The strangest, scariest, most dramatic thing that you've seen in your n'hood

[Iris]

It isn't my neighborhood or even my country, but Holy Cow!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2513160/Family-claim-Guinness-World-Record-Christmas-light-display-502-165-flickering-bulbs-neighbours-stopped-speaking-them.html

Turn up the sound and discover if you too wouldn't go mad.

Apparently I'm in the minority but it wouldn't worry me at all. I quite liked the effect of the "Every single thing that I can find is covered in lights" and I didn't think the music was that loud - you could still hear the murmur of voices while it was playing so it's probably not any louder than when my neighbours have a party. Provided the sound is turned off at a reasonable hour and measures are taken to deal with Christmas Eve traffic I'd be quite content to live next door for a month. My kids would be DELIGHTED to live next door for a month, I can tell you.

[ladyknight1]

We had a young man murdered in his home less than a mile from mine. 

[WolfWay]

Photos of the tennisball sized hail that fell over my city yesterday afternoon.

http://www.news24.com/Multimedia/South-Africa/Massive-hailstorm-hits-Gauteng-20131128

[Hollanda]

This is gross.
 
A friend of mine put on Facebook that he got out of his house this morning to find a pile of human excrement outside his door.     How on Earth can people do that? It's disgusting!!!
 
I have also known of someone who constantly had to negotiate vomit every Saturday and Sunday morning - reason? She lived next door to a pub. Seriously. If people really want to drink themselves stupid, fine, but I don't wish to see the evidence that they cannot handle their alcohol. 
 
And in my hometown today a car crashed into some flats.  The poor driver had a heart attack at the wheel.  That didn't stop certain people on Facebook making insensitive remarks..."Oh traffic in this town is at a standstill..." I'm sure the poor guy didn't choose where to have his heart attack to cause you the most inconvenience possible! 

[Diane AKA Traska]

This morning, while helping M load the minivan to go to work, a guy came *racing* down the street, doing at least 40, honking his horn.  He didn't even slow down for someone in the street, and that sanitation worker almost didn't clear the road quick enough.

[Margo]

When I first started working I came home from work one day to find police everywhere, and police crime scene tape across my entire street - it turned out that there was (allegedly) a dispute between rival drug dealers. One tried to shoot the other, missed him and shot and killed his 5 year old step-son instead. It had all happened about 40 minutes before I got home.

(and this is in the UK where gun-crime is rare)

[WishUponAStar]

 I lived in a nice part of Hollywood for a brief amount of time. While out of town, a murder took place about three blocks from my apartment. Turns out a couple was having a dispute in a car, one occupant tried to run, and the other one chased him down and stabbed him. It was really sad to walk by the place where it happened. 

[ladyknight1]

Another bomb threat near work shut down all the roads, forcing evacuations of people who couldn't go anywhere. It took me 45 minutes to travel 2 miles.

[Midnight Kitty]

There were 2 murders in my neighborhood (Waikiki) in 1 night a couple months ago.  2 completely separate situations which both ended up in a woman dying.  1 woman's body was thrown in a dumpster.  Residents looking down from their windows saw the body the following morning.  That's a really lousy way to start the day.  She was a drug user and was rumored to have turned tricks to support her drug habit.

The other woman was murdered by her husband.  She was contemplating divorce and he didn't want her to leave.  He made a half-hearted suicide attempt afterwards, but he'll live to be tried.

[cwm]

At the football game on Sunday, a man was killed in the parking lot. Nobody really knows what happened yet, all we know was that there was likely a great deal of alcohol involved on more than one person's part. He was punched, passed out, never woke up.

Monday, an email went out to all the managers of our main partner and our company (since we're technically owned by them). His name was on the list of employees no longer with the company.

[jayhawk]

At the football game on Sunday, a man was killed in the parking lot. Nobody really knows what happened yet, all we know was that there was likely a great deal of alcohol involved on more than one person's part. He was punched, passed out, never woke up.

Monday, an email went out to all the managers of our main partner and our company (since we're technically owned by them). His name was on the list of employees no longer with the company.

I saw that news story (I live within 70 miles of the stadium); it was such a weird situation!  but the way your employer handled it - just very heartless.

[cwm]

At the football game on Sunday, a man was killed in the parking lot. Nobody really knows what happened yet, all we know was that there was likely a great deal of alcohol involved on more than one person's part. He was punched, passed out, never woke up.

Monday, an email went out to all the managers of our main partner and our company (since we're technically owned by them). His name was on the list of employees no longer with the company.

I saw that news story (I live within 70 miles of the stadium); it was such a weird situation!  but the way your employer handled it - just very heartless.

Well, that's the standard for letting management across the board know about it. Most of them (including my mom) hadn't heard about the news story in the first place. I think it's automated when someone is taken off payroll for whatever reason. But yeah, it's rough. On one hand, I love my company. On the other hand, they handle things really weirdly sometimes.

[Craftyone]

Not particularly scary but strange.  My husband saw a medium sized kangaroo hopping up our street this morning as he was leaving the house.  Yes, we have bush near us but not that close (about half a km) and it would have had to go through quite heavy morning traffic.  Now the myth that Australians have kangaroos hopping down their streets in the suburbs isn't such a myth after all.  No, he didn't get photos.

[Psychopoesie]

Not particularly scary but strange.  My husband saw a medium sized kangaroo hopping up our street this morning as he was leaving the house.  Yes, we have bush near us but not that close (about half a km) and it would have had to go through quite heavy morning traffic.  Now the myth that Australians have kangaroos hopping down their streets in the suburbs isn't such a myth after all.  No, he didn't get photos.

Not had any roo sightings in my suburb so much so I understand the sense of surprise, although I often see kangaroos around other Canberra suburbs. Dropping an interstate friend back at her hotel in Tuggeranong recently, there were roos nibbling on the grass out the front.

Earlier this year, I was startled by knocking on the glass sliding doors that lead out to the back courtyard. Figured it might be one of the neighbours wanting a quick word. I was on the right track. It was a new neighbour wanting to introduce itself- a fairly hefty blue-tongued lizard butting its head against the glass.

So relieved it wasn't a snake.

[cwm]

Another major fire, along the road from mom's to boyfriend's. Started around noon, traffic was still backed up by 5 when I drove by. Another man in the hospital from it. Another 25 people out of their homes. The local Red Cross is doing a brisk business this fall in dealing with apartment fires, it seems.