Are You Being Stalked?

The first part of answering this question is really answering a bigger question. That question being "What is stalking?".

Stalking is repeated and unwanted contact or communication, or harassing and/or threatening behavior from another individual.

Such behavior includes appearing at a person's home or place of business, phone calls, leaving written messages or objects for the person at their home a place of business, or vandalizing a person's property. This is the definition according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime.

Stalking rarely starts without some sort of contact or relationship between the individuals, be it friends, romantic, being organization members together or some such thing, something usually starts it.

There is no clear cut definition of a stalker, no solid profile or anything of that nature. But it is typically caused by losing whatever relationship there was, as that relationship was the source of pride or indirect self-esteem for the stalker and losing that is the cause for worry and often, anger. This makes a stalker potentially quite dangerous.

Here is where it gets lame in the area of neighborhood disputes:

The woman in our story watched us from behind trees (trees that didn't hide her), from her window, whenever people came over if we were outside she'd come to the edge of her lawn and "pick weeds", or some such thing, in a feeble attempt to eavesdrop on our conversations and so on.

According to the police and attorneys, she is on her property, so it falls under the topic of being a weirdo. Not illegal, just being strange. Therefore, it isn't something anything can be done about even though most anyone admits it is creepy, it is bizarre behavior, possibly a sign of some sort of mental illness, but it's not a crime.

So the behavior can be weird, disconcerting, and even bothersome, but unless it gets in your personal space, on your property, in your way, or the like, it will not be considered stalking, or even harassment.