Original Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/
On the 15th of April I found a yellow post-it note in a handwriting that wasn't mine on my desk reminding me of some errands I had to do, but told literally nobody about. While odd, I chalked it up to something I did in my sleep, thinking maybe in my half-awake state I scrawled it so it didn't appear to be my handwriting. I threw it out and thought little of it.
On the 19th, I found another post it note on the back of my desk chair, in the same handwriting as the previous note, telling me to make sure I “saved my documents”. I was freaked out, but there were no other signs of a break-in, so I set up a web-cam in my house aimed at my desk and used a security-cam app for it to record after detecting movement.
On the 28th, I woke up to find another post-it note, this one saying, “Our landlord isn't letting me talk to you, but it's important we do.” I immediately checked the webcam's folder on my computer and found nothing from the night before, but my computer's recycling bin had been emptied, which I am certain I did not do recently, indicating someone had noticed the webcam and deleted the files. (They were just saved straight to a folder on my desktop called “Webcam”.
Today, on the 1st of May, I found another post it note, this time on the outside of my door, with nothing written on it– and there also appeared to be post-its on many other doors in my apartment complex, all blank, in varying colors.
Do I have any legal recourse here? I have no proof except for the post-its, but those are written by my pen and on my post-it notes, so conceivably I could have faked them. Would contacting the police get me into any trouble, if they can't determine an outside source for this? I just want to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's time.
Should I consult my landlord? Those also living in the complex?
EDIT: I pulled up a letter I received from my landlord back when I moved in, and the handwriting is identical. Could this count as evidence?
Top reply:
You seem sincere and this doesn't appear to be the plot of a Ray Bradbury short story.
It's possible that your landlord is leaving notes inside your apartment, but they don't make any sense in the context you're describing them.
It's likely that you are writing the notes yourself, but you are forgetting. Do you use post-it notes as reminders in any other parts of your life or job ?
Yes, this might be a mental health issue. You might be experiencing some sort of dissociative disorder.
Or it might be a physical problem. You mentioned that you have a very unusual narrow bedroom with no windows; is there a chance that you are not getting enough ventilation when you sleep, or that there is a carbon monoxide leak in the building ? A cheap CO detector (which you should have anyway) is a fast way to find out. You'll also have really bad headaches.
You know your own medical and mental history and your other experiences. If you think these incidents might be you, writing notes to yourself, there's no shame in getting somebody qualified to give you an opinion.
EDIT: Years later, and the good folks at WBUR Boston Public Radio have turned this thread into a podcast episode as part of their /u/Endless_Thread cooperative project with Reddit, complete with awesome art and title, and interviews with experts on the topics of sleepwalking and poisons, but not on webcams or landlord/tenant law.
http://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2018/03/09/something-wicked
Subsequent post by the OP: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34m92h/update_ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/
Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions and gave advice on how to proceeded– especially to those who recommended a CO detector… because when I plugged one in in the bedroom, it read at 100ppm.
TL;DR: I had CO poisoning and thought my landlord was stalking me.