So...now I know why my husband and I got our house so cheap...
Lately, I've been exploring the land behind our house for the first time since we moved in a few years ago. A lot of the land is thick woods with thorn trees and brush so thick you have to crawl to get past it. The other day I was near our property line in the deep woods near where our neighbor's property starts. I'd been near there before but hadn't quite ventured to the property line because there are tons of thorn trees that get caught in my long hair and I have to crawl.
It's at this spot that I noticed this structure....
I'd seen this thing a while back but never could get close to it. There is a wire fence in front of it blocking a path to it. We think the fence was from a former owner who kept livestock there. On the other side are the thorn trees. I took a different path up the mountain and found myself on the other side of the fence which led me straight to this structure so I could finally get an up close look.
I'm really regretting exploring this place because what I found is a tad upsetting. Looking inside the structure I saw a green bag hidden underneath. I thought that was really weird. Poking the bag open I saw fuel and drain cleaner containers. Being so deep in the woods my first thought was maybe a former farming resident left oil and fuel for farm equipment. Deep down I was very suspicious though and started to look around at the ground.
Then, I started to notice this spot in the woods had tons of trash. There were lots of plastic drink bottles. Walking next to the wood structure I looked down and saw the biggest shock and clue as to what kind of person last visited that spot.... empty Sudaffed packaging.
East Tennessee where I live is horrible for meth production. Every day in the newspapers you see people getting arrested for possession or production of meth. It's really ruined our town. The Sudaffed automatically freaked me out because that's the #1 sign of meth. Then, I saw other strange things: empty battery packaging, Gatorade bottles with plastic tubing in the lids, drain cleaner, and lighter fluid.
How To Recognize A Meth Lab quoted from this source
- EXCESSIVE OR UNUSUAL TRASH – Meth makers produce large quantities of unusual waste that may contain, for example:
- packaging from cold tablets
- lithium batteries that have been torn apart
- used coffee filters with colored stains or powdery residue
- empty containers – often with puncture holes – of antifreeze, white gas, ether, starting fluids, Freon, lye, drain opener, paint thinner, acetone, alcohol, or other chemicals
- plastic soda bottles with holes near the top, often with tubes coming out of the holes
- plastic or rubber hoses, duct tape, rubber gloves, or respiratory masks.
Empty containers? Check...
Chemicals? Check...
Plastic tubes? Check...
Lighter fluid? Check...
So yeah...I found empty containers of everything you need to make meth in the woods near my home.
Word of Advice: Before You Buy A House Check Local and National Meth Lab Registries
After seeing all this I got freaked and got out of those woods as fast as possible. Here in the U.S. if meth labs are confiscated from property, they list the property online on local and national websites. I went home and immediately looked up our house on both. Thankfully, our house wasn't on the national registry but it was on the local one. Apparently, six months before we bought our house the police had confiscated a meth lab on our property. The realtor failed to tell us this when we bought the place. Realtors are obligated to tell people about meth lab seizures when trying to sell properties. Since this one was found outside and not inside I think they probably felt it was okay not to mention it which is very wrong. If a meth lab is found inside a house it can basically make the home toxic to be in. Inside labs are much worse than outside ones for home buyers.
Living in a former meth lab homes can make people sick. Cooking drugs inside of a closed house contains the chemicals so that it can take many, many years for a house to be safe to live in. Nausea, chronic headaches, increased problems with asthma, and other health problems can occur when living in a former meth lab home. Even though finding that a meth lab was on our property I am thankful it was outside and not inside.
National Registry Here: https://www.dea.gov/clan-lab/clan-lab.shtml
Meth Is An Evil Drug
So, I learned a very big lesson from my walk in the woods on my own property....I saw the remains of what was once a meth lab. I never in my life thought I'd see a former meth lab spot in my own yard. Cops did a pretty poor job of cleaning up the place. There is a ton of leftover trash up there.
Funny thing is, when our home got broken into in 2015 the detective who investigated was the same one listed as confiscating the meth lab 6 months before we bought the place. When I talked to him when he checked out house out after the robbery he said he knew our house well but wouldn't say why....now I know why. He never caught the people who built the lab. I'm thinking this detective thought his meth lab owners returned to our house and robbed us in the process.
Pretty scary stuff when you really process it all. Someone made meth in my woods 6 months before I bought the place. Four months after moving in, someone broke in my house while I was home and 7 months pregnant....might have been the same person...maybe a neighbor? Very scary stuff. It sucks that drugs are so bad here and it makes people do evil things. Meth is one of the most evil drugs in my eyes. Seeing what all is put into it...people are consuming pure chemicals. Who wants to consume drain cleaner?
I hope this post is educational to others. If I didn't live in an area where meth was so bad I might have walked past that structure and never thought anything about meth labs. I would have just though some kids were out there partying with all the pop bottles around.
