Melbourne woman discovers stranger living in her garage for several months

A Melbourne small business owner has described the terrifying moment she realised someone had been living in her garage.

In a series of videos on TikTok, Kate Dood, founder of date-night subscription box The Loved Up Co, shared the ordeal which took place seven years ago.

Dood was moving out of the place she had been living in at the time, when her housemate asked her why she had so many belongings stored in the garage.

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The Melbourne woman was initially confused at the question, explaining that she had nothing in the garage because she was afraid of spiders.

“That is obviously where (spiders) live,” Dood explained.

“(My roommate) proceeded to tell me that all the stuff in there absolutely wasn’t hers, so it must have been mine.”

Adamant that none of the belongings were hers, Dood went down to the garage with her roommate to investigate.

Within seconds, Dood said it was “so obvious” that someone had been living there.

“Someone had totally set up shop,” Dood said.

The person, who Dood assumed had been living there for several months, had collected multiple items, including slippers, a sleeping bag, a pillow, a toothbrush and towels.

Dood said it was clear the person had been using the bucket and towels as a means to wash themselves.

“It was wild,” she said.

In the comment section of her video, the small business owner explained the garage was separate to her house and was “really secluded”.

“A place you’d only know if you know,” she said.

The pair called the police soon after, who locked the garage up and stuck a sign outside instructing the person to call the police when they returned to grab their belongings.

“The main reason why we called the police was because both of us thought we were pranking each other,” Dood said.

It was later revealed that all of the shoes and clothes the woman had been using were stolen.

Dood explained that the following day she managed to get a glimpse of the person who had been secretly living in her garage.

The woman, who Dood described as being “incredibly dressed”, pulled the sign written by police off the door and stormed off.

She said had she not realised the woman was even there and that she most likely would have let her stay.

“Props to her for finding a place that was not getting used at all and using it,” she said.

“I think in hindsight, would I have let her stay? Probably.”

Dood’s story has gone viral on social media, with one of her TikTok videos amassing over 600,000 views.

Many users were shocked about what had happened, while others even shared that they had experienced something similar.

“Omg what the heck!,” one person commented.

“I would have let her stay if she was there for months and harmless but still scary wtf,” another said.

A third wrote: “There was a person living in a side room between my neighbours and I when I lived in South Melbourne so I know how this feels.”