Portland Renter Horrified To Discover ‘Strange Man’ Had Been Secretly Squatting in His Building for Weeks

A Portland, OR, man has voiced his horror after discovering that a squatter had been living in the basement of his apartment building for weeks after experiencing a series of “weird occurrences” in the property.

Wyatt Lanford, 28, first spoke out about the shocking find in a now-viral TikTok video in which he explained how he happened upon the squatter after hearing strange noises coming from the lower levels of his building, while noticing that pieces of laundry and packages had started to go missing.

In the clip, Lanford admits that he always thought tales of squatters were nothing more than “urban legends,” until he moved to Portland from Flagstaff, AZ, and experienced the phenomenon first-hand.

“I don’t live in the greatest area, but I don’t live in the worst area,” he explains. His apartment is “beautiful” as well as affordable.

“We moved in in July, and there have been no incidents. It was perfect, the neighbors are nice, it’s quiet,” he goes on. “There’s been some people yelling outside and some craziness happening in the middle of the night, but for the most part, it’s a really great place to live.”

Lanford also notes that the building is equipped with a “security code and 24/7 security,” so he always felt safe in his home.

However, all of that changed in late November when construction work was being done outside the building, Lanford says. During this time, “someone had let a person who was not well into our building off the street.”

Initially, Lanford was unaware that this person had entered the building. Then he began to hear strange noises like “screaming and wailing and crying” from the hallway.

“It sounded scary, like something was really wrong,” he recalls. He was initially worried the sounds were coming from one of his neighbors. “It turned into an animalistic growling, almost demonic, and that noise scared me, it freaked my dog out.

“I mean, there was just weird occurrences going on in the building,” Lanford tells Realtor.com®. “And that’s how I was really clued in to everything that was going on.”

After the incident in his hallway, he says, the intruder was removed from the premises by building security. The management company emailed the residents to inform them that their access code had been changed after a “recent security issue.”

Understandably, he assumed that the issue had been resolved. But he was wrong.

Things went from bad to worse in the coming days, Lanford says.

“There were notes being left on the front door, and I overheard one of my neighbors talking about how they saw someone trying to steal a bike that they didn’t recognize. You know, it’s not a very large building.”

At first, Lanford wondered if an untrustworthy neighbor was stealing from other residents—until he came face to face with the squatter while he was out walking his dog.

“A few days ago, I took [my dog] out and I heard shuffling,” he reveals. “It’s really weird because it was really early in the morning and nobody is usually in that part of the building.

“As we turned the corner, my dog started huffing at something. He saw someone or something. And then the door to the basement slammed shut so aggressively. It was scary.”

Lanford continued walking to the building courtyard, only to spot a “peculiar-looking man” through a window of the property.

“He was coming out of the basement, and he was staring at me like he had just been caught,” Lanford recalls in his TikTok video. “I had my dog with me and he’s a pit bull, so I felt OK. [The man] saw [my dog] and he left me alone. Then he left. I don’t know where he went.”

Even then, Lanford assumed the strange interaction was a one-off, joking that perhaps the man was just “socially awkward.” But soon after, a neighbor posted a warning on the building’s message board, revealing that a “strange man” was seen in the basement attempting to steal a bike.

“We’ve now learned that this man is living in our basement, and he’s stealing our packages, he’s stealing our clothing, he’s trying to steal bikes, and he’s just shifting about squatting in our building,” Lanford says. “And nobody’s really trying to do anything about it?

“The property management company, to my knowledge, is informed about the situation. … I really feel like if someone is squatting in your residents’ building, that you should let them know this is happening.”

Lanford says that he is now terrified to go into the basement, where the laundry and trash receptacles are located.

After receiving further complaints from residents, the building management installed more security cameras inside and outside of the property, he adds.

“They did try to solve the issue and they have updated security in our buildings, so now there’s cameras everywhere,” he says.

They also found a makeshift bed and some trash near the laundry room—but thus far, there have been no additional reports of squatter sightings.