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Chloe from Kent made a shocking discovery in her loft – after months of not being believed.
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A young mum from Kent says she was was put on anti-psychotic medication and dismissed as “crazy” after insisting someone was living above her flat – only for police to discover she was right.
Phrogging is the act of secretly living in another person’s home without their knowledge or permission.
Chloe, 31, was living in a new-build block of flats in Gravesend with her two-year-old daughter when she noticed that a hatch to the loft in her ceiling kept being left open.
“I thought it was strange but didn’t think anything of it,” she told LBC. The spacious loft covered the whole of the flats on the top floor.
Later that evening, she was watching television when she thought: “There’s somone there, they’re looking at me.”
Chloe said she rang a friend who lived in the flat below, who reassured her there was no one there. But later that same night when Chloe couldn’t sleep, she heard footsteps above her coming from the loft.
Chloe said she called everyone but they talked her down. They told her it was voices in her head and that she was “crazy”.
“No one would believe me” she said. “But I dont blame the people in my life then.”
Chloe said she was known to mental health services at the time and was dealing with issues such as anxiety and PTSD.
“I’m a different person now, but back then then I was a little bit wild,” she admitted. She also explained that she had a condition that made her hear different environments, such as swimming pools or pubs.
Chloe was put on the anti-psychotic drug Quetiapine.
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‘Hallucinating’
The following day, Chloe spoke to her next-door neighbour who lived in the other top floor flat and asked him if he had heard any noise coming from the loft.
He told her he hadn’t and played her concerns down. “He said he didn’t hear anything and said it wasn’t true.”
As the problems continued, Chloe said she was scared to go home and ended up frequently staying with friends because she did not want to be there. Despite bringing it up every day, her friends kept shutting her down.
“I didn’t blame the people in my life, because I was crazy at this point”
After she had gone on about it for so long, her friends intervened and formed an alliance.
“It got to point where they thought I was hallucinating or having a pschotic episode.” “They sat me down and told me I need to see a doctor.”
“I started thinking in my head, maybe it’s not true, maybe I do need to see a doctor.”
“When I saw the doctor, I told them ‘I thinks someone’s in loft and that there people coming in and out my house. I truly believed it’,” she said.
Chloe was then put on quetiapine, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorders.
The block of flats in Gravesend where the phrogging incident happened.
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Google
Chloe said the super strong medication made her feel like a “zombie” and completely “wiped” her.
“It was like I was not a real person. I didnt care about anything. I’d sit on my sofa and if my friend rang me I’d just stare at the phone”.
She added the medicine made her feel so “drowsy” she almost lost her job at Next.
After about two months on the medication, Chloe said she was proved right when a man opened the latch “blatantly” in front of her eyes.
“He was staring at me and I ran downstairs to my friend screaming for help.” “I was shouting ‘He’s in my flat, he’s coming.”
“She was like ‘Calm down, but I’d had enough, I’d seen him. I’m on anti psychotics and I’m still seeing it.
“If it was in my head then why am i still seeing it?”
Chloe said she called the police, who took her accusations at face value.
She said five people from different flats were watching her, thinking: ‘Chloe’s having a breakdown again!’ Police went into the loft and discovered that a man had indeed been living there. Officers brought him down and found lots of bags and backpacks in the loft. “The others were like ‘It’s actually true’,” she said.
The man was led away in handcuffs but, other than that, Chloe had no follow-up.
“At the time I was just happy that I was right, I was very smug.”
‘Gaslit’
It turned out her next-door neighbour knew the man was up there and that it was his homeless friend. Chloe said she feld “gaslit” by the neighbour.
“He was talking down everyone, saying he didnt hear anything,” she went on.
“But he knew there was someone there. He was helping him, giving him food and letting him use his bathroom.”
She went on to say it was such a “weird time” in her life, but she did wish someone had checked the loft for her.
“I felt like Jean Slater”, the fictional character from EastEnders who suffered with bipolar disorder.
Chloe also believes her gender influenced the way she was treated in the situation. “The rest of the floor I was on were men and I was a 20-year-old single mum at the time.” She added she felt “targeted” by the neighbour who knew there was someone living up there. “He knew full well.”
When asked if she ever received an apology from her friends, Chloe said instead they laugh about it now.
She also still lives in Gravesend – but in a different home!
A spokesperson from Moat Housing told LBC: “The safety of our customers is very important to us, as it was at the time of the incident nine years ago.
“Thanks to reports from customers living in the building, we were able to work with the Police to investigate the incident, leading to an arrest.
“We secured the loft space shortly afterwards, and have had no further reports of phrogging.
“This highlights the importance of staying vigilant, and we encourage customers to report concerns to us immediately, so we can work with the right agencies to address them.”