they would have called the police and it would have been dealt with - end of story.  I hate to say it, but the reality is that they moved away because they were scared of you; they didn't ask for the back rent you owed them because they were scared of you.

Please seek professional help before this completely ruins your life...

[Reed Rothchild | 9,549]

1 hour ago, Californication said:

Now, I was renting a room from a family. I had a seperate entrance and generally just said hello to them. They thought the whole thing was funny at first. I initially thought it was coming from inside the house so when I got fed up, I stopped paying rent. The family moved to one of their other properties for three months, until I was ready to move. They have never asked for any money.

Holy shit dude.  You are legitimately terrifying a family enough to cause them to flee their home.  Call your parents or wife/ex-wife or someone and tell them you need help.

[Californication | 1,477]

https://www.yankodesign.com/2019/10/17/these-directional-speakers-throw-sound-in-focused-beams-like-a-spotlight/

I think I saw him carrying this.

Edited February 19 by Californication

[Scrobins | 1,727]

I’m shutting this down. This thread will now be locked. You have been told to go seek help. Go do it. Nobody here is capable of giving you the help you need. Please heed the advice you’ve been given before you hurt someone.