"The previous owner left us a surprise." 14 women share real horror stories about their houses.

This month, The Watcher came to Netflix. 

The new series is eerily based on a true story concerning not only the home but all of its neighbours, too.

The house at 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey and its owners went viral after the family began receiving chilling letters from a messenger who dubbed themselves 'The Watcher'. 

The frightening situation, which began all the way back in 2014, affected the family so much that they not only refused to move into the home but got into a bitter feud with their neighbours and eventually sold the property at a loss. 

Upon watching the now-viral series, it made us curious to know if anyone else has ever had to deal with their very own home or neighbour situation from hell.

Watch Netflix's The Watcher trailer. Post continues after video. 

To find out, Mamamia reached out to our community to learn all about their Watcher-like experiences – from bad neighbours and uninvited guests to surprising presents from previous tenants... 

Below, 14 women share their home-from-hell stories. 

"A surprise."

"The previous owner left us a surprise. We had a Home and Away-diner-style hamburger phone waiting for us when we moved into our first home purchase. Both unexpected and the Best. Gift. Ever." - Pip.

"A ransom note."

"I had a ransom note from a 'witch' left in the letterbox of my last share house. It said 'WATCH OUT, I CAN SEE YOU' with a drawing of an evil bumblebee. I think it was the four-year-old from a couple of doors down." - Katie.

"A fully formed mouse skeleton."

"In my early 20s, I moved into a share house in London. It was above a kebab shop and pretty grubby but we were poor AF and just happy to be there. Moving my stuff in, I decided to sweep out the big corner cupboard in my room before putting my stuff in, and out came a fully formed mouse skeleton. It was horrifying. But that said, we spent the next few years living with live mice running around the place so..." - Polly.

"A void in the back of a kitchen cupboard."

"I moved into a place and we discovered there was a void in the back of a kitchen cupboard that was shared with our downstairs neighbour who chain-smoked inside all day long, making the smoke travelled up into our kitchen. It was worse because we moved just as COVID popped off, so we were literally always at home." - Sydney.

"Their dogs could never settle."

"Our neighbours next to one of my places growing up kept changing all the time – as in every few months. One of the short-term residents told us they felt the place was haunted. Their dogs could never settle, they kept having strange electrical issues and generally felt 'unwanted' by the house. They saged, had 'specialists' come in and decided the only way to get peace was to leave." - Susannah.

"I had such disturbing experiences."

"While my housemates were away, I had such disturbing experiences. One of the worst moments was at three o'clock in the morning and I heard a large crash, followed by several other large crashes. My phone was on four per cent and I was scared to move an inch so I sent messages telling people to call the police if I didn't respond to them by 11am the next morning. I woke up and I was very much alive with a dead phone. I charged it up and had about 10 messages with laughing crying emojis. Everyone thought I was being dramatic! Turns out I was because the loud noises were just dozens of body washes and shampoos falling out of a container in our shower." - Yahn.

"Saw my new neighbour's boyfriend."

"Looked through my doorbell footage. Saw my new neighbour's boyfriend (who didn't even live with her) staring into the window and looking around with his face pressed against the glass. He was snooping! What made it weird for me is that we'd had dinner with them the week before, so he definitely could have knocked and asked for a tour." - Mitch.

"I found a Polaroid."

"When I was a kid, we moved house and I found a Polaroid at the top of my built-in wardrobe. It was of a man standing in my then bedroom holding his very large and erect penis! My brother and I thought it was hilarious but my parents, not so much." - Lauren.

"A police officer showed up."

"When we moved into a house, this one cat kept appearing. I noticed there were cat bowls and blankets in the bin. Then it clicked that they had literally left their cat behind. So 'Fluffy' became ours. A police officer showed up a few weeks later asking for someone so I'm thinking the previous tenant must have done a runner." - Asten.

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"His great-grandmother had been born in the same house."

"Not an odd neighbour experience but after moving into our home, my partner found out his great-grandmother had been born in the same house... in 1890!" - Denise.

"A random collection of clocks."

"I had some young tenants leave a random collection of clocks in the storeroom under the house, all sitting on a shelf. It looked like a scene from a horror movie." - Kate.

"We left behind massive dust monsters."

"When we relocated to the country for my partner's job and sold the house, everything was packed up including the vacuum cleaner. I am really sorry to admit it but we left behind massive dust monsters. To this day (25 years later), I am still embarrassed!" - Elizabeth.

"There was a secret trapdoor."

"When we moved into our new place this year, we found that beneath a rug, there was a secret trapdoor that led to an ENTIRE BASEMENT THAT WASN’T ON OUR PLANS. It wasn't mentioned during our tour or at any time in the sale process. If that wasn’t… enough, we went down there and found some stuff of what might have been very old gardening tools but looked to our freaked-out eyes like a serial killer’s stash of scythes and sickles. Plus, there were lavender bunches hanging from the ceiling... presumably to conceal the scent of the bodies. We don’t go down there often." - Kate.

"A photographer came to stay, uninvited."

"I live in a very old house. Three generations have lived there. A photographer came to stay, uninvited. He was taking a shower and beside the shower is a big window. He came running out and said a ghost had walked past the window outside. I really wanted him to leave anyway as he’d overstayed his welcome and said, 'Yes there is a ghost in this house.' A couple of weeks ago, a new spooky children's tv show is about to be turned into a film and there was a note from them saying they wanted to film at our place." - Jennifer.

Feature Image: Nextflix.