If you're ever out in the woods and you see all of these things you may have found a meth lab. Call the cops and get out of there.
What a terrible shock for you and your husband @marxrab The first thing that came into my mind when reading this was, your migraine headaches. Even though your discovery is a little distance away from your home, I would not discount the connection........not that I want to cause you any more anxiety. I was very pleased to read that @finnian has kindly offered his assistance because the real estate agents should have warned you. I do hope that you will get the help you need to put your mind at ease. Your health, and that of your family is paramount and I think you are entitled to compensation. Take care my friend and follow through with further investigations to resolve this matter. xox
I do think the migraines were due to my broken glasses. Now that I have new ones the migraines are gone. We will check in with the police department to find out more about what happened before we bought the place. We did a lot of renovating before we moved in and I think we would have showed other signs of sickness if it had been inside. It's very disturbing to find out though. You wan to feel safe in your home and finding things out like this are terrible.
Oh, I am so happy to hear that your migraines are gone and that the cause was more than likely due to your broken glasses @marxrab You and your husband have put a lot of love and effort into your home and you need to reap the rewards for that. I hope that you will all feel very safe in your home as it will be obvious to acquaintances of the former residents that they have unceremoniously moved on. The best is yet to come my friend. Have faith!
@marxrab Must be a shocking discovery for you. Yes, sad to say drug addicts are rampant in Tennessee. For example,Babies are born to mothers who are addicted to drugs not knowing that their children will reap the effects of their addiction.
Yes, very shocking! Our local hospital has a special department for babies addicted to drugs. It's sad it happens so frequently now that all babies are drug tested immediately after birth and a special department had to be created.
I would assume if the police found a drug lab they would remove it. This one looks like it was never found and makes me think the meth lab that was reported is not the same one you found. I would have your home tested.
We'll have to talk to the police to find out more. I really hope it wasn't in the house. It looks like the mess for it is all out in the woods. It's a lot of trash out there. Hopefully that's all I found was the trash they left behind and the little "house" where they hid it.
That is so crazy!! I hope I never have to heed your warning,
And pretty poor ethics by your realtor not to disclose that information! I'm thinking that the Detective figured you must have known because he's probably not supposed to divulge that kind of information?
You were home, and pregnant, during the break-in?? How terrifying! It obviously turned out ok I'm guessing? but still!!
I wonder if there's a local hazardous clean-up company you can contact to clean it up for you?
Wow...so crazy...all of it!! There are so many towns throughout the country devastated by meth because it's a cheap but highly addictive substance; easy for nasty dealers to prey on vulnerable people with. So unbelievably sad!
Thanks for the post! I'm wishing isn't wasn't a necessary one :(
I hope you never have to worry either! I'm not sure why it wasn't disclosed to us. Yes, the situation turned out okay. Shock from the break-in put me in the hospital for 3 days because I was so stressed it caused the babies heartbeat to drop...She's fine and a healthy and 18 months old now. This area use to be so safe but drugs are horrible these days. It's sad to see.
But in all of the sh*%, there's a beautiful baby girl! Congratulations :)
It is a horrible thing to see and it always makes me wonder why?
Oh, my goodness! Do you have any recourse against the real estate people? And the people you bought the house from, were they the owners of the meth lab? And who is responsible for cleaning that stuff up? You shouldn't have to touch it. And what kind of security do you have if they have been back to rob your house? This is all very unsettling...Be careful.
I really don't know. The house was vacant for years before we bought it. We talked to our neighbors and they think the meth lab builders probably lived on one of the properties in the neighborhood and knew the place was empty for years. They never caught the builders. I don't know know how to clean it up. Guess we'll have to go up there with rubber gloves and...I don't know...not sure how to dispose of the stuff.
I bought security cameras that record and can transmit to an app on my phone after we got robbed. I had horrible PTSD that I couldn't sleep and had to do something. We also have extra locks on the doors and signs all over saying we have cameras and keep away.
Better not to clean that stuff by yourselves... Call in some guy or get it cleaned by some kind of experts.
This is just awful. I would contact the police and ask why it wasn't cleaned up. Also, your local department of health should have some suggestions. If not I would go to your local government representative and raise a stink. If that doesn't work there is the option of a media blitz, you know radio, TV, newspapers...
I an understand the PST. That is a terrifying experience. Perhaps a big German Shepard or Black Labrador.
Hello,
I'm a residential security expert and PI, and I'd be glad to help you. There's plenty you can do, cheaply, to improve your home security and sleep soundly at night because of it. If you're interested, please contact me.
Finnian
Hello! Any suggestions you have I'd appreciate to hear. We have security cameras now which give me peace of mind. We also sleep with the kitchen and living room lights on. We live out in the country in Tennessee. Out here you really can't trust anyone. Seven of our neighbors got broken into around the same time as us. Detectives think all the crime could be a neighbor who has the ability to watch peoples' homes to know their routines. Sucks to feel unsafe.
Are you on Discord? I'll gladly help, but we should probably switch to PM's. I'm finnian#5365 on there. If you are not on discord and do not want to use it, perhaps you'll use steemit.chat? I admin a few channels there to include #security and #residentialsecurity. Contact me!
Very typical haha. It looks like you have a very big terrain, be careful with what you can find out there :)
Shiiiiit, that's intense! I'd be freaked too. Are you going to get it reported or cleaned up or something? Does that flag you? You really need to talk to that detective again.
I'm not sure what we'll do. We're afraid to say anything out of fear we could be accused of something. We do need to talk to the police dept to find out the details though to make sure we aren't in any danger and to make sure the lab wasn't inside our house which I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Good to double check though.
Yeah. I'm sure you won't be accused of anything. You have proof too. But it is something of concern that it wasn't mentioned when you bought the house and if the robbery is linked to it, then you have a case to make against the estate agent.
I think drugs are bad just about everywhere though.
If I could buy some cheap property that had a meth lab on it once upon a time I would definitely buy it especially that lab wasn't inside the house.
It's good that you found it though.
The world is an interesting place.
For the price...I would have bought this house knowing it had a meth lab in the woods. That being said, I would have been more careful when we first moved in. Since we got robbed so soon after moving in I would have installed better locks in the beginning and would have been more alert. I'm now wondering if the meth lab people robbed us. At least we have the security cameras now. I feel safe in our house with them.
I'd love to help. If you're willing, contact me at finnian at libertyprofessionals dot com.
Wow... That's a pretty distressing discovery to make.
Meth has had a huge negative impact on our family. I'm sorry to hear about this, and hope you can "redeem" your property completely simply by being there and countering the past with the presence of your good will...
😄😇😄
I'm sorry to hear you've had family members deal with meth. It's such a horrible addiction to have. I'm sure we'll redeem the place. Part of our explorations out in the woods is to clear a big area to have a raspberry patch and garden. We'll just avoid the meth area when planting edible fruits and veggies.
Thanks, friend. It's been devastating, and the devastation goes on.
Berry patches and gardens sound wonderful! How large is your total property, if I may ask?
Goodness this is weird and exciting and terrifying all at once
You saw the cause of the slow death mfg machine but looks like you can look on the bright side that you didnt find actual bodies!
When I worked the LA County ICU the meth cases were the worst of all: people generally youngish (under 40 or 50) but all looking 70 and toasted out.
Its so sad, because back before the Iran Contra flooding of USA with coke mania, the country was flush with the happy highs like Columbian Gold weed and purple microdot acid (a very mild form but a $2 purple dot would last 6-8 hours). People were very rarely agitated or aggressive, and the main health risks were from forgetting to stay nourished and hydrated!
You're right! I'm so glad I didn't run into the builders of that thing up there! Meth is so horrible. A few people I went to high school had their mugshots published in the paper for meth possession and even though they are in their 30s they look ancient and like they have the plague. Why can't people just stick to pot? I don't recommend using any drugs but at least pot is natural. You don't need drain cleaner and other chemicals that shouldn't be consumed. Meth is the one drug I hate more than anything. My beautiful small town has been ruined by idiots seeking dangerous highs.
That is a disturbing find!
Oohh, ouch! Did you call someone to clean it up? You don't want to try and do that on your own. Meth lab dumps can explode. There were some news articles about people getting killed that way a few years back.
Meth is a pretty nasty drug. I've seen what it can do to a person's life. One of my sister's friends got into it and it really destroyed her life. She's a shadow of the person she was.
No, we're kind of afraid to call someone out of fear we'll be accused of making the mess. Not sure how to handle it. The actual meth lab was taken away and now all that is left is the trash.
The trash is the dangerous part. If you clean it up yourself, be very careful. You could tell the police about it, if you're comfortable with that. They will usually investigate and may even take the material away as evidence.
We had a guy call our house, back in the 90's, when people still had tape answering machines. He left a message for a time and location to pick up drugs. My parents called the police, and the guy from narcotics laughed when he heard it. Not only was it legit, the guy was stupid enough to leave a call-back number.
They took our tape, though.
We'll probably clean it up ourselves. That's pretty funny about the phone call. Some people are just not smart. Our next door neighbor is really alert about the neighborhood. When we first toured the house we bought he showed up with a shotgun thinking it was someone breaking in. Showed up with a shotgun when my brother came to check the house when we were out of town thinking someone was breaking in. At least we have someone looking out for us. We think he's the one who helped the cops find the former meth lab.
Holy Moly... that's something different alright!
Can't imagine that happening around here, man that place is sick.