TIL my neighbor's 'quiet basement renovation' was actually a meth lab fire

So I live in Portland, and last month I noticed this weird chemical smell coming from the house next door. The guy told me he was stripping old paint, which I believed because he had a mask on. Three days later, fire trucks showed up at 2 AM and I saw them dragging out lab equipment. Turns out he'd been cooking meth down there for like eight months. I feel dumb for not reporting the smell sooner. Has anyone else had a neighbor situation that turned out way worse than you thought?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.joel9d ago

Eight months though? That's wild to me. I mean, I guess I just figure a meth lab would blow up way sooner than that, not just keep chugging along like some weird science project. And the mask thing is so deceptive, like he was just being a careful DIY guy instead of, you know, a criminal. Hope your homeowners insurance covers weird adjacent fire damage or something.

rose_reed9d ago

Wait, how do you even hide a meth lab in an apartment for that long without neighbors smelling it?

jason_lewis38d ago

Keep seeing this kind of thing in Portland lately where people just... accept weird stuff from their neighbors because everyone's so private here. Had a buddy who lived next to a guy running some kind of illegal smoke shop out of his garage for two years before the cops raided it. The mask thing gets me though, like how many dangerous people are just using everyday excuses to hide what they're doing. Makes you wonder what else is happening right under our noses that we just write off as normal neighbor behavior.