Creepy neighbor I had when I was a kid.

I grew up in a relatively nice neighborhood. It was all quiet, lots of backyards to play in, and a park about 2 blocks away. My next door neighbor for most of my childhood was a man in his 60's named Bob. I never really met Bob, only saw him a handful of times, and I don't think he ever met my dad or mom. I know this because he didn't speak much and only grunted or nodded occasionally. <br><br>Bob was very strange and it wasn't until I got older I realized just how creepy and dangerous he was. I know that sounds strange, but hear me out. <br><br>My parents used to let me ride my dirt bike in the backyard all the time. One day I went into his yard without even noticing he wasn't home because there was no car, or his front door was open, and the lights were off. I rode around in his backyard for a bit until I remembered I was in the wrong yard. I decided to check his front door out of curiosity to make sure he was indeed not home and rode my bike back over to the fence. I looked in the windows, and his living room, dining room, and kitchen were completely empty. He had a garage that was closed, but I could see his car wasn't there. <br><br>After that day, whenever I went into his yard on my dirt bike I would check his house to make sure he was not home. I never saw him at all during the day while he was home though, because whenever I was outside or looked out my window I didn't see his car or lights on. <br><br>But here's where it gets creepy. I would often hear him tapping at his front window. I was about 10 when this started, so I know he would be home but never really around. It wasn't just one tap, he would tap like 5 times and walk away. I know he was doing it to me because the tapping sounded like it was right next to my window. It scared the shit out of me as a kid because I didn't know why he was doing it. <br><br>I got older, and started hanging out at my friends houses more. I started noticing things around my neighborhood that made me realize just how creepy Bob was. There was a guy in my neighborhood that would walk around at 2am with nothing on but boxers. He would walk all over the place and never get caught or anything. I always wondered what the hell he was doing. <br><br>One night, I saw Bob driving around with his headlights off. I thought nothing of it, and continued what I was doing. I walked back into my house and went to my bedroom. My mom and dad were asleep in their room, and I started getting ready for bed. I looked out my bedroom window to see if Bob had pulled into his driveway, and to my surprise, he had pulled up to the house across the street from me. I live across the street from a cemetery, so it was a house right next to the cemetery. I thought to myself that this is odd, and I didn't think anything else of it until I looked up and he was looking directly at me. I ran into my parents room and told my parents that Bob had just pulled up to the house across the street with his lights off. I didn't think anything else of it until I looked out the window to see him looking at me again. He looked at me, smiled, and walked away from his car. I told my parents again, and we all looked out the window. I saw him walk to the house, and then my mom and dad and I heard him knock at the door. He didn't wait for an answer and just walked into the house. The door was unlocked. I asked my mom and dad if they wanted to go call the cops, but they just told me to go to sleep and it was just Bob being weird.<br><br>The next day, I went to the house that Bob had went into and knocked on the door. The family that lived there was a nice family and they told me that Bob had just been watching them. He would walk over to their house and just stand in the yard at night. They said he did that all the time and that he was really strange. They also said they saw him walking around the cemetery at night, but that was normal for Bob. I asked the mom why she didn't lock her door and she told me that she didn't want to upset him because he would just get more strange and start doing things like knocking on their windows at night. <br><br>I told my parents about what the family said, and my mom and dad told me that Bob was a sex offender and that he used to kidnap and rape people. I never thought much of it at the time, but looking back it was very strange that he was so close to us. I remember when I was little he would always have a van outside of his house. I asked my mom why and she just said that he used it to go on dates with girls. <br><br>I've thought a lot about this and it's just really weird how everyone in the neighborhood knew what Bob was doing and how everyone just let it go. They didn't want to cause problems or get him kicked out because they just didn't want things to get worse.<br><br>To this day, I still think about Bob and wonder what he was doing at night and what he was doing with those girls